I'm ready to call it. I think Luci is crawling. What do you think?
She's been working on her crawl for the past six weeks. It's not quite perfect form yet, but it's pretty good.
Take a look:
It's taken a number of forms, and often requires lots of planks, downward dogs, and faceplants. Seems like she's eliminating those yoga moves and figuring out she doesn't need to be on her feet to crawl.
(I guess it's confusing to learn to crawl by watching a dog walk around.)
She really loves her blue elephant. I observed her take that little trip and thought, I wish I had videoed that. I moved her back, pointed out her toy, and she went right after it again!
Time to babyproof!?!
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Reflections of a six-month-old parent
I'm having a moment over here.
Part One: Last Night
It was a rough night, at least in the sense that I didn't get much sleep. My sweet little baby was reportedly a bit grumpy most of the day yesterday and took extra long naps. When I got home from work, she was sleeping. She woke up at 5:30 for about an hour and a half, then went back to sleep around 7. I almost thought/prayed/hoped it was a night-time sleep that would last extra extra long, because any other solution meant less sleep for Mama. (Selfless, I know.) She normally takes a short nap in the evening and then wants to go to bed around 11 or midnight so I knew something was off.
Well my beautiful girl woke up at 10pm. She was up for an hour, but was clearly very tired, so I decided to put her to bed. Swaddle, song, good night, lights out. We check on her for the next hour because she is occasionally singing, talking, fussing, and otherwise indicating that she is not asleep. All with her sleep cues in full force: droopy eyes, rubbing eyes, tired cry.
At close to midnight I check on her. It's been quiet for quite some time so I'm pretty sure she's asleep. No. She is completely broken out of the swaddle, on all fours, staring up at me as I enter the room. So I try again. Swaddle, song, another song, 30 minutes of singing with my hand on her hands inside the swaddle, keeping her still and calm. Usually this is a surefire way to get her to sleep. Not last night. She seems to become more and more awake. I'm ready to go to bed but I can see she is clearly not ready for sleeping. I turn up the light, set her free, and sit down on my bed next to her, and Papi came to join us. We were sitting around and chatting, and watching her play around in her co-sleeper. Next thing we know, she is crawling out of her bed into ours so she can come be closer to us.
Uh oh. Trouble. (Time for a new sleep solution!)
So she crawls around on our bed for a long while before I decide we are going to bed and she can play if she wants to, but I am not. Lights out and good night Luci. An hour or so later she finally falls asleep at my side and so do I. She wakes up a few hours later and I put her in her own bed. We both sleep peacefully well into the morning.
Part Two: This Morning
This morning I was commiserating with a friend about our tricky nights and how it is so hard to know whether you are doing the right thing or not. We are so full of doubt, new parents, aren't we? Every thing that we do is seemingly shaping this little life and there are so many ways to go wrong. For example, sometimes I wonder if I am ruining Luciana's sleep schedule for the rest of her life by not putting her to bed in the early evening like most parents. I wonder if I am setting her up for a life of insomnia and if when she's 34 she'll have trouble falling asleep before 2am like I do. Even though my doctor assures me I am not and continues to encourage me to do whatever works best with my schedule and gets me the most sleep, I still think about it.
But really, deep down, we do know what to do. You listen to your baby and she tells you, and maybe it takes a little extra time because she can't articulate herself very well, but you keep listening and you both figure it out. Not that you give in to every whim and desire, but you listen to the message you are receiving and you respond as best as you know how. And you're both experimenting really - the baby is saying, what will they understand if I straighten my legs after using the potty? Will they know what I need if I suck on their arm? You are figuring out how the little person is communicating, and they are learning how you will respond to what they tell you.
This was my philosophy with Luci as a newborn. You're hungry? It's time to eat. Sleepy? Let's take a nap. Need to comfort nurse? I'm here for you. I thought about how I get to make my own schedule, so why wouldn't I allow her to guide me for hers? It worked really well for us and it has felt natural and right to stick with it for now. So I wasn't upset last night when Luciana was awake at the wrong time. I didn't try to impose my own schedule on her. When it was clear she wasn't ready to sleep, I didn't force it. I considered how to help her make a better schedule, sure. I thought about what might have gone wrong to put her timing off. I definitely planned to do things differently today. But mostly I just sat there watching her crawl around, marveling at her and soaking it all in.
It makes me think about my mom and how she assured me that I'd know what to do as a mom without her. And I don't think she said this, but I heard it this morning in my heart: it's because the baby will tell you. She knows what she needs. She will tell you. Just listen to her.
Perhaps those of you who are seasoned parents are pitying me right now. Maybe you know that I am setting myself up for a horrible next six months. Maybe you worry I won't discipline my child enough. Maybe I myself will look back on this moment and regret everything. Maybe not.
For now, this is how we parent. We're listening, Luciana.
Part One: Last Night
It was a rough night, at least in the sense that I didn't get much sleep. My sweet little baby was reportedly a bit grumpy most of the day yesterday and took extra long naps. When I got home from work, she was sleeping. She woke up at 5:30 for about an hour and a half, then went back to sleep around 7. I almost thought/prayed/hoped it was a night-time sleep that would last extra extra long, because any other solution meant less sleep for Mama. (Selfless, I know.) She normally takes a short nap in the evening and then wants to go to bed around 11 or midnight so I knew something was off.
Well my beautiful girl woke up at 10pm. She was up for an hour, but was clearly very tired, so I decided to put her to bed. Swaddle, song, good night, lights out. We check on her for the next hour because she is occasionally singing, talking, fussing, and otherwise indicating that she is not asleep. All with her sleep cues in full force: droopy eyes, rubbing eyes, tired cry.
At close to midnight I check on her. It's been quiet for quite some time so I'm pretty sure she's asleep. No. She is completely broken out of the swaddle, on all fours, staring up at me as I enter the room. So I try again. Swaddle, song, another song, 30 minutes of singing with my hand on her hands inside the swaddle, keeping her still and calm. Usually this is a surefire way to get her to sleep. Not last night. She seems to become more and more awake. I'm ready to go to bed but I can see she is clearly not ready for sleeping. I turn up the light, set her free, and sit down on my bed next to her, and Papi came to join us. We were sitting around and chatting, and watching her play around in her co-sleeper. Next thing we know, she is crawling out of her bed into ours so she can come be closer to us.
Uh oh. Trouble. (Time for a new sleep solution!)
So she crawls around on our bed for a long while before I decide we are going to bed and she can play if she wants to, but I am not. Lights out and good night Luci. An hour or so later she finally falls asleep at my side and so do I. She wakes up a few hours later and I put her in her own bed. We both sleep peacefully well into the morning.
 |
| A few days ago, after her nap. Warning! Danger! Mobile baby! |
Part Two: This Morning
This morning I was commiserating with a friend about our tricky nights and how it is so hard to know whether you are doing the right thing or not. We are so full of doubt, new parents, aren't we? Every thing that we do is seemingly shaping this little life and there are so many ways to go wrong. For example, sometimes I wonder if I am ruining Luciana's sleep schedule for the rest of her life by not putting her to bed in the early evening like most parents. I wonder if I am setting her up for a life of insomnia and if when she's 34 she'll have trouble falling asleep before 2am like I do. Even though my doctor assures me I am not and continues to encourage me to do whatever works best with my schedule and gets me the most sleep, I still think about it.
But really, deep down, we do know what to do. You listen to your baby and she tells you, and maybe it takes a little extra time because she can't articulate herself very well, but you keep listening and you both figure it out. Not that you give in to every whim and desire, but you listen to the message you are receiving and you respond as best as you know how. And you're both experimenting really - the baby is saying, what will they understand if I straighten my legs after using the potty? Will they know what I need if I suck on their arm? You are figuring out how the little person is communicating, and they are learning how you will respond to what they tell you.
This was my philosophy with Luci as a newborn. You're hungry? It's time to eat. Sleepy? Let's take a nap. Need to comfort nurse? I'm here for you. I thought about how I get to make my own schedule, so why wouldn't I allow her to guide me for hers? It worked really well for us and it has felt natural and right to stick with it for now. So I wasn't upset last night when Luciana was awake at the wrong time. I didn't try to impose my own schedule on her. When it was clear she wasn't ready to sleep, I didn't force it. I considered how to help her make a better schedule, sure. I thought about what might have gone wrong to put her timing off. I definitely planned to do things differently today. But mostly I just sat there watching her crawl around, marveling at her and soaking it all in.
It makes me think about my mom and how she assured me that I'd know what to do as a mom without her. And I don't think she said this, but I heard it this morning in my heart: it's because the baby will tell you. She knows what she needs. She will tell you. Just listen to her.
Perhaps those of you who are seasoned parents are pitying me right now. Maybe you know that I am setting myself up for a horrible next six months. Maybe you worry I won't discipline my child enough. Maybe I myself will look back on this moment and regret everything. Maybe not.
For now, this is how we parent. We're listening, Luciana.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Sitting up and taking notice!
This morning Luciana and I met up with our respective bffs to go to a few yard sales. We found a few cute outfits and then went over for naps (for babies) and breakfast (for grown-ups).
We were sitting around and chatting and all of a sudden this happened, with virtually no warning!
She was pretty wobbly, so the pics are blurry.
I was starting to think she'd crawl before she sat, so at least she snuck this little skill in there first. She also demonstrated her "crawl" today - which consists of getting up on all fours, moving her knees one at a time, then moving both her arms at the same time and face planting forward. (Mean ol' floor, coming up to hit her like that!)
Good job, baby!
(I think she got inspired watching all the big kids in the nursery at VBS this week.)
We were sitting around and chatting and all of a sudden this happened, with virtually no warning!
She was pretty wobbly, so the pics are blurry.
I was starting to think she'd crawl before she sat, so at least she snuck this little skill in there first. She also demonstrated her "crawl" today - which consists of getting up on all fours, moving her knees one at a time, then moving both her arms at the same time and face planting forward. (Mean ol' floor, coming up to hit her like that!)
Good job, baby!
(I think she got inspired watching all the big kids in the nursery at VBS this week.)
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Broccoli
 |
| Hey, give me some! |
 |
| Hmm... this is kind of weird... |
 |
| Let me think about it... |
 |
| Yes! I like it! |
Kisses and Nosies
For the past several months, I've done two little games repeatedly with Luci, whenever she was in the mood:
Kisses: I kiss her cheek near her lips then turn my head to put my cheek on her lips.
Nosies: Eskimo kisses while singing my little "Nosies" chant.
A few days ago, I started having the suspicion she was trying to initiate these little love games, but I thought it might be in my head. Today I became convinced that it was real.
For kisses - she plants her mouth on my cheek and stays there motionless for several moments. I can tell this is different than "I'm hungry let me suck on anything I can find" - which she usually indicates these days by burying her head into my shoulder - because she doesn't (usually) try to latch on or start sucking on my cheek, she just puts her little mouth there and waits. And if I look at her and ask if she is doing kisses she gets a big smile on her face.
But it was Nosies that was really clear as a bell. She grabbed my face, pulled it to hers, and banged her forehead into mine as she frantically bumped my nose with her nose. She repeated it over and over again as I was with her sporadically throughout the day and it tickled my heart each time.
A mom in our church asked yesterday how old she was, and when I said she had just turned six months, she told me what a precious age 6-9 months is because they start giving back all that you've put into them. My first thought was "of course! she's been giving back to me her whole life!" Whether through nursing, or staring intently at my face, or those early smiles, or the looks of recognition, or the big smiles, or the fleeting reaches towards me when she is with someone else, I've felt our relationship grow and grow. I think with those early "giving" responses and reciprocation, it's easy to question whether they are from love or from reflex, on purpose or wishful thinking, by design or by accident. Even if I believe that smiles are smiles, or that what feels like a loving gesture is love, it's hard to ignore those voices that doubt a little baby is capable of that - that all smiles are gas and all cuteness is just a reflex. What was special about today, and maybe what this mom really meant, is that those doubting voices vanish. No one can argue that it didn't happen or that it was just a reflex or that she just has to go to the bathroom (argh, that one especially irritates me!). No other baby but mine will ever grab my face and bang her head against mine until our noses make contact. That's all just for us, and it's special.
Kisses: I kiss her cheek near her lips then turn my head to put my cheek on her lips.
Nosies: Eskimo kisses while singing my little "Nosies" chant.
A few days ago, I started having the suspicion she was trying to initiate these little love games, but I thought it might be in my head. Today I became convinced that it was real.
For kisses - she plants her mouth on my cheek and stays there motionless for several moments. I can tell this is different than "I'm hungry let me suck on anything I can find" - which she usually indicates these days by burying her head into my shoulder - because she doesn't (usually) try to latch on or start sucking on my cheek, she just puts her little mouth there and waits. And if I look at her and ask if she is doing kisses she gets a big smile on her face.
But it was Nosies that was really clear as a bell. She grabbed my face, pulled it to hers, and banged her forehead into mine as she frantically bumped my nose with her nose. She repeated it over and over again as I was with her sporadically throughout the day and it tickled my heart each time.
A mom in our church asked yesterday how old she was, and when I said she had just turned six months, she told me what a precious age 6-9 months is because they start giving back all that you've put into them. My first thought was "of course! she's been giving back to me her whole life!" Whether through nursing, or staring intently at my face, or those early smiles, or the looks of recognition, or the big smiles, or the fleeting reaches towards me when she is with someone else, I've felt our relationship grow and grow. I think with those early "giving" responses and reciprocation, it's easy to question whether they are from love or from reflex, on purpose or wishful thinking, by design or by accident. Even if I believe that smiles are smiles, or that what feels like a loving gesture is love, it's hard to ignore those voices that doubt a little baby is capable of that - that all smiles are gas and all cuteness is just a reflex. What was special about today, and maybe what this mom really meant, is that those doubting voices vanish. No one can argue that it didn't happen or that it was just a reflex or that she just has to go to the bathroom (argh, that one especially irritates me!). No other baby but mine will ever grab my face and bang her head against mine until our noses make contact. That's all just for us, and it's special.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Banana!
Luciana turned six months yesterday. The past month has been an explosion of growth and development... well, not so much of physical growth with no weight gain in the month, but she has been moving and shaking so much it's not too big a surprise. I'll write more about that later so I don't forget it all.
For the past week or two we've been sort of playing around with offering her some bits of food. She's been crazy for water, and has protested frequently when I did not immediately give in to her desire, and once even grabbed my glass full of ice cold water and dumped it all over me. Thank you for the bath, little Luz! She does best drinking out of my glass, but is also figuring out my water bottle, and does ok with her sippy cup.
As for food, it seems like a big hassle to switch from nursing exclusively to adding in solids, so in that way I was in no hurry to start. On the other hand, with both asthma or food allergies running in my family, I didn't want to wait too long, especially with the conflicting research lately about whether it is best to introduce early or delay.
She's been staring intently at us eating whenever she is near us during mealtime, staring at the food, then at us, then at the food. So, we took her cue, and sat her in her high chair, propped her up with blankets and a supportive hand, and laid out some yummy-looking pieces of banana. Within moments they were way too slippery for her to handle, and she was definitely much more interested in gnawing on the yummy wooden tray. We tried again a few times with banana, or pieces of avocado. She was interested, but only mildly and wasn't too keen on putting them in her mouth. Not wanting to push her, we sort of sat near her eating our bananas and trying to help her by keeping the food from scooting away from her grip (flail?). No big deal, we thought, she can make a mess and maybe get a few accidental tastes in the meantime to acclimate herself.
Today we ate lunch at church following our morning of VBS. We had packed our usual sandwich and fruit for lunch. As I was finishing up my sandwich with her on my lap, she became very intent on it. She grabbed my hand and pulled the sandwich to her mouth. I let her sort of feel the textures on her lips before eating it myself. Then I started peeling a banana and she got really excited. She grabbed for it and when I took it to the side to keep her from making a mess while I unpeeled it, she expressed her displeasure. I broke it in half and she grabbed my hands and brought it to her mouth, and proceeded to suck on it like a bottle.
She liked it!
Then she broke of a chunk in her mouth and she wasn't sure what she thought of it.
Still yummy, it seems.
Banana love.
Luci love.
For the past week or two we've been sort of playing around with offering her some bits of food. She's been crazy for water, and has protested frequently when I did not immediately give in to her desire, and once even grabbed my glass full of ice cold water and dumped it all over me. Thank you for the bath, little Luz! She does best drinking out of my glass, but is also figuring out my water bottle, and does ok with her sippy cup.
As for food, it seems like a big hassle to switch from nursing exclusively to adding in solids, so in that way I was in no hurry to start. On the other hand, with both asthma or food allergies running in my family, I didn't want to wait too long, especially with the conflicting research lately about whether it is best to introduce early or delay.
She's been staring intently at us eating whenever she is near us during mealtime, staring at the food, then at us, then at the food. So, we took her cue, and sat her in her high chair, propped her up with blankets and a supportive hand, and laid out some yummy-looking pieces of banana. Within moments they were way too slippery for her to handle, and she was definitely much more interested in gnawing on the yummy wooden tray. We tried again a few times with banana, or pieces of avocado. She was interested, but only mildly and wasn't too keen on putting them in her mouth. Not wanting to push her, we sort of sat near her eating our bananas and trying to help her by keeping the food from scooting away from her grip (flail?). No big deal, we thought, she can make a mess and maybe get a few accidental tastes in the meantime to acclimate herself.
Today we ate lunch at church following our morning of VBS. We had packed our usual sandwich and fruit for lunch. As I was finishing up my sandwich with her on my lap, she became very intent on it. She grabbed my hand and pulled the sandwich to her mouth. I let her sort of feel the textures on her lips before eating it myself. Then I started peeling a banana and she got really excited. She grabbed for it and when I took it to the side to keep her from making a mess while I unpeeled it, she expressed her displeasure. I broke it in half and she grabbed my hands and brought it to her mouth, and proceeded to suck on it like a bottle.
She liked it!
Then she broke of a chunk in her mouth and she wasn't sure what she thought of it.
Still yummy, it seems.
Back for more...
Banana love.
Luci love.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)