We took her playard to boardgame night. Teddy wasn't sure what to make of her on his level. She was having fun playing with her toys on her own until we fed her at the table and she realized we were doing something interesting.
She is so good at sitting on her own on the floor. She will even adjust her leg position if she is off balance when trying to reach for something or hold something in her hands now.
I put her down for her nap on Tuesday without her lunch bottle because I accidentally mixed up too much solid food and she fell asleep. She woke up and started crying. I gave her her taggy-doggy and she stopped crying. She then got her lunch bottle and slept holding onto her doggy.
She has started crawling the more traditional way, but only one or two steps, along with a new variation. She will have her left knee on the ground and use her right foot. It's a bit of a hop.
She's also getting so bouncy when she's excited. I'm glad to see her so happy, but it makes her harder to hold onto sometimes.
Before I left for knitting on Wednesday she learned how to sit up on her knees and hold on to the edge of her crib. I then played a game with her where I would either be eye level to her or lower. If I was lower I would tickle her tummy and if I was eye level I would try and get her hands by touching the back of them. She then tried to get my hands as well, or flail at my hand if I tried to get her tummy.
When I was at knitting I got a video from Bill. In the video she said Dada. It was so cute and sweet!
When I got back from knitting I went to change her diaper and she had somehow taken one bandaid partially off, ripping it, and was trying to eat it. No idea how she managed to tear most of the strip off but leave a small section still attached.
She has fallen over and bonked her head enough times that she's learning that if she throws an arm out she can help slow her fall. She doesn't always get the right angle, but it works most of the time, as long as she isn't falling backwards.
I don't know if it was a combination of a different location and a new sleeping space, but Miss Spud did not want to go to sleep our first night at the cabin this trip. We used to use her bassinet that she slept in during the night at home, but since she's too big and mobile for it anymore, we used her playard, which both use the same frame. The floor was a bit cold, but her mattress wasn't too chilly. She would lay down and start to fall asleep and then start crying and sit up. When being held she would fall asleep easily, but wouldn't stay asleep when transferred. Jim said he could hear her outside. She finally went down at 3am. We are hoping she won't repeat this.
She took her time during this trip to work on her new skills. She is crawling with her feet flat on the floor a lot of the time, or her right foot and left knee. My mom wondered if she was trying to walk like Tank does. Though if we have her in footie PJs she can't use her feet flat because she doesn't have enough traction.
While we were watching some YouTube before bed on Friday we let Miss Spud wander around the sitting area. I looked over and she was failing her crinkle book around. I looked again and she was holding onto the rung of the rocking chair with one hand and trying to eat her book with the other while standing. Her legs started shaking before too long and she started crying. I think she couldn't figure out how to get out of that position.
Week 31:
On Saturday she did not want to nap, so that meant she didn't want to go to sleep that night either. I wish I could ask her why she was getting so easily upset this trip when we wanted her to sleep. We knew she was tired because of her eye-rubs and how easily she would go to sleep when nursing. Bill tried holding her at one point and she just cried. She would be okay in the playard if she could also see us. There were also times that one of us could be holding her, but if the other walked away she would start crying. At one point we tried to partially crawl in her playard with her. When she saw we were both in there, even though we were laying with our eyes closed, she got really excited and was kneeling while bouncing and wildly waving her arms around. She looked so happy we were there.
I tried nursing her while we were both laying down in there, but she just wanted to play and smile at me when she wasn't trying to eat my chin. I finally got her down around 3:30 after nursing her on the couch again.
I know they say that babies can go through a sleep regression when trying to learn a new skill. She has really been working on saying words. She has really been liking "A-dah-dah" and she is starting to make static sounds again. She is also working on crawling, walking like Tank, and pulling herself up. She has a big to-to list. However when I see people post about their baby not wanting to sleep to learn something new they show them calmly working on it in their sleep area. Not crying and worrying.
When we would unzip the side of her playard she would crawl out so fast and press herself against us like she was worried she would never see us again.
During this trip she has also become interested in pacifiers. She was never really impressed with them before and was good at spitting them out. Now that she is more coordinated and chewing on more things she can hold the passifier and chew on it.
A few years ago one of our neighbors organized a block party. I don't remember why we didn't go, but they had another on this Sunday. Since I've seen at least one other family with a baby, I thought we should go. I ended up having a lot more fun than I thought I would and Miss Spud was a hit. I'm hoping that she and the other baby we saw and the one we heard about will become neighborhood friends. It's nice to be able to walk down the street and hang out with your friends.
I was nervous that her becoming scared at night would become a habit, but she went down on the first try the night we got home.
Sometimes when we are trying to hold her she will try and kneel on our stomach and bounce. It is very cute and she is having a great time, but it sure makes it hard to hold onto her.
I came back from bottling the pumped milk to find her standing in her crib. She needed to use the sides to help her balance, but she has gotten her feet under her and pushed up on her own.
We went to Bourbon Boulevard for our Anniversary and Miss Spud got bits of all of our food. She liked the bread and butter starter. She really liked the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the pasta that also came with it, but mostly the cheese. She likes the broccolini that I ordered, but wasn't sure about the steak.
Week 32:
I used to find her laying in a random direction when I went to wake her in the morning. Lately she had been laying with her head facing the corner of her crib that can see out the doorway the best.
She is really good at crawling and I love how she smacks the floor when she does it. She is starting to use things to try and pull herself up. She is also getting better at petting Tank in a gentle way.
We thought that the time we went over to my parents' house to do taxes where she cried every time she saw my dad would be a one time thing. However, when we went back to finish our taxes she started crying again when she would look at him. We gave her some wafers and that helped.
The touchscreen aspect of Bill's tablet doesn't work, so one morning he let Miss Spud play on it while he was watching something on YouTube. She was smacking it, leaning on it. She tried to pick at the guy's face on the screen. She was determined. When none of those other things worked, she tried adding her feet into the mix.
It is so funny to watch her chase after Tank. She is getting better at sitting and turning around because of it. Tank will walk in, you will hear Miss Spud slapping the floor to crawl to him, Tank will then just walk back out. She will sit down to see what direction he went in before turning around to follow him out. They both go up and down the hallway to some extent a few times.
She has started singing a lot of her baby babble. It is so sweet to hear her say in a sing-song voice "ah-dah-da-da" or "ah-wheh."
She will look at Tank and giggle at him. The rest of us have to blow raspberries on her tummy or tickle her to get anything close to what Tank gets for just existing near her.
She is getting coordinated enough that I can put her down on the Boppy and she can roll herself over and latch. So different from when I had to shove it into her mouth or she would miss.
Bill was out of town for the work week and tried video calling us. He made funny faces and blew raspberries but Miss Spud just looked at the phone with a blank expression. I don't think she understood that Bill was talking through the phone in real time.
If her Boppy is between her and a toy she wants she will lean on it while putting her feet flat on the floor. She then leans way forward until she slides over the Boppy and will then wiggle until the rest of her body slides over the bump.
During her full bath she has really gotten into the idea of enjoying them. She sat herself up and was holding onto the bar so she could splash. When I was washing her back she grabbed the shower head and was spraying her other hand with it. She even held onto the bar at one point so she could kick her legs back and forth without falling over. She also found the plug to her tub and figured out how to let all the water out.
At knit night Fara asked if we had gotten her any puffs or if she wasn't good enough with her fine motor skills for them yet. I decided to buy some sweet potato puffs and give them to her before her lunch the next day. She picked them up with no troubles and figured out how to shove them into her mouth. She would hold it halfway down her pointer and middle finger with her thumb stabilizing it. Then she would lick her hand while opening her fingers to get the puff out. They are a big hit. By the end of her snack she was able to pick them up with just her pointer finger and thumb pretty consistently.
I caught her leaning over the railing on her crib, so I decided that we couldn't wait for Bill to get home to lower her mattress. I was worried that it was going to be tricky with one person, but it was really easy to do. Miss Spud supervised me while I was doing it, so I know I did it correctly.
I saw her laying on the floor like she does when she's asleep. I was worried that she fell asleep for the night on the floor so I crawled over to see if her eyes were shut. She was looking at Tank, who was loafing on the floor. I then got the biggest smile and a snuggle from her. I gave her the rest of her night bottle before she actually went to sleep.
Week 33:
We went to the wedding of one of Bill's co-workers. Miss Spud got to spend some quality time with her Funkle Mickey. She has been having more troubles getting down for her nap because of her FOMO. I had hoped that she wouldn't give him too much of a hard time. I had hoped she would be asleep when we left, but she had other plans. She only wanted to contact sleep and would get mad if put in her crib. She also needed help going down for the night.
She is getting really good at pulling herself up onto things. This means that a lot of the baby proofing we have gotten done isn't doing as much as it once was. She will go after anything she can reach. I got her a pillow backpack because she kept falling backwards and hitting her head.
Her FOMO is getting worse. She tries to keep from napping because she is worried that she will miss something. If it gets to be too late, I will let her get a snuggle nap so she will get one.
At one point both she and Tank were playing with a ribbon. She was giggling so much. She is laughing more and more easily.
Week 34:
When we were grocery shopping for the trip she managed to turn herself completely around and almost fall through one leg hole. The seatbelt held her up. We had to keep a better eye on her because she did that when Bill and I were picking out a few foods for her, which wasn't very long.
At some point she started really sucking on her lower lip. She will also alternate between raspberries with her tongue in and out.
Our baby-lead baby proofing is an almost all day activity. She has learned that she can hold herself up with one hand and reach things with the other. She is also getting better at standing on her toes to lean and reach things on tables or book shelves.
We tried giving her some Arrabbiata sauce. She wiggled her arms up and down on either side of her for the first bite. However, the second bite must have been spicier because she fussed and wiped at her mouth. I gave her some cheese to help after Bill wiped her down to keep her from getting it into her eyes. The mini meatballs were a big hit and she ate two of them.
She is getting so good at side stepping while holding herself up by the edge of her crib. She will also take a few steps if you hold her hands. To get her clothes changed I have started having her stand in her crib. If I try anything else she will try and crawl away.
Banging on things is a lot more fun when you can reach more. She will bang in my Chupa Chups collectable tin and the metal lampshade of a small lamp we have unplugged on the floor.
It's taken many falls, but she is learning how to plop herself back down onto her butt instead of just falling when she wants to go from standing to crawling.
The doctor suggested giving her some crab dip to see if she had a shellfish allergy. Wegmans claimed to have some in their Ready To Eat section, but I couldn't find it. We just ended up getting her some crab meat. She liked it and has been getting some every day to make sure she isn't allergic.
The Internet warned that if you let them have some of your food you will never have Your Burrito or Your Apple ever again and it will become Our Burrito or Our Apple. She looks at us expectedly when we eat in front of her. If we give her puffs or teething wafers she's usually happy, but she still side eyes our food. I made sausages and spicy noodles for dinner and I gave her a few small chunks of my sausage. She kept going over to Bill for some of his food, but we knew the spicy noodles would be too much for her currently.
