Reading Rainbow

One of the things I looked forward to the most about having a baby was reading together. I pictured a little one snuggled up next to me as we re-read some of my childhood favorites and explored new children's books together. When Emily was very little - only a few weeks old - she would fall asleep while I read to her. But now, despite my persistent attempts, she screams and squirms every time I try to hold her on my lap and read a book to her. Last week we went to the children's section of our local library, and Emily had a blast playing with the toys scattered on the floor while I looked around at the thousands of books they had available. Soon, Emily came and found me and very selectively pulled three books off the shelf I was perusing. Her choices were a small hardback about a young duckling named Gossie, a Dr. Seuss classic entitled Yertle the Turtle, and a colorful selection called Heaven is Having You. She happily played with her books (okay, she tried to eat them) all the way home. Still, this seems like progress to me!

Eight months old!

Peanut,

At first, I didn't believe the people who told me that your babyhood would fly by; that I would find myself a little wistful for how small you used to be.  But now, that's exactly what I'm doing.  And this is how people get tricked into having more babies.  They remember the smell of a newborn, how cute the first smile is, how adorable the tiny fingers and toes are - not the screaming, the dirty diapers - did I mention the screaming?  But I digress.   This has been the month of mobility.  You began to crawl the day after you turned seven months old, and you haven't looked back since.  It's been great, because you are getting much better about entertaining yourself, but you also get into everything!  See exhibit A:

In addition to being able to get around the house, you can also pull yourself up onto almost anything.  In fact, I think you'd be an excellent rock climber, though I'll never let you do something so dangerous.  See exhibit B:

We joined the YMCA this month, and it's been good for both of us so far.  You get to play with your little friends, and I get an hour to myself to work out and take a shower that lasts longer than 3.7 minutes.  You also really enjoy the pool there, and splash around in the shallow end watching with wonder as other kids run and swim all around you.  Your dad and I often wonder what sports you will enjoy as you get older.  One of your dad's very favorite things to do is play basketball, and I must admit that you are showing some early signs of interest in the sport.  Last week I captured your very first dunk on camera!  See exhibit C:

You've also started sticking your tongue out a LOT this month, which I think is a sign of concentration.  This is also something your daddy does when he concentrates.  In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I saw you both doing it at the same time and it made me smile inside.  See exhibit D:

Peanut, you are growing into such a lively, animated, adventurous, and truly adorable child.  You are so full of life, and it's so much fun to see you grow and learn every day.  You can frustrate me by not napping or being unusually fussy, but you can melt my heart (and everyone else's) with a single adorable smile.

Love,

Mommy

You can lead a horse to water...

Emily has never been a good napper.  From the time she was an infant until now, she has always, always preferred to sleep at night rather than during the day.  Most of time, I am thankful for this, as I too prefer to sleep at night.  But there was a period last week where I thought we were getting somewhere.  She wouldn't go to sleep right away for her naps, but she'd play happily enough in her crib, rattling the bars and talking to herself until she fell peacefully asleep.  For the past few days, though, it's been back to square one.  Or, more accurately, back to a LOT of protesting - loud protesting.  I've tried everything: putting her down earlier than usual (in case she's overtired when I try later), putting her down later than usual (in case she hasn't been tired enough) and even though she gives me all the signs of a tired kid including increased fussiness, yawning, and rubbing of the eyes she still cries for up to 25 minutes before falling asleep.  It just breaks my heart to listen to her, but I've learned the hard way that trying to soothe her only makes it worse.  I guess she just needs to unwind in her own way.  I just wish her way didn't cause me so much stress!

Flower Power

Most people living in West Michigan have made a trip to Meijer Gardens at one time or another, and this family is no exception.  When my mom visited last weekend, we made another visit, and Emily had a blast looking at all of the colorful flowers, trees, shrubs, and bushes.  She was a bit disgruntled that we wouldn't let her touch or stuff all of these things into her mouth, but when we supplied her with a bag of croutons left over from lunch, she was happy as a clam.  Here are a few of my favorite shots:

Playing

On Saturday night, we had our friends Noah, Megan, and Jonah over for dinner.  Jonah is 16 months old, and it was fun to watch Emily and Jonah interact together.  He came over again this morning to play, and I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of them together.

Jonah is also quite the computer wizard, as this photo shows.

It was quite the challenge to entertain both of them at once this morning, and even though they were both pretty well behaved, it makes me thankful that we only have one sweet girl for the time being!

Crawling!

When Sarah said Emily was close to crawling, she wasn't kidding.  Just two days after writing those words, Emily took off across the living room, and hasn't looked back.  It didn't take her long to realize that not only can she crawl a few feet to get to her toys, but she can crawl all over the house too.  Here she is showing off her new skill with Sarah and Oscar.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/1502279]

Seven Months Old!

Peanut,

You are now seven months old, and as busy and squirmy as ever.  You are trying to learn so many new things that you can hardly sit still long enough for your parents to catch their collective breath.  But, your go get 'em attitude seems to be paying off in terms of your physical development.  You are SO close to crawling that I'm beginning to think often about baby proofing the house.  You get on your hands and knees and rock back and forth with an excited gleam in your eyes, but when that doesn't work, you get back on your tummy and flail your limbs in the desperate hope that it will magically move you across the room.

A few days ago I was helping a friend babysit, and there was a little boy there only a couple of months older than you are.  He was able to pull himself up and stand, and I told you to take notes.  I don't think anything you have done to this point in your life surprised me more than when you actually copied him and were standing on your own a few moments later.  Who knew you could do that?  But, you really enjoy standing now and are quite good at it.  Even if you fall backwards and sit down, if I laugh and smile at you, you seem to think it was funny and rarely get scared.

You're still not very good at playing by yourself, and have a remarkable knack for knowing when your daddy or I sneak out of the room after we've supplied you with an armful of toys.  You start to search for us almost instantly - how did you know we left?!  We thought we were so sneaky...

You continue to enjoy eating solid foods of all varieties except for things green in color.  Although, your daddy did get you to eat oatmeal with peas the other morning.  I can't believe he would try that, but he swears you ate it.  At your six month well baby check up, you were a healthy 16 pounds 4 ounces (putting you right around the 50th percentile) and 26 and 3/4 inches long (85th percentile).   Also, you make the cutest face after you swallow a spoonful of food.  So cute, in fact, that sometimes I continue to feed you just to see you make the face!

You've been enjoying the stroller more lately, for which I'm thankful.  My shoulders were getting quite sore toting you around in the baby bjorn, though sometimes we still use it in the evening when you are so cranky that even a nice stroll won't calm you down.  We also used the baby backpack we purchased for the first time last week as we hiked along the Plaster Creek trail after church.

Thanks for another wonderful month.  There definitely are days when you try my patience (like those two days in a row when you decided that naps are optional) but I'm trying to enjoy them all.  After all, you'll only be seven months old once!

Love,

Mommy