Mother's Day Recap:
My first Mother's Day was the best! We had such an amazing day together: a morning at church followed by coffee and chocolate croissants at Rustica, a walk around Lake Harriet (complete with E's first time dipping her toes in the water!), lunch at Clancey's, ice cream at Sebastian Joe's, and a photo shoot in the front yard. I was breathless with gratitude and bursting with love for my incredible little family.
My first Mother's Day was the best! We had such an amazing day together: a morning at church followed by coffee and chocolate croissants at Rustica, a walk around Lake Harriet (complete with E's first time dipping her toes in the water!), lunch at Clancey's, ice cream at Sebastian Joe's, and a photo shoot in the front yard. I was breathless with gratitude and bursting with love for my incredible little family.
Solid Food:
Around 5 months old, E discovered the joys of pureed baby food made with love by yours truly. Getting to the point where she actually really loved to eat solids was not a foregone conclusion, though! She fussed and gagged for the first week or two while she was getting the hang of things and most of that early food ended up on her face instead of in her tummy. Now, though, she eats three meals of solids at daycare and one at home in the evening with us and is a very eager and adventurous eater. So cute and fun!
We've actually introduced table food to E as well. At this point (9+ months in), she eats basically everything we do. It's really fun to watch how independent she is when it comes to eating. Being spoon fed is no longer acceptable to her - she insists on feeding herself. We can put food on her tray and sit ourselves at the table to eat and we all enjoy our meal as a family. It makes me so excited for the years of meals around the table in the future.
On the Move:
E has always been a strong, eager-to-move baby, which means she's hit some mobility milestones early. We've already discussed rolling over, but she actually started sitting up on her own at early and at six months old, she took off crawling! For weeks we watched her get onto her hands and knees and rock around like she was going to take off, then one Monday evening (July 16), she just took off like a rocket! It was like she'd known how to do it all along and was hiding it! Here's a video I took of her third or fourth time crawling across the living room floor that evening. R was on his way home from work and it was getting close to her bedtime, so I wanted to make sure to capture the moment!
Now she is lightning fast and interested in *everything* - especially things we don't want her to touch, like the dogs' water bowls, food dishes, computer charging cables, the vacuum cleaner, the volume dial on the entertainment system receiver, the dogs' chew toys, the inevitable tufts of husky fur wafting across our floors, shoes, and so on and so forth.
At nine months old, we really believe it won't be long before she starts walking. She's cruising along all of our furniture and stands independently (i.e., not holding onto anything) quite a lot now. The actual mechanics of walking independently still seem to stump her a bit, but between walking props around the house and the dedication of her daycare teachers, it's just a matter of time before she gets the hang of it. Here's a video of her latest jaunts across the kitchen. :)
Even more so, this child is extremely opinionated and determined. If there's something she wants or has and you move her away from it, try to take it away or distract her, she actually throws little tantrums! She'll stiffen her body and scream in frustration, then go right back to the whatever it is we were trying to divert her from. I see our future so clearly, and I know how very, very diligent we will need to be with her! Here's a video I took a few months ago when E kept playing with the dog bowls. I moved her across the kitchen with some toys while I was making dinner, and this is what happened next.
Teeth!
On May 27 (our anniversary!), R pointed out to me that E had cut her two bottom front teeth! It came as a complete surprise to us, as she hadn't been any more irritable or drooling than usual. Suddenly there were just two little teeth there! Since then, E has been working on cutting teeth like a champ and as of this writing has four on top, three on bottom and two bottom molars! Based on recent behavior (crummy sleep, poking at her ears, chomping on everything and extreme clinginess), we think she may be close to erupting a few more. Her CPNP was shocked to see how many she has through and soon-to-come-through. As with so many things, E just can't wait and do things when she's "supposed to." That's okay. :) She's putting those chompers to good use on things like table food and not-so-good use on things like her Mama. The poor dear has suffered with those molars recently, so we'd all be relieved if she could take a break for a bit!
On May 27 (our anniversary!), R pointed out to me that E had cut her two bottom front teeth! It came as a complete surprise to us, as she hadn't been any more irritable or drooling than usual. Suddenly there were just two little teeth there! Since then, E has been working on cutting teeth like a champ and as of this writing has four on top, three on bottom and two bottom molars! Based on recent behavior (crummy sleep, poking at her ears, chomping on everything and extreme clinginess), we think she may be close to erupting a few more. Her CPNP was shocked to see how many she has through and soon-to-come-through. As with so many things, E just can't wait and do things when she's "supposed to." That's okay. :) She's putting those chompers to good use on things like table food and not-so-good use on things like her Mama. The poor dear has suffered with those molars recently, so we'd all be relieved if she could take a break for a bit!
Tri Fan:
R participated in a few du and triathlons this summer and E was Dad's biggest fan. She gamely strolled, lounged, crawled, waved and clapped during his races, rain or shine. Here's a little photo compilation from a few of Dad's events this year:
R participated in a few du and triathlons this summer and E was Dad's biggest fan. She gamely strolled, lounged, crawled, waved and clapped during his races, rain or shine. Here's a little photo compilation from a few of Dad's events this year:
Vacations:
We took a few family trips this summer, first to Michigan for Independence Day and then back to Michigan for Labor Day. We enjoyed spending time with family both trips. Here are a few photo highlights.
Words!
All at once around 8 months old, E started speaking and signing like she's known how forever. According to my reading, a baby's "words" are any sounds they use consistently to describe a single idea or item. So we consider her first words to be "mmm" and "um num num," which she says whenever she is hungry, wants to eat, or is really enjoying what she's eating. If she's hungry, she scampers over to her highchair, stands up and smacks her hands on the foot rest while saying, "MMMMM. MMMMM." :) Message received.
Her total verbal repertoire now includes:
- Mmm/num num: happy food-related messages
- Daw!: dog (always said with an exclamation mark)
- Da: dad
- Ma ma ma: mama
- Uh-oh: uh-oh (said every time she drops something, and occasionally said before she purposely drops things...)
- Wow!: exclamation of delight and amazement (frequently reserved for squirrels)
- Moo: what a cow says ("What does a cow say? Does it say moo?" "Moooooooo.")
- Roar: gleefully said into any echo-y device (paper towel or wooden toy tubes, cups, etc.)
E also signs quite a lot now. Signs she uses include:
- All done
- More
- Eat
- Milk
- Water
- Up
- Bye-bye/Hi (wave)
It's super fun to be able to converse with E these days and she's always so proud of herself when she's able to get her point across. We just love watching her learn and grow!
Fall Favorites:
Finally for this (outrageously long because it's egregiously late) post, enjoy a few great photos and videos of our super fun baby.
That's it for this post. Now that we're largely caught up, we'll aim to update more frequently going forward! Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment