Banner day

Wow, you're amazing. You started off the day by sucking on your toe for the first time. Then you tried to climb onto the counter at Grandma's house. You said "hi" to the cat. When Boompah said "Bye," you said "Bah." Later you said "Mom," and Grandma turned to you and started to say "Gosh, it sounded just like you said 'Mom...'" when she realized you were staring at a picture of me. And then you crawled all the way across the couch on your hands and knees, the first time you've ever crawled like that. Apparently you just had a developmental leap today! Congratulations, and thanks for adding "Mom" to your vocabulary. You have no idea how happy it makes me.

Almost 7 months

This weekend you'll be seven months old.

We're still nursing, which is kind of amazing, since I went back to work and Grandma takes care of you all day. You got two teeth on the same day, and I think you have a top tooth coming now. You definitely say "hi" now, even though it sort of sounds like huh-iy. You also say "du! du!" when you see your toy duck. And you say "da da" a lot, although it's not always about Dad. You've also made your first sign, for water. When you see the sprinkler and Grandma says "water" and makes the water sign, you definitely try to emulate it.

You are standing up every chance you get, and you've even sidled along the coffee table in a sort of walking fashion. It's very slow and plodding, but you get around! You can turn around and take one hand off whatever you're holding onto. You like to crawl around and follow Daddy and the cat. You get VERY excited to see us when we come home, and you very clearly wave hello and goodbye.

You have been eating more solid foods -- you had some un-mushed rice today, and some diced pears this week, too. We've given you a chunk of apple to gnaw on and you enjoyed that. You LOVE oatmeal, avocado, spinach, sweet potato, applesauce, and peas.

You make all sorts of silly faces and noises. You sniff, snort, growl, fake cough, and squeal.

That's about all for now.

I love you more than you could imagine,

Mom

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.

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

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

Hiya Zadie-pop!

Well, you're just over 4 months old now. You've finally started gaining weight at a rate that makes me (and the doctor) less nervous.

You're getting really good with your hands; you can grab our noses, our glasses, my hair... In fact, you grab at almost anything within reach. You can (and do) suck your thumb and fingers whenever you want.

Going out to dinner with you has become a little more challenging, because instead of sleeping happily in the sling, you want to sit on my lap and grab at my plate, my fork, my water glass. I don't know what you think you're going to do with a glass (or coffee cup) if you get it, but you REALLY want to find out.

We go outside almost every night and check out the grass, flowers, trees, and stars. You try to grab the roses by the stem, which worries be because of the little thorns. In the day we go on walks and go to the park to check out the ducks and more roses. I try to use sign language for everything we see, but sometimes it's hard because I'm holding you and you're facing away from me.

You make lots of noises, still mostly vowel sounds, but with a few other noises thrown in. Sometimes it really sounds like you're trying to tell us something. You also make a terrible noise that sounds like someone gasping for air after they've narrowly avoided drowning. You respond when I talk or sing to you. Your favorite song right now is "The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly." You smile like crazy when I start to sing it and do the signs. For some reason, you've been laughing your tiny butt off when I say "Eeeeeee."

You've been scooching across the floor and bed, but mostly backwards and mostly by accident. You push up on your arms, wiggle around, and slide backward. You have a couple favorite toys you will pick up. First is Baby Beans, a doll that was mine when I was a baby. She has ratty red hair, and you love that you can grab her by it so easily. The other is a very soft plush pig that Boompah bought you.

We're working on getting you to take naps by yourself, since I go back to work soon and Grandma will be taking care of you. So far it's semi-successful. You'll go to sleep if I just lie near you, but won't stay asleep long after I get up.

Everything goes in your mouth, including anyone's hands that get too close. You grab people's fingers and pull them to your mouth, then gnaw on them. We think you're pre-teething. You drool a lot, too.

You like being propped up in a standing position on the back of the couch to look out the window. You are in a good mood most of the time, but that's not to say that you never cry or fuss. Sometimes you downright scream for a while and we can't figure out why. Usually it's when you're overtired, though. Mostly, you're a lot of fun to have around. You're cuddly, you laugh, and you're always learning new things.

All right, my darling. I just wanted to update on how you're doing. Someday I hope you'll be interested.

I love you tremendously,

Mom

So much progress!

Hiya sweet stuff!

We are having so much fun lately. You like to grab stuff (my hair, jewelry, guacamole, my shirt, your clothes...) so we bought you some toys to hold. You're only 3 1/2 months old, and there's one toy that clicks when you twist it, and you can already twist it! You've been very sociable, too. Yesterday was the 4th of July, and you were held by practically everyone at Grandpa John's, and you just babbled and smiled. Everyone commented on what a good baby you are.

I recently started carrying you facing out in the sling, and you seem to like it. You stare at people, and many of them comment on how intense your gaze is. You really do look at people and things with intensity.

We have long conversations sometimes. You go "Aah! Oowoo. Wha!" and I say "Really? Do tell." We can go on like that for a long time.

I have been practicing the baby sign language on you. I read you books like "Are You My Mother?" and do the signs for baby bird, mother, cat, dog, etc. Or I sing "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" and do all the animal signs (except goat, which I don't know). You really seem interested, following my hands with your eyes.

Your health is getting better. You have gained weight all three of the last three weeks, which is good. We are now thickening your formula so you spit up less, and I'm feeding you smaller amounts more often. You also take Zantac for your tummy twice a day. It seems to all be working together to help. I was worried about you for a while, but I'm relaxing just a little now.

You laugh now - not just one little "heh" at a time, but sometimes really laughing for a while.

When you wake up, you look at me bleary-eyed, then start smiling. Your first-thing-in-the-morning smiles are the sweetest. You look like you're really happy to wake up and find us there again.

You reached for me for the first time the other day. Grandma was holding you and you stretched your arm out straight toward me twice in a row. I wasn't sure at first that's what you were doing, but the second time, I really thought it looked like you were reaching for me.

You've been MUCH better about staying with people besides me. This week you stayed twice with Grandma and once with Dad while I left, and you were perfectly content.

Your dad has been singing you songs and reading you stories, too, but my favorite thing to see is when he takes you at bedtime and reads to you from his comic book. We have a great picture of it. You look so interested! He sings you a song every day before he goes to work, too, about all the fun he hopes you have every day.

Okay, darling. I just wanted to let you know what's going on at this stage. You're getting bigger all the time!

I love you,

Mom