Party of Four?

i forgot to mention that i put a bunch of the pictures from our sitting with portrait innovations on flickr.

so…it’s been a bit since i’ve updated. it turns out that chasing after a crawling baby is kind of time-consuming. the turn in the weather has allowed us the freedom to take more walks and such, so we’re spending a bit more time outside of the house. we also had a wedding to plan, assist, and attend, etc etc.

but anyway, i’m back now, and as long as she stays on the blue mat for the next few minutes, i should have enough time to bang out an update.

we had to cancel her 6 month checkup, so we don’t have 6 month stats for you. we did end up heading to the doctor three times in the past month however (faux ear infection, real stomach bug, delayed 6 month checkup) so we’ve learned that she’s gaining about a half-pound a week. at 7 months she was 16lbs 6oz and 26 inches long. that keeps her steadily in the 37th percentile for height and weight. her head circumference is 42cm, which is a bit above average but doesn’t make her look head-heavy …at least to me ;)

part of that steady weight gain is due to a full-on conversion to formula, rice, and veggies and fruits. she takes about 8 oz at a formula feeding, and more than a quarter cup of rice at those. we’re making our own baby food, which means pureeing and storing in icecubes for use later. she takes 2 “cubes” at a feeding, and often wants more. when that happens, we give her rice because i’m overly-cautious about allergic reactions to too much fruit/veggies too soon. i had them as a kid, and her reaction to tomatoes via breast milk was pretty intense when she was 5 weeks old.

her physical prowess continues to eclipse every other development path. she started pulling and creeping around 6 months and got serious about it a few weeks ago. last week, she decided that getting up on her knees instead of dragging her legs behind her was the way to go. she struggled with getting up there and staying up there, and usually collapsed back down when it was time to move. last night, she had the whole thing figured out. she rose up on her her knees and wobbled to get and test her balance. she gets a few steps now before gets impatient and drops back down to her belly. she hasn’t gone from laying to sitting up with purpose, but she has gotten very close to “accidentally” sitting up when she’s up on all fours and decides to turn. i can’t wait for the look on her face when she finds herself sitting.

her speech development is a bit behind the curve, but i keep reminding myself that’s because she’s so focused on the physical. she can laugh, but does so rarely (although more every day), and while she babbles, it’s most often a string of “ah-bah-bah-bah-bah” than “sets” of mis-matched vowels and consonants. she loves to squeal, and thinks clapping is a riot when you help her do it. if you sing (with the radio, with rockband, or just off the cuff), she’ll smile and laugh and squeal-sing along with you.

naps and food are pretty regular, too. she usually gets about 10-14 hours at night. that 14-hour stretch includes an early morning (6-7amish) snack and then a couple more hours at the end of it. daytime naps depend on when she wakes up, but she’s still picking up about 4-6 hours during the day. up for 3ish hours, down for 2. repeat until bedtime. usually it’s 2 decent sized naps, but if we get an early start, there’s a 3rd nap around 5 pm. naps are generally book-marked with food. on average she’s getting fed every 3-4 hours for 5 meals a day. some days we only manage 4 (because she’s slept through feedings), but they’re usually followed by 6 meal days (with an *early* morning one).

obligatory milestones checklist (courtesy of “what to expect”):
(per usual, only the ones not mentioned as attained in previous months are addressed here)

6 months:

• (probably) sit without support: at 6 she was a bit shaky, but a few days with the boppy behind her and she’s sitting like a champ. i can even walk away while she’s “up” without worrying she’s going to fall back and hit her head.
• (probably) razz: can do. all the time. it’s her favorite.
• (possibly) stand holding on to someone or something: she’s good with holding onto people, but holding onto things is still a bit in the future. she’ll do it for about 10-20 seconds and then collapse downwards or fall to the side.
• (possibly) object if you take a toy away: not so much with toys, but definitely with the bottle.
• (possibly) pass a cube from one hand to the other: about 3 weeks ago (6.5 months), she started doing this with purpose
• (possibly)look for a dropped object: sometimes. she’s not big on the object permanence stuff yet, which comes in handy when we need to hide the empty bottle she’s objecting to.
• (possibly) rake tiny objects with fingers: we’ve been giving her some little “puffs” to practice eating/grabbing with. she’s pretty solid at picking them up (not so much with putting in the mouth)
• (possibly) feed self cracker or other finger food: she’s still toothless, so we haven’t done much in the way of solid-er foods like that. she doesn’t really get the puffs yet. that or she doesn’t like them.
• (may even) creep or crawl: by 6 months she was starting to creep. now (7.25) she’s pretty much crawling and creeping whenever/where ever she feels like going.
• (may even) pull up to standing: not yet, but she’s started to pull on furniture and things. her arms aren’t quite strong enough. she’ll go from sitting to standing if you’ve got ahold of her arms, though. it’s more of a “push up and don’t fall over” than a “pull” skill.
• (may even) get into a sitting position: no, but ask me again in 48 hours ;)
• (may even) pick up tiny object with thumb and fingers: she likes to pluck at buttons and those little puff things. this started about 3 days ago.
• (may even) say “mama” or “dada” indiscriminately: we’re still working on saying “ma-ma” instead of “a-ma-ma-ma-ma…”.

7 months (most of the possiblies became probablies, but most of the may-evens stayed put)

• (probably) play peekaboo: not really. again, that object permanence lesson is a bit behind.
• (may even) play patty-cake or wave bye-bye: she’s started “twitching” her hand when someone is waving bye-bye at her in a very active “do what i do” fashion, so this probably isn’t too much further.
• (may even) cruise: no. (thank goodness)

(fun fact to know and tell: this single post was written around an impromptu baby bath, second breakfast (apples, rice, formula), nap time, my own shower (because it was nap time), a bit of warcraft, first lunch (6oz of formula), post-nap play time, and nap #2 and took appx 6 hours to complete)