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Making the "buh" sound has been abandoned in favor of...

Toes. Oh yes, you have just discovered that if you reach your feet high into the air, you can grab those wiggly fleshy little worms. If I put you in the Bumbo seat, you fold yourself in half trying to suck on them. Lint covered, hang-nailed, smelly...the status of the toes does not matter to you. you simply. want. toes.

Also of interest to you is hearing the sound your heels make when brought down from a great height onto the mattress of your crib. Sometimes we think a dwarf is chopping wood upstairs.

Today is my last day of maternity leave. Today is the Superbowl. The men will gallop terribly against one another's bodies (thank you, James Wright) and tomorrow I will gallop terribly away from you.

I have been dreading this new distance between us.

Then, today, you bit my nipple for the first time. And when I said "ouch! no!" and pulled you away from my breast, you smiled hugely.

I never thought I would be grateful for a gummy chomp on my boob, but it was a good reminder that a little more distance might be healthy for the both of us.