Dearest Lilah -
You've been though your first "major" holiday this year now, and I'd say you passed with flying colors! We had dinner at your Uncle and Aunt's house with them and your grandmama and your cousin. Because I have been sewing all the Christmas gifts on planet Earth, I felt badly about not ever making anything for you, so I made you a little brown velveteen dress for the special day. Then I took an image of your hand and made a little applique hand turkey to baste onto it. It was adorable, if I do say so myself. Probably the best thing is - if I get upstairs and actually do it - you'll get to wear it again this holiday season with a gingerbread man applique on it, and then you can probably just wear it plain after that a time or two more before you grow out of it.
And boy do you grow. Your weight hasn't changed much over the past couple of months - you're still shy of 19 pounds - but you are definitely getting taller. I don't know how much taller (the growth chart I'm planning to make for you is not yet cut out, see above re: Christmas and All the gifts on Earth), but you've outgrown your 9 month pj's enough to make me feel guilty about stuffing you into them at night. So into the bin of baby girl clothes they'll go. This also means we get to go PJ shopping, so yea us! Sadly, I find very few that I like; I like you wearing pjs with feet because you pull off socks and then lie in bed with little ice bricks for feet. But you need some pjs that aren't just fuzzy fleece so that when the weather gets warm again, you aren't roasting in your own precious juices overnight. Dilemmas, dilemmas.
You've also been doing a lot more in your quest for mobility. You've now decide to crawl properly at all times (unless you slip on something in the floor, then it's as if you think someone made you get down to drag. This has only happened twice that I know of since you decided to crawl via your knees at all times). You also have started to let go of things after pulling up. It's so funny; you'll pull up on the coffee table, put a fun object in each hand and when you sort of "stand back" to admire them, you'll precariously wobble a few seconds before realizing you aren't holding on to anything and you'll either plop right down on your butt or you'll make a frantic grab for the closest solid object, the latter option often to the dismay of the family pets. I think the worst things about your new-found mobility and freedom are that you end up falling a lot and bonking your head or your mouth. Tuesday you fell forward a little while holding on to the coffee table and busted your mouth, resulting in blood and a lot of tears. Luckily, you recover quickly and I think I've been able to fake being ok with you nearly busting your head open so that you don't get too scared and continue crying.
You have also caught on to the one sign language sign I have used consistently: More. Although, you use "more" to mean "eat," it seems, so it's sort of a win/lose situation. I am working very hard to teach you that there are other signs for things, and you like to put your hands on your head when I say "Good," so I'm sure that I'm failing! But you have your own way of communicating, and you're not bad at it, so we get along pretty well most of the time.
I can't believe I'm getting ready for your first birthday party in just 30 days. 335 days ago, I never thought this day would come. I thought you were going to be that itty bitty floppy baby of mine until you were five and just suddenly grew up and went to Kindergarten. It still happens that everywhere we go, you make a friend. Today we were in JC Penney and you made friends with the lady in line behind me, the sales clerk and a woman checking out at an adjacent register. The clerk said you seemed like such a happy baby and asked if I stayed home with you. When I confirmed that I did, she said that she could tell because she thinks kids are happier in general who stay at home with their moms. Now, there's no way that this can be applied across the board, but I think when you have the right mom and the right baby, then it can be true. And we're just the right people for that job right now.
I'm sure I've forgotten a lot that I wanted to right down about this time. It's just that my days are very full with you (and all those Christmas crafts) and I just can't seem to fit it all in. But we're having a good time, you and me, and your Daddy, too and I just couldn't be more excited to watch you experience your first Christmas and birthday and then I think we'll just do it all again next year.
Love,
Mommy
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
Dearest Lilah,
The last couple of weeks have found you doing even more fun stuff. It's always amazing to me how one day you don't do something and then all of a sudden, you do! Your new thing is copying things. You have mastered "Giving five" and clapping and you are an absolute dancing fool, and now you have moved on to yawning. That's right: Yesterday, I yawned while you were in my lap, and you looked at me and opened your mouth REALLY wide and smiled like you figured me out. And it wasn't a real yawn that just got started because of mine, it was an honest to goodness copy. Because you laugh and will try to make yawn noises!
You also like to try and copy a snore. A snore sends you into a pretty good giggle. Especially a fake snore. I'll admit - it's a funny sound. But you not only copy Daddy's fake snore, but the dog's REAL one. It's neat to watch you watch us to figure out how to do it!
I can't believe how intently you watch us. It has made me - I guess with good reason - pretty self conscious of the things I say and do! There are plenty of things I say and do that you will be better off NOT copying, for sure. But we enjoy watching you learn so much every day! You are trying SO hard to walk...you don't even crawl properly but MAN do you want to stand up and go! Unfortunately, you don't understand the whole "putting one foot in front of the other" rule to walking and you just end up taking multiple steps forward with one foot until you sit down. But you are becoming a master of pulling up on the chair and the coffee table and the couch, and you are even really good at sitting back down again, but that doesn't mean you haven't fallen over a few times and conked your head. You shake things off pretty quickly, though, so the tears are usually pretty short lived, which is good because your crying face is kind of ugly!
You have eye teeth coming in now and they are giving you far more trouble than your front four. You are drooly and angry! Today you hardly ate anything. You only wanted carbs. You ate bread for lunch and then ate Cheerios for dinner. You drank a lot of your juice, though. I hope that it's just teeth bothering you and that you aren't getting sick! You've had a really bad stuffy nose the last few days that seems to be going away now, but it's been rough on you.
We're getting ready to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with you. I hope you enjoy your baby meal of butternut squash and peas. :-)
Love,
Mommy
The last couple of weeks have found you doing even more fun stuff. It's always amazing to me how one day you don't do something and then all of a sudden, you do! Your new thing is copying things. You have mastered "Giving five" and clapping and you are an absolute dancing fool, and now you have moved on to yawning. That's right: Yesterday, I yawned while you were in my lap, and you looked at me and opened your mouth REALLY wide and smiled like you figured me out. And it wasn't a real yawn that just got started because of mine, it was an honest to goodness copy. Because you laugh and will try to make yawn noises!
You also like to try and copy a snore. A snore sends you into a pretty good giggle. Especially a fake snore. I'll admit - it's a funny sound. But you not only copy Daddy's fake snore, but the dog's REAL one. It's neat to watch you watch us to figure out how to do it!
I can't believe how intently you watch us. It has made me - I guess with good reason - pretty self conscious of the things I say and do! There are plenty of things I say and do that you will be better off NOT copying, for sure. But we enjoy watching you learn so much every day! You are trying SO hard to walk...you don't even crawl properly but MAN do you want to stand up and go! Unfortunately, you don't understand the whole "putting one foot in front of the other" rule to walking and you just end up taking multiple steps forward with one foot until you sit down. But you are becoming a master of pulling up on the chair and the coffee table and the couch, and you are even really good at sitting back down again, but that doesn't mean you haven't fallen over a few times and conked your head. You shake things off pretty quickly, though, so the tears are usually pretty short lived, which is good because your crying face is kind of ugly!
You have eye teeth coming in now and they are giving you far more trouble than your front four. You are drooly and angry! Today you hardly ate anything. You only wanted carbs. You ate bread for lunch and then ate Cheerios for dinner. You drank a lot of your juice, though. I hope that it's just teeth bothering you and that you aren't getting sick! You've had a really bad stuffy nose the last few days that seems to be going away now, but it's been rough on you.
We're getting ready to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with you. I hope you enjoy your baby meal of butternut squash and peas. :-)
Love,
Mommy
Friday, November 6, 2009
Actually, it is you - sort of.
Dearest Lilah,
Oh, my my...you keep me so VERY busy! But I guess that's because you have so much going on! You have learned how to properly crawl, but still prefer "the drag" because you know how to get around faster that way. And NOW you are trying to pull up on EVERYTHING. Everything you see that is taller than you is just an opportunity to climb. It is going to be very hard to keep you out of the holiday decorations, I'm afraid. Oh my...how will we keep you out of the tree?
In the last two weeks, you've gotten your two top teeth through. They are giving you pretty bad fits, though. You are fussy and short tempered, and you are constantly looking for a way to soothe your aching gums. Luckily the second one is almost all the way through, so I hope that will give you a rest from the pain for a bit before the next teeth make their descent.
We celebrated your very first Halloween! Last year I bought your costume on clearance because I felt that - even if you weren't very cute - you would be cute in the costume. Imagine my delight when you were cute squared in the costume! You were a hedgehog!! We went to a party at Uncle Tripp and Aunt Gina's house as a Hedge, Hedgehog and "Texas" Jones (Daddy's funny ha ha version of Indiana Jones). We also went to the Harvest Fest at the Saturday market and had four complete strangers walk up and ask to take photos of you because you were so cute! Sadly, you did not win the costume contest (that honor went to a bee), but Favorite Farmer Amy said you were so cute she wanted to put you on a Ritz and eat you up, so that was as good as a win to me!
You have - somehow - learned to dance. You had lately done a little bouncy bounce when music you liked would come on, but now it's a full on wiggle wiggle shimmy shake. And you even through a hand in there from time to time. It is HILARIOUS. Today we learned that you give extra shimmy to Zydeco music. I'm sure it's the accordion. The funniest thing is that if I even say the word "dance," you start to wiggle your shoulders around. So you don't respond to "Mommy," but "Dance" gets us an audition for "So You Think You Can Dance." That is AWESOME on my self-esteem. :-)
You also have a fondness for objects of similar shape and size. You like to get them, stack them together, and then bang them together like cymbals. Your favorite so far has been a set of coasters at your Gramma's house. But you also enjoy two ring boxes, blocks and two tiny clear boxes that are not the same, but are relatively similar in shape and size. It's interesting to see your preferences develop that way!
You like to wave now that you realize it gets people to respond to you. In the mornings when I come to get you, and also after your naps, I walk in to your room and say, "Hey!" and you usually will grin up at me wave with both hands. When we go out, you wave at everyone. Today at lunch you waved and waved and waved at a man who was just trying to eat his lunch. He never waved back. You just found someone else to wave to. I like that it didn't hurt your feelings. You were just like, "Oh. Ok. Maybe YOU would like to wave to me!" And so you found a girl who was at lunch with her mom and she was more than happy to make squishy faces with you and wave. It was funny to watch.
So you still don't talk. That doesn't mean you don't communicate rather clearly. I'm trying to teach you some signs, but you have your own. When you want more food, you pat your leg (or mine, if it's close). You can say "No" as loudly as I can when you shove food, cups, toys and even faces away from you. I don't like that, so I am trying very hard to tell you not to push but to speak or sign.
You exhaust me, baby. And you're so big these days. You weigh 18 pounds, but I'm not sure how tall you are. Tall. I know that much. I can't believe you're practically 10 months old and soon you'll be 1 year old and my little bitty 7.5 pound squishy baby will be totally gone. It makes me feel a little panicked sometimes, like I need a new squishy baby, but then I chase you around for a little while and realize I'm barely hanging on with just one, so I think I'll keep it that way - at least for a while!
Now I'm going to go because you have a stuffy nose that is causing you problems - on top of those top teeth - and I probably should just go to bed right now while Daddy rocks you to sleep for the second time tonight. I hope you feel better tomorrow!
Love,
Mommy
Oh, my my...you keep me so VERY busy! But I guess that's because you have so much going on! You have learned how to properly crawl, but still prefer "the drag" because you know how to get around faster that way. And NOW you are trying to pull up on EVERYTHING. Everything you see that is taller than you is just an opportunity to climb. It is going to be very hard to keep you out of the holiday decorations, I'm afraid. Oh my...how will we keep you out of the tree?
In the last two weeks, you've gotten your two top teeth through. They are giving you pretty bad fits, though. You are fussy and short tempered, and you are constantly looking for a way to soothe your aching gums. Luckily the second one is almost all the way through, so I hope that will give you a rest from the pain for a bit before the next teeth make their descent.
We celebrated your very first Halloween! Last year I bought your costume on clearance because I felt that - even if you weren't very cute - you would be cute in the costume. Imagine my delight when you were cute squared in the costume! You were a hedgehog!! We went to a party at Uncle Tripp and Aunt Gina's house as a Hedge, Hedgehog and "Texas" Jones (Daddy's funny ha ha version of Indiana Jones). We also went to the Harvest Fest at the Saturday market and had four complete strangers walk up and ask to take photos of you because you were so cute! Sadly, you did not win the costume contest (that honor went to a bee), but Favorite Farmer Amy said you were so cute she wanted to put you on a Ritz and eat you up, so that was as good as a win to me!
You have - somehow - learned to dance. You had lately done a little bouncy bounce when music you liked would come on, but now it's a full on wiggle wiggle shimmy shake. And you even through a hand in there from time to time. It is HILARIOUS. Today we learned that you give extra shimmy to Zydeco music. I'm sure it's the accordion. The funniest thing is that if I even say the word "dance," you start to wiggle your shoulders around. So you don't respond to "Mommy," but "Dance" gets us an audition for "So You Think You Can Dance." That is AWESOME on my self-esteem. :-)
You also have a fondness for objects of similar shape and size. You like to get them, stack them together, and then bang them together like cymbals. Your favorite so far has been a set of coasters at your Gramma's house. But you also enjoy two ring boxes, blocks and two tiny clear boxes that are not the same, but are relatively similar in shape and size. It's interesting to see your preferences develop that way!
You like to wave now that you realize it gets people to respond to you. In the mornings when I come to get you, and also after your naps, I walk in to your room and say, "Hey!" and you usually will grin up at me wave with both hands. When we go out, you wave at everyone. Today at lunch you waved and waved and waved at a man who was just trying to eat his lunch. He never waved back. You just found someone else to wave to. I like that it didn't hurt your feelings. You were just like, "Oh. Ok. Maybe YOU would like to wave to me!" And so you found a girl who was at lunch with her mom and she was more than happy to make squishy faces with you and wave. It was funny to watch.
So you still don't talk. That doesn't mean you don't communicate rather clearly. I'm trying to teach you some signs, but you have your own. When you want more food, you pat your leg (or mine, if it's close). You can say "No" as loudly as I can when you shove food, cups, toys and even faces away from you. I don't like that, so I am trying very hard to tell you not to push but to speak or sign.
You exhaust me, baby. And you're so big these days. You weigh 18 pounds, but I'm not sure how tall you are. Tall. I know that much. I can't believe you're practically 10 months old and soon you'll be 1 year old and my little bitty 7.5 pound squishy baby will be totally gone. It makes me feel a little panicked sometimes, like I need a new squishy baby, but then I chase you around for a little while and realize I'm barely hanging on with just one, so I think I'll keep it that way - at least for a while!
Now I'm going to go because you have a stuffy nose that is causing you problems - on top of those top teeth - and I probably should just go to bed right now while Daddy rocks you to sleep for the second time tonight. I hope you feel better tomorrow!
Love,
Mommy
Thursday, October 8, 2009
It's not you, it's me...
Dearest Lilah,
Hm. So it's been 7 weeks since I last posted. That would seem to indicate that you haven't done anything in that time. But that's not true. In the past 7 weeks, you have turned from seven to eight months old, and as of today, from eight to nine. You've been on the outside for exactly as long as you were on the inside (39 weeks), and I have to say, you've had a very busy 18 months!
You are SO big! I don't have your exact stats, but I know that it's a struggle for me to drag you up off the floor when you used to be just a little feather I carried around. You are mostly wearing 9-12 month clothes, though the 9 month PJs are a little short on you these days. You wear size 3 diapers by day and size 4s at night to hold ALL the pee! You still only have two teeth...I would have thought that the top two would have come in by now, but they are apparently content to leave the bottoms without a matched pair.
You're still not interested in crawling properly. You toy around with getting on your knees to go, but you're far more interested in just getting places than getting there properly, so you always collapse and quickly army crawl yourself - pushing with pink little toes - across the room faster than I could ever imagine anyone traveling that way.
You have learned how to sit back up from being on your tummy. What a shock that was! The first time I suspected you did it was last week, but at the time I thought maybe you had just not really gotten all the way down on your tummy. But yesterday I knew for sure! You were crawling all around the living room and all of a sudden, there you sat like a big girl! You looked rather proud of yourself!
You also are practicing waving. You are not consistent, but when asked "Can you wave?" and shown an example, you will curl those little fingers up and down. Sometimes you throw your hand up and make it whole-hearted. Today, you got a wink from the very nice postman when you sleepily gave him a shy grin and a little bitty wave. Yesterday in Barnes and Noble, a man looking at travel books said, "Well hello!" and you smiled your sweet smile, and he said, "Boy, they just make you feel like a million bucks, you know?" and proceeded to tell me how his boys were both teenagers and he missed sweet little baby smiles.
You make people happy. It makes me happy. It makes you happy. Happy, happy, happy.
I'm probably just being a proud mom, but I also think you say the dog's name. "Nidney! Nidney! Nidney!" it sounds like you say whenever she comes in the room. I'm not really sure that I want you to be saying her name, since you never say "Mommy." That kind of works my self-confidence.
You're eating like a champ these days. Pears, apples, bananas, honeydew, cantaloupe, grapes, spinach, sweet potato, carrots, zucchini, and butternut squash are all high on your list of favorites. What do you hate? Green beans. They make you gag. Every. Time. You. Eat. Them. I've mixed them with squash. I've mixed them with spinach. I've mixed them with pears. You do not like them. Green beans are your eggs and ham. I keep giving them to you because I made so much. How was I supposed to know you'd hate them? You ate everything with a happy face until now. So I promise: After this batch, I'll be laying off the green beans. There are too many other yummy things for you to eat for me to force you to eat something you hate.
So, my big nine month old girl, that is what you've been up to. You bring me a lot of joy, despite being into EVERYTHING these days. And I even on the nights when I'm ready for you to go to bed, I end up missing you a couple of hours later.
Thanks for still being awesome.
Love,
Mommy
Hm. So it's been 7 weeks since I last posted. That would seem to indicate that you haven't done anything in that time. But that's not true. In the past 7 weeks, you have turned from seven to eight months old, and as of today, from eight to nine. You've been on the outside for exactly as long as you were on the inside (39 weeks), and I have to say, you've had a very busy 18 months!
You are SO big! I don't have your exact stats, but I know that it's a struggle for me to drag you up off the floor when you used to be just a little feather I carried around. You are mostly wearing 9-12 month clothes, though the 9 month PJs are a little short on you these days. You wear size 3 diapers by day and size 4s at night to hold ALL the pee! You still only have two teeth...I would have thought that the top two would have come in by now, but they are apparently content to leave the bottoms without a matched pair.
You're still not interested in crawling properly. You toy around with getting on your knees to go, but you're far more interested in just getting places than getting there properly, so you always collapse and quickly army crawl yourself - pushing with pink little toes - across the room faster than I could ever imagine anyone traveling that way.
You have learned how to sit back up from being on your tummy. What a shock that was! The first time I suspected you did it was last week, but at the time I thought maybe you had just not really gotten all the way down on your tummy. But yesterday I knew for sure! You were crawling all around the living room and all of a sudden, there you sat like a big girl! You looked rather proud of yourself!
You also are practicing waving. You are not consistent, but when asked "Can you wave?" and shown an example, you will curl those little fingers up and down. Sometimes you throw your hand up and make it whole-hearted. Today, you got a wink from the very nice postman when you sleepily gave him a shy grin and a little bitty wave. Yesterday in Barnes and Noble, a man looking at travel books said, "Well hello!" and you smiled your sweet smile, and he said, "Boy, they just make you feel like a million bucks, you know?" and proceeded to tell me how his boys were both teenagers and he missed sweet little baby smiles.
You make people happy. It makes me happy. It makes you happy. Happy, happy, happy.
I'm probably just being a proud mom, but I also think you say the dog's name. "Nidney! Nidney! Nidney!" it sounds like you say whenever she comes in the room. I'm not really sure that I want you to be saying her name, since you never say "Mommy." That kind of works my self-confidence.
You're eating like a champ these days. Pears, apples, bananas, honeydew, cantaloupe, grapes, spinach, sweet potato, carrots, zucchini, and butternut squash are all high on your list of favorites. What do you hate? Green beans. They make you gag. Every. Time. You. Eat. Them. I've mixed them with squash. I've mixed them with spinach. I've mixed them with pears. You do not like them. Green beans are your eggs and ham. I keep giving them to you because I made so much. How was I supposed to know you'd hate them? You ate everything with a happy face until now. So I promise: After this batch, I'll be laying off the green beans. There are too many other yummy things for you to eat for me to force you to eat something you hate.
So, my big nine month old girl, that is what you've been up to. You bring me a lot of joy, despite being into EVERYTHING these days. And I even on the nights when I'm ready for you to go to bed, I end up missing you a couple of hours later.
Thanks for still being awesome.
Love,
Mommy
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Movin'
Dearest Lilah,
This week you've gotten a lot more mobile - in more ways than one!
First of all, you are pulling yourself around now like a little army man on a secret mission. It's funny, because few things seem to warrant troubling yourself to get to them like a good magazine, piece of newspaper, or catalog. You will stop any and all play time if you spot the glossy pages of a catalog in your midst and immediately start your rocky descent from seated position to zombie dragging ready. You usually bonk your face. You haven't quite learned how to gracefully get from "seated" to "belly," and normally just lean forward farther and farther until -bonk!- you are on your belly. But once in this position, there is no reading material that is safe from your juicy jaws.
You also like to go after anything you shouldn't have: Mommy's nail polish bottles, the carpet (which, for some reason, pulls out so badly that we've decided against ever buying a shag carpet again) and bits of fluff. Your daddy has always wanted a clear coffee table, and as soon as you're crawling for serious, I can see that for a period of a few years, we will not be able to leave magazines, books, and papers out lest they become Lilah food.
You also have this funny way of scooting on your bottom, more like bouncing, really, to get from place to place. It takes forever and is terribly inefficient, but you seem pleased by the results. This technique is used more when you think I should nurse you. Sitting up, your face is pretty much even with your breakfast, lunch, and dinner when I'm next to you on the floor, so when I am playing with you for any length of time, you eventually look at my chest so long you make yourself hungry (I imagine for me it would be like playing with someone who had a cake strapped to their midsection) and start bouncing Tigger-style over to me, hands out to grab at my shirt and "tell" me what you're after.
Another way you're mobile is that you've learned to pull up to a stand from a seated position if I hold my hands out for you to hang on to. I'm thinking that we will probably go ahead and put your crib mattress down a level tomorrow, because I am having trouble sleeping at night for fear you are going to figure out you can pull up on the edge one morning when you get tired of waiting for me to come get you and you'll just propel yourself out onto the wood floor on your head. And this would be a much higher fall onto a less rugged area than when I let you fling yourself headfirst off the sofa. :-/
Finally, you are now legal to move among the neighboring countries of The United States. We went on Thursday to apply for your passport card! This is particularly exciting to me, who did not even go on real family vacations when I was a kid. The only family vacation we ever took where we did not stay with friends of Gramma and Grandpa was to Stone Mountain in Georgia, and that was only 2.5 hours from our house. That is not really a vacation. I'm not even sure why we had to spend the night. Anyway, I thought about getting you a for real passport, but they are quite expensive, costing nearly $90 and they only last for five years. I figured that you're not going to be visiting overseas before you're five, and possibly not before you're ten, but because your daddy works so often near the Canadian border and because Aunt Janice lives right across the river from Canada, we might actually want to go there. So we opted to get the $35 passport card instead of the $85 passport for now.
Here is your little application and your cute little passport card photos:
You did SO well for the picture! They don't want you to show teeth for your passport photos anymore, so we were lucky that you never smile for a photo until after the flash goes off (fashionably late, you are!) The manager at Walgreen's said you did better than any other kid he's ever taken a passport photo for. I was oddly proud. :-)
So that's it, baby girl! You are on your way, now! Soon you'll be crawling around eating all of my scrap paper and the kitty fur tumbleweeds, and one day in the not too distant future you'll probably go "international" for the first time!
So study up on those maps and globes in your room, baby. We've got a lot of trips to plan.
Love,
Mommy
This week you've gotten a lot more mobile - in more ways than one!
First of all, you are pulling yourself around now like a little army man on a secret mission. It's funny, because few things seem to warrant troubling yourself to get to them like a good magazine, piece of newspaper, or catalog. You will stop any and all play time if you spot the glossy pages of a catalog in your midst and immediately start your rocky descent from seated position to zombie dragging ready. You usually bonk your face. You haven't quite learned how to gracefully get from "seated" to "belly," and normally just lean forward farther and farther until -bonk!- you are on your belly. But once in this position, there is no reading material that is safe from your juicy jaws.
You also like to go after anything you shouldn't have: Mommy's nail polish bottles, the carpet (which, for some reason, pulls out so badly that we've decided against ever buying a shag carpet again) and bits of fluff. Your daddy has always wanted a clear coffee table, and as soon as you're crawling for serious, I can see that for a period of a few years, we will not be able to leave magazines, books, and papers out lest they become Lilah food.
You also have this funny way of scooting on your bottom, more like bouncing, really, to get from place to place. It takes forever and is terribly inefficient, but you seem pleased by the results. This technique is used more when you think I should nurse you. Sitting up, your face is pretty much even with your breakfast, lunch, and dinner when I'm next to you on the floor, so when I am playing with you for any length of time, you eventually look at my chest so long you make yourself hungry (I imagine for me it would be like playing with someone who had a cake strapped to their midsection) and start bouncing Tigger-style over to me, hands out to grab at my shirt and "tell" me what you're after.
Another way you're mobile is that you've learned to pull up to a stand from a seated position if I hold my hands out for you to hang on to. I'm thinking that we will probably go ahead and put your crib mattress down a level tomorrow, because I am having trouble sleeping at night for fear you are going to figure out you can pull up on the edge one morning when you get tired of waiting for me to come get you and you'll just propel yourself out onto the wood floor on your head. And this would be a much higher fall onto a less rugged area than when I let you fling yourself headfirst off the sofa. :-/
Finally, you are now legal to move among the neighboring countries of The United States. We went on Thursday to apply for your passport card! This is particularly exciting to me, who did not even go on real family vacations when I was a kid. The only family vacation we ever took where we did not stay with friends of Gramma and Grandpa was to Stone Mountain in Georgia, and that was only 2.5 hours from our house. That is not really a vacation. I'm not even sure why we had to spend the night. Anyway, I thought about getting you a for real passport, but they are quite expensive, costing nearly $90 and they only last for five years. I figured that you're not going to be visiting overseas before you're five, and possibly not before you're ten, but because your daddy works so often near the Canadian border and because Aunt Janice lives right across the river from Canada, we might actually want to go there. So we opted to get the $35 passport card instead of the $85 passport for now.
Here is your little application and your cute little passport card photos:
You did SO well for the picture! They don't want you to show teeth for your passport photos anymore, so we were lucky that you never smile for a photo until after the flash goes off (fashionably late, you are!) The manager at Walgreen's said you did better than any other kid he's ever taken a passport photo for. I was oddly proud. :-)So that's it, baby girl! You are on your way, now! Soon you'll be crawling around eating all of my scrap paper and the kitty fur tumbleweeds, and one day in the not too distant future you'll probably go "international" for the first time!
So study up on those maps and globes in your room, baby. We've got a lot of trips to plan.
Love,
Mommy
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Solid
Dearest Lilah -
Today, at age 7 months and 4 days, we gave you your first taste of solid food.
We gave you Avacado.
You weren't really sure what to do with it once it was in your mouth, and you made some funny faces we didn't quite catch.
But you were definitely excited and wanted more!
I am not going to lie and say this isn't one of those sad Mommy moments for me. You're not my tiny baby anymore. You'll soon be picking up little toddler sized bits of food and eating them by yourself. In fact, you tried to help yourself to the bowl today.
I'm also selfishly going to miss breastmilk only poopie diapers. They do not smell like full-grown man poop, and I am not looking forward to those. At all. And not having to carry food around? Yeah, I enjoyed leaving your diaper bag at home 90% of the time.
But I am glad you are growing up and growing well. And this is just a part of that.
I hope you enjoyed your first bite of for really real food. It's just the tip of the iceberg. I've got all kinds of things to make and share with you!
Love,
Mommy
Today, at age 7 months and 4 days, we gave you your first taste of solid food.
We gave you Avacado.
You weren't really sure what to do with it once it was in your mouth, and you made some funny faces we didn't quite catch.
But you were definitely excited and wanted more!
I am not going to lie and say this isn't one of those sad Mommy moments for me. You're not my tiny baby anymore. You'll soon be picking up little toddler sized bits of food and eating them by yourself. In fact, you tried to help yourself to the bowl today.I'm also selfishly going to miss breastmilk only poopie diapers. They do not smell like full-grown man poop, and I am not looking forward to those. At all. And not having to carry food around? Yeah, I enjoyed leaving your diaper bag at home 90% of the time.
But I am glad you are growing up and growing well. And this is just a part of that.
I hope you enjoyed your first bite of for really real food. It's just the tip of the iceberg. I've got all kinds of things to make and share with you!
Love,
Mommy
Friday, August 7, 2009
Thank goodness I remembered.
Dearest Lilah -
Mommy has a little problem with her memory. She means well; she lies in bed at night, composing great letters for this blog to help her remember all the cool things you are doing. She wants you to be able to know when things happened, and not have to live with "Hm...I don't really remember." No, instead she'd like to say, "Go read your blog. It has everything." This is because we assume you'll be curious about everything like me. It's a fair assumption; You should see how you sit and stare at people. People who are talking to you. People who are not talking to you. People who you think might need to talk to you. Nosey. That's what you are. But curiosity must just start out looking that way when you're a baby.
Anyway.
When you ask me when was the first time you got stung, I want to be able to say it was August 1, 2009. We had gone to the Saturday market and were enjoying our time there for the first time in weeks. I had just declared defeat with the crazy coupon project I was working and we went out for breakfast and to buy some veggies and meat from our favorite farmers, Amy and Chad. You were with your daddy while he talked to Chad and all of a sudden you started to scream and cry. Chad said maybe it was because his beard was a little longer than it should be, and we kind of laughed but I was worried. You are not the type of baby to burst into screaming tears like that. And you were inconsolable. I was sad. I couldn't help but feel like that was a hurt cry...the same kind of cry you cry when you get a shot. We got you out of the carrier and I just held you myself for a little while. Sometimes mommies do that; it's not that we can really DO anything to fix the unknown problem, but we feel better just laying hands on you and feeling you to make sure you're alright ourselves. You quickly settled back down as we headed back to the car. During the walk is when we noticed the big, red welt on the base of your thumb. You had been viciously attacked by some sort of insect. The next day it was a little blister and seemed to me like an ant bite, but I can't for the world of me figure out how an ant got on your thumb when you were being carried by your daddy. I guess we'll never know exactly what manner of evil insect got you, but now we have to be extra certain to keep an eye on you if you're bitten again, just to make sure you don't have an allergic reaction. It's mostly gone down now, and you never even acted like it hurt you after the initial bite. Never tried to scratch it or acted like it itched. That makes me wonder if babies don't notice things like that, or since you all don't have a frame of reference if you just don't know that you can do anything about it so you just suffer through it. Sad, really.
You had a good first on the first, too, though. Your cousin Seph had his fifth birthday party out at an equestrian center not far from our house, so you got to ride a horse for the first time!
I wish I could have caught a picture of your face the first time you saw that horse. It was as if you thought, "THAT IS THE BIGGEST DOG I HAVE EVER SEEN!" The pony let you ride him a few steps while daddy held you. You pet his neck. You were completely entranced. It was precious. We were going to go on the hayride to the petting zoo, but it was getting near dinner time for you and so we left after your horse encounter.
In a move that might just win me "mother of the year 2009," you experienced another bad first on Monday, August 3. We have always sort of propped you in the corner of the sofa and been able to run a plate to the kitchen or put laundry from the washer to the dryer. That's what I was trying to do when I left you on the sofa that day. I had put the little half circle pillow on the outside of you so that if you fell over for some reason, you wouldn't fall off the sofa. But I couldn't shake the image of you falling off. You were just too big now. You just seemed too nosey. And then there was the dog and there was the cat and they were walking around...but off I went to the laundry room to throw some clothes from the washer to the dryer.
That's when I heard it.
*THUD*
You hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Head first, of course, because it weighs the most of anything on your tiny body. And - of course - you hit your face on the power supply to my laptop.
You were crying so hard when I picked you up and I felt terrible. I just pet your head and told you I was sorry for being an awful, neglectful mom. That I would never leave you unattended while elevated again. I pulled you off my shoulder to check you out and make sure you were ok and your mouth was all bloody. You had hit your nose and lip, and the inside of your mouth, where your lip and gum joins, was bleeding.
I wanted to die.
I made my baby bleed.
I was pretty surprised I didn't end up crying myself. I certainly felt like I should. But I didn't, and I think I didn't because when I walked away and left you pushed securely in the corner of the sofa, I KNEW you were going to fall. So mentally, I was prepared.
But that doesn't make it better.
You bled off and on the rest of the afternoon. You even woke up with a bloody sheet when you took your nap, and when you turned your face, it would hurt the tender and bruised puffy lip you sported and it would make you cry all over again.
I gave you a little Tylenol to help with the pain and let you suck on some ice to help with the pain and the swelling.
You have since fully recovered.
Your grandfather was funny; he kept telling me not to let you go to sleep because you might have a concussion. I got mad at him for saying that, but I could only be indignant because I had already asked your daddy if I should worry about you possibly having a concussion. He said if you didn't throw up you were fine.
The last first to report happened yesterday.
Another good one. Well, good to me, anyway.
At least they seem to balance out, right?
I took you to Furman to see Miss Kay, Miss Helen and Miss Karen because it was Miss Karen's birthday. We had picked her out some pretty stripey purple carnations and I had wrapped them up in pretty paper. You can't show up at a party without a gift, you know. After the party wound down, you and I stayed to chat with Miss Kay and Miss Helen. You were showing off, making your funny squishy face and starting to babble. That's when it happened.
You said "Mmmmmmmmmmmama."
My jaw hit the floor.
Miss Kay and Miss Helen started clapping and cheering for you.
I just said, "Well, you've never said that before!"
It was nice to finally get some recognition after the two months I've been listening to you say "Dadadadadadadadaddydadadadaddydadadadadaddy."
I'm still not sure you associate the sounds you make with either of us, but when we got up this morning and started to walk upstairs you said, "Dada." and I said "He's upstairs" and you said, "Mama" and I said, "I'm right here."
It was so cute.
YOU are so cute.
Many people told us that tonight as we walked around town for First Friday. One woman said that you looked like a porcelain doll and were just beautiful.
As you can imagine, this is not a horrible thing to hear. In fact, I am always open to hearing how beautiful my child is.
And so now my task is to make sure you grow up to behave as pretty as you look.
Love,
Mommy
Mommy has a little problem with her memory. She means well; she lies in bed at night, composing great letters for this blog to help her remember all the cool things you are doing. She wants you to be able to know when things happened, and not have to live with "Hm...I don't really remember." No, instead she'd like to say, "Go read your blog. It has everything." This is because we assume you'll be curious about everything like me. It's a fair assumption; You should see how you sit and stare at people. People who are talking to you. People who are not talking to you. People who you think might need to talk to you. Nosey. That's what you are. But curiosity must just start out looking that way when you're a baby.
Anyway.
When you ask me when was the first time you got stung, I want to be able to say it was August 1, 2009. We had gone to the Saturday market and were enjoying our time there for the first time in weeks. I had just declared defeat with the crazy coupon project I was working and we went out for breakfast and to buy some veggies and meat from our favorite farmers, Amy and Chad. You were with your daddy while he talked to Chad and all of a sudden you started to scream and cry. Chad said maybe it was because his beard was a little longer than it should be, and we kind of laughed but I was worried. You are not the type of baby to burst into screaming tears like that. And you were inconsolable. I was sad. I couldn't help but feel like that was a hurt cry...the same kind of cry you cry when you get a shot. We got you out of the carrier and I just held you myself for a little while. Sometimes mommies do that; it's not that we can really DO anything to fix the unknown problem, but we feel better just laying hands on you and feeling you to make sure you're alright ourselves. You quickly settled back down as we headed back to the car. During the walk is when we noticed the big, red welt on the base of your thumb. You had been viciously attacked by some sort of insect. The next day it was a little blister and seemed to me like an ant bite, but I can't for the world of me figure out how an ant got on your thumb when you were being carried by your daddy. I guess we'll never know exactly what manner of evil insect got you, but now we have to be extra certain to keep an eye on you if you're bitten again, just to make sure you don't have an allergic reaction. It's mostly gone down now, and you never even acted like it hurt you after the initial bite. Never tried to scratch it or acted like it itched. That makes me wonder if babies don't notice things like that, or since you all don't have a frame of reference if you just don't know that you can do anything about it so you just suffer through it. Sad, really.
You had a good first on the first, too, though. Your cousin Seph had his fifth birthday party out at an equestrian center not far from our house, so you got to ride a horse for the first time!
I wish I could have caught a picture of your face the first time you saw that horse. It was as if you thought, "THAT IS THE BIGGEST DOG I HAVE EVER SEEN!" The pony let you ride him a few steps while daddy held you. You pet his neck. You were completely entranced. It was precious. We were going to go on the hayride to the petting zoo, but it was getting near dinner time for you and so we left after your horse encounter. In a move that might just win me "mother of the year 2009," you experienced another bad first on Monday, August 3. We have always sort of propped you in the corner of the sofa and been able to run a plate to the kitchen or put laundry from the washer to the dryer. That's what I was trying to do when I left you on the sofa that day. I had put the little half circle pillow on the outside of you so that if you fell over for some reason, you wouldn't fall off the sofa. But I couldn't shake the image of you falling off. You were just too big now. You just seemed too nosey. And then there was the dog and there was the cat and they were walking around...but off I went to the laundry room to throw some clothes from the washer to the dryer.
That's when I heard it.
*THUD*
You hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Head first, of course, because it weighs the most of anything on your tiny body. And - of course - you hit your face on the power supply to my laptop.
You were crying so hard when I picked you up and I felt terrible. I just pet your head and told you I was sorry for being an awful, neglectful mom. That I would never leave you unattended while elevated again. I pulled you off my shoulder to check you out and make sure you were ok and your mouth was all bloody. You had hit your nose and lip, and the inside of your mouth, where your lip and gum joins, was bleeding.
I wanted to die.
I made my baby bleed.
I was pretty surprised I didn't end up crying myself. I certainly felt like I should. But I didn't, and I think I didn't because when I walked away and left you pushed securely in the corner of the sofa, I KNEW you were going to fall. So mentally, I was prepared.
But that doesn't make it better.
You bled off and on the rest of the afternoon. You even woke up with a bloody sheet when you took your nap, and when you turned your face, it would hurt the tender and bruised puffy lip you sported and it would make you cry all over again.
I gave you a little Tylenol to help with the pain and let you suck on some ice to help with the pain and the swelling.
You have since fully recovered.
Your grandfather was funny; he kept telling me not to let you go to sleep because you might have a concussion. I got mad at him for saying that, but I could only be indignant because I had already asked your daddy if I should worry about you possibly having a concussion. He said if you didn't throw up you were fine.
The last first to report happened yesterday.
Another good one. Well, good to me, anyway.
At least they seem to balance out, right?
I took you to Furman to see Miss Kay, Miss Helen and Miss Karen because it was Miss Karen's birthday. We had picked her out some pretty stripey purple carnations and I had wrapped them up in pretty paper. You can't show up at a party without a gift, you know. After the party wound down, you and I stayed to chat with Miss Kay and Miss Helen. You were showing off, making your funny squishy face and starting to babble. That's when it happened.
You said "Mmmmmmmmmmmama."
My jaw hit the floor.
Miss Kay and Miss Helen started clapping and cheering for you.
I just said, "Well, you've never said that before!"
It was nice to finally get some recognition after the two months I've been listening to you say "Dadadadadadadadaddydadadadaddydadadadadaddy."
I'm still not sure you associate the sounds you make with either of us, but when we got up this morning and started to walk upstairs you said, "Dada." and I said "He's upstairs" and you said, "Mama" and I said, "I'm right here."
It was so cute.
YOU are so cute.
Many people told us that tonight as we walked around town for First Friday. One woman said that you looked like a porcelain doll and were just beautiful.
As you can imagine, this is not a horrible thing to hear. In fact, I am always open to hearing how beautiful my child is.
And so now my task is to make sure you grow up to behave as pretty as you look.
Love,
Mommy
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