Midnight mobile time is becoming more and more frequent. Bill only recently learned about them when she was being super fussy one night. He also got to learn about the dip and rock. It's where you rock her back and forth, but also add a partial squat in the middle.
She likes feeling things with her feet while trying to chew on her hands. She puts her feet on a surface and then wiggles her toes, gripping and letting go. Her feet are also a lot of fun for her to watch.
She has also started holding things more. Most of the time we still have to prompt her to do it, but she will sometimes grab something on her own. She still likes licking things.
For her first Halloween I dressed her as Miss Potato Head. The mouth is based off of a photo of her mouth, and all the pieces are removable. I sewed the felt layers together and then attached them to some diaper Velcro I cut off some old diapers. The size 1 has more holding power, but some of the thread I used was a little too thick and they didn't stick as well as I had hoped. They worked out just fine though. It would have worked better if I had put a felt patch on the front of her onesie.
On the way to Odeh's wedding we had an interesting trip. I lost and found my insert pad, lost my crochet hook in the truck, Miss Spud had a blow out, and we were stopped in traffic due to a semi which had caught fire. It was put out by the time we passed it, but they were still spraying it with water to make sure everything was out. I hope the driver was able to get out alright. I can also now say I've changed her diaper while we were caught in bad traffic while still being in the car.
She got to meet her grandma from Bill's side. She was a bit fussy at times, but the restaurant we went to was pretty busy to look at. I think she had a good time and will give her Ohio Grandma a smile next time we are up this way.
Week 10:
Before the wedding we went to Kenmore Komics. There is just something nice about the smell of a comic book shop. The owner said that the comic game is still strong, but Kickstarter has made it hard for brick and mortar stores from making much off of games. Now she has been to a comic book store.
The wedding was a lot of fun. We forgot her headphones, so I had to hold her head during the zaffe. The catering company works only with the venue and we had someone who used to work with them at our table. They served the food school cafeteria lunch style and had two lines that met in the middle. She was very well behaved and only fussed a few times when she was hungry or it got too loud.
In the morning I had her on the bed trying to get a pump in before the after-wedding brunch. She wiggled over to me and started trying to latch on my thigh. When it didn't make food she got frustrated.
She had fun hitting her stuffed link toy on the way home for a short time. She spent most of the trip asleep, but we got her to eat also. That night she was feeling very fussy and wanted to be held. She also had to be rocked to sleep and wouldn't calmly lay on her own.
It is so much fun to watch her learn. She will watch her hands and feet sometimes and she's learning that she can control them to some extent. She also is getting more of the pieces towards crawling under her belt. She is getting better at lifting her head and shoulders with her arms under her, but she can't lift off yet. She can lift her butt by using her shins, and she can kick to try and move, but not both at the same time. She has gotten herself rolled onto her stomach and can sometimes figure out how to get back.
We went to vote as a family and then went out for breakfast foods. I remember doing that with my parents, so I hope we can keep the tradition going. She got a Future Voter sticker. It also let us get out of the house while our siding was being replaced. Tank wasn't a fan of the strange sounds, but Miss Spud was unimpressed.
We got our siding replaced because of some hail damage. None of us were happy when they were hammering on the room we were in, so at one point we all hung out in the living room. When they were packing up to leave, Miss Spud could hear them talking and she kept unlatching to try and look out the window to see them. She likes people watching.
I definitely tortured her by accident. She had a frontal blowout, which was a first. I took off her dirty onesie, changed her diaper, and put her down to clean off her onesie. Once I had it mostly washed out and soaking I went back to get her into some pajamas. She was mostly drifting off to sleep so I hoped it would go smoothly. However, with my hands usually being a bit cold and the cold water making it worse, I jolted her awake when I picked her up. I had tried to warm my hand before, but it apparently wasn't enough. She screeched and I felt so bad. I quickly got her into something warm and rocked her until she calmed down. Bill somehow slept through all of it, even though he was in the same room when she yelled.
Week 11
She is starting to babble more. It is fun when she wants to have a conversation, though they are still very short at this point.
She has started to try and fit both her fist and her passifier into her mouth at the same time. She is also more consistently opening her mouth if she wants the passifier when we show it to her.
So far in her life she has met both of her Grandmas and one Grandpa, gone to two bars, attended two weddings, experienced most of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live shadow cast, been on a road trip, been to a few restaurants, and "helped" daddy at the home improvement store.
She has gnawed on my thumb a few times now. She licks, sucks, and chomps long the length of my thumb. Then she gnaws on her fist, to compare the flavors.
She is starting to have more "stealth" poops. When she was little her brain didn't realize that you can't just squeeze all of your muscles to poop, so she was "pushing against a closed door" as the doctor put it. She is learning to pull her legs up and isn't crying when trying to poop.
She got to meet her second cousin, Melody. They are about five weeks apart in age. While we were there, Melly also liked to stick out her tongue and stare at lights. When we were getting pictures of them together I got them both to smile by telling them that they were doing a good job. It is very interesting to see how they are very similar in size at this point. Miss Spud's head is bigger than Melly's and weighs more, but when sitting next to each other, they are similar in height. We are going to have two tall girls.
I hadn't noticed until I saw a younger baby, but Miss Spud is doing the newborn scrunch less and less. I'm going to miss the scrunch because it makes them so easy to cuddle. Mark also liked our idea of putting a piddle pad on the changing area. Less clean up if it gets messy. I had seen the idea used for their bed, in case there's an accident in the middle of the night, but it works for any place that might get messy randomly.
She has started to fiddle with things and feel textures. She touches my bracelets and even managed to put my smartwatch into airplane mode.
I keep trying to get her to nurse with us being stomach to stomach, but she doesn't want that. When I lay her on the Boppy she will turn her head to the side and start mouthing the air. Unless I hold her in the position, she will usually wiggle until she is on her back again after I roll her in towards me.
She has been giving us huge smiles for a bit now, but now she is trying to make them bigger. She hasn't figured out laughing, so the way she tries to show her joy past a huge smile has been to just open her mouth as big as it will go. It is so funny to watch her do it.
Lately she had found it funny when I pretend to take a bite out of her arm, or pretend to eat her fingers. Both Bill and I can get a smile out of her if we squish her cheeks. Bill can get one if he boops her nose.
She is also becoming more comfortable entertaining herself. There are times where she is fine to wiggle and look around at her surroundings. She still likes it when we play together, like moving her high contrast ball, spinning her mobile, or tickling her chest.
Week 12
We went to Texas Roadhouse and she was having a fun time watching the people go by. She was also eyeing the rolls and drooling. She has been drooling more in general lately. Eventually she fell asleep.
She has been adding a few new "words" to her baby babble. She is also "talking" with us more. Since her head is becoming a bit more stable we can hold her sitting upright on our lap and she will smile and babble with us.
She is starting her "scritch scratch" phase. She likes things with new textures and more things are going into her mouth, if she can. She feels and scratches at the side of her bassinet, grabs fingers, holds onto bracelets, and will grab shirts sometimes. When eating she will sometimes hold onto the top seam of my bra.
We got her 3-6 month box from Lovevery. It came with a baby safe mirror that we could put on the top of her play mat arche. She has been having fun looking at the "other baby." Her latest box will also help her learn object permanence with a ball and a pocket. She will be able to see us out the ball into the pocket and pull it out. She will be able to do the same.
I have been getting really big smiles out of her if I push her leg back and blow raspberries at her. Some people might find fart jokes to be a low form of humor, but we roll with it in our house.
A few times I've tried to put her down after her midnight feeding and she has resisted sleep. Every time she does I either tell her that I promise that no one will do anything fun until she wakes up. The only thing she will miss is hearing some snoring. I also tell her that if I want to do anything fun, I will wait until she wakes up. I've also told her that Dreamland misses her and that she should go to sleep so she can visit it. I know she doesn't understand words yet, but maybe if I start now they will be familiar for when she does.
When she senses that we are going to get a picture of her smiling she becomes very serious. Once we move our phone out of the way, she will smile again. Bill's coworker told him that this is normal.
