Day 59: Big Girl

There are times when I want to just slow down the clock a bit.  It is so exciting to watch Michal grow and develop, but sometimes it seems as if everything is happening just a touch too quickly.  The other day, Michal was hanging out in the living room with her daddy, jumping away in her jumperoo (she just figured out jumping.  Apparently it is a lot of fun), and I stepped away for a few minutes, off doing something or other.  I came back, and Michal had figured out how to flip the "book" on her jumper in both directions.  Five minutes before, she could only flip the "pages" to one side, then one of us would move all of them back so she could do it again.  Well, she figured out both ways.  In three minutes, already a change.


So I won't go into how excited and slightly sad I was tonight when Josh showed me how Michal could stand, balancing herself, holding on to a stationary object for nearly half a minute.  All by herself.  She loves to stand and has done so with our assistance for a while, but it was so amazing seeing her do it all on her own.  And bittersweet - she's already a big girl already.  Okay, a big baby girl, but she's growing nonetheless.


While I pretend that she isn't brilliantly growing and developing at amazing speeds, I'll concentrate on the smaller changes.  She sits in a real high chair in restaurants now, and tonight, instead of hauling either her in her infant bucket or finagling the stroller out of the back of the car, I carried her inside Targ.et, plopped her in the front of the cart, buckled her up, and off we went.  Of course she charmed everyone around her with her quiet cuteness.

   What big eyes you have, my dear.. the better to see everything around you!

Day 58: Naptime

Michal is a terrific sleeper, routinely snoozing for 10-12 hours every night.  We should only learn from her example.  She is a pretty decent napper, although she sleeps best in her car seat and at day care.  I'm lucky if I can get her to take a nap in her crib for more than twenty minutes (she often takes 1-2 hour naps at day care).  Today, she totally conked out in the afternoon, sleeping for nearly an hour and a half.

Day 57: Dim Sum

We have a special relationship with dim sum in our household.  It is our tradition every year to indulge in a dim sum outing on July 4th, our special way of marking the anniversary of our engagement.  We also try to make a special outing every so often throughout the course of the year, often with family or friends.  The fact that I do not eat about 90% of the offerings on those carts does not hold us back - I just grab every plate of Chinese broccoli and other vegetables and place an order for Vegetable Chow Foon.  Yum.


At a special request from two friends, who had not yet experienced the small plates of dumplings, noodles, and more, we headed down to meet them, and another couple, for lunch.  Michal, of course brought her own food, but enjoyed checking out everyone in the restaurant and making one of the employees stop pushing her cart to spend a good minute making the baby smile.  Despite her poor napping that morning, Michal was a trooper.  She sat in a high chair at the table, supplied with her Sophie and Manhatten Winkle toy, and checked everything out.

Fortunately, the Taro did not entice her, so the fact that it was well within her reach was not a worry.

Day 56: Check Up

We had Michal's six month check up today, complete with four shots and one oral vaccine.  First, the stats:

• Weight: 18 lbs, 3.5oz - 90th percentile 
• Height: 27" - 90th percentile (a little bit of a drop here... she was 97th percentile last month.  Girly needs to stretch!)
• Head: 17" (75th percentile)

And of course her doctor proclaimed her perfect.  We knew this of course.

Since she got her shots today, we assumed much of the day would look like this:

It ended up looking more like:

Some babies are fussy after shots, but Michal had a great day.  She did cry for about 15-20 seconds once she realized what the nurse was doing, but then she stopped, looked up at daddy with big teary eyes, then smiled.  We were pretty much fine the rest of the day.  Until much later, when she realized she skipped her afternoon nap and was ready to have dinner and go to bed (hence the first picture up above - taken about 10 minutes after the smiley picture).

But before we let her go to bed, she had to take a trip.  On an aeroplane.  I think she likes it.

Day 55: Look, Ma, No Hands!

We have an interesting conundrum.  As stated previously, Michal dislikes being on her stomach for any prolonged amount of time, so tummy time ends up being a ticking time bomb of how long she will happily play along with the activity before she starts to get frustrated and explode.  That amount of time has increased over time, but it is still her least favorite activity.  It is amazing how quickly the screwed-up, upset face relaxes into a huge smile and coos once we flip her over onto her back.  She has made progress, rolling from her stomach onto her back twice, but it is still a great frustration for her.


 Michal rolls onto her stomach, from her back, all the time now in her sleep.  Sometimes she rolls over and continues to sleep, happily oblivious to her position in the crib.  But sometimes, especially in the morning, she begins to get incredibly upset, unable to figure out how to be in a more comfortable, less strenuous position.  


The problem is this: she cannot quite figure out how to get leverage to roll her body over.  It does not help that her fluffy, cloth-covered bum adds a slight obstacle to the motion, and it certainly does not help that she expects to roll without the help of her hands and arms.

  She will not really push up on her arms to tilt her body over.  Instead, she lifts her entire body up off the ground, leaning back as far as she can, trying desperately to roll over (I cannot imagine the core strength she is building from this).  Unfortunately, the arm you cannot see in this photo acts as a sort of kick stand that keeps her body from toppling over.  We tried to show her how to keep her arms out in front of her so she could more easily roll over without the hindrance of her arm, but she is a stubborn one, continuing to do it her way.  I have no doubt that she will eventually find a way to flip over, but in the meantime, flailing baby persists. 

Day 54: Please Sir, Can I Have Some More?

Today seemed to be a tough one for Miss M, and unfortunately there is not a clear cut culprit for her unhappiness.  We have her six month appointment on Friday, with accompanying immunizations, so I am steeling myself for a potential mood/energy shift with the baby, but the only potential villain in today's drama was an illusive, ambiguous one: teething.  There is no proof that she is teething.  Sure, she chews on her hands and drools much of the time, but that has been going on for a while now.  If I could see a bump or any change in her gum, I could identify the enemy, but alas, it's still a guessing game.


Apparently she was difficult at day care as well as at home tonight.  At day care she apparently was distracted enough by some insane housewives in a city whose name I have forgotten (our kid likes reality TV. Go figure), but at home, this is what we found:

Poor kid. Luckily we distracted her with toys and fun.  Tonight she REALLY got into her jumperoo, and she went to town on that toy, jumping all over the place.  She stopped occasionally to gnaw on a thumb or three fingers, but at least the face of misery was gone.


Still no luck on apples.  Who would have guessed that of all the foods we have tried, apples would be the only non-starter.  She likes peas more than she likes apples.  The only way I can get her to eat apples is to mix them with some oatmeal.  She LOVES this.  She goes to town, opening her mouth like a baby bird, furiously demanding another bite of the delicious food.  And when it's all gone, she looks up at you...

Doing her best impersonation of a Dickensian character.

Day 53: Hard Day's Night

It is difficult to not compare babies.  It does not matter how frequently you read or are told that every baby is different, there is a secret comparison.  Well, at least I compare.    I read of babies who are roughly the same age as Michal who have teeth, who scoot and crawl around, who roll all over the place (both ways), and some who even have started to "talk."  I get a little jealous at times, but for the most part, I am perfectly content with where she is at developmentally.  She is a happy, easy baby, and I know she is doing fine. 

Well, today, she was mostly happy.  There were periods of extreme discontent.  I got into the shower, letting her hang out on a towel for some naked baby time before she got her chance to be washed up, and about five seconds in, hysterical crying ensued.  For those of you who know Michal, this is unusual.  If she is upset, she fusses.  In fact, once I mentioned to someone, in apology for her noise, that she was fussing, and I was given a "look" and told, no, that's not fussy.  She's a pretty even-tempered baby, so anything that is loud is a bit unusual.* Multiple times during the day, this is what I encountered, arms thrown in the air:

I just missed the REALLY upset face, and yes, I'm THAT mom who, laughing, grabs her camera to take a picture of the pissed off baby... and THEN, I grab her to see what's wrong.


Once she went down for a nap, she edged in a slightly better mood, until she got upset again, and then returned to happy baby mode.  We met Daddy/Josh for lunch - I'm sure he never tires of watching her face light up when she recognizes him - and then made our way to work.  She is definitely getting much more comfortable with all of my coworkers, smiling on cue for all of them.  


After eating a bottle and playing in her exersaucer, she began to melt down a bit, obviously getting tired and rubbing her eyes.  I dimmed the lights in my office, closed the door, tuned Pandora to a Beethoven-inspired station, and bundled her up into her stroller, zipping her into her sleeping bag.  After a few minutes of fussing, I suddenly heard only the music, looked over, and saw this:

Totally crashed out baby.  She slept for an hour without stirring once, when Josh came to get her, and I'm sure she would have taken a longer nap had she been left undisturbed.


And yes.  That is a different shirt than she was wearing this morning (both products of a recent shopping trip with her California Grandma).  She got a little messy while eating her late morning bottle, even while wearing a bib.  Quite the neat little lady.


*I do not say all of this to brag, just to give context.

Day 52: A Capital Day

Every once in a while I get a pang of homesickness for California.  Usually it is weather or produce related, but there is much to miss and love about the Golden State.  Luckily, I absolutely love where we currently live, and today was a great example of why.


Given that today was a holiday and we did not have work, we decided to take advantage of our fair city, bundled up, packed Michal's diaper bag, and hopped in the car, driving down to the National Mall.  After driving around for about half an hour searching for parking, we lucked into a spot right in front of one of the DC District court houses.  We headed down to the National Museum of the American Indian, where we had a delicious lunch at their Mitsitam Cafe, which features native foods from various regions in North America.  


After lunch we bundled back up and headed across the Mall again, with The National Gallery of Art as our destination.  Our journey today was Josh's brainstorm, realizing we had not been to the gallery in a while and wanting to take advantage of all the city has to offer.  There were a few exhibits that were interesting, but with Michal in need of a nap, we only took in a few areas of the museum, including the Chester Dale Collection.  I look forward to visiting the gallery in the future, taking Michal through the rooms, discovering these paintings through her eyes. 


My grand plan for the day was to have today's picture be one of Michal and me, looking at a painting.  Except she took a nap through our museum visit.  Instead, this is today's picture:

Just one of many capital days.

Day 51: Cause Celeb

We had the best day ever.  EVER!

We headed out first thing in the morning towards a suburb north of Baltimore.  Our destination: a convention at a hotel there where we would meet one of Michal's e-friends, L, the son of one of my August moms.* While we had plans to meet up with them at some point soon, this first get together was spurred on by the special appearance of one of my favorite actors - Tahmoh Penikett.  He, along with another new favorite, Laurie Holden, was there for the convention, and L's parents were volunteering and serving as personal assistants to the actors.  Apparently Tahmoh was quite taken with Michal, remarking on how pretty her big eyes are and how she was so observant, and mentioned that he also had big cheeks as a baby.  L's mom, later, told me that he mentioned again how adorable she was.  As if I couldn't love him more!

Once we left the actors alone, we let the babies play a bit.  They seemed to have a good time.  L immediately went for Michal's socks, pulling them off in no time and started to see how good they tasted.  Michal just watched, but she did draw the line at cannibalism.  At one point, L decided that Michal's socks were not enough, he wanted to chew on her feet, too!  While Michal likes to chew on her feet, she did not take too kindly to her baby friend doing the same, and showed her displeasure.  Overtime she plotted her revenge and decided that what was good for the gander was good for the goose.

While she never managed to get his socks off, the two definitely seemed to hit it off, and we have plans for more baby play dates.  


* The great group of ladies who met while pregnant and due in August 2010. We range in age and geography, but share so much with each other.

Day 50: Hanging with Friends

We spent most of the day at home, keeping inside and away from some very strong, gusty winds.  This evening, we headed to a casual housewarming party for some friends.  Michal spent much of the evening staring at Bella, a gorgeous Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and carefully watching our friends' 22-month-old daughter, B, playing with her toys.  For her part, Michal was diligent in practicing her skills at sitting on her own, and only tipped over a few times in the hour or so she sat on her own.  


Michal did help B play with her toys - while B sorted shapes into a bucket, Michal practiced gnawing on the star-shaped piece.  At one point, B helped show Michal one of her books - B is for Bear - and took her on a tour through the pages filled with various materials to touch.  She showed her the soft fuzz on the page that was "D" for duckling, the rough center of the flower on the "F" page, and the shiny mirror on the "Y is for you" page.

It is amazing to watch Michal, who just a few weeks ago could not sit up on her own, and to imagine what she will be like when she is B's age - running around, talking, and starting to learn to use the potty.  I have a feeling it will be here before we know it.  All the better to enjoy every moment and milestone between now and then.

Day 49: Dining with Friends

Today was the perfect start to a long holiday weekend.  It was absurdly wonderful weather - in the 70s, which could have been a record high for February in DC.  Michal and I did take a trip to one of the local playgrounds (this one seemed to be on steroids - quite an amazing adventureland of a playground), and we tried out a swing for the first time.  She was so intrigued by the kids around her, swinging away, and she seemed relatively enthused by the minor swinging we did.  She also attempted to eat a wood post.  I didn't let her.


Later in the afternoon, I started preparations to make some apples for Michal, when we got a call from some good friends, offering to meet up for dinner.  We quickly bundled up the baby, threw together some diapers and a bottle, and jumped in the car.  While we certainly get out with Michal, bringing her to a New Year's Eve or Super Bowl party, it is still a little tricky to get together with friends.  This has especially been true as more have babies, so the chance to see friends (and their adorable girls!) was a welcome surprise.  Michal loved watching the older girls play, dance, color, and do cartwheels (after all the other restaurant patrons left), and they seemed to love trying to tickle her and keep her amused.  I have a feeling we will take them up on their offer to babysit, if only to let the girls have fun with each other.

Day 48: Little Miss Grabby

Day care days are tough, since we have so little time with her on those days.  Of course it helps that she is in wonderful hands, and it does make us appreciate the non-day care days.  We definitely try to make the most of our waking time together.  


When we got home today, Josh took her into the living room for some tummy time.  Yes, we are still working on that.  She has rare moments of greatness, either pushing herself way up or (once) rolling over from stomach to back.  More frequently she lays her head down, simply waiting for us to give up, or she starts to get frustrated, which is when she gets the most accomplished.  She is pretty great at moving her lower body - it's her top half that does not do much.

Michal is definitely gaining dexterity.  She is fascinated with tags and has gotten better at aiming her hand and fingers so she can grasp all sorts of small items between her fingers.  This morning she was quite taken with the tag on the pillow.  This evening, she suddenly decided she wanted to hold the spoon I was using in an attempt to feed her peas.  She has been increasingly interested in food (although the peas were a stretch - it was hit or miss for a while there), and while she sometimes ends up looking like a hungry baby bird, opening wide in hopes of a food deposit, tonight she decided she wanted to grab the spoon.  I'm not entirely sure she intended to feed herself or if she just wanted the item I was holding, but she did manage to get the bowl of the spoon into/near her mouth, so that is a success.  She also managed to get it all over her face, so a bath was in order to remove the bits of pea from hair and skin.

  
My favorite pictures of the day, however, came from a quick morning shoot.  We were getting ready for day care and work, so I gathered the necessary items for her diaper bag, including some diapers and wet bag.  I left them on our bed - where Michal was hanging out with Daddy - as I went to finish a few last tasks, when I heard Josh laughing.  I came over, and found this...

Michal decided she wanted her diapers a little closer, turned, stretched, reached, and grabbed, tumbling the pile onto herself.  What a silly girl. 

Day 47: Six Months

In just about 20 minutes, Michal will officially be six months old (yes, that is the kind of nerd I am - down to the minute).  It seems somewhat cliche to say, again, how quickly time flies when you're having fun, but, well, it's true.  Pictures from this morning, right before her liquid breakfast - she was a good sport even though she was probably hungry.

Very early on, it became apparent that I would have a difficult time catching her attention since Bailey was out and about and doing his morning thing.  Here she is looking at Bailey. 

Smiling at Bailey Dog (NOT at me, mind you) 

Yum, thumb.  Breakfast of champions. 

Why, hello there, monkey. 

I've got you now! Tell me where the bananas are, or else! 

Take that, Mr. Monkey!

Just kidding, monkey, we're friends!

Day 46: The Future's So Bright...

Mondays and Tuesdays are a fairly relaxed day in terms of schedule, especially so as I do not normally go in to work until the early afternoon.  When the weather gets warmer, possible outdoor activities will certainly increase.  While yesterday was nearly spring-like and sunny, today started to edge back down to a wintry chill.  Aside from a quick walk with the dog, we decided to hit the mall.

From the very first moment today, Michal was very tongue-y.  Not quite sure why, but she kept sticking her tongue out at every opportunity.  Silly girl.

After a few days of increasing fussiness from the babes, I lugged our exersaucer in to my office.  Michal was SO happy - she loves hanging out, looking around, playing with her toys.  It was definitely better than having to hold her in my lap, clearing multiple pens from her grip, and pushing the keyboard out of her reach before she could compose an email consisting of: MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM N.  (Actual quote from her work today) **

Yesterday's weather was a mean tease of spring to come.  Even though it was about twenty degrees cooler today, I still had the lingering taste of warmth, so we decided to check out some swim suits and cute spring/summer clothes.  Sunglasses were a definite must, and here she is, rockin' the shades.  Note the blue sparkle.


You will notice in the second picture that she is wearing a different outfit than the other pictures.  Yes, we had one of THOSE days.  I probably could have used a THIRD outfit the way she was going.

Day 45: Be Mine

Happy Valentine's Day!  Or, as I like to think of it, Love Day!  


I had a lovely day with Michal today, even if she was a bit fussy at work.  She did give me a lovely gift this morning, though - a slightly longer nap than usual - so I was able to get a few winks in there, which I desperately needed.


I decided to do a short photo shoot with Michal for the holiday, and I dressed her up in one of her "new" outfits - new, because she has not worn this yet.  We are just starting to transition her to the next size up in clothing - 6-9 month.  She will be six months tomorrow and we have her six month appointment in a week and a half.  I'm curious to see how much she has grown since her last appointment.  


The photo shoot was not a huge success.  I was able to catch many pensive baby moments, a couple of funny expression/gesture shots, and a few blurry action shots.  

 C'mere - I have a hug for you!

 Raspberries...

 Ima, you know I'm sleepy.  Why are you torturing me?

 Hmm... what's down there?

 Oh! Hello there!

 What are you looking at, huh?

Put up yer dukes!

This was what happened for most of the shoot.  I have no idea what was happening out on the deck, but it seemed to be fascinating.

Day 44: Sitting Pretty

I ran into a friend at work today, and he asked after Michal, inquiring about her current talents and skills.  By far her current trick is sitting, and she has gotten really good about sitting up on her own.  She has pretty good control of her body, although she will often lose balance if she gets distracted, looks around too actively, and tries to look behind her - she loves looking behind her, but she cannot quite figure out how to adjust and compensate for her moves. 


I had a long day at work today, so when I got home, all I wanted to do was hang out with Michal (well, Josh, too, but she's cuter).  Luckily she woke up from a nap right when I got home, so we got to hang out and play.  Between practicing our sitting up and raspberries, it was a good time.

Look, Ima, no hands! 

Love this kid in profile, especially when she's checking something out. 

Ooooooh....

Blowing raspberries.  This was really big last week. 

 I'm a sucker for baby feet.

And my favorite: air guitar baby.  Who needs Rock Band or Guitar Hero when you have rockin' baby!?!  She knows all the hits!

Day 43: Zoology

It has been a long winter, and while we have not seen the record amounts of snow we were gifted with last year, it has been incredibly cold.  So when we saw that we would be blessed with a balmy day today - with a high in the mid-40s! - we decided to get outside and go to our local zoo - THE National Zoo.  It was the perfect way to spend our last day with Grandma before she leaves to head back home to California - and she was nice to not rub it in that it will be in the 50s and 60s there.  We are jealous.


We had a feeling Michal would enjoy the zoo, given her infatuation with Bailey the Dog.  There were also a few adorable reasons we thought the zoo would be fun for the entire family...

One of the giant pandas, munching on some bamboo... 

Red panda, hanging out.  

Elephants! 

I think this is Bonnie, one of the Orangutans 

Just a few days after Michal arrived, seven lion cubs were born to two of the zoo's lionesses.  We made sure to keep an eye on the time so we could see the cubs when they were brought out.  It was much fun watching them play with each other, drag logs to and fro, and even get daring and attack the male lion's tail.    

Just a little bit of a Lion King moment here...

Of course we had to head down to the Kids' Farm and check out the cows... and goats... and donkeys... and alpaca (Michal showed the most interest in these guys!).

Here is M, checking out the lion cubs.

We cannot wait to come back to the zoo when it is just a touch warmer.  While Michal did not show a Bailey-level attention and fascination, we know she'll love the zoo and the animals as much as we do!