Just a Rainy Day

It’s been a lazy rainy day. Sally came over today and she got to chase Holly all over the house and was very impressed with her mobility, especially all of the “squatting” she does. She brought over the red horsey for Holly to bounce on and play with and had a chance to stretch out some of her muscles and said she seems to be getting a teeny bit looser. She played some reaching games with her and saw some good head extension and reaching, but now she is extending her head only at the neck not arching her upper back between the shoulders. That area is still super duper tight.

She worked on some rotation, and some cause and effect playing. She was working on “Push” and getting her to push some of the toys she has. The Little Orange Panda pops out when you push him, and we have another toy then you put the top the little balls inside all spin, and finally there is one shaped like a top and when you push it the entire things spins, and it plays music. It has 4 little animals and when you press each one it says, “I’m the Lion” or “What Sound Does the Monkey make” ect. It is a pretty cool toy, as once Holly has some more language skills, it asks her questions and gets her to keep playing, like “Can you find the Elephant”

Holly got a bit cranky about ½ way through the session because Sally restrained her when she was trying to crawl off to her room and she didn’t like that one bit, and then afterwards she has been fussy. We got a nap today for about 90 minutes but she seems tired again. We just had some Green beans and Blueberry pear for lunch and now she is lying in the next watching Lullaby time, I don’t think she will fall asleep, though she might, but she seemed to need the down time.

Yesterday she slept in till 10:00 so she only took 1 nap from 3-5 and was up until about 10:45. I was worried about her this morning though because she woke up crying at 7:30 and was really hungry, so she only got 8.5 hours, and she needs 12-14 a day according to the literature, and she often sleeps a minimum of 10 a night. After her bottle she went back to bed but only for another hour. I think she is either going through a growth spurt, or maybe coming down with something.

I suppose a better mother would keep her warmer, but she slips and slides and pulls off her socks or has trouble crawling when she is wearing PJ’s with feet, so I let her play in what’s comfortable even though her feet and legs sometimes feel cold. But her core is still like a little heater, her feet will be cold but her belly is toasty, and her head, so I guess she is fine. The last two days she has been having a bit of a dry cough, but I think maybe it is like an allergy, I have been coughing since Sunday because our friends have a cat and I am allergic, and I think she is copying me. She is up and playing some more, I guess she was tired of sitting still.

Yesterday we ran a few errands; we had to go back to the Plastic Store and re-cut the doors as they needed a bit more room to allow space for the hinges. I need to correct that the doors are not actually Plexiglass, but clear Acrylic. Joel has informed me that I could hit it with a hammer and it would not break, and it does not shatter, so they are super safe.

It was much more complicated getting the doors right and everything lined up, but Joel was such a trouper and stayed up till 2:00 last night and finished them. The magnet latch isn’t strong enough for her to not open them, so we added the Baby Proofing Cabinet latches which we were expecting to do, and today she was able to cruise all along the entertainment center and try and open the doors and kiss the “glass” she was quite pleased.

Have I mentioned that she is starting to show more emotions, such as Frustration and Anger? This is a great developmental milestone, though a hard one to deal with. I don’t want her to be frustrated or angry, but then I also can’t just rush in as soon as something doesn’t go her way and I have to let her fuss and cry it out sometimes, which is very hard for me, as she is a baby who never cries unless she needs something and then her need it met almost immediately.

But an example of this would be the blinds. Now that she can stand against the wall under the window she tries to reach up for the blinds. Today she reached them; it is just the bottom part of the wooden blind so totally safe. Well I guess in her mind they were “sitting” on the window sill and like other things (the drum sticks on Rockband, the remotes on the side table) Once she reaches them it is a simple effort to slide or push them down to the floor, at which time she will sit and play with her new “toy” well she doesn’t get that the blinds are attached, so they kept pushing them off the sill and pulling them away from the window and they weren’t coming down and it was no easier to reach them and she couldn’t put them in her mouth this made her very frustrated and she proceeded to shout and fuss at them.

Well, what is a mom to do? Let her fuss until she gives up and goes onto something else? How long is enough fussing, she is a very determined little girl and doesn’t give up easily, how much fussing does it take before she gets really upset and is throwing a tantrum. Well while she was standing pulling the blinds she did it maybe 15 times, fussing, but not “upset” so I just kept letting her do it. Then she got mad, sat down starting to hit the floor and cry, so I went over to her and she immediately was happy again. I opened the blinds and let her look out and touch them, from my arms and it seemed to appease her and she hasn’t tried again yet today, but did I swoop in to the rescue too soon? I guess these are things I will learn in time, but I hate seeing her “unhappy” but I am reminded that this is the time when she developmentally NEEDS to learn that she can’t always get what she wants, and things will be frustrating. I am told this will happen with Walking, where her gross motor skills won’t be on par with her cognitive skills that want to walk, so this can cause frustration.

Some of the other exciting new developments is her improved dexterity with her stacker. She used to simply dump it out and chew on the base or wooden donuts, but now she can lift each disk off the base one at a time. She even makes a game of it, I will point to it and she will lift another and then another. She is so proud to be able to take them all off one at a time, but isn’t interested in putting them back on yet. She also I think is learning that if you push the Orange Button Mr. Panda will pop up. At first she did it by accident when crawling over the toy, which I guess in many ways, is how babies learn everything, but then the other day she stopped closed the Panda and then pushed the button again, close, open, close a few times. So I think she is starting to get it. A few times since she had opened the panda, but hasn’t learned about the other switches yet.

The other game we are playing, which I realize she is way too young for is the matching game. We have this cool book with Red Apple, Orange Fish, Yellow Sun, Green Turtle, and Blue Bird. The colors are also listed in Spanish. On the left is a space where you can place a cardboard cut out of the creature that matches the larger picture of the creature on the other side. She loves flipping through the pages of this book back and forth. Sometimes I say the color of the page, sometimes the creature, sometimes I say it in Spanish. Well yesterday I decided to take all 5 “blocks” out of the book place them in front of her and turn the pages one by one pointing to the creature and asking her if she can pick up the one that matches.

She did it right 2 out of 5 times, but I think it was luck, and she just put them in her mouth and tasted them, but I would say, nope, this orange Fish doesn’t look like the Red Apple, and then I would pick up the Red Apple and Show her how the little Red apple she was holding looked like the big one on the page. She had fun. I completely don’t expect her to get this at all for now, but I figured it doesn’t hurt to play the game with her. I also like it because I am trying to teach her pointing, which is something she would normally begin to learn about this time. So I point to the pop up animals and to other various things when we play.

Also, I forgot to mention… She is actually bouncing in her bouncer now. This is very exciting, as it is important that she bounces if she wants to learn good balance for walking. She really jumps up and down and gets all excited, it is very cute to see her do it. It is funny, when she is ready to get out she fusses and whines so then I go and get her, maybe after ten minutes this will happen, but she is so excited that I listened and come that she jumps up and down while I am trying to take her out. Very cute.

We haven’t done much with the two walkers she has. The few times I have tried recently she just sat down to a crawl and climbed on them, I don’t think she sees them as stable enough to walk around or quite understands push yet, but then again, I am in no rush to get her walking. I am convinced that if I was making any effort on my part like, walking her around the room holding her hands ect. That she would be walking already, just based on her cruising, but Sally informed us that its not good to teach a baby to walk too early, especially when they have High Tone Issues, so we are letting her completely come to it at her own pace and lead the way.

So sweet, I love that she falls asleep in my lap after a bottle it is the most precious thing and I know I will miss this when she grows out of it. It is hard not to simply let myself enjoy her and watch her sleep for the whole hour or more, but alas this is my time to get stuff done like bills and blogging, so 15 minutes of Indulgence and then she was transferred to her little nest. Sometimes I just have to squeeze her I love her so much. She doesn’t quite get cuddles yet, she lets you do It sometimes for just a minute but I am looking forward to when she is older and like to be cuddled and understands the concept of sitting still, like if we were going to watch a movie or something. But then again, if she is anything like me, which she is, she probably won’t sit still.

Ohh two more things..

I called a Pediatric Dentist and asked about the teeth thing. He said it is a phase and if she gnaws on wood or metal for a few months it is ok, but if she is still scraping her teeth on metal in 6 months it could start doing some Damage. He said the key is to make sure there is no decay, as that weakens the tooth and makes it easier to damage it. As with the pulling, he said babies don’t know their own strength, it is possible she could damage her tooth, like the old shoelace and door slam to pull a tooth out, but in reality it is very unlikely she will hurt them just pulling a cord or lip of a toy over them at this point. He said in 6 months if she is still doing it, take her in to get checked. Right now she is not on Joel’s Dental insurance, but during open enrollment I think in like April, I will add her so she can get an official check up. Though I suppose I should see how much one visit costs versus 1 year of premiums, paying out of pocket might be cheaper for now.

Foot tapping.. Apparently she gets this from mommy who unconsciously taps her leg/foot all the time, I hear even her Oma does this. So the other day she was playing over by the mirror and the activity gate and I was flipping through a magazine tapping my foot, I look up at her and smile so she knows I am paying attention, as she often turns and checks that I am still here, and then she decided to crawl all the way over to me.. No pauses or breaks, all the way across the living room, when she gets to the edge of the carpet she sits and begins to tap her foot/leg against the hard wood floors in unison with me. I just had to pick her up and squeeze her I was so amazed, and she was pretty amused with herself too!