Dear Rosemary,
I'm sorry I didn't post your half-year update. It was the holidays and I was already behind... I kept meaning to still do it, but now it's already past time for your 7 month update! An awful stomach bug hit our house last week, and continues to bring us down one by one. You got it too- your first real illness, besides major sniffles. It was so sad to hold you as you got sick. Poor baby! Thankfully you seem to have survived just fine! And not even that has slowed you down much- you've been a very busy girl these months! Let's list some highlights:
~ At your 5 month post you hated tummy time and I thought you'd never learn to roll- about a week after that post you went from your first roll to rolling end-to-end across the rug! And you haven't slowed down since. You are a major Rolly Poly. And after about 6 months you went from rolling to army crawling, and scootching on your belly. And now you've taken a few crawling steps- but are super fast at scootching! In the living room we set up a barricade of a double stack of pillows to keep you in a 'safe place', but you continually climb/wiggle your way over the pillows. You are very persistent!
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| Up on your knees! This little face you're making is you grinding your gums together. You're doing this a lot lately- maybe we'll see some little teeth by the next update? |
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This is your "safe place"- barricaded in by pillows. It's now a double stack of pillows and you STILL crawl over/through them to get out!
~ Along with all that moving and grooving, you're sitting up better. If you're distracted by toys, you'll sit there for a few minutes, but soon you fall over and get back on your belly so you can scoot somewhere else. You can almost pull yourself into the sitting position from your tummy, unless you're in your crib where you can use the bumpers to help and you can do it more easily. |
~ You've also pulled yourself to your knees in your crib- and even to a stand! I couldn't believe it the first time I saw you standing there! I ran out to get the camera, and that made you mad since you thought I was coming to get you out, and you fell back, crying- and I missed the picture! I tried a couple more times to get a picture and finally succeeded, as you were peering out to see what was going on down the hall- though I had to leave your brother dripping wet in the bathroom as I'd just pulled him out of the tub!
~ Speaking of the crib- you've been in there more (finally!), and have become quite mischievous! You quickly realized you could reach the changing table and would pull piles of bibs, diapers, blankets- anything I had neatly stacked there, into the crib with you! Then you found the cord to the monitor and 'bout pulled that down on your head! I finally had to rearrange the room to try to keep your little hands away from trouble.
~ And, speaking of trouble, you are now banned from the swing and can not be left in the highchair without an adult within arms reach. You almost pulled yourself out of each, and that would have been quite a scary fall! In the swing you'll grab the fish circling above your head and hang on- letting them pull you up!
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And... speaking of the high chair ;), you are eating solids now. You started slow, but quickly took to the cereal. In fact, you were eating a bit too much of the rice cereal and I had to switch you to oatmeal to get a bit more fiber in you. And we're slowly getting through first fruits and veggies- bananas, sweet potatoes, apples, carrots, peas... but you'd rather just eat the cereal. We're still trying to find a good balance adding solids to your diet, bc now you want even less formula! You forced me to drop a bottle- you literally just would NOT eat it, so now you're at 4 bottles of 5-7oz each. I also mix your cereal with prepared formula, to add some calories to it. I wish you would drink more, but I can't force you- trust me, I've tried!
~ We've been working on dropping a nap to go to two, and that's working out ok. Most days you take a 1-1.5 hour am nap, and a 1.5-2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. If you don't get those long naps, like on Bible study days, you may take a 3rd lunch or dinner nap. I've been trying to put you to bed around 8 with the big kids, but still wake you around 10-11pm for your last bottle. I just can't drop that bottle while you're not eating more during the day. And you've been waking up at night now- usually around 4-5am, will chug 3-4 ounces, then right back to sleep. Again- I wish you'd drink it during the day, but we haven't figured out how to get you to do that!
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You've already bonded to your Purple Hippo lovey- even using her as a pillow!
~ You continue to be very vocal and love to interact with us all. You "ahh- AHH" at us like you think you're saying something, will give wet, slobber kisses, and still LOVE to laugh! It's funny the little things that make you chuckle- like, one day you kept putting your toy to my mouth, and when I'd say "no, thanks", you'd laugh so hard! And you'd do it again! It cracked me up that you would even understand to play a game like that! |
~ Of course we had some other exciting "Firsts" during these two months- first Christmas being a big one! You went to Disney (very exciting), first New Years (not at all exciting), even your first circus (you somehow SLEPT through the whole thing!)... hopefully mommy will get these posts done... one day... I'm working on it- I promise!
You are on the move, baby girl- moving right towards being a big girl! Eating food, getting around- I know the real crawling is coming any day and I really DON'T know how we're going to keep up with you! But you're still my sweet little baby, and I cherish the moments when you fall asleep in my arms, roll to me on the rug, or just give me your sweet smiles! You are a sweet, sweet blessing to our family and we love you so much!
love, Mommy
