Kissing, “Clapping”, Hitting, Pinching and our first Baby and Me class

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Only a week has passed, but I feel like so much has happened! Where to begin? Well, first, I am pleased to announce that Maddie has successfully rolled from her back to her tummy.  She has been working on it for a while now, looking over her shoulder and turning her body, but she just couldn’t get herself flipped the whole way.  I would nudge her a little here and there so she could get the feel of it, but it wasn’t until 1/21 that she actually got it on her own.  She woke from her nap and was crying, which is unusual for her. She normally babbles in her crib for long periods of time upon waking, but she seemed to go to the screaming pretty quickly this time around.  And she was screaming for good reason: when I walked into her room, she was on her tummy! She must have been trying to turn over to get her pacifier back into her mouth, which I have seen her do on occasion, and flipped the whole way.  Wow! Way to go, Maddie!

I just had to take a picture of Maddie after to rolled from back to front for the first time. 

She just seems to be developing so quickly all of the sudden, which helps to explain the crankiness.  It seems like Maddie is really fussy and sleepy during the day and very wakeful at night when she is working on a new skill.  Well, other than the rolling, Maddie seems to be recognizing toys, making associations and mimicking actions.

This past weekend, for example, Phil and I were clapping and singing while she was in her crib and she took her hands and brought them together as though she was trying to clap, too.  I have also seen her (maybe I mentioned this before?) make the gesture for “milk” that I do before I feed her each time.  She tends to do this mostly in the morning when she knows I am about to feed her. My favorite thing that she has been doing, though, is what I am calling kisses.  She might not be trying to kiss me, but I am calling it that and I LOVE it! Well, if you have spent even five minutes with Maddie and me, you will know that I kiss her on her cheeks NONSTOP.  Haha.  I just love her so much that I can’t seem to help myself.  Well, she now has been turning her head towards me and giving me a big, wet, opened-mouth kiss right back!

She is also recognizing her toys a lot more and upon seeing Sophie the giraffe, she immediately opens her mouth so she can chew on her.  It is by far her favorite teething toy.  She also knows that when she is in her high chair, it is time to eat and she has a special “I’m hungry” grunt that we get to hear whenever she’s sitting in her chair.  She’s also making associations with bowls and spoons.  Yesterday, I was eating my cereal while she was playing on her mat and she just watched me the entire time.  I kept bringing the spoon to my mouth and she looked at me in confusion.  After a minute or two, she opened her mouth and waited for food.  It’s like she was confused about why I was putting the spoon in my own mouth and not hers.  I swear, she is such a smartie already!

Maddie loves to chew on Sophie's ears, nose and knees!

We had a couple of mishaps with eating this past week.  I have learned that, while Maddie likes peas, green beans and carrots separately, she does not like them as “mixed vegetables.” I tried to feed them to her so many times and finally just tossed the rest of them.  I think it might be because I didn’t strain out the skins from the peas like I normally do.  Or maybe she just doesn’t like the mixture.  Either way, we will stick to single veggies for a while.  I also discovered that broccoli is a no-no for babies under 8 months.  This is one I feel so sad about.  L I thought it was just like any of the other veggies I had been giving her and so I pureed up some broccoli, which she seemed to really enjoy.  Well, poor Maddie’s digestive system was not mature enough for the fiber-filled vegetable and Maddie was up all night with horrible gas.  I felt terrible.  So lesson learned: no broccoli and no mixed veggies.  

Let’s see. Other things that are new with Maddie are the pinching and hitting.  Maddie now is hitting toys, her tummy and me with her little hands.  She also has realized that she can grasp flesh in her hands, which makes nursing painful as she hits, pinches and scratches (with her tiny baby nails) my chest. 

Lastly, Maddie and I signed up for a Baby and Me class at the library.  I didn’t realize they had programs for kids this young, but apparently they do! Maddie and I went for the first time today and it is such a cute program. Miss Wendy is the teacher and we start every half-hour long class with the name song.  Then we play some interactive games with the babies.  Today we did a “tickle the baby song” and another one, which ended with Miss Wendy blowing bubbles for all of the kids to try to catch and pop.  Then we read a book and, when that was done, the kids all get to play with toys while the moms talk.  Miss Wendy seems very knowledgeable about child development and was answering a lot of questions about speech, walking, crawling…etc.  Oh, and another thing that I love is that they try to teach the babies sign language! I have been wanting to start teaching more words to Maddie, so this will be a great way for both of us to learn them. 

Just hanging out, playing together. 

OK – so my updates: I have started baking bread, which I am loving.  I have learned that the loaf forming is very important in giving the bread an even, fluffy rise.  I’ve made white bread and French bread so far and am looking forward to trying out others. 

White bread success! 

I also had a little craft project last week and I made a medal holder. Now that they are up on the wall, it’s a reminder of what I’ve done and also that I need to keep going – there’s so many hooks left to fill! I can’t wait for my first post-baby race!

My medal holder up on the wall. 

Finally, I have finished memorizing Titus 1! Praise God for bringing me through it.  I am looking forward to reciting it for my friends at our next small group meeting next Wednesday.