7 Months: Teeth!

Dear Ndog,
We are having trouble keeping up with you. You have had such big moments in the last month:
- Crawling faster and faster
- Trying new foods (You remain unsure about this whole eating-solid-foods idea)
- Pulling yourself up on the furniture, rocking back and forth, and, occasionally, traversing along the edge of the couch, chair, ottoman, etc.  Everyone says you'll be walking soon!
- Taking your first flight to the West Coast (In which you did an amazing job. You slept for three hours while Daddy held you and all of our neighbors were impressed! You made friends with the stewardess whom we saw out in L.A. later in the day--she remembered your name!)
- Putting your toes in the Pacific Ocean (before a rogue wave came up and soaked us all)
- Meeting your cousins in California and Seattle
- Taking your first boat ride and hike
- And, most impressive of all... Sprouting your first two teeth! Your first tooth was the bottom, right tooth and came out in Bakersfield, and then your other bottom front tooth came out in Seattle! What a way to mark the occasion with your cousins.

You are becoming ever sillier and more cuddly. You are super happy in the mornings when you wake up--which still happens in Mommy and Daddy's bed. Because you hate your crib. Hate it. It is Kryptonite to you. This is largely the fault of Mommy and Daddy, ... Ok, maybe mostly Mommy's fault (because I love cuddling with you!), but it seems like there's no going back now. We are considering sleep training out of desperation for a good night's sleep. We shall see who prevails: M & D with determination, or cute baby with wails loud enough to wake the entire floor. Update next month!

You babble quite a bit, but no words yet. You can recognize when we're being silly and you love when Daddy babbles to you. You also love Moby. Interesting.

You have started to do this really funny thing at night. When you're ready to go to bed, Mommy takes you to big bed to nurse you to sleep. Lately, though, you'll finish nursing and get up to crawl and, oof, collapse head-first onto the pillow. Then you'll sit up again and, oof, back down. You will keep doing this until you're finally ready to give in. This is hilarious! It's as if your head is just too heavy to keep up, and sometimes you land on Mommy or the bed or a pillow, just whatever is around you and in all different directions. The best part is that you're sort of smiley when you do it, so it looks like a happy, drunken baby! Oh, you are so funny little one.

We love watching you grow Nor Nor (the nickname your cousin Lucy gave you). And once in a while the little arm that reaches up to hug our faces at night reminds us that you don't think we're half bad either.

Thanks for your toothy smiles, belly laughs and Nora kisses. We love you oh so much, Bear.

Love,
Mama and Dada (Come on, you can say it!)

6.5 Months: We can't keep up! You're crawling!

Dear Little Bear,
Wow, what a month you've had! On the day of your six month shots you started to crawl. Then a couple of days later, you pulled yourself up to kneeling. A couple of days after that, you pulled yourself up to standing. We can hardly keep up with you! You can sit on your own too, and you love your new vantage point.

We moved you out of your co-sleeper and into your big crib (although you prefer sleeping in Big Bed with Mom and Dad). You've started to put yourself to sleep a bit earlier, which has helped Mommy and Daddy tremendously. Here is a typical day at six months:
7:30-8am Wake-up  You like to crawl on Mommy to let her know you're ready to play!
8-10am Try a new food (We've done pureed carrots, sweet potato, peas, and bananas, along with rice, oat and barley ceareals, none of which you liked too well.) Play with your toys in the livingroom. Crawl all around, under and over things. You especially like going to the "danger zones," where the cords and electronics live. We have to keep a close watch on you!
10am-1pm  You usually have at least an hour nap and we try to do an activity out in the city, whether it be a playdate, music class or meeting Daddy for lunch.
1-3pm We read books, go to storytimes, play with toys, swing on swings--whatever might entertain our little social gal.
3-5pm You usually take a short late-afternoon nap and we try to make it to the park if we haven't been all day.
5-7pm We have a second try with the food-of-the-day, you have a bath and your vitamin, and then you have a bit of calm play time with Daddy.
7-8pm We read books and try to get you off to dreamland. We usually have to bounce you quite a bit before you give in to sleeeeeeeep.
8-12am  If you're sleeping, Mommy and Daddy get to eat dinner in peace or do laundry or maybe read something! If not, we take turns bouncing you, singing and shushing, until you go to sleep again.
12am-8am  Somewhere in the night you decide you cannot be in your crib anymore and demand to be in Big Bed. You like to touch both Mommy and Daddy's faces before you nod off to sleep. We kind of love it.

You still don't take a bottle or a pacifier, but you really like your sippy cup. Mostly to chew on, but it's fun when you get water out of it too.

You recently started blowing rasberries and saying "dadadadadada." You have also started giving "Nora kisses"--you will get up close and put your open mouth on our faces. You stay there for just a moment and then move on. This simply melts us.

You are such a happy, smiley baby. You especially love to giggle at other babies. How did we get such a fun, social girl?

We love you,
Mama and Dadadadada

5 Months: 15 pounds of fun, you're our little honey bun

Dear Punkin,
Wow, you have really developed a personality this month! 
You just love to laugh and you love thrills, like being thrown up in the air and being in the swing at the park.

You started to scoot backwards, even though we can see that youreally want to be crawling forward. Now that you’re becoming mobile, we have to strategically place you on the ground because you’ll end up a good distance back from where you started. 

Guess where she started?

You love to roll onto your stomach and get moving, and you can roll over multiple times. You’ve started to make “pppbb” and hard “thh” sounds and you’re drooling oh so much! 

1st time in the grass

Unfortunately, we also think you’re teething because you’ve been very fussy and have started to bring everything within reach into your mouth. You’ve developed a puppy-like whine, which is cute, … but we’re looking forward to when you move past it!

Ever since your grandma put you in a swing you haven’t looked back. You LOVE the swing. You love to sit back and hang on and watch all the other moms and babies. You love to look up at the trees and birds. You even fell asleep in the swing during an especially hot day at the park.

You started music class and you enjoy the hand puppets, bells, and tummy time on the beach ball. You also love your classmates, whom you are constantly checking out, talking to, and reaching for.

You also enjoy talking to us. A lot. You still like to make pirate noises (arghhhhh, arghhhhhh, arghhhhhh), but you mix it up with your drooly “pffbbbb” sounds now.

You love to chew on your fingers and, occasionally, your left thumb finds its way in. And you know how to reach for us when you want to be picked up. We love when this is followed by a great big, full body hug. You just cling on tightly with both arms and both feet!

You are amazing, Little Bear, and we can’t believe that we got such a fun little girl! You’re so sweet too, and we love that you touch our faces at night when you move on into Big Bed. You prefer Big Bed to your lonely old crib. Truth be told, we don’t really mind. It’s fun to wake up to you–laughing or rolling over on us, trying to find the next thing to explore.

We love you so much Little One. We hope your teeth come in soon so you can discover the vegetables that await you!

Big hugs and see you in the morning,
Mama and Dada

4 Months: But if you cry sometimes, you just might find... You get exactly what you want

Dear Little Bear,
We thought we had it all figured out last month...

We thought that six to seven hours of sleep at night meant we were in the clear.

People would ask, "Is she sleeping through the night yet?"

1st Sore throat

And we'd proudly answer, "Yes, usually six hours."

Oh, how smug of us Little One...

Thanks for the cute blanket Auntie Barb!

It took us a while to realize that all of your other baby friends were also "sleeping through the night"...

But they would got to bed at, say, six or seven p.m.

Not midnight.

Like our girl.

"Just try putting her to bed earlier," they'd say...

And you would protest. Oh, silly Mommy and Daddy.

"Try a routine," they'd say...

But you merely laugh at our attempts and make us stay awake with you until midnight when you suddenly shut off. Sigh. Maybe next month you'll sleep at an earlier hour?

You are a good, sweet little girl otherwise. You've become much more interested in your toys and grab and pull at them in your cabana.

Dressed for the Good Friday service

You love to laugh and you're still full of words and sounds, like "hoooo!"

Nora with her Easter Lily at church

Easter in New Jersey

Aunt Carol's lovely tablescape

Lately, you've been practicing your best pirate voice. You'll grunt and grunt, just as if you're talking to us. Except you're talking like a pirate.

Nora's lily and Kali Paxsa Greek Easter egg

You love to clasp your hands together and have started to grab at whatever is within your reach.

1st nice day at Central Park

Unfortunately, you've also dealt with constipation this month. We were a little worried after a week and a half, but with a little help from Mom, Dad, and trusty prune juice, you were able to make things work once again.

You reunited with your grandparents from Seattle, who took you out to the beach.

You love going for long walks in the Ergo carrier and it puts you right to sleep...

...until we take you out of the carrier.

You've accomplished a major physical feat: you can roll from your back all the way onto your stomach!

And you like to taste everything within reach, including your carrier.

You love to roll, even on your changing table. You arch your head way back and sometimes throw your chubby leg right over!

Given your new found interest in toys, your Daddy set up an "office" for you to "work."

You love going to your office.

You also love being in Mom and Dad's "big bed."

In fact, it's often the only place you will fall asleep at night.

Skyping with grandparents in California on Mother's Day

You continue to name your toys: this month Harold the Lion joins Helga the sheep, Earl the pig and Carl the bunny.

You are getting better at tummy time, but you still can't handle it for more than ten minutes or so.

You loved being out at the beach for Mother's Day, especially in your very special dress from Mexico, but you're starting to outgrow your clothes at a rapid pace! It won't be long before you're firmly into your 6-9 month clothes.

Here you are, a little angel that landed on Daddy's shoulders. You like riding on shoulders as long as you can hold onto ears.

You are finally big enough to wear the outfit sent to you by Zia Oonagh from Italy. But we often have to put bibs on you because you still spit up quite a bit, dear girl.

And you've started to cuddle...finally! Mommy and Daddy live for this!

We've started to put you in your Bumbo chair, which you don't mind...

...except when we try to feed you prunes, which had to be your first food because of your constipation issues.

You really do not like prunes.

We do it because we love you, Little Bear, and we want you to go more than once a week!

We love that you're growing to be a big, healthy girl--you're in the 86th percentile for height and weight! We especially love all of your sweet smiles and sounds. You are happiest in the morning and during bath time. We love to sing, "Oh, look who's nakey nakey," before the bath and we think you like it too! You love the girl in the mirror, and she can brighten your mood when you're cranky. We love how you're so playful, even in subtle ways, like when you prop your foot up on our arms while we hold you.

You still won't take a pacifier, no matter how hard we try. Nope. You still prefer your fingers.

We love you Little Bear, Small Bear, Baby Bear, Smiley Bear, Punkin', Punkin' Pie... We're enjoying seeing you grow!

Love,
Mama & Dada