Chloë was still quite sick last night when I came home, mewling occasionally with hectic red cheeks. I got a bit alarmed when I noticed she kept opening and shutting her mouth, like she was chewing on something. Was she trying to pop her ears? Was she unable to breathe? Eric had a different theory. "I think she's working on consonants," he said. "We've heard her babbling a little. She just doesn't realize she has to do it while she's talking."
I thought this was absurd, but later in the evening when he was gone to watch our nieces (well, watch our stepsister watch our nieces) she started saying "Amamamama" and I started to think he might be right. It's a little awe-inspiring to actually watch her take a developmental step like this. She sounds so much more grown-up, so suddenly. Yes, I'm calling my baby a grown-up. Sniff.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
This message will self-destruct
"I hope they received their decoder rings."
Status report: Month 7
(Technically a day early, but I won't have time tomorrow.)
Poor Chloë is coughing and sneezing in her sleep. We've had about six weeks free of sickness, but they're at an end now. She was a little whiny this evening, but not bad--certainly not as whiny as Eric or I get when we're sick. We'll see what the morning brings, not to mention the night.
Other than the cold, she's doing very well these days. She's big and chubby and still very smiley. She hasn't figured out how to crawl yet, but she's getting close. Very close. She gets up on her hands and knees and pushes, which makes her go backward; she gets up on her hands and toes and wails because she can't figure out where to go from there. She loves to sit, and has started rocking back and forth sometimes when she does, as if she's listening to internal music. Or if somebody got her a baby iPod...or weed...and she isn't sharing.
Nighttime sleep has gotten better and better. She now goes to sleep at eight-thirty or nine, usually without an argument, and sleeps until six or seven unless she didn't eat enough before bed, or probably unless she's sick (I'm going to bed early tonight in anticipation). Naps have become much more of a struggle than they used to be, though. She mostly takes one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but only after much protest and not for very long. Saturday she had just one and it was for an hour and a half. I think she's making up for all that napping she did in her first weeks. Really, we wouldn't have minded if she didn't. She sleeps better in our arms, but only if she stays there, which can be inconvenient.
She's had wheat, squash, pineapple, strawberries, and chicken since the last time I posted a list. I feel we must have given her more new foods than that, but maybe not--we've also been trying combining foods, re-exposing her to things (Gerber 1st Foods peas bad, 2nd Foods peas good, Beechnut peas dubious), and working on increasing amounts and lumpier textures. Also, drinking. She treats her sippy cups as bottles, without realizing that she has to tip them up to get the liquid out. I put one on the tray in front of her and she lunges for it with her mouth, but she hasn't quite figured out how her hands are supposed to relate.
She's made an important discovery: she has feet! And they are yummy!
A lot of everything goes in the mouth now: credit cards, spoons, tags, her fingers, our fingers, her doll's fingers (well, hand). And what doesn't still goes in the fist. Power cords are in constant danger when she's around. We've started offering her some puffs, and she can occasionally pick one up and get it to her mouth. Or close to it. Small objects are now completely off-limits. (Not that we left marbles and pennies lying around, trusting that she was safe because she couldn't pick them up. We're not that careless.)
She continues to love the baby in the mirror, and pictures of other babies are vastly entertaining. She's laughing more, and it's often at faces--the one on the front of the baby-food book, the ones of her cousins on the refrigerator, even the author photo in a book of mine. (Books are great, too: they have nice chewable corners and pages that squeak when you rub your hands along them!) She likes people a lot, and she likes play more and more. She's our happy social little girl, and she's wonderful.
Poor Chloë is coughing and sneezing in her sleep. We've had about six weeks free of sickness, but they're at an end now. She was a little whiny this evening, but not bad--certainly not as whiny as Eric or I get when we're sick. We'll see what the morning brings, not to mention the night.
Other than the cold, she's doing very well these days. She's big and chubby and still very smiley. She hasn't figured out how to crawl yet, but she's getting close. Very close. She gets up on her hands and knees and pushes, which makes her go backward; she gets up on her hands and toes and wails because she can't figure out where to go from there. She loves to sit, and has started rocking back and forth sometimes when she does, as if she's listening to internal music. Or if somebody got her a baby iPod...or weed...and she isn't sharing.
Nighttime sleep has gotten better and better. She now goes to sleep at eight-thirty or nine, usually without an argument, and sleeps until six or seven unless she didn't eat enough before bed, or probably unless she's sick (I'm going to bed early tonight in anticipation). Naps have become much more of a struggle than they used to be, though. She mostly takes one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but only after much protest and not for very long. Saturday she had just one and it was for an hour and a half. I think she's making up for all that napping she did in her first weeks. Really, we wouldn't have minded if she didn't. She sleeps better in our arms, but only if she stays there, which can be inconvenient.
She's had wheat, squash, pineapple, strawberries, and chicken since the last time I posted a list. I feel we must have given her more new foods than that, but maybe not--we've also been trying combining foods, re-exposing her to things (Gerber 1st Foods peas bad, 2nd Foods peas good, Beechnut peas dubious), and working on increasing amounts and lumpier textures. Also, drinking. She treats her sippy cups as bottles, without realizing that she has to tip them up to get the liquid out. I put one on the tray in front of her and she lunges for it with her mouth, but she hasn't quite figured out how her hands are supposed to relate.
She's made an important discovery: she has feet! And they are yummy!
A lot of everything goes in the mouth now: credit cards, spoons, tags, her fingers, our fingers, her doll's fingers (well, hand). And what doesn't still goes in the fist. Power cords are in constant danger when she's around. We've started offering her some puffs, and she can occasionally pick one up and get it to her mouth. Or close to it. Small objects are now completely off-limits. (Not that we left marbles and pennies lying around, trusting that she was safe because she couldn't pick them up. We're not that careless.)
She continues to love the baby in the mirror, and pictures of other babies are vastly entertaining. She's laughing more, and it's often at faces--the one on the front of the baby-food book, the ones of her cousins on the refrigerator, even the author photo in a book of mine. (Books are great, too: they have nice chewable corners and pages that squeak when you rub your hands along them!) She likes people a lot, and she likes play more and more. She's our happy social little girl, and she's wonderful.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Human food
[Note: this was written on Friday but then my e-mail was broken into and I couldn't log into Blogger. If you got the e-mail and are worried, no, I'm not in London.]
When I got home from work last night Eric and Chloë came down to the kitchen to greet me. Chloë held her arms out to me, so of course I took her and held her while I put away my things. I passed her to Eric while I cut myself a piece of sourdough bread, then took her back after I'd had a bite of it. She immediately lowered her head and her mouth glommed onto a corner of the bread.
She's had wheat, so I wasn't worried about allergies, but I was a little concerned she was going to break a chunk off and choke on it. However, she still doesn't have any teeth, and she seemed to be sucking more than chomping. "Is that good?" Eric asked her. It seemed to be, because she kept sucking. Eventually a piece broke off and disappeared into her mouth, then fell out onto the floor, and I ate the rest of the bread myself, letting her suck on it every now and again. Then I had a glass of water and she wanted that, so I let her try to drink some. (I think she got a little. Her onesie and the floor got more.)
"I will make you bread!" I told her. "With bananas in it!" We went and looked up recipes for teething biscuits, and I may be trying some of those soon.
Also, the morning teacher at daycare made me fill out an application for reduced-cost meals for when Chloe starts solids. We're not going to qualify, and I'd rather send food along than have them feed her anyway, but apparently it's not just Chloë who thinks it's time she started on what Eric keeps calling "human food." I'm still kind of perplexed on how we're supposed to make the transition from nursing to solids--figuring out the proportion of nursing to solids as we go along, that is. I guess we'll just roll with how Chloë's feeling over the weeks.
When I got home from work last night Eric and Chloë came down to the kitchen to greet me. Chloë held her arms out to me, so of course I took her and held her while I put away my things. I passed her to Eric while I cut myself a piece of sourdough bread, then took her back after I'd had a bite of it. She immediately lowered her head and her mouth glommed onto a corner of the bread.
She's had wheat, so I wasn't worried about allergies, but I was a little concerned she was going to break a chunk off and choke on it. However, she still doesn't have any teeth, and she seemed to be sucking more than chomping. "Is that good?" Eric asked her. It seemed to be, because she kept sucking. Eventually a piece broke off and disappeared into her mouth, then fell out onto the floor, and I ate the rest of the bread myself, letting her suck on it every now and again. Then I had a glass of water and she wanted that, so I let her try to drink some. (I think she got a little. Her onesie and the floor got more.)
"I will make you bread!" I told her. "With bananas in it!" We went and looked up recipes for teething biscuits, and I may be trying some of those soon.
Also, the morning teacher at daycare made me fill out an application for reduced-cost meals for when Chloe starts solids. We're not going to qualify, and I'd rather send food along than have them feed her anyway, but apparently it's not just Chloë who thinks it's time she started on what Eric keeps calling "human food." I'm still kind of perplexed on how we're supposed to make the transition from nursing to solids--figuring out the proportion of nursing to solids as we go along, that is. I guess we'll just roll with how Chloë's feeling over the weeks.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Behindhand
Chloë's taken to reaching behind her head while we nurse. This has the effect of making her look like she's lounging on a beach somewhere, sunning with her hands behind her head, especially when she's got her upper leg all curled around me. (Nursing is so much nicer than it used to be.) I don't know why she does it--if it's because she feels my hand there, or has realized she has a back of her head (previously it was her ears; I worried she might have an ear infection when she started tugging them and sticking her finger sin them, but several people assured me that if she had an ear infection there would be much more screaming), or just wants to say, "Hey--I want to hold your finger."
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Travel baby
Chloë took her first long car trip today--we went to see some friends in Akron, two and a half hours away. She did okay. She played and watched the world go by for about forty-five minutes, then started to fuss, then fell asleep holding Eric's hand. She was great at Courtney and Ryan's. At first, their son appeared to be intimidated by her (witness: crying when put on the floor with her), but by the end of the visit was pulling off his shirt and drinking his juice in front of her on purpose to impress her. Or at least that was our guess.
On the way home she slept again, for a good two hours. Normally her naps are around forty-five minutes, so this was impressive. Despite that, she got to sleep with a minimum of fuss. I love our sleep schedule. I live in dread of the day it changes. Well, unless it changes so that she sleeps until my alarm goes off.
On the way home she slept again, for a good two hours. Normally her naps are around forty-five minutes, so this was impressive. Despite that, she got to sleep with a minimum of fuss. I love our sleep schedule. I live in dread of the day it changes. Well, unless it changes so that she sleeps until my alarm goes off.
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