Can you believe that my baby is 5 months old? It's insane!
The newest recommendations from the AAP is that babies should not get any solid foods until they are 6 months old. Since Donovan has food sensitivities, I figured I would wait that long. But at his 4 month, his pediatrician expressed concern with waiting until he was 6 months old. She thinks that if they wait that long then they are less likely to want solid food. She thinks you need some practice eating with practice food and see how it goes. If he takes it, then great. If he spits it out, then wait a few days and try again.
So I tried last weekend. Saturday night I took not quite a teaspoon of brown rice cereal (a serving is 3 TBSP) and mixed it with just over a tablespoon of breast milk. The first spoonful was met with some hesitation, but by the end he was grabbing at my hand. I think that mixing it with breast milk was the way to go. I didn't want to 'waste' the milk with Jocelyn, and I made her a tablespoon of cereal (which needed to be diluted at 4:1) and mixed it with water because I didn't want to give up that much milk in case she didn't like it. She didn't. But she might have if it was in breast milk. Anyway...
The point is that Donovan lapped it right up. We skipped Sunday night because we went out. But Monday night I did more of a 2:1 ratio of milk to cereal. I basically kept the milk the same at a tablespoon, and this time I added 1.5 teaspoons of cereal. Success! Again, he would grab my hand and pull the spoon to his mouth and gobble it up.
Tuesday we did 1:1. Mike fed him that night. Again, he did great. It was almost a yogurt-like consistency and, again, he gobbled it up. Yeah, this kid loves his food!
But then Tuesday night something happened. Donovan's whole body erupted into a rash! He also started up a low grade fever. And was really, really fussy. Which, of course, flips my guilt switch. Did I give too much too fast? Did I upset his system with brown rice instead of more infant-friendly white rice (which some experts blame the obesity epidemic on, so we avoid it)? I was a mess.
Wednesday was a trip to the doctor, which confirmed that he had a virus, which is what caused the rash. We were given the green light to continue with food once his fever is gone for 24 hours. Score!
So tonight we decided to try something new. Carrots. Even though I made all of Jocelyn's baby food from day 1, I decided that with Donovan I would buy the initial 'introduction' portions and then only make larger portions of things he likes and does well with. So it was Gerber Stage 1 Organic Carrots. He fought the bib, but once he saw the spoon he was all sorts of excited. He was like, 'Yeah! Rice!' He grabbed my hand, pulled the spoon into his mouth, and immediately pushed it back out. He had a look of surprise, confusion and certainly skepticism on his face. But he wasn't quitting. He pulled my hand back in and took another taste.
And after a few more little licks, a BIG SMILE. Donovan LOVED carrots. He ate the entire bowl I gave him. He then continued to eat the entire container - 2.5 ounces! He would have eaten more if I opened up the other container. HUNGRY BOY! Yeah, somebody is going to be pooping orange tonight!
In other milestone news, we are working hard on sitting up. Whenever he is lying on his back, he tries pulling his head up (well, unless he rolls to his tummy, which is his other maneuver). He's trying so hard to get that sit-up! If he is angled at all, like on my lap or in a bouncy seat, he tries even harder to sit up. If propped up, he can sit tri-pod style with his hands in front of him for a few seconds. He sat there long enough for his 5-month pictures.
Like I said, when he's not trying to sit up, he's rolling onto his tummy. From there he pushes up on his arms. It used to just be his head lifted, now it's his whole upper body. He's a big boy! He used to try crawling, but he no longer seems interested in such mobility. He might be like his sister and try to go right to walking. In fact, he loves to 'stand' while supported. He will stand in your lap any time. And if you try to pull him up to sitting from his back, he will lock out his knees and try to stand instead.
From a fine-motor skills standpoint, Donovan is really into grabbing stuff. He cuddles with stuffed animals, brings his hands together really nicely, grabs at hands, fingers, faces, and hair - my god does he love to grab hair! Oh, and he loves to grab his feet. He's not one of those foot-obsessed babies. But it's part of his bouncy-chair sit-up. He grabs at his toes and tries to pull his head / neck up.
He's a vocal little guy as well. Lots of 'talking'. He makes lots of vowel sounds and is starting to make some undefined consonant sounds. He can also blow through his lips and do a BBBBBBB sort of sound. Kind of a raspberry, but more like repeated B's.
He also still have the most jubilant laugh I have ever heard. He just thinks that everything is so funny and he's not afraid to show it. Lately it's shin flights, silly faces, dancing and talking with mommy and daddy that give him the giggles. It's awesome. Of course, when we bust out the camera, he starts paying attention to the camera and not to the thing making him laugh, so he stops laughing. Silly boy!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Jesse's Girl!
Jocelyn has been in rare form tonight. I cannot believe just how stinkin' cute that kid is!
She has figured out the concept of "I". And complete sentences. Some examples from tonight:
"I want Mommy's rice."
"I don't like this."
"I move grass." (action was pushing grass with a long stick)
"I go to doctor like Elmo."
We still watch a lot of videos on-line. Mostly Sesame Street clips, but since she is also a fan of Mr. Met we watch some Mets commercials, ESPN commercials, etc. that feature him. There's also footage from several weddings where Mr. Met is a guest, and we watch some of those. There is one that he is dancing to "Jesse's Girl." We have watched it a few times over the past few days.
Well, in the bath tonight, Jocelyn was asking me to sing her songs. Specifically she wanted to hear, "Mr. Jesse's Song." Mike's friend Jesse was in town a few weeks ago, so I thought that maybe he had sang something. I couldn't figure it out. Then it hit me. Jesse's Girl! So I started to sing it and she got super excited. Yup, that's what she was talking about. Too cute. But it gets even cuter. She started to call it, "Mr. Jesse's Girl." So when I'd stop singing it she would ask for it again. Then she busted out with:
"That's my favorite song!" and
"I love that song!"
Who is this kid? Seriously! How does she know the concept of favorite? Heck, how does she know the word favorite? And she hasn't said 'I love mommy/daddy' yet. I can't believe that her first 'love' is the song Jesse's Girl.
Speaking of singing, though, she is getting really good at it. She sings more and more of her songs. At bed time, after we have tucked her in and she starts to talk herself to sleep, she will often sing to herself. She will bust out entire lines from Old MacDonald and stuff like that. It's pretty awesome. She's also quite the song requester. She asks for me to sing Hickory Dickory Dock, Humpty Dumpty, Teapot, Diddle Diddle Dumpling and EIEIO. It's cute. How can you say no?
She has figured out the concept of "I". And complete sentences. Some examples from tonight:
"I want Mommy's rice."
"I don't like this."
"I move grass." (action was pushing grass with a long stick)
"I go to doctor like Elmo."
We still watch a lot of videos on-line. Mostly Sesame Street clips, but since she is also a fan of Mr. Met we watch some Mets commercials, ESPN commercials, etc. that feature him. There's also footage from several weddings where Mr. Met is a guest, and we watch some of those. There is one that he is dancing to "Jesse's Girl." We have watched it a few times over the past few days.
Well, in the bath tonight, Jocelyn was asking me to sing her songs. Specifically she wanted to hear, "Mr. Jesse's Song." Mike's friend Jesse was in town a few weeks ago, so I thought that maybe he had sang something. I couldn't figure it out. Then it hit me. Jesse's Girl! So I started to sing it and she got super excited. Yup, that's what she was talking about. Too cute. But it gets even cuter. She started to call it, "Mr. Jesse's Girl." So when I'd stop singing it she would ask for it again. Then she busted out with:
"That's my favorite song!" and
"I love that song!"
Who is this kid? Seriously! How does she know the concept of favorite? Heck, how does she know the word favorite? And she hasn't said 'I love mommy/daddy' yet. I can't believe that her first 'love' is the song Jesse's Girl.
Speaking of singing, though, she is getting really good at it. She sings more and more of her songs. At bed time, after we have tucked her in and she starts to talk herself to sleep, she will often sing to herself. She will bust out entire lines from Old MacDonald and stuff like that. It's pretty awesome. She's also quite the song requester. She asks for me to sing Hickory Dickory Dock, Humpty Dumpty, Teapot, Diddle Diddle Dumpling and EIEIO. It's cute. How can you say no?
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Imagination Games
Lately Jocelyn is really into imagination games. A few weeks ago I bought her a toddler / kid-sized table and chairs. And since that was built, we have played at that table a ton. We primarily color there. After a few weeks she started inviting 'friends' to join her - her favorite stuffed animals soon replaced Mommy and Daddy at the table. She would have little conversations with them, and color with them. She even has them color - by holding the crayons in their little hands and making lines / marks.
Separate from that, she is a big fan of tea parties. I got her a tea set for Christmas and taught her about pouring the tea, stirring in the sugar. It helps that I am a tea drinker and she often wants to drink actual tea with me. We always played tea party on the floor. Until now...
I recently brought her tea set over to the table to play tea party. She just ate that idea up! Now it's where we have tea parties. Sometimes she invites Mommy. Other times it's Daddy. But most of the time it's her friends. Yesterday she had one with Pooh bear and Tigger. I'm not sure why Eeyore wasn't invited. The day before that it was her lambs and Elmo. And another time it was Donovan's toys - his giraffe, his Clifford and his Snoopy (they are 3 out of only 5 animals that he 'owns', the rest are legitimately hers, and yet they are the ones she wants).
When she pours the tea, she makes a 'sssss' sound, like something pouring. And after you drink your tea, she says, "More tea!" and pours some more.
In addition to her tea parties, she also pretends to shop. She walks around with a reusable shopping bag and 'shops' for her animals and toys. If we can't find something, it's probably in her bag. She will often declare that she is going shopping with mommy. Sometimes it's for groceries. Most of the time it's for food.
I just can't believe how smart she is and how much she is learning! She counted to 5 today! I knew she knew numbers through 11, but not necessarily in order. Today, totally unprompted, she counted 1-2-3-4-5. At first I thought she was requesting the 1-2-3-4 clip on You Tube (Feist on Sesame Street). But then she got to 5 and I knew she was just counting. She may have been negotiating, since Mike told her she could watch 2 videos before daycare. Either way, we were impressed.
She knows more colors, animals, songs, words and concepts every day. She uses prepositions! She knows what the alphabet is, and can say many of the letters. She can recognize a few of them by sight. It's really amazing to watch.
We watch a LOT of Sesame Street clips on You Tube. It's GREAT! She has her favorites, which rotate quite a bit. She usually likes songs, and often with Elmo, Big Bird or Abby, but sometimes she likes the non-song clips. Right now she is really into Big Bird Visits a Farm.
She is just amazing. She is fearless, funny, smart, beautiful and simply amazing. I am so proud to be her mommy.
Separate from that, she is a big fan of tea parties. I got her a tea set for Christmas and taught her about pouring the tea, stirring in the sugar. It helps that I am a tea drinker and she often wants to drink actual tea with me. We always played tea party on the floor. Until now...
I recently brought her tea set over to the table to play tea party. She just ate that idea up! Now it's where we have tea parties. Sometimes she invites Mommy. Other times it's Daddy. But most of the time it's her friends. Yesterday she had one with Pooh bear and Tigger. I'm not sure why Eeyore wasn't invited. The day before that it was her lambs and Elmo. And another time it was Donovan's toys - his giraffe, his Clifford and his Snoopy (they are 3 out of only 5 animals that he 'owns', the rest are legitimately hers, and yet they are the ones she wants).
When she pours the tea, she makes a 'sssss' sound, like something pouring. And after you drink your tea, she says, "More tea!" and pours some more.
In addition to her tea parties, she also pretends to shop. She walks around with a reusable shopping bag and 'shops' for her animals and toys. If we can't find something, it's probably in her bag. She will often declare that she is going shopping with mommy. Sometimes it's for groceries. Most of the time it's for food.
I just can't believe how smart she is and how much she is learning! She counted to 5 today! I knew she knew numbers through 11, but not necessarily in order. Today, totally unprompted, she counted 1-2-3-4-5. At first I thought she was requesting the 1-2-3-4 clip on You Tube (Feist on Sesame Street). But then she got to 5 and I knew she was just counting. She may have been negotiating, since Mike told her she could watch 2 videos before daycare. Either way, we were impressed.
She knows more colors, animals, songs, words and concepts every day. She uses prepositions! She knows what the alphabet is, and can say many of the letters. She can recognize a few of them by sight. It's really amazing to watch.
We watch a LOT of Sesame Street clips on You Tube. It's GREAT! She has her favorites, which rotate quite a bit. She usually likes songs, and often with Elmo, Big Bird or Abby, but sometimes she likes the non-song clips. Right now she is really into Big Bird Visits a Farm.
She is just amazing. She is fearless, funny, smart, beautiful and simply amazing. I am so proud to be her mommy.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Big Girl Bed
My baby girl is 23 months old now. Which means that she is nearly 2. Which means that I am starting to push the limit of how long I can continue to call her a 'baby'. She is nearly a full grown kid. Sure, she will *always* be *my* baby. But she is becoming a big girl.
Case in point, Jocelyn has a big girl bed! Actually, she has a whole bedroom set - dresser, bed, night stand. We picked it out a few weeks ago and ordered it from Ashley Furniture. It took a few weeks to get here, but now it's here and she just loves it! When we went to the store to pick it out, I thought she would have an opinion. It was important to me to have her at the store with us to pick out what she wanted. What wound up happening is that Mike and I thought it was super cute, and she seemed to like it just fine (although, clearly enjoyed climbing in and out of it more than anything else). But it was on sale (of course, who knows what actual 'full price' is... it's all on crazy mark up and then always on sale) so we bought it.
It came in this past weekend. Unfortunately, Mike was out of town for the delivery, so I didn't want her sleeping in her new bed while Daddy wasn't around. I didn't even invite her to sleep in it. We kept the crib in her room and I just put her to bed in the crib.
And as soon as her new furniture was built and put into her room, I realized that I never did take proper nursery pictures. We have plenty of pictures of her in her room, but none of the pretty room all decked out. We do have video of it, but it may just be a blank in the baby book. We've only had 2 years to do it... that's not nearly enough time! :-P.
But Mike was back on Sunday. And guess who took a nap in her big girl bed! If you guessed Jocelyn, then you win a cookie. It was really cute. We put her in there, she laid down, and we walked out of the room. It was quiet. When we went to check on her a few minutes later, she was standing there, flipping through a book that was sitting on the bed. It was really cute, but it was nap time, so we told her to go to bed.
At night we gave her the choice - crib or big girl bed. She chose big girl bed. So I took her to her room, read her a few stories and sang her a few songs, and shut off the light. She screamed, cried and carried on - usual bed time activity. I told her that big girls don't scream and cry like that, so if she wanted to act that way she could sleep in her crib. She then requested to sleep in her crib (big backfire, Mommy!). And jumping, screaming and carrying on she did. Mike eventually checked up on her, changed her diaper, and put her back to bed. This time she wanted her big girl bed. And after he walked her for a few minutes, she told him she was ready for bed. She talked to herself for a little while, and was asleep. At night. In her big girl bed. Success!
Now, this morning, we went in to find her on her floor sleeping away. I don't know if she fell out or got out. But her feet and head were on the wrong sides. So we don't know if she thrashed around a whole bunch and fell out, or got out to play and laid down and went back to sleep.
The cute thing was that in the morning she didn't realize that she could just walk into our room. When she awoke in the morning she called out for Daddy to come and grab her. Of course, Mike had just gotten into the shower, and she didn't want me (she made it up to me by insisting that I play tea party with her all morning). She yelled and thrashed and kicked, screaming for Daddy. I eventually convinced her that we could just go see him in the shower, and even then she didn't want to walk herself. I had to pick her up and carry her. I hope she doesn't figure out her new freedom any time soon.
With the big girl bed we took the gate off of her door. It was a tough call. We don't want the cats in her room, and we don't want her to wander anywhere potentially unsafe, but we also don't want her trapped in her room (or hurting herself while trying to pull down the gate). So for now, it's down.
Anyway, my big girl is in her big girl bed. And it's awesome :-).
Case in point, Jocelyn has a big girl bed! Actually, she has a whole bedroom set - dresser, bed, night stand. We picked it out a few weeks ago and ordered it from Ashley Furniture. It took a few weeks to get here, but now it's here and she just loves it! When we went to the store to pick it out, I thought she would have an opinion. It was important to me to have her at the store with us to pick out what she wanted. What wound up happening is that Mike and I thought it was super cute, and she seemed to like it just fine (although, clearly enjoyed climbing in and out of it more than anything else). But it was on sale (of course, who knows what actual 'full price' is... it's all on crazy mark up and then always on sale) so we bought it.
It came in this past weekend. Unfortunately, Mike was out of town for the delivery, so I didn't want her sleeping in her new bed while Daddy wasn't around. I didn't even invite her to sleep in it. We kept the crib in her room and I just put her to bed in the crib.
And as soon as her new furniture was built and put into her room, I realized that I never did take proper nursery pictures. We have plenty of pictures of her in her room, but none of the pretty room all decked out. We do have video of it, but it may just be a blank in the baby book. We've only had 2 years to do it... that's not nearly enough time! :-P.
But Mike was back on Sunday. And guess who took a nap in her big girl bed! If you guessed Jocelyn, then you win a cookie. It was really cute. We put her in there, she laid down, and we walked out of the room. It was quiet. When we went to check on her a few minutes later, she was standing there, flipping through a book that was sitting on the bed. It was really cute, but it was nap time, so we told her to go to bed.
At night we gave her the choice - crib or big girl bed. She chose big girl bed. So I took her to her room, read her a few stories and sang her a few songs, and shut off the light. She screamed, cried and carried on - usual bed time activity. I told her that big girls don't scream and cry like that, so if she wanted to act that way she could sleep in her crib. She then requested to sleep in her crib (big backfire, Mommy!). And jumping, screaming and carrying on she did. Mike eventually checked up on her, changed her diaper, and put her back to bed. This time she wanted her big girl bed. And after he walked her for a few minutes, she told him she was ready for bed. She talked to herself for a little while, and was asleep. At night. In her big girl bed. Success!
Now, this morning, we went in to find her on her floor sleeping away. I don't know if she fell out or got out. But her feet and head were on the wrong sides. So we don't know if she thrashed around a whole bunch and fell out, or got out to play and laid down and went back to sleep.
The cute thing was that in the morning she didn't realize that she could just walk into our room. When she awoke in the morning she called out for Daddy to come and grab her. Of course, Mike had just gotten into the shower, and she didn't want me (she made it up to me by insisting that I play tea party with her all morning). She yelled and thrashed and kicked, screaming for Daddy. I eventually convinced her that we could just go see him in the shower, and even then she didn't want to walk herself. I had to pick her up and carry her. I hope she doesn't figure out her new freedom any time soon.
With the big girl bed we took the gate off of her door. It was a tough call. We don't want the cats in her room, and we don't want her to wander anywhere potentially unsafe, but we also don't want her trapped in her room (or hurting herself while trying to pull down the gate). So for now, it's down.
Anyway, my big girl is in her big girl bed. And it's awesome :-).
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Ready... Set...
I took Jocelyn for a swim in our pool this afternoon before dinner. We had a blast splashing around! The kid loves the pool. I'm so glad, although it's also so dangerous since she is braver than she is skilled.
She was standing on the top step in the pool when she sort of squatted. I thought she was getting ready to jump down to a lower step. Then she started shouting something that I *thought* confirmed my suspicion, but I was wrong. She yelled:
Ready...
Set...
POOP!
She then leaned into her squat a bit more and farted. Just thinking about it, even now, makes me laugh. I don't know where she learned this trick (obviously daycare, but I still find it surprising).
For the record, she didn't poop in her swimsuit. But I still scoooped her out of the pool. We went back in, but she did a grunty thing on the top step again and I figured I didn't want to chance poop in the pool, so we went inside. And, of course, she didn't have a poop all night, so I was just a mean mommy that made her stop swimming. But it was not a chance I was willing to take :-P.
She was standing on the top step in the pool when she sort of squatted. I thought she was getting ready to jump down to a lower step. Then she started shouting something that I *thought* confirmed my suspicion, but I was wrong. She yelled:
Ready...
Set...
POOP!
She then leaned into her squat a bit more and farted. Just thinking about it, even now, makes me laugh. I don't know where she learned this trick (obviously daycare, but I still find it surprising).
For the record, she didn't poop in her swimsuit. But I still scoooped her out of the pool. We went back in, but she did a grunty thing on the top step again and I figured I didn't want to chance poop in the pool, so we went inside. And, of course, she didn't have a poop all night, so I was just a mean mommy that made her stop swimming. But it was not a chance I was willing to take :-P.
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