New word

So, we have "ball" on record as the first one, though it doesn't come into play very often. And a very clear, if very long, Dada (dadadadadaaa). And the occasional Mama (when she needs something). And she usually gestures and say something resembling "that." Which I take to mean either she wants "that" or she's wondering what it's called. Of course, she understands much more than she says.

Well, anyway, yesterday, E. was peering at me across the coffee table, where she was holding on, when she saw a container of Cheerios I'd removed from the diaper bag. Enunciating very clearly, she pointed at them and said, "Good." I'd heard this sound from her before but wasn't sure it was a word until that moment. And what a word--good, meaning yummy, I want some, please give it to me and so forth. R's comment was, "Very biblical of her."

Future Psycho on the Swings?

I've never taken it as a good sign when a child consistently has no expression on her face. For example, today at the playground, two girls around 8 or 9, definitely sisters and probably twins, were hogging the two baby swings. There was at least one of three regular swings available. I asked them to let me have one for E. They complied but then started twisting their baby swing and hanging on it. I requested that they stop so they didn't hit her. They did and one climbed into the swing and demanded that her sister push her. Then she made her twist the swing and let go and the whole time her face was expressionless. No sense of "whee, this is fun," nothing. And no recognition that she was doing what I'd asked her not to.

Her sister asked for a turn and she refused, said her turn wasn't long enough, the regular kid stuff. Clearly she was the dominant twin or sister because the other girl said nothing, just kept doing what she was told.

Later, when we were leaving the playground, I saw the same (dominant) sister stalking pigeons. It was creepy enough that I stood there for a few minutes, ignoring E's complaints. She had a stick or a thick piece of bark in her hand and she was slowly walking up behind the birds and throwing her missile at them. I couldn't tell if she hit any of them--they kept flying away--but she continued to follow them around the playground, again with no expression on her face. I looked around to see if her parent or anyone else was watching but I didn't see anyone. And I didn't see her sister either. She came close enough that I was able to ask, "Is your mom here? Does she know that you're throwing things at birds?"

She responded, "I like to chase them."

I said, "But you're not chasing them, are you? You're throwing things at them." She didn't say anything.

Now I am not a lover of pigeons. And I know they are disgusting birds. I saw a little kid running around, actually chasing pigeons and being delighted to see them fly away. But this girl was creepy and old enough to know better. If it had just been her annoying behavior on the swing, I would probably not have thought about her for another second. But add the pigeon stuff and I have to wonder--is she a future criminal psychopath?

The Year in Pictures

While looking through pictures to make this slideshow I realized that I don't remember what it was like holding E. before she could hold her head up. I saw pictures of R. holding her on his forearm and it seemed so strange. I'll post some birthday pictures later but for now, here's her first year, month by month.

Recent Developments

Since my last post, E. has started crawling! Not very fast but she does get on all fours and go places, rather than scooting around on her bum. She also has spent at least one nap time sitting up and playing in her crib instead of sleeping. I thought these new skills were supposed to make her more tired!

She's also become a bit more persnickety about her food. I made some delicious pear zucchini soup the other day (sounds strange, maybe but it's delicious). We had it for lunch and she liked the first few bites but then refused to eat it from the spoon. Refused to the point of flinging the full spoon off the high chair. So, I put some pieces of bread in the soup and she happily ate those herself, very messily. I then got the bright idea to clean up her mess while she was eating and she leaned over and grabbed my hair with her soupy fingers!

I think I'm learning from all of this that I can't get too comfortable with any one way of doing things because soon enough she'll change on me. The reverse is also true--if I don't like how things are going, I just need to wait a bit and they'll change by necessity. For example, when E. was first born, I had trouble cooking because she always needed to eat or be held or changed or something. Later, she was happy to be in the swing while I cooked. But then that didn't work so I had to have her on the kitchen floor. Next, she would only stay in her high chair while I cooked. Now, she's liable to wreck havoc wherever I put her in the kitchen so I'm not sure how to cook. But I guess that will change too at some point.

Bits of Summer

I've been meaning to upload some summer photos but I realized I don't have that many! Note to self--must take more pictures!

Anyway, here's one of Emalyn early in the summer in my old wagon in Stockbridge. She seemed to enjoy being pulled around the driveway, though she kept trying to grab for the wheels.

In other news, she's getting three top teeth at once. She got her first two on the bottom at 5 months and it seems like it's taken 5 more months for these ones to appear. Strangely enough, only one of them is a front tooth--the other two are the incisors next to the front teeth. Snaggletooth!

Also, we've been doing some more swimming. We joined an informal Mommy/Baby swim class at our local pool. She liked it after a while but her first reaction was tears. I think the water was too cold.

We also went to the young children's story hour at the library. Emalyn stared at all the other kids/toddlers and waved her crayons around, tasting them surreptitiously.

Right now she's in bed, hopefully lying down. While she's still not officially crawling, she does like to get into the position. In her crib she especially likes to roll onto her tummy and push herself up so she's sitting. I'm a little afraid that this will be detrimental to nap times but she does seem to get tired and lie back down. Must resist temptation to go check!

Video Update

There is sound. I was just uploading them on R's computer and he had the sound turned off. As E kept saying yesterday, "Doi, doi, doy."

Corn on the Cob

A few weeks ago, I introduced E. to corn.  I was having it on the cob and I cut off some pieces for her to eat.  For some reason, I never thought to just give her the cob.  So when we were having some again with some friends and one of them suggested giving it to her, I thought, "Why didn't I think of that?"  The cooked kernels aren't a choking hazard and she'd have to work pretty hard with her 2.5 teeth to get anything off but she likes chomping on things.  Here she is trying it out in her own unique way:

It's a little dark because we had candles, low overhead lighting, and there was a thunderstorm (what a surprise) outside.

More Swimmy Videos

Once E. got used to the coldness of the water, I put her in the baby float.  And that was the best thing ever!  She kicked like crazy and was really excited.

In this video, I really wish there was some sound (and that you could see her face) because E. was cracking up and squealing.  She thought it was so funny to see my face down in the water when I was treading water.  You can see how excited she was by the way she leaned way over and flapped her arms and bounced.

First Swim

One of R's students hosted us this weekend on Long Island while R was in a plein air painting event.  E and I enjoyed their pool and in this video (no audio, sorry) you can see her flapping around in the water for the first time.  For some reason I keep making a strange squinty face, so please ignore me!

Who is this Hooligan?

A few days ago, I was talking to a woman on the subway with her 3 year old. (I always talk to people now, thanks to E.). Anyway, she made a comment along the lines of, "Well, at least she's out of the blob stage now."

I didn't really say anything in response but in my head I was thinking, "I kinda liked the blob stage!" E's not fully out of it (i.e. crawling and getting into everything) but she definitely seems to have become a different baby all of a sudden. No more setting her down in her gym and expecting her to be happy automatically. I have to be armed with toys and other distractions and then maybe she'll consider it. And, what's worse, she seems to be exhibiting all the signs of becoming a baby hooligan.

Exhibit A: Caught in the Act (kindly ignore Mom trying to sleep). Not sure what she's doing, maybe just plotting her mischief.

Now for some written evidence.

Yesterday, when I turned my back for just a second to get her a toy, she grabbed for the cat. Now, Ariel was asking for it by sitting just on the edge of E's blanket but still. And she responded as you would expect--with that aggressive paw move that doesn't connect but if it does, it couldn't be her fault.

And the other night, while eating her green beans, which she normally tolerates and/or sings about, E. flung a handful on the wall. How she managed to get a handful is another story. She's now started eating like a piglet. Mommy feeds her with a spoon and she responds by pushing some out of her mouth onto the edge of the high chair tray and chawing on it like it's her trough.

In a previous post, I showed E. eating books. Well, that has risen to a whole new level. She can not be trusted with any written material within grabbing range. At the doctor's, she tried to grab her chart off the desk. (Which makes me think the crying on the table was just a plea for paper). And, she tried to take her lovely doctor's pens and other medical instruments. At church, she's decided that the bulletins were designed for her to crumple and chew. Paper pulp can be created in the blink of an eye.

Finally, she now bites. And without warning. She bats those eyelashes, pulls your finger, or arm, or nose into her mouth and sinks those two little teeth in. Yowza!

To close, here's a final picture of the little bruiser:

Doctor's Visit

Tuesday was E's 6 month doctor's appointment.  She seems to have figured out a lot about going to the doctor.  She now cries when she goes on the table scale--she knows she doesn't like to be naked on a table.  The nurse had the nerve to ask if she sees many people when we're at home, as if E. was dealing with stranger anxiety rather than doctor visit anxiety!  She sees tons of people and little kids at my mommies' group, at the homeschool co-op, at church, on the subway, etc.  

Also, she can deal with the doctor examining her in my lap but once she has to go on the table, she cries again.  It's just unsettling, I guess.  But she doesn't seem to mind her doctor holding her.

The most interesting thing to me is that she seems to remember the shots from last time.  They always give her the oral vaccine first and in the past she has just gulped it down.  This time, she started crying when she got it.  Then she calmed down a bit until the nurse wiped her leg with the alcohol pad.  She really started screaming and my guess is that she knew what was coming next.  She didn't try to squirm away but the shot was not a surprise to her like it's been in the past.  

She had a flu shot this time and it didn't seem to affect her at first.  But then Wednesday afternoon, right before I had to leave for tutoring, I noticed that she felt a little warm and her cheeks were pinker than usual.  Sure enough, she had a fever.  At first I thought I should stay home but then I got all the doctor info and the medicine together and left it for R. and he handled it very well.  E. did also, except that she didn't want to eat unless she could put the spoon in her mouth herself.  What a time to decide she needed to feed herself!  

Tasty Developments

While she's tasted them a few times when I'm cleaning her up, today was the first time E. tasted her toes on her own.  She can't hold them up to her mouth for very long and it only seems to work when she's pantless but she does seem to enjoy taking a lick of those cute little toes!  She's tried yanking on her socks a bit and chewing on them as well but they don't seem to satisfy her and she's more likely to fuss if there's no real toe action.

Also, she just grabbed my cheeks (payback for all the times I grab hers?) and held on pretty hard.  Then, since my face was trapped, she tasted my nose!

How Far is a Foot?

To most of us, not that far.  A mere 12 inches.  But watching E. tonight, it seemed like a foot was a mile!  She was having "tummy time" on my bed, crowing away, when all of a sudden she laid her head down and started pushing her butt up in the air with her legs.  I thought it was really funny at first and then I realized she was moving.  Probably a centimeter or two at a time.  But somehow, by doing the butt-push, she managed to make her head and the rest of her body move forward.  Keep in mind that she hasn't rolled over yet and can only sit upright with the judicious help of pillows.  

I wanted to see how far she would get so I eyed a vertical line on the sheet on Rob's side of the bed.  Her head was in the middle of the bed so that was about a foot away.  She kept scooting slowing and then I decided to give her a more visible sign of her goal.  So, I put my hand on the line and thumped it on the mattress.  She thumped her hands back and kept going.  After a few more minutes, she was much closer and was able to touch my hand with hers, by stretching out her arm.  But that didn't seem good enough for her because she kept at it.  She kept putting her head down and pushing hard with her legs to get that heavy diaper bum in the air.  

Finally, the top of her head touched my fingers and in one more scoot, she was able to put my finger in her mouth.  That was her reward.  And my reward, besides mommy pride?  A bite mark from her new tooth!  Mommyhood is filled with mixed blessings, I'm learning.

Reading and Eating

So I've been having lots of fun pureeing food recently.  I started with squash (acorn and butternut).  Yesterday was sweet potato.  She's also been eating banana but that doesn't require a food processor.  There hasn't been anything so far that E. doesn't eat but then she loves anything that goes in her mouth, even the liquid vitamins.  

I've also been enjoying reading Babybug and some board books to her.  She usually flaps her arms at the pages but this time she combined her love of books with her love for food!

Excuses

Ok, so I know I haven't kept my resolution yet but I do have some excuses.  I'm going to explain in alliteration.

Travel:  unexpected trip to New Orleans followed just recently by a planned trip to Pittsburgh to introduce E. to my grandparents.

Tough cough:  E. had her first cold and we went to the doctor's an extra time just to make sure she was fine.  She is and the cough is now gone.

Teaching & tutoring:  getting back into the swing of things has definitely taken up some time.

Teething:  this didn't keep me from blogging but it's a T and it's the newest thing E.'s doing.  I can feel (Rob felt it first) the edge of the tooth and I think it explains why she's waking up in the night when she wasn't before.