Dear Rosemary,
What a busy month! And I don't mean around the house- we've just been keeping the usual pace around here. But
you have been the busy one! You have
taken off!! Lets get right into our highlights:
~You are now not only an official crawler, but a fast, curious, into-everything
explorer! Because you not only crawl super-speedy, all over the house, but when you get there you pull up to standing on whatever is there, pull things down, chew on what's laying around... you keep mommy very busy keeping up with you. You have gained a lot of balance and coordination, and can get yourself from laying to sitting to kneeling to standing and all in-between with ease. You are even standing holding on with just one hand, and have been cruising some along the couch.
|
"Look, mommy- one hand!!" |
~You have teeth! After over a month of drooling (my kids are the slowest teethers), your bottom two teeth came in right together. So you didn't just get your first tooth- you got first teeth!! Your chewing and drooling hasn't really slowed down much, though- you'll chew on anything. Some bizarre teethers- the metal handle on the oven door, the wooden threshold on the wood floors, matchbox cars, a water bottle, a thumb drive on a stranger's keyring at music class (she assured me it didn't work anymore b/c her baby had done the same thing!)... I promise we have lots of your own toys and chewy's around too!
~As the third child, you've already realized you have to speak up to be heard! You are quite the babbler, and even try to imitate sounds you hear from the kids. You've adopted a fake laugh- a staccato"eh-eh-eh" that is really funny to hear. You yell "Ah AH AHHH!!" to get someone's attention- particularly daddy, who has learned to tune out kid noise by this point, so you have to yell extra loud at him. Some mornings, when you're getting your first bottle in our bed, you won't even take a sip till daddy acknowledges your "ah AH" and wakes up to give you a kiss!
~Just past 7 months old, some kind of switch flipped and you woke up HUNGRY. I don't know if it was an extended growth spurt or all the crawling or both, but you wanted to EAT. Some days I had to include an extra bottle to satisfy you. And you were scarfing down your oatmeal plus a couple jars of baby food 3x a day too. All this from the baby who was barely eating the minimum ounces before! Who I had to hold down her arms and
insist she drink
some milk!! Who thought 2 ounces was a meal!!! It was a really nice, though completely surprising, change! You've leveled out some now, but are still eating MUCH better than you used to, averaging four 7oz bottles, 3 meals with a combo of oatmeal and baby food, and usually a middle of the night extra feeding of 3-4 oz. Still can't get you to shake that one!!
|
This picture is funny bc you fell asleep sitting up- then just folded over onto George! Your legs are extended straight under you! |
~You and Georgia have ended up being great roommates! You are finally in there full time, though you nap in our room in the afternoon so Georgia can have "the girls room" for her "quiet time" during naps. But the nights work great because you have learned to fall asleep even if there's still some noise around you, and she will sleep through a lot of noise once asleep. So- our typical routine is dinner, baths, bed by 8pm for all three of you, and if you get bathed and in bed first, you'll fall asleep while the other kids are still getting ready for bed. And Georgia will sleep through your late night feedings and noise! And the mornings you sleep late (past 7am, like Ga), she loves to play with you till mommy gets there!
~Some other little highlights: you absent-mindedly pull on your hair a lot. It's getting quite long on top, so that we have to use a bow to keep it out of your eyes, and you like to reach up and pull on it. I agree it's quite silky-soft! :)
|
You spend many an afternoon watching out the window at the big kids' playing! |
-When you're in the highchair you know to fuss with your mouth closed, or mommy may try to sneak in a bite of food! But when you're being fussy about eating, I can usually just call one of the big kids over to distract you till your meal is done!
-One morning, when Lincoln asked where you were- I realized you'd climbed OUT of the excersaucer somehow, without ending up on your head, and were crawling away down the hall! Only after raising the seat were you allowed back in there!
-You've become quite the little vacuum, finding all kinds of things on our floor- matchbox cars, bits of paper and fluff, and -your favorite- dry leaves tracked in!
-You love to ride in the wagon, and don't even try to escape! You just love being outside, watching big sister and brother play around you!
It's been so fun to watch you get up and GO this month- I wouldn't be surprised if First Steps are right around the corner! It seems I'm raising yet another independent, inquisitive, busy girl, so I love it that you'll still share sweet moments of snuggling and slobbery kisses! We thank the Lord for you, Rosemary Rae, and love you
so very much!!
love, Mommy