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| Excuse me, Mama . . . I thought this was supposed to be about me? |
On to the the baby details! Greta seems to have changed a lot this month -- particularly in the last two weeks when we've both been off of work. I wonder how much of that is just that I spend more time with her and see more of the changes. For whatever it's worth, there are definitely some interesting points to note!
Tummy Time's Not So Bad!
Greta has always hated tummy time. Sometimes she tolerated it better than others and sometimes she fussed the second that she was placed on her belly. Often, she'd just spit up on her playmat and make a mess. I worried a lot about her motor skills and whether she was developing okay even though we couldn't do tummy time all that much. Her pediatrician wasn't worried and so we tried to not stress about it too much.
Then she suddenly started tolerating it a lot better. I got home from work one day and Ben said she'd done 5 minutes of tummy time -- I'd only ever seen her go longer than a minute maybe once or twice, and she'd usually started fussing before the one-minute mark. This was a huge shift! Ever since then, she's much happier in tummy time. She still struggles and grunts, but she will often smile and seems much more content with the struggle than she was before. It's not her favorite, but she's getting better.
Baby's First Word?
July 1 was our first day of break all together. Ben and I were sitting at the dining table and Greta was in the little seat that comes off of her swing. She was happily babbling to herself and Ben and I were each reading. All of a sudden, I heard a sweet little voice say, "Hi." I was startled and looked up at her, to see her smiling mischievously, quite pleased with herself. I looked over at Ben and sputtered, "Did you hear that?" He shrugged as if to say ain't no thang and said, "Yeah, she says hi."
It was super cool. She had babbled "hi" and "yeah" a few times before, but this was clear-as-a-bell, sounds-just-like-the-word. Even though I knew it was just babbling, I spent most of the rest of the day crouched over her, chatting with her, saying "hi" to her over and over and trying to get her to say it again and again. Sometimes she did, sometimes she didn't, but it was so fun to hear.
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| Chatty baby! |
A few days later, we traveled to Wisconsin to visit Annie, Sean and Walter. Walter, like many toddlers, also enjoys saying "hi" to people -- often greeting people not only at the beginning of a conversation, but frequently throughout it. One time, Ben, Annie and I were all talking and Walter was repeating, "Hi" to Greta, who had just finished nursing and was looking at him over my shoulder. All of a sudden, I cut Ben off mid-sentence because I noticed that not only was Walter saying, "Hi!" to Greta, but she was smiling and in her tiny voice she was saying, "Hi . . .hi . . .hi" to him as well. It was adorable!
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| It's important to count the baby's toes multiple times a day. Walter took to this task with enthusiasm. |
The jury's still out on whether it's her "first word" or not. On one hand, she definitely uses it as a greeting and a way to solicit interaction with people -- on the other hand, she isn't exactly consistent about it (sometimes she'll respond back with all kinds of other sounds, and other times she doesn't respond at all). Whether it is or it isn't, it's very fun!
Baby's First Car Accident?
This one is much less exciting and unfortunately doesn't need a question mark because it definitely wasn't in our imagination. On our way to visit the lovely Annie, Sean and Walter, we hit a deer. Nobody was hurt -- at least not of the human variety (the deer was less fortunate . . . although to be fair, s/he was the one who bolted in front of our car at the last second). Ben and I both described the impact as feeling like little more than a bad pothole, but upon pulling over and surveying the damage, we found our car to be in too bad of condition to drive away.
Sitting on the side of an unshaded, rural road in Wisconisn, miles from the nearest town, with horseflies bitting at one's ankles and a hot, sweaty baby who needs to nurse is even less fun than you might imagine. Remarkably, Greta handled it like a pro. She wasn't happy about the situation, but she was far less upset than the rest of us. Perhaps because she wasn't feeling the stress of her parents. I can't believe this sun hat is the only sun protection that my baby has. Do I take her out of the carseat and hold her out here in the sun with all the horseflies? Or do I keep her in the carseat where I can bat the flies away from her before they bite her? How hot is it in that carseat? Will she be okay as long as I keep the door open or does she need more air circulation to not overheat? Should I nurse her now so that she stays hydrated? Or will we both just get unbearably hot? How long will it take the tow truck to get here? And will there be space in the truck cab to install a car seat? Wait a minute -- does the truck even have a back seat in which to install a car seat?
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| Hangin' at the side of the road. |
Through a subsequent conversation with the insurance company, we found out that they wanted us to replace our carseat. Since the newer version of our carseat had come out, this trip ended up resulting in "baby's first seat upgrade."
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| New Carseat |
Finding Toes
Greta has "found" her toes, as they say. She enjoys hanging on them for most of the day. I don't really understand why these milestones happen this way -- why do babies suddenly not only discover that they can touch their toes, but decide they want to do it constantly? What's the evolutionary advantage of toe-touching? Babies are so weird.
It's totally cute when she does it all day long, but unfortunately, I think she tries to play with them in her sleep too. She usually sleeps in Halo sleepsacks -- the kinds that allow you to swaddle the arms while leaving the legs in just a sleeping bag environment. Recently, she's begun lifting her legs -- seemingly in her sleep -- and then drops them back down to the mattress with a big THUD. It's like she's doing reverse crunches -- she even has her arms hugged to her chest and everything. She sometimes does it over and over again, and other times she will just do it once (loudly enough to wake me up, but not herself), and then go completely silent again. I don't think it bugs her at all, but it certainly wakes us up! At least my baby will have killer abs.
Book Baby
Greta likes it when we read books to her, but she has started to show interest in a new way. We recently received an "indestructible" book as a gift. It has no words, just really nice pictures, and it's made of a Tyvex-like material that is extremely durable while also being thin and paper-like.
The first time I opened this book to show to Greta, she immediately began to reach for the pages. She hadn't shown that kind of interest with board books and I'd never positioned any of our paper books in such a way that she'd be able to grab at them. It was so cool to see her taking charge of a book like that. She loves to hold it and turn the pages. She's not quite "graceful" when it comes to that skill and I am certainly very grateful for the indestructible nature of these books, but it's so fun to watch her interact with a book in this new way.
Moving Towards Mobility
Greta hasn't rolled over yet. We've been pretty okay with that -- after all, the longer she takes to roll over, the less we have to worry about baby-proofing our house. However, in this last week, we saw the beginning stages of mobility.
Ben had put Greta on her playmat and talked to her and played with her a little before going upstairs. I was sitting at the dining room table -- eating and keeping an eye on her as she played by herself. She was mostly just doing the aforementioned leg lifts. A little while later, I looked at the clock and realized it was time for her to nurse (Greta doesn't really "cue" for her meals anymore -- we've basically got her on a schedule and unless she seems hungry earlier, we just feed her every three hours during the daytime.) I went over to pick her up and noticed that she seemed like she was in a strange place . . . kind of off to one side and, well, a bit askew. I gave her a quizzical look, which she responded to with a big smile. I went upstairs to Ben and said, "Can you come down here and tell me if this is where you left the baby?" He was a bit confused at first, but when he came down, he said, "Uh . . . no, no it's not."
He reconstructed where he must have put her down and where her head and feet had been, based on what little activities he'd been doing with her before he left. To the best of our knowledge, she'd subtly, sneakily, half-scooted-half-pivoted herself so that she'd moved her core about 3 inches and her head and feet had rotated about 30 degrees counterclockwise. She did it so subtly that to me, across the room, it looked like she was just doing leg lifts and staying in position.
Three inches may not be much, but we know that this is just the beginning. Mentally bracing ourselves for baby mobility.
Social Butterfly
I think in general, we're just finding that she's more demanding of our attention now. She is acting more like a kid than an infant. It used to be that all she needed from us was food, diaper changes, and a little help getting to sleep. Any "entertainment" was just icing on the cake -- she enjoyed it, but didn't really miss it when it was gone. In the last month or two, she's definitely become more demanding of our attention. She lets us know when she's just plain bored. She doesn't just want to play by herself as much. Now, if she is in a sociable mood, she begins fussing the moment that we stop interacting with her -- even if we're still in the exact same position. The moment we talk to her and smile at her, she will perk up and be fine -- and the moment we look back at our book, or computer or phone, she will let us know that she's displeased. Maybe this is her way of trying to limit our screen time.
Wardrobe Updates
Greta is still in size 1 diapers and they still seem to fit her pretty well. Although, at her 4 month check-up, we accidentally put a size 2 diaper on her after the weigh-in and it seemed to fit her pretty well too. So maybe we'll just use up the last of our Size 1's and then try out a Size 2 (although Size 1's are the best deal, so we're trying not to jump the gun on that change).
As far as clothing, she's solidly in 3-6 month clothing. She can still fit into some of her 0-3 month pieces, but we have enough 3-6 outfits that we're going to send all her 0-3 stuff along to Michelle and Chris (my sister and brother-in-law) for when their baby arrives in August/September. On that same note, we received a shipment of clothing from them, on loan until their baby grows into it. I love exchanging clothing like this. The box had enough adorable outfits to keep her clothed for quite awhile!
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| Greta's 4-Month Birthday photo -- sporting a summery onesie on loan from her cousin-to-be! |
The More Things Change . . .
In a lot of ways, Greta hasn't changed so much as she's just grown in her experiences and interests. For example, she's always loved light fixtures. I suppose, then, it shouldn't have been surprising that when we visited the MIA with her, she was most taken with the chandelier in one of the period rooms.
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| A new take on an old favorite. |
Similarly, her interest in standing has really taken off. If she's a bit fussy, that's my "go-to" maneuver. She always looks so pleased with the world when we do it. I love the way that she begins grinning and looking around immediately, as though to say, "Yes! A fresh perspective!"
We've been running the air conditioner pretty frequently, but earlier in the month, she continued her love of the fan.
Again, so glad this baby isn't mobile yet! She's already eager to touch the fan!
Can't wait to see what the next month brings!
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