no checkup this month, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t happening. after staring at our food while we ate for the last couple of weeks, we finally started her on solids. so far it’s going pretty rocky. she gets about 3 mouthfuls in before she gets bored/angry/etc. by the third feeding, however, she grasped the concept of “open mouth, insert spoon.” what she does with the spoon varies, however. sometimes she swallows. sometimes she gums and grimaces, and sometimes she clamps down and everything goes out the front door.

it’s a learning process this month, though, so i’m not too disheartened. it’s a bit frustrating though. she’s a quick eater, whether she’s at the breast or the bottle, so this solid-food stuff is extra tedious in comparison. we’re also about to start weaning off the breast. i was considering weaning straight from breast to solids, but i think that’s going to take quite a while. for now we’re averaging one “solid” meal and one bottle a day, and i’m not pumping out the excess. we’re not really counting the solid meal as a meal, though. i think in the next couple of weeks, that’ll move to two times a day (consciously, not “averaging”), one in the morning and one in the evening so that i don’t get overly full in the gaps.

sorry, i’m mostly thinking out loud. you didn’t come here for that, you came here for milestones, didn’t you? well, if not, too bad that’s what you’re getting now :)

• (should be) laugh out loud: this is left over from 4 months. she laughs for certain, but still very rarely. i guess we’re not funny enough?
• (should be) on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms: rolling onto her stomach in the crib brought this skill up to par within days.
• (should be) the raisin thing: still haven’t tested this. we don’t really have raisin-sized things around.
• (probably) roll over (one way): what does one way mean? she can go from back to front and front to back just fine, but is better at one direction than the other
• (probably) say “ah-goo”: has this one down, but is much, *much* more entertained by squealing and gurgling in the back of her throat.
• (may possibly) sit without support: not yet, at least not easily, but we’re focusing on that during play time.
• (may even) pull to standing: no (thank goodness)
• (may even) stand holding onto someone/thing: she likes to stand on your lap, bounce up and down, or swing her hips like she’s impersonating elvis.
• (may even) object if you try to take a toy away: i watched her do this at a shower last week. it was highly entertaining
• (may even) work to get a toy out of reach: that’s how we’re encouraging her to crawl
• (may even) pass an object from one hand to the other: she’s doing this, but not with purpose yet. usually because she brings both hands plus the object to her mouth, but i’m not sure that’s relevant.
• (may even) look for a dropped object: not quite up on object permanence yet. she *does* like to take things and drop them out of her crib/car seat/jumper/changing table, etc. it’s a fun game.
• (may even) rake tiny object with fingers: again, no tiny things, but she will pick up links that are near by
• (may even) babble: not yet. verbal skills are still far behind the gross/fine motor ones

and a new feature: Kelly’s irrational, unfounded fears for Charlotte this month:

• autism: it runs in the family and has replaced peanut allergy as the “it” topic for the media. no other reason.
• crosseyed: also silly, but occasionally when she looks at me, they look a little “off.” i had this problem as a babe, but it was eventually determined that one side of my nose was a bit thicker than the other side, and that created an illusion.

before the next monthly update we’ll have upgraded to size 3 diapers, 6-9 months clothes, and had a baptism. if i get a chance, i’ll tell you about her very first professional portrait sitting. in the mean time, check flickr for some less-professional work.

on sunday, grandpa was holding charlotte while eating a piece of gooey butter cake. without any warning, she stuck her hands straight in the pile of sugary goodness. in the ensuing hilarity and chaos, she managed to stick one cake-coated hand into her mouth. as i pulled it out, she broke into the biggest grin i’ve ever seen.

and thusly, charlotte had her very first (accidental) taste of people food.

so…she can turn over onto her stomach now. which is…sort of really not cool.

she can turn from back to stomach, you see, but not the other way around. not really anyway. which means that at night, she gets upset, arches her back, lands on her belly (often with her arm trapped under her), and gets upset. since she can’t flip back, she just pushes and fusses until she’s pressed up against the side and is furious. this has made nap times more difficult because her “so angry i’m about to pass out stage” is now the “so angry i can’t sleep” stage. plus, nervous mother that i am, i’m freaked out that she’s sleeping on her stomach/side, occasionally pressed up against the crib bars, and quite possibly sleeping on an arm in such a way as to make it fall asleep, with no real way to understand or correct any of this herself. if i roll her over, i wake her up and we start all over again.

i started resting a bit easier when i read an article about SIDS that mentioned that 2-4 months is the riskiest window, and that’s possibly linked to not being able to lift their heads well. statistically, once a baby can turn over, they’re also out of the riskiest spot. so now i don’t lie awake at night quite as much. i have started checking on her more often. i know it’s silly, but i know if i don’t i’ll just not-sleep, so i do.

nap times are our biggest challenge right now, but with a bit of coaxing and calming, we can usually pull it off. i look forward to when she can roll back over, even though i know that means crawling and other child-proofing milestones are close by.

before i start, let me say that she’s perfectly healthy and nothing’s wrong. i know that sort of spoils the ending of the story, but i’ve found that starting the story with “they thought/think something might be wrong with charlotte’s hip” means the audience is going to stop listening until you reach the punchline anyway.

so…on with the story!

at her 4 month checkup, the pediatrician noticed that one of her hips seemed “soft.” i’m not sure exactly how/what she was detecting, but a soft hip could imply that there was something wrong with her hip’s development. it didn’t seem likely that anything was wrong, given how well she could stand, kick, etc, and how non-uncomfortable she was. nonetheless, it was decided that she should get an ultrasound to check out the bone structure. at 4 months, ultrasound was still possible. if we’d waited until 6 months, she would have needed an xray to check it out, which is more invasive/risky, etc.

we spent the weekend sort of ignoring what might happen next, and worrying that everything we’d done had caused it. did we put her in the jumper too soon? am i somehow too rough with her when i change her? was all that kicking because she was uncomfortable, and not because she was super-strong? on the way to the appointment, the “what next” thoughts started creeping in. will she need a brace? a cast? surgery? will she be stick with a bum hip her entire life?

while we were getting the ultrasound, she was a perfect angel, and we started into the “she wasn’t always like this, you know” stories. when i got to the part about needing to swaddle her tightly for so long, my voice caught in my throat. was that it? i mean, there was no way we could have avoided the swaddling. we’d tried everything, struggled to get her to sleep for more than a minute at a time, except for when her legs were tightly swaddled. without, she kicked herself awake immediately.

we worried and worried until the technician said everything looked fine. we worried some more until the doctor’s office called the next day and said that everything was normal and they’d see us at 6 months.

and so charlotte had her first visit to children’s hospital and her first ultrasound and we all emerged perfectly unscathed.

oh gosh, i haven’t updated this in over a month.

…i’m not exactly sure why that is. i mean, we’ve been busy and all. we took a trip to dc to visit some friends. there was a bit of chaos at work (when isn’t there?), and then i sort of um…lost my job last week. that’s netted me both more and less free time short-term. it looks like i’m going to end up with more free-time mid-termish. there’s no immediate financial need for me to get another part-time job, and we think that being “job-less” is the best for both charlotte and me right now. when i’m not actively being a mom, i’ll have time to pursue some more personal projects and goals.

but enough about me. that’s what the other blog’s for, right?

charlotte had her 4 month checkup/shots last week. her numbers are:

• height: 24.25 inches (”average”)
• weight: 13lbs 2oz (”between 25 & 50% but closer to 50″)
• head…circumference?: 41cm (”a bit on the big side”)

no “let’s do a weight check in 2 weeks” drama, and my anxiety/irritation over the “she’s so small!” comments is calmed for now. it’s hard to hear that your child is average, or especially below average, even if it has nothing to do with ability or brain power. i know it’s silly, but i can’t help it. her cousin and her cohorts are all “winning” because she’s small. sigh. i’ll get over it.

we also had a bit of a hiccough with her checkup. everything’s perfectly fine, and i’ll put all that in a different post in the next couple of days.

so…all that’s left for this post is the other stats. I haven’t had a chance to get ahead in my “what to expect” reading, so this’ll be a surprise to me as well. i’m only going to list the things that i haven’t mentioned as accomplished in previous posts. and i’m feeling lazy today, so i’m lumping all of the “should, can probably, possibly, may even be able to…” etc together. she’s on target or ahead for everything but the arms-related stuff.

• laugh out loud: i think i’m doing her a disservice by comparing her to the paper-tearing boy. she’s certainly got a chuckle going, but it comes out rarely, still.
• on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms: she arches her back so well that she doesn’t really see the need to use her arms. arm strength/coordination is behind the rest of her physical development, certainly.
• pay attention to an object as small as a raisin: haven’t tested this, but i’m skeptical.
• roll over (one way): she can get onto her side fairly regularly, but not quite over yet. i don’t think she understands that’s the point.
• turn in the direction of a voice: definitely mine. sometimes for others, if she’s not too interested in what’s going on around her.
• say “ah-goo”: getting there. she’s mostly doing squealing, razzing, and gurgling, still.
• sit without support: not yet, but she’s doing pretty good with just a little support on a lap, in a bumbo, or in her jumper.
• object if you try to take a toy away: not a toy, but definitely a bottle/boob if she doesn’t think she was done. she’s also learned that going to her room when the lights are out means nap time, and that greatly displeases her.
• turn in the direction of a voice: i think this means “distinguishes voices from other sounds. in which case, not really i don’t think. maybe a little.