Elsa is moving and wiggling more each day. She's not rolling much, which is what most babies do around this time. Instead, she's lifting her bottom and digging her heels in the floor to push backwards. She can travel some distance, and recently scootched almost off our bed this way! She also is using her hands to paw around when she's on her belly, usually just turning, not really crawling anywhere.
Her balance has improved in the last week, so she's sitting pretty well now unassisted. Its impressive that seven days ago she couldn't do this by herself at all!
Showing posts with label growth and development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label growth and development. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Milestones!
Dear Elsa, sweet baby,
I think so often of things to write on your blog, but when your brother is down and you are awake, I choose to be with you instead of to get onto your blog to write. I think you would approve of this decision! You really crave my attention and seem to benefit so much from face to face time.
You are six months old now, and with that specific age come significant milestones for a baby. First of all, you are a solid food eater. Solid food is a bit of a stretch though, since your food really resembles pudding! So far you have had an entire container of fancy organic brown rice cereal that you tolerated, half a box of Gerber white rice cereal that you think is delicious, fruit, and veggies. Your favorite foods so far are (in this order) peaches, plums, applesauce, sweet potato and apples with cinnamon, pumpkin/squash/potato blend with nutmeg, butternut squash with apples, white potato/rutabaga/pumpkin with nutmeg and cinnamon, and then acorn squash/potato. You do not like peas, and you tolerate carrot. Soon I will introduce spinach and green beans. I am paying such close attention to the food to make sure I think its palatable, and trust me, it is! I often eat a few servings of your food after its roasted but not pureed, and its DARN GOOD. I also try to sweeten up your foods a tad with apples, carrot, or mango and add spices to the other foods to make them enjoyable. When you eat something you do not like (peas! oatmeal!) you make a surprised and disgusted face. When you are eating something you love (fruit!) you smack your lips and giggle. You slurp in your food and suck on your top lip, begging for more! Its fun to feed you, darling. You eat nearly three meals a day, in addition to your liquid diet of mommy's milk, which you have about six or seven times per day.
Another milestone is movement. You are wiggling more than ever, and your new trick is developing your leg muscles. You are working your quads by lifting your bottom off the ground and keeping your feet planted. Its a pilates move! You are able to roll from your back onto your stomach, but you still do it rare circumstances. In the last week you have been able to lift up more and seem to enjoy it, but usually you just reach your long arms to the side to grab what you want, and roll back onto your back. You are kicking your legs more often in your bed, probably listening to and observing your kick's affect on the mattress. You still move your left arm updownupdownupdown with rapid succession when you are excited and bored. I often give you a toy for that hand to watch you bang.
You are making much more noise lately. You seem to say UMMMMMMMMM when you are eating a good food, and you often groan or growl a bit during meal times. You make a cough/clearing throat sound to indicate you are thirsty. You pant and giggle when its time to nurse and you get to do it. You laugh and shriek when your brother comes in the room. You love to be nearby to him so much! You two speak the same language, and that is of friendliness and squeals. Your other main noise is this... WAIL! You are so dramatic when you are offended, startled, or mistreated. The triple threat is when Daniel takes your toy, yells something too loudly, and then steps on your arm or another minor injury. You get so loud so fast! And you pout, too. Sometimes you are offended by loud noises, and other times you are offended by tardiness. You get upset when I take too long to prepare your baby food or come to get you.
You've had a pretty nasty diaper rash as a consequence of starting foods (perhaps its the olive oil I use in roasting? we don't know) that means you get some diaper free time and extra baths with oatmeal. You like both of these treatments! I think once its healed, I'll do the same things for you just to make you happy.
I am reluctantly letting your infancy slip away, baby girl. You are getting more personality, becoming more capable, and growing in size. I loved you as a newborn and a small baby, and I am certain I'll love you when you no longer resemble a baby. You do very much still look like a baby with your minimal hair, lack of teeth, adorable roundness, and happy demeanor. I think you seem a bit younger than six months old to me, but that's probably just because it seems like you've been here less time because our days pass so quickly. Its so hard for me to imagine you as a toddler, dancing with music or interacting with a book on my lap when I compare you to your older brother. One day you'll be the one playing play dough and sharing your opinions. But for now, you are content to watch the action around you and smile your way through life. You are so pleasant and you are SO loved.
Goodnight, sweet heart. Love Mama
I think so often of things to write on your blog, but when your brother is down and you are awake, I choose to be with you instead of to get onto your blog to write. I think you would approve of this decision! You really crave my attention and seem to benefit so much from face to face time.
You are six months old now, and with that specific age come significant milestones for a baby. First of all, you are a solid food eater. Solid food is a bit of a stretch though, since your food really resembles pudding! So far you have had an entire container of fancy organic brown rice cereal that you tolerated, half a box of Gerber white rice cereal that you think is delicious, fruit, and veggies. Your favorite foods so far are (in this order) peaches, plums, applesauce, sweet potato and apples with cinnamon, pumpkin/squash/potato blend with nutmeg, butternut squash with apples, white potato/rutabaga/pumpkin with nutmeg and cinnamon, and then acorn squash/potato. You do not like peas, and you tolerate carrot. Soon I will introduce spinach and green beans. I am paying such close attention to the food to make sure I think its palatable, and trust me, it is! I often eat a few servings of your food after its roasted but not pureed, and its DARN GOOD. I also try to sweeten up your foods a tad with apples, carrot, or mango and add spices to the other foods to make them enjoyable. When you eat something you do not like (peas! oatmeal!) you make a surprised and disgusted face. When you are eating something you love (fruit!) you smack your lips and giggle. You slurp in your food and suck on your top lip, begging for more! Its fun to feed you, darling. You eat nearly three meals a day, in addition to your liquid diet of mommy's milk, which you have about six or seven times per day.
Another milestone is movement. You are wiggling more than ever, and your new trick is developing your leg muscles. You are working your quads by lifting your bottom off the ground and keeping your feet planted. Its a pilates move! You are able to roll from your back onto your stomach, but you still do it rare circumstances. In the last week you have been able to lift up more and seem to enjoy it, but usually you just reach your long arms to the side to grab what you want, and roll back onto your back. You are kicking your legs more often in your bed, probably listening to and observing your kick's affect on the mattress. You still move your left arm updownupdownupdown with rapid succession when you are excited and bored. I often give you a toy for that hand to watch you bang.
You are making much more noise lately. You seem to say UMMMMMMMMM when you are eating a good food, and you often groan or growl a bit during meal times. You make a cough/clearing throat sound to indicate you are thirsty. You pant and giggle when its time to nurse and you get to do it. You laugh and shriek when your brother comes in the room. You love to be nearby to him so much! You two speak the same language, and that is of friendliness and squeals. Your other main noise is this... WAIL! You are so dramatic when you are offended, startled, or mistreated. The triple threat is when Daniel takes your toy, yells something too loudly, and then steps on your arm or another minor injury. You get so loud so fast! And you pout, too. Sometimes you are offended by loud noises, and other times you are offended by tardiness. You get upset when I take too long to prepare your baby food or come to get you.
You've had a pretty nasty diaper rash as a consequence of starting foods (perhaps its the olive oil I use in roasting? we don't know) that means you get some diaper free time and extra baths with oatmeal. You like both of these treatments! I think once its healed, I'll do the same things for you just to make you happy.
I am reluctantly letting your infancy slip away, baby girl. You are getting more personality, becoming more capable, and growing in size. I loved you as a newborn and a small baby, and I am certain I'll love you when you no longer resemble a baby. You do very much still look like a baby with your minimal hair, lack of teeth, adorable roundness, and happy demeanor. I think you seem a bit younger than six months old to me, but that's probably just because it seems like you've been here less time because our days pass so quickly. Its so hard for me to imagine you as a toddler, dancing with music or interacting with a book on my lap when I compare you to your older brother. One day you'll be the one playing play dough and sharing your opinions. But for now, you are content to watch the action around you and smile your way through life. You are so pleasant and you are SO loved.
Goodnight, sweet heart. Love Mama
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Dear Elsie,
You are living your fifth month, and it is now The Fall. This is my favorite time of year, perhaps because growing up, my sisters and I had fall birthdays. I also enjoyed the beginning of school years. I loved getting new school supplies, jackets, and jeans. The fall is just such a nice time of year here in Mid Missouri, and already the same leaves that were just emerging on the day of your birth are losing their green and will fall from the trees. You are growing older.
During this month, I've noticed how much your muscle movement in your MOUTH is developing. You can blow bubbles, buzz your tongue, lick your lips, suck on your lips, smack your lips, manipulate chew toys in your moth, and alter the shape of your mouth to alter the noise your mouth makes. You are going to talk sooner than your brother, I predict, because he rarely did these things so early.
We started to feed you some baby cereal and I think you actually enjoy the sensation of the spoon better than the act of eating. That's understandable. You just took to the spoon and sought to hold it for yourself to explore. This shows me some of your independence, which I do not usually notice as you enjoy company and are so dependent on others for care and entertainment at your young age.
Your brother is still (by the whole) charmed by you and pleasant towards you. You are his Elsie Buggy, and he tells us when he thinks you need to eat your mommy's milk, when you have pook in your diaper, and when you are happy. He is generally right in reading your mood and desires! You both coo and gurgle and laugh with each other and that is just delightful.
I'm struggling to give you the lap time and reading time that I would like. Know that you don't get as much of this time as your brother had. It was so important for me to read him several books at increments during the day because I though he might experience language delay being a boy who seemed naturally drawn to mechanics. I was sort of proving myself as a mom and didn't know exactly what type of balance to achieve. For you, I see that you are making great eye contact, being perceptive of people's emotions and actions, and you seek to interact with us. I think you are more naturally drawn to communicate. You listen to most of the books I read with your brother, and you often try to chew the board books I read you. You become frustrated that I turn the pages at a faster pace than you would like. However, since I've been a mom to Daniel, I realize that the three or four books we read together each day are probably enough and that you have a smart little brain regardless of what I do. I realize we'll have plenty of time in the next several years to read and interact and that your brother will be able to read to you, too.
Elsie, you are a VERY TALL baby. When we are out and I see other cute babies, I often think they are your age when they are really 8 or 10 months old. You are as tall as they are! Your muscle control and facial expressions also seem more like an older baby than an infant. However, you are still soft and snuggley and not at all close to crawling, and I know you'll grow into your height one day. Your mother and father and brother are all quite tall for their age/gender.
I wish I could write you a letter every day, but it is my hope that you'll have the blog posts I write for you and on my personal blog to know me better. It is very difficult for me to keep track of posts on three blogs, and writing is one of my creative outlets and relaxation modes, so please do read and enjoy the posts I write. Your brother has many more posts than you do simply because he was born before you were. I had more time with him to spend documenting his weekly adventures. For you, I have a better camera, which is a plus and advantage to being born into a family with more gizmos!
I wish I could write to you every day and express my love, concern, and hopeful ambitions for your life because one day I know we will disagree and you will feel distant from me. I hope that having this is for you is tangible evidence that I am a real person who loves you and wants a strong and positive relationship with you. I look forward to being your mother as you grow into an older human being, and I delight in you as a baby. You are such a clever girl and your heart is so full of joy. I can tell you will be a charmer because your dad melts whenever you are around. I can tell that you will be a clown because you and your brother play little jokes on each other and make one another laugh. I can tell that you are going to play an important and irreplaceable role in my life.
I love you, darling baby girl.
Your Mama
You are living your fifth month, and it is now The Fall. This is my favorite time of year, perhaps because growing up, my sisters and I had fall birthdays. I also enjoyed the beginning of school years. I loved getting new school supplies, jackets, and jeans. The fall is just such a nice time of year here in Mid Missouri, and already the same leaves that were just emerging on the day of your birth are losing their green and will fall from the trees. You are growing older.
During this month, I've noticed how much your muscle movement in your MOUTH is developing. You can blow bubbles, buzz your tongue, lick your lips, suck on your lips, smack your lips, manipulate chew toys in your moth, and alter the shape of your mouth to alter the noise your mouth makes. You are going to talk sooner than your brother, I predict, because he rarely did these things so early.
We started to feed you some baby cereal and I think you actually enjoy the sensation of the spoon better than the act of eating. That's understandable. You just took to the spoon and sought to hold it for yourself to explore. This shows me some of your independence, which I do not usually notice as you enjoy company and are so dependent on others for care and entertainment at your young age.
Your brother is still (by the whole) charmed by you and pleasant towards you. You are his Elsie Buggy, and he tells us when he thinks you need to eat your mommy's milk, when you have pook in your diaper, and when you are happy. He is generally right in reading your mood and desires! You both coo and gurgle and laugh with each other and that is just delightful.
I'm struggling to give you the lap time and reading time that I would like. Know that you don't get as much of this time as your brother had. It was so important for me to read him several books at increments during the day because I though he might experience language delay being a boy who seemed naturally drawn to mechanics. I was sort of proving myself as a mom and didn't know exactly what type of balance to achieve. For you, I see that you are making great eye contact, being perceptive of people's emotions and actions, and you seek to interact with us. I think you are more naturally drawn to communicate. You listen to most of the books I read with your brother, and you often try to chew the board books I read you. You become frustrated that I turn the pages at a faster pace than you would like. However, since I've been a mom to Daniel, I realize that the three or four books we read together each day are probably enough and that you have a smart little brain regardless of what I do. I realize we'll have plenty of time in the next several years to read and interact and that your brother will be able to read to you, too.
Elsie, you are a VERY TALL baby. When we are out and I see other cute babies, I often think they are your age when they are really 8 or 10 months old. You are as tall as they are! Your muscle control and facial expressions also seem more like an older baby than an infant. However, you are still soft and snuggley and not at all close to crawling, and I know you'll grow into your height one day. Your mother and father and brother are all quite tall for their age/gender.
I wish I could write you a letter every day, but it is my hope that you'll have the blog posts I write for you and on my personal blog to know me better. It is very difficult for me to keep track of posts on three blogs, and writing is one of my creative outlets and relaxation modes, so please do read and enjoy the posts I write. Your brother has many more posts than you do simply because he was born before you were. I had more time with him to spend documenting his weekly adventures. For you, I have a better camera, which is a plus and advantage to being born into a family with more gizmos!
I wish I could write to you every day and express my love, concern, and hopeful ambitions for your life because one day I know we will disagree and you will feel distant from me. I hope that having this is for you is tangible evidence that I am a real person who loves you and wants a strong and positive relationship with you. I look forward to being your mother as you grow into an older human being, and I delight in you as a baby. You are such a clever girl and your heart is so full of joy. I can tell you will be a charmer because your dad melts whenever you are around. I can tell that you will be a clown because you and your brother play little jokes on each other and make one another laugh. I can tell that you are going to play an important and irreplaceable role in my life.
I love you, darling baby girl.
Your Mama
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Napping in the Sun, 4 Weeks
Here you are, one month old and napping in your moses basket bed. The sun was not shining on you when I put you down for the nap, but was when I came in later. You looked radiant in the sun! You are wearing a beautiful terry cloth sleeper from your Nana. She bought it for you when you were 2 weeks old because you were too small for all the sleepers we had. Then at 3 weeks when we visited her and you wore this, you had a growth spurt and suddenly out grew the sleeper! This was the last time you wore it, after only three or four times.
You make many faces when you sleep. Its super cute.
Sometimes you frown in your sleep and look worried.
Other times you are so peaceful looking, like Sleeping Beauty.
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