Sunday, July 6, 2008
7 and 8 months
Dearest Claire Bear,You are 8 and a half months old and you continue to make me laugh and smile so hard that my cheeks ache. You find joy in the simplest things - a cat walking by, a butterfly flitting around outside the window, Mommy or Daddy when we walk into the room, playing peek-a-boo, being tickled on your ribs. You have quite the vocal range now, not only volume - it DEFINITELY goes to 11 when it comes to you - but in consonants. You can say, "ya, ya," "wuh," "huh," "kee," "bah," "mah mah," "dah," "pah," and all sorts of other gibberish that is quite cute to hear.
It's funny how quickly you go through phases. A few weeks ago you were testing out all that you could do with your tongue and you'd stick it out and wiggle it side to side. You did this every day for a week or two, but now you've moved on and I miss it.
We gave you your first finger foods last week (o shaped cereal). You pretty much had the pincer grasp down, using your thumb and index finger to pick up the cereal, but it took a day (only a day, though!) to master getting it from your hand to your mouth. I think the sound of you gumming food is the most adorable thing in the world. I even video taped you chewing just so that I'd remember what a new accomplishment it was. Your diet consists of mama's milk (this is still going well and you expect it as part of your bedtime ritual, but you have bitten me a few times when you get playful or bored and I don't like that too much, so please don't do that anymore, okay?), broccoli, peaches, pears, apples, oatmeal, rice cereal, Purely O's, squash, prunes, potatoes, and bananas. We're going to try yogurt today and move on to steamed chard (from the farm) and perhaps try asparagus too. You newest habit (which, hopefully, will be short-lived like the tongue wiggling) is to spit food back out at us when we feed you. You blow raspberries when you aren't eating, but it's loads more fun when you have food in your mouth and can make Mommy and Daddy react, huh? We try our hardest not to react to broccoli chunks being sprayed all over us (why am I always wearing white pants when I feed you?), but it's hard. We know we should just end meal time when you do it, but we don't want you to starve (ha, ha), so we try the distraction technique instead which works fairly well.
So far you like everything we give you which is good because apparently your Daddy was really picky as a child and I don't want you to follow suit. I don't think you will, though, because you seem to enjoy your "numah numah" very much - you even tried to eat a blueberry when we went and picked some from the farm last weekend. Speaking of the farm, I just took some pictures of you this morning in our produce basket that we use to get our fresh veggies in each week. I thought you were an adorable pumpkin sitting in that basket.
You have two bottom teeth and they are sticking out more every day. I'm convinced you're going to sprout some more, though, because the drool factor has really kicked it up a notch lately. Hopefully the next ones will be easier on you.
Your newest accomplishment is rolling over. Just like that you decided you knew how to roll from your tummy to your back. I guess this isn't surprising given how much you hate being on your belly, but what is surprising is how quickly you mastered the skill. Daddy called me at work last week and told me you did it in front of him for the first time and when I got home that afternoon you did it for me three more times! It's adorable. You turn your head to the side, laying it onto the floor, and then you kick your little foot to flip the rest of your body over onto your back. Yesterday morning you did the opposite in front of me for the first time - you rolled from your back to your belly and proceeded to do it all day long. It's amazing, Claire. Amazing how fast you're growing and developing right before our eyes. Next thing I know, you're going to be crawling all over the house and getting into trouble! I better baby proof this place pronto.
I love you, Pookie. You will always be my sun, moon, and my stars.
Love,
Mama |
