Week 22:
She is learning that she can push off things to help her to try and move places. It isn't the most effective since she needs someone solid behind her.
Tank brings her so much joy. One morning Tank was laying on me and Bill brought her over. She would touch him and then look at Bill. She had a 'can you believe this?' look on her face. She will also get the biggest smile when she can see Tank and will try to get over to him. He's starting to let her touch him more, but still sometimes ends up getting kicked.
She was taking a nap and I startled her when I walked into her room. She looked up at me, but lowered her head back down when I told her that she could go back to sleep.
Her recent Lovevery box is her favorite so far. She was shown how to use the rotating rainbow twice and get got it down. She also loved kicked with the jingle socks on. The tissue box toy wasn't a huge hit as it is currently, but the individual pieces of fabric are a lot of fun.
The bath is becoming more and more fun. This time she was fascinated by the water from the showerhead hitting her hand. She also kept opening her mouth to try and catch some of the water. The hand towel I use to try and keep her warm was also very delicious.
We had our first encounter with her looking to us for how to react. She was sitting on her own, lost her balance and hit her head on the wooden arm of her play mat. She didn't start crying but looked at me a bit confused. I said "Oh, you bonked your head!" and laughed about it. She then smiled and started playing again.
Some strange foods I have combined recently:
• Dahi Chutney and banana
• Raita with spicy pork rinds
On our way to the cabin she decided to not eat much. I offered her a full bottle, but it was a struggle to get her to eat most of it. She then didn't want any of the bottle we made her before bed. She nursed a little, but not a lot, so no one was surprised when she was really hungry at 6am.
She thinks it's really funny when you make lip smacking noises at her. When she was done eating her first dinner on Friday she made the lip smacking noises at me and giggled when I made them back at her.
Week 23:
I feel like no one wants you about how sharp babies are. This isn't new to this week, but she's getting more curious. She grabs for people's phones more and needs to give more things the Scritch-Scratch test. She saw my open bag of popcorn and wiggled her way to it. She almost grabbed it and would have gotten popcorn everywhere while chewing on the plastic. Since she's bigger now, she's also stronger and can dig her nails in a lot more.
She is checking all the boxes for baby lead weaning:
• They can sit upright, with minimal to no support from a parent or caregiver.
• They show an interest in food.
• They can reach for objects.
• They can put things in their mouths.
• Their tongue-thrust reflex is gone or going away. (That means they don’t immediately use their tongue to spit something out of their mouth.)
We took her on a ride in the UTV. Since she's been reaching for everything, we had to take some pictures of her trying to drive. She was kicking and having fun except for the two times I didn't manage to block a small branch or vine well enough and she got whacked with them. She cried a little and we gave her Parent Kisses to make it all better. It rained a lot the day before and with the snow melt, it was very wet along the ATV trail/second driveway, so Bill was able to splash through a bunch of puddles.
When we stopped at Smiley's for ice cream she kept wanting to grab it, but didn't open her mouth when Bill wanted see if she was interested. While we were there Rapunzel and Cinderella stopped by for some ice cream.
Miss Spud had a great time both trips to the vet. When we took Tank in for his bi-yearly checkup there aren't many other animals for her to look at, but when Tank wasn't feeling good and we had to go back, there were. She got to see dogs of all different sizes. She was mesmerized by them and kept trying to lean out of her carrier.
During one of her diaper changes I noticed that she had some milkies on her neck. I used one of her Boogie Wipes to get it off. She then gave a good giggle. She has given little laughs before, but this one was bigger and more hearty.
Week 24:
She's so interested in eating big people food. Every time I moved the spoon to eat lunch on Saturday she kept opening her mouth. I let her try the handle a few times and she was getting it. I then used my frother on some of her milkies and cleaned one of her baby spoons. She did very well at eating the foam off her spoon. She would open her mouth so I could put the spoon in and sometimes she would help guide it to her mouth. A few times she blew raspberries into the foam, but that was pretty funny.
She's getting much better at rolling and pulling herself places. There have even been a few times where she has gotten herself into the crawl position, but can't hold it for more than a second. It's funny to watch her plank and army crawl around. However, now there is a lot more That's Not For Baby moments.
On Sunday we went to the Carter's clearance store since she's outgrow a lot of her PJs. She's also too big for her Newborn insert for her car seat. There were too many cute things, but we didn't go too crazy. After shopping and wondering around the Lego store we got a late lunch. At one point she tried to order herself a blood orange IPA on the tabletop tablet.
We have been looking to get her a seated activity center. We found out that the Buy Buy Baby is going out of business, so we got a good price on the. A lot of the smaller things were already gone and there were no discounts on diapers.
I put her in her activity center, but she wanted to practice army crawling around. She tried to pull herself out, but it didn't work. She then looked at me with the saddest look on her face and started crying at me. I took her out and she was instantly better.
One night Bill gave her night bottle and I was going to put her to sleep with some night milk. She arched away from me and refused to latch. I put her into her bassinet and she quietly played with her passifier and kicked for a bit. She then screeched, so I got her again. We watched someone crochet a no-sew amigurumi bear for a bit, but she was asleep before the video was done.
She is showing a lot of signs that she is teething. She has been chewing on her rubber triangle a lot, or as I call it, her Dorito. She has also added her Sophie la girafe to the list of things she really likes chewing on currently.
Because of her activity center she can practice standing and balancing without us. Some of the time she stands in her tip-toes, but she also does it flat footed.
Week 25: Katsucon
The night before we went to the con we heard about a water pipe/sprinkler that had burst in Artist Alley. On Saturday The Gaylord reported that the leak was from a kitchen pipe. The artist Hua.Xuann was the one right under the kitchen leak but Hibiscus Stitch was also affected. It sounds like a lot of people jumped in to help move things out of the way. I'm hoping they didn't lose too much due to damage.
Parking was a nightmare. One guy tried to pull into a garage towards one of the exits, even though someone was standing by the entrance saying it was full. He then tried to drive up to the cone blocking the entrance and the guy had to tell him again that the garage was full. I think this is the worst I've ever seen the parking situation to be. We ended up parking at the MGM Casino and taking the shuttle.
After the Lolita 301 panel she was chewing on my thumb and I felt a corner of a tooth! It was a front lower tooth on the right side. I tried to show Bill but she kept chewing on my thumb or sticking her tongue out.
She was a big hit with so many people, even if she wasn't in costume. She smiled at people when she was awake. She slept through about half of the Dealer's Room. I was hoping we would all run into Rachel Maksy, but I didn't see her. Miss Spud did get to see her Auntie Kat again. She instantly reached for Kat's face, which she doesn't do to everyone.
She slept so soundly. I was worried that she was just going to be overwhelmed but I think she had a lot of fun!
After a quick trip to McKay's Bookstore we went out to lunch. Since she's been doing so well at sitting up we tried putting her in a highchair. She did pretty well, she did slump over time. She got hungry but didn't give clear signs until Bill went to the bathroom and she was screaming for food. I mixed up a bottle one handed and she was a lot happier. She also liked looking at the other kids we had been sat near.
It has been a while since I have gotten some Con Crud. All I want to do is sleep. On Wednesday I decided to try and nap when she was taking her second nap of the day. Lately she has been taking her longest nap on her play mat, so I can't really leave her there alone. She stayed asleep when I transferred her and I decided to try and nap myself. She didn't wake up the second I laid down, like she has before. She fussed once, but was quiet otherwise. When I woke up she was quietly playing in her crib. She let me sleep for three hours! This is the first time I've napped when she has, and it was quite nice.
I'm not sure when it started, but she has a new habit of kicking her diaper with her right heel. She has also changed her rolling tactics from using her legs in the air to arching her back.
Week 26: 1st Part
In the mornings, Bill has been putting Miss Spud in the big bed with us so we can hang out some. She has fun trying to eat the blankets and get ahold of Tank. It's funny to hear both her and Bill making pterodactyl sounds.
At her 6 month appointment she was: 13lbs 11oz (10th percentile), 16.5in head circumference (43rd percentile), and 2ft 2.8" tall (83rd percentile)
The doctor complimented her on how strong she was and commented that we should take a picture of how well she was planking. We mentioned that she has been doing that for months now. We've heard "babies that age just don't do that yet/so well yet" so many times.
We got some feeding suggestions, so after board game night we decided to give her some Happy Baby pears. She wasn't too sure of what to make of it at first, but went along with it. She might have been more interested in eating the straps of her highchair or the paper towel, but she ate a good part of the tablespoon of food we gave her.
