Monday, September 29, 2008

I wrote all this stuff down...

and thought I ought to keep it here, where I'm putting the stuff for you. I love you, Zadie.


I can't believe it, but she's six months old! She had a checkup, and the doctor said to go ahead and go nuts with the solids, because she's ready. The doc commented again on her freakin' awesome head control. She's about a month away from getting teeth. She is finally at the 50th percentile for weight, yay!! Since her reflux seems to be mostly under control, we can stop thickening her formula.

I've given her bananas, avocados, sweet potato, and butternut squash. She seems to like everything. Yesterday at sushi she ate avocado off chopsticks very successfully.

She keeps trying to crawl. She can get anywhere she wants by army crawling, but she can't quite keep her ass off the ground and work her legs at the same time.

She likes her jumper, her swing, the cat, books, and eating paper. She has learned to blow raspberries and discovered that it makes me laugh when she does it with a mouthful of avocado, so she does it all the time.

She's obsessed with ears -- grabbing them and looking inside. She is really good at holding things and picking up small objects.

She babbles a lot now, and I hear lots of consonants -- b, v, r, l, d, g, and w. She wanders around here going "ah ba ra da da guh bala..." Her Boompah (my stepdad) always engages in conversation with her, so as soon as she sees him, she starts in.

She would really enjoy breaking the stereo. She turns it on and hits eject, and then tries to bang on the CD tray. Usually I can get to her before the banging begins.

She smiles when you smile at her. She laughs when you say "yay" or "ah" or blow raspberries on her stomach. She loves when you take her hands and make her clap.

She has just this week figured out waving. She doesn't do it consistently, but if you wave at her long enough, she'll open and close her hand.

No matter what you're eating, if you wave it toward her face, she'll open wide, expectant.

She can pull herself to standing on the arm of the couch, and is working on using her vibro-chair for the same purpose.

The other night as she was falling asleep, she closed her eyes, said "ba ba da da," then her eyes flew open and she leapt toward and latched onto my boob.

She will crawl across a room at breakneck speed just to chew on your big toe.

She thinks it's funny to roll over fifteen times during one diaper change.

And that is my girl at six months old.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Almost six months

Hey darling. You're half-asleep on my lap after a rough day. You're teething, I think, and didn't nap hardly at all, which has made for a fussy baby. This has been an exciting month of firsts. You tried butternut squash for the first time last week and seemed to like it (you ate a lot!), and today you ate about a third of a banana. You are quite mobile and can get all around the house by crawling. You have discovered the stereo and turn it on every chance you get. You also seem to go for the power cords as often as you can. We're constantly pulling you away from dangerous things.

You love to laugh, and I can count on you to laugh when I lift you in the air and bounce you, when I say "Yay!" to you, make faces... apparently your Boompah can always make you laugh, too. You love playing Pat-a-cake with Grandma. You just learned how to blow raspberries, and practice every day. You are finally big enough for your Jumperoo, and you like being in it and bouncing your little tush off. You fall asleep when we carry you on walks most of the time. Last weekend we went to the AIDS walk and everyone fussed over you, then you slept for about half the walk. You love grabbing your daddy's nose, and when you're in a better mood, you nap with him. He sings you songs every morning and turns all your books into melodies.

You are getting so big! You have suddenly outgrown about half your clothes. The pile of things that no longer fit you grows every day, and the clothes that were huge on you just last month now fit you just right. You are a good eater, and I hope at your doctor's appointment we find that you have gained lots of weight. I suspect we will.

Grandma has been taking care of you during the day when Dad and I are at work. You two have been having lots of fun, going to Tupelo in the mornings for coffee, taking long walks, going to Grandma's house to see Boompah... It works very nicely. Sometimes I come home and Grandma and Dad are talking and you are crawling around, and it's just the sweetest scene on earth. It's so nice to come home to.

Well, I suppose that's about it. I can't believe almost half a year has passed since you came into my life. What a wonderful half a year. Thank you for it.

I love you enormously,
Mom

Monday, September 1, 2008

5 months

Dear Zadie,

What an amazing young thing you are turning out to be. Everyone who sees you comments on how strong you are, how alert, how intense... The sushi chef the other day said you looked like you could hypnotize people with your eyes.

You started staring at our water glasses and reaching for them, so we started giving you little sips. You LOVE it, and would keep drinking for five minutes straight if we didn't take the glass away.

You've learned to crawl! Well, it's not the four-limbed crawl yet, more of an army crawl with just your arms and a little push of your toes -- your tummy stays on the floor -- but it's getting there. More and more often you're lifting yourself into an all-fours position and rocking back and forth like you might go somewhere.

You're finally big enough for your jumper and high chair, and you're quickly outgrowing your Bumbo seat and vibrating chair. I've also got a pile of clothing you outgrew all of a sudden.

Tomorrow you get to start hanging out with Grandma during the day while I go back to work. I think that will be fun for you. Grandma loves to sing you songs, play pat-a-cake, and take walks with you. I hope you'll be a good napper for her.

You now turn and look when we say "where's Mommy?" or "where's Daddy?" I am totally jazzed about that.

Your grandpa made you the most beautiful stained glass with water lilies and koi. It's a little heavy, so he's making a frame for it before we hang it back up.

The funniest thing you do is something that isn't appropriate to get on video, so I'll have to describe it for posterity. When we lay down to take a nap, I usually have my shirt off. Sometimes you want to play instead of sleep, or sometimes you wake up ready to play. When you do, you climb on me, your hands on my tummy and feet on the bed. You stretch and bounce your legs like you're trying to jump over me, but then you'll catch a glimpse of my breast and pounce on it like a baby tiger. You'll nurse for just a second, then go back to playing, then nurse, play, nurse, play... Your latest nursing "thing" has been that you like to come at my breast from the top for some reason. The other day your dad came in to find you fast asleep on your tummy, but with your head against the middle of my chest and your mouth firmly latched on. It did not look comfortable. You'll also latch from anywhere -- sideways, upside-down... Your dad likes to tease me, because when you were first born I was afraid you'd never learn to latch, and now you're like the latch queen!

It's so exciting to see you grow. I love your chubby thighs and your round bootie.

I hope you won't miss me too much while I go back to work, but I know I'll miss you tons.

Love and kisses,
Mom