Babyness

Dear Pea,
You are such a delicious baby these days! Of course, duh,  you've been a baby this whole time, but now we're really in the 'what you think of as a baby' stage: you are crawling but not walking, you babble incessantly but aren't talking, you're tasting food, but not eating meals. You still love to be held/carried/worn and are just at the beginning stages of wanting to do things yourself (eating being the big one). You laugh every day, at being tickled, at being thrown in the air, at having your hair and teeth brushed.  You've also started laughing in reaction to other people, not just your own stimulation.  Basically, when Daddy makes a silly face or funny noise (I'm not nearly as funny, but everyone knows that).

But you're growing more and more aware of your body and it's abilities.  Changing your diaper these days is like wrestling a slippery fish.  Luckily your marathon poops have decreased to once or twice a day, so I'm not constantly wrestling a poopy fish.  But as soon as the diaper comes off, you roll over into crawl position.  Sometimes you pull yourself up to standing, sometimes to sitting, other times you just try to crawl off the table (yikes).  It is very difficult to diaper a moving target.  You find this funny, and, honestly, most of the time I do, too.  I've learned to allocate a lot of time to each diaper change and if we're not rushing out of the house, it's fine. And even if we are rushing, I've learned it's okay to be late. 

You also are less and less inclined to sit still for anything.

 Here I am, trying to take a cute picture of you and your BFF and you're not interested.

And here you're hosting a cocktail party. 

That's okay, Sweet Pea. I love that you'd rather you explore all of your surroundings and play with your friends than sit still. You are already such an adventurer.

First Spinning class

Dear Pea,
Since you were 10 weeks old, I've been teaching Spinning classes.  I started teaching early in the morning while you were still asleep and have added more and more.  Sometimes you hang out with Daddy while I teach. Once a week, you got to the YMCA babysitting.  Which you usually enjoy, or at least tolerate.  But not today. You have *four* teeth coming in, almost breaking the surface but not quite. You had a very busy weekend with shortened or missing naps.  You didn't want to go to babysitting when I had to teach.  So, halfway through, you came to class. You wore neon pink headphones to protect your ears. You stared at all of the people pedaling furiously, giving each person the once over.  And then, once you got used to the black light, the fact that sweaty mama was yelling at these people and they wanted her to, and the music, you started cheering them on.  You chattered encouragements and, after class, clapped for them.  It was so sweet.

I eat dried mango after Spinning and a couple of weeks ago you decided to eat some, too. You love it-we both walk home from the gym munching on the tough sweets.  Today, two people (mamas themselves) stopped me on the street to tell me how great dried mango is for teething babies. So, there you go, Sweet Pea, you sure do know what's up!

Finally food!

Dear Pea,
Finally, in the past week, you are eating solid food.  Two, sometimes three meals a day. Carrots, yogurt, broccoli (still a favorite), avocado, dried mango (big favorite!), cheese...In India, many people are vegetarians.  Some have little choice in the matter, at least at first as that's how their families eat, but some children, though born to meat-eating parents, refuse meat right away and are considered innate veggies and respected as such.  As one of the principles of API states, we strive to feed you with love and respect. And though I strongly believe that a vegetarian diet isn't the optimal one, if you had innately been an herbivore, I would have respected that.  No need to worry.  You love meat.  Chicken especially, but beef is good, too.  Salmon? Yum.  You really aren't into eggs so much, but everything else is full speed ahead.  A few nights ago, I shredded a bunch of leftover chicken for chicken salad for me. I added mayo and spicy dijon mustard and figured I'd give you a taste.  You must have eaten a least a tablespoon, one fingertip full from me at a time.  Delicious.

 oatmeal

In conjunction with your new found affinity for solid food, you have started standing up by yourself.  Usually you pull yourself up using a table, chair, wall or your parents legs and then let go, standing wide legged and grinning for a few seconds before plopping down on your tush.  A few times you've stood up from a squat position in the middle of the floor.  Most of the time you applaud for yourself while standing untethered; it's ridiculously cute. Clapping has become another favorite activity and you tend to do it at correct moments.  When you've accomplished some feat of strength or cleverness or when someone else has.  Or, lately on weekends, when someone on the TV scores a touchdown.

clapping while talking to Bobob

And, finally, extreme validation for your parents: you have been a champion of independence. When I take you to any open play space, you immediately crawl away from me towards the middle of the room. You will happily chew on a ball and watch the other kids and adults without so much as a second glance in my direction.  In music class, while all the other babies stay close to their parents, you cross the room to the good stuff: the lovely singer and her guitar.

FLIRT

Dear Pea,
You are a wicked flirt. We knew this, it's been clear since you became aware of other people.  But today's behavior really brought it home: you and I went to Yizkor services with friends from our childbirth class: the mama, daddy and your little buddy.  You were quite taken with your bud's daddy.  Seriously.  At first, every time he would look at you, you would nestle into my chest and flash him a smile.  You'd look away, then look back, smile and snuggle me. Okay, cute, then we all went about our praying business. But you weren't that interested in praying, you were interested in him. So you tapped his shoulder to get his attention. He'd look at you, you'd do the flirt smile nuzzle routine and then hit him again when he looked back at his siddur. I had to take you out of the sanctuary to let him enjoy the service.

A few weeks ago you were sick.  So sick that I called the doctor in tears three days in a row. By the third day, Monday, we went to the doctor and got a prescription.  You had been miserable for three days, rallying when necessary, but so upset when we changed your diaper or looked at the diaper rash.  When we left the doctor's office, you were in a rage-you had just been examined, you were tired and you were sick.  But as soon as we got to the pharmacy, you smiled up at that pharmacist and were in great spirits. Between the staff and the men in line behind us, you were suddenly feeling much better.

You like men, sweet pea.  Men in their twenties, thirties, sixties, you don't care.  You will smile at any man who smiles at you.  Women, meh, once in a while.  Of the three flight attendants on our flight home, you were gaga for the male.  OY

Here's your flirting smile.  Irresistible and you know it!

Clapping and climbing

Dear Pea,
We just got home from an 8 day trip to visit all of your Seattle family and friends. You again impressed us with your affinity for travel, your easy transition to west coast time and your willingness to fly.  You are a much better traveler than your daddy.

While in Seattle, we went to Rosh Hashana and Shabbat services.  You loved the music, the other kids and the grape juice. We also hosted a Mabon Goddess Circle to celebrate the Equinox.  You enjoyed this, too, though mostly because your big almost 5 year old cousin was there to play with you.  Wow, do you love your cousins.  All of them.  You flap your arms and start squawking when you see them, you smile and flirt with them and you happily crawl after them.  Not that they were ever very far away from you-you tend to be the center of attention at all times. 

Over the long week, you tackled crawling up stairs with no problem.  

You enjoyed a mellow playground where you could sit and watch other kids and we could move to the swings and leave our diaper bag within eye sight but not arms' reach.  

You spent some special time with some special people and even, eventually, got used to riding in the car seat. 

You started clapping and it's now your favorite thing to do.  You clap when you're excited, you clap when you see someone you're happy to see, you clap when we clap...You also started getting a bit more interested in food over the past week and have eaten a slightly larger quantity than before. Maybe two bites of food go in your belly now.  You enjoyed the salmon roe that Uncle Rossy got especially for you, the bright orange eggs and the little salty pop you got in your mouth. 

It was a sad trip, too. It was the one year anniversary of your Spirit Grandma's passing away and we said goodbye to Uncle Rossy for a long time.  Your happy spirit and enjoyment of all the people around you helped lighten the mood a lot. We are all so much in love with you, Sweet Pea. You bring joy to so many people, even strangers on the airplane can't resist your delicious smile and your happy clapping.

Crawling, Cruising and Connecticut

Dear Pea,
You are eight months old!  You are now an adept crawler, not doing any of the weird bear crawls or one legged push offs that so many of your comrades do.  You crawl very civilized, on hands and knees and not too quickly. You have also taken to cruising: you pull yourself up to standing on the coffee table and walk around it, hand to hand and foot to foot.  You like to see what's on the table and taste everything before flinging it to the ground.  Sometimes you will try to hold onto a found treasure and cruise at the same time and get a bit puzzled.  Not frustrated, though-you're so delighted with your new found mobility that nothing about it deters you.  You fall, you run out of table, you get stuck under the table...no matter. Everything is a thrill.

Last weekend we went to visit my grandma's brother in Connecticut.  WOW, did you love the country, city baby!  There were chipmunks and birds and so much green...it was lovely.  Your great great uncle has an adorable house with a stream that he dammed this summer and we floated on the water in a raft.  You kept trying to go swimming, trailing your fingertips along the surface, delighted with the cool water and the water bugs.  We ate all our meals outside and slept to the sound of cicadas and crickets.  And no one got any tick bites! Huge success.

 dining al fresco

 Daddy is making a silly face at you

 

  You want to go swimming!

Pea PJs! Our favorite!

SO many milestones!

Dear Pea,
What a week!! You have progressed in leaps and bounds! Today was the day I have been waiting for for so long: you crawled!  Hooray! You were sitting right in the middle of the living room and decided that the iPod charging cord was far too yummy to be far away from your mouth, so you crawled the six or seven paces it took to get it into your mouth.  Success! Delicious!

Yesterday you started pulling yourself up on the coffee table unassisted multiple times in a row.  Instead of using Daddy's hands or my knee to propel you or steady you, you're 100% lats and delts and quads.  Strong girl!

You are chattering up a storm, saying what we've decided is your official first word "UP!" You pull yourself to standing and declare yourself "UP!" You sit on the floor and look up at us and request "UP!" You are in our arms and happily remind us that you are "UP UP UP." Beyond cute.

And lastly, I've noticed a lot more movement in your hands.  We're starting to sign more and your hands are ready for the sign language.  Your fingers tighten into a ball and release, you wiggle your fingers, you wave. As I said, what a week!

AND, along with these developments, you are sick! Such an awful cold! Four nights ago you woke up every 90 minutes, screaming.  It was the worst night we've had since you were born, which made Daddy and I appreciate how great of a sleeper you are normally.  But not since then. It was terrifying because we didn't know what was wrong at first, though it became clear fairly quickly that you were incredibly congested.  So we took a steam together at 2am. And again at 4:30.  You quickly fell back to sleep each time after an upright snuggle or steam or bounce, but Daddy and I lay awake, worrying. The next day, you were stuffed up but in very good spirits. And it has continued to be that way.  Your awake hours are spent cheerful and active, occasionally punctuated by coughing fits or very snotty sneezes.  The coughing fits are scary and I took you to the doctor who listened to your lungs and looked in your ears and said it's just a cold, it will run it's course, keep up the steam and lots of fluids.  So that's what we've been doing.  Four or five steams a day, many many offers of boobie (while singing "milk") and trying to help you nap as much as possible. The past few nights have been tough, but not terrible.  Maybe two or three screaming fits in the night, usually the first one around 9pm, which doesn't even wake us up. And you go back to sleep after a snuggle, a bounce and some milk.  Here's hoping for a speedy recovery and a healthy happy baby.

 not too sick to enjoy some chocolate bar wrapping!