Week 44: November 11 - 17

Madeleine turned 10 months old this week! I can't believe how time has flown. Pretty soon, she'll be turning ONE! Our tentative date for her first birthday party is January 15th, a Saturday, and I hope everyone can make it, though I know that won't be possible. It will be a short, low-key affair, where we basically get to celebrate making it through alive! Oh, and Madeleine will get her first CAKE!

Nursing
Mostly still going well. We had some biting incidents this week which were NOT fun, but I think they're past. Hasn't bit since Saturday.

Sleeping
Well, we've hit some bumps in the sleep department. Everything was going super last week, but this week she started having problems. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, she took her normal morning nap, but then for her second nap, she wasn't tired when she went down (I guess!). She would sit in her crib and play, coo, talk to herself for up to 30 minutes, then take a super short nap (30 minutes). She seemed fine in the evenings, however, so we weren't worried.

But after the third day of this, she woke super early in the morning. Le sigh. So we think she got just a little more chronically tired each day, and then it started messing with her night sleep. It's crazy the way sleep works for babies--and how it gets messed up! Anyway, the first day of early waking was Sunday, and we had to wake her from her first nap to get to church. Then we went out to eat, so Madeleine went down for nap #2 kinda late. She slept great, until almost 4, so we all went to church that night. Well, she ended up being up too late. Got a short (which for her means less than 11 hours) night's sleep, then slept fine for nap #1 and nap #2 was again about 30 minutes.

Since then, however, her naps have lengthened again. I believe it has to do with her waketimes; I think she's able to stay up longer than before, which is a natural progression for babies. These things just tend to surprise us! Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty good, so hopefully it was just a phase-thing.

Solids/Food
It's funny. Some meals she will eat a lot, and others she'll barely touch. We've decided to start waiting at least 30 minutes after she nurses before giving her solids, just to give her a little time to want to eat. She still loves it, and overall, there is positive progress. It's still kinda slow, but the book says that one day, it'll just CLICK. Can't wait for that! I bet it'll be her first birthday party, when she gets her first taste of CAKE!

Foods she LOVES: biscuits, apples, cantaloupe, peaches, tomatoes, grapes
Foods she likes: zucchini, green beans, chicken, carrots, asparagus
Foods she doesn't love: bananas, cucumber.
Potential problem foods: cheese, yogurt (dairy??)

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. Climbs up and down from chairs (HA! Not a chance. Matt has walked her up and down an incline though....)
2. May differentiate use of hands (definitely.)
3. Likes to take things apart and put them back together (YES to taking apart, NO to putting back together. Haha. She is still very much the Unmaker)
4. Opens drawers and cupboards to explore contents (she did this last week but the contents of the cabinets weren't okay for baby to play with. She was super unhappy and let me know about it!)
5. Experiments with means to a goal, such as using a large wheeled toy for a walker (she kinda did this in week 43 with the basket)
6. Helps dress herself (yes! She's been doing this for awhile with her arms and recently started with her legs)
7. Enjoys games, such as hide-and-seek, rolling back and forth on floor (she LOVES games, especially the ones with daddy!)
8. Drops objects for someone else to pick up (maybe she started doing this a few weeks ago?)

New Things
Kind of a slow week. She's started cruising a lot more, and walking (with the help of one of us) with one hand.

OH! She attempted to clap this week! Matt was clapping to her while she was on the changing pad, and she was kinda trying to bring her hands together in the same way. It was great!

Teething Update
No good pics of the teeth this week. They're sticking out just a little more than last week.

CAMP CRAWL!
Crawling ... is about the same, I'd say. I dunno, she just doesn't seem to want to get her belly up. She does the right motions with her hands and legs, but she doesn't get up on her knees. *Shrugs* I don't know what else to do, other than just not worry too much about it.

Slideshow
Lots of outdoor activities this week: Swings, parks, battlefields.

Video(s) of the week!
These were taken in Roswell on Saturday. Madeleine LOVED walking through the leaves!!

Week 43: November 4 - 10

Nursing
Nursing is going great!

Sleeping
Sleeping is going great, too. We were a little worried about daylight savings on Sunday, but Madeleine once again rose to the challenge. On Saturday, we went to a friend's house, and Madeleine took her second nap there. She was asleep before 2pm and she slept until about 3:50! On any other day, I would have woken her at 3:30, but because of the time change, we let her sleep. She was asleep for bed at 7:45pm (way later than usual), then woke at about 6:30am (new time; to her, it was 7:30am). She did great most of the day, but by bedtime, she was super tired. Even though she'd slept great, her little body still said it was up too late.

Monday she woke at 5:30, Tuesday at 6, and Wednesday she slept until 7am. Totally awesome little baby! Things are looking good! Also, her naps are great. I think it may be because she is so much more active, what with cruising and crawling all over the place. :)

Solids/Food
Madeleine really likes eating with people. On Sunday, we went out to eat with our friends Todd, Amanda, and Manning. We'd gone out with them and Amanda's family two Sundays before. On both occasions, Madeleine sat in her high chair with her cloth napkin bib on and ate her little pieces of food with complete contentment. She smiled at everyone, laughed occasionally, and generally seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself.

The Baby-Led Weaning book says not to make a big deal out of baby eating, to just go on with our meal like normal. Matt and I have gotten used to doing this. We give her some food and then talk like normal. Sometimes one of us laughs, and more often than not, Madeleine will laugh too. It's as though she's trying to participate in what's going on at the table beyond just eating. It seems as though she knows that meals are important and she wants to be part of them. It is totally awesome. SHE is totally awesome!!

She tried green peas for the first time this week. I'm not sure if she was just not hungry at the time or if she didn't like them, but she had a great time smashing them one-by-one on her high chair tray!

Her progress with eating is phenomenal. She's starting to swallow! Less food is hitting the floor! Her poop is getting more solid! All good things. I've noticed that for certain foods, like biscuit, we give her one or two pieces and she'll work on those for the entire meal instead of eating some and then dropping the rest. She used to go through half a biscuit at breakfast, but now just those 2-3 pieces. Yay!

Foods she LOVES: biscuits, apples, cantaloupe, peaches, tomatoes
Foods she likes: zucchini, green beans, chicken, carrots, asparagus
Foods she doesn't love: bananas, cucumber.
Potential problem foods: cheese, yogurt (dairy??)

By the book...
According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. May be able to raise herself to a standing position (she still needs us or furniture)
2. Carries two small objects in one hand (um? haven't seen her do this...)
3. Reaches behind herself to get a toy without seeing it (um... she definitely reaches, not sure about her seeing it or not...)
4. Is interested in fitting things together (not yet. Supposedly, this comes with the next Wonder Week, which is after week 46)
5. Seeks social approval (YES! I think the mealtimes with others is evidence of this)
6. Seeks companionship and affection (well, she wants to be with one of us at all times. She's more cuddly sometimes)
7. Fears strange places (haven't seen this yet)

New Things
Oh boy, does this girl like to walk! She loves standing against furniture and playing with things or pulling perfectly folded laundry off and dropping it on the floor. :) BUT, if I get too close to her, she reaches out and grabs me--my hand, my pants, my arm, whatever. Then she's trying to get me to help her walk. I feel like one of those robots that is controlled by a person perched inside the machine. Think "District 9." She will get "loaded" and start walking. When she wants to stop, she'll let go of one of my hands, explore or whatever she wanted to do. When she's done, she searches for my hand again so that she (and I) and move on. It's hilarious.

Matt has taken Madeleine on multiple walks around the house. He holds her hands and she walks all over the place. It's one of the best things for her to come around the corner and see me. She smiles really big and turns on the jets, walking faster to get to me. Of course, she gets distracted halfway there, but it's still totally awesome.

More walking news: a few times this week, she played with her basket, but in a different way. I turned it over so that it wouldn't tip (in the carpeted room), and she stood beside it with her hands on the bottom. Accidentally, it scooted forward a little because of Madeleine's weight. It was kind of like using a walker. She was surprised, kinda like, how did I get to here from there? But then she just kept playing. :)

We got Madeleine a cool toy for crawling or walking after (you can see it here). She does crawl after it, but what's more fun to watch is her holding Matt's hands, walking after the worm, and kicking it. Yes, kicking it! See the video in the video section.

On a totally unrelated note, Madeleine has become VERY ticklish, and it seems like it's happened just in this last week. We noticed that she's ticklish under her arms a few weeks ago, but lately she's ticklish on her tummy, her feet, her neck, and sometimes totally unexpected spots, like her elbow! She is so delightful when she's laughing that we have a hard time not trying to tickle her ALL THE TIME. I personally hate it (though I don't know many people who like it), so I don't want to tickle her if she isn't enjoying it. Cuz it's hard to tell---laughing isn't a voluntary reaction. But there are times we just can't help it. She is simply too cute!

Something NOT so cute: crying when a toy is taken away or she is moved from somewhere she was playing. I think she has more trouble with this when she is tired, because she doesn't do it very often. We are always surprised when she protests like this, so I think that speaks to its infrequency and unpredictability. We are never sure what to do, though. Cave and return the item? Or stick with our reason for taking the item away? My gut reaction is that it's about naptime, and distraction is always good. I don't know if she's too young to try and teach her that crying doesn't get her what she wants---though, crying is the only way she can communicate.

Misc
Madeleine has a game that she plays with Matt. He'll have something in his hand, and he will give it to her. Then she'll take it, but almost immediately try to put it back into his hand. She'll do this over and over. It's fun to watch, though I wouldn't mind if he didn't play this game while driving. HA! Just kidding. Only when we're stopped at lights.

Madeleine is awesome right after she eats. She's always in a great mood. She and I play for a few minutes after each meal, anywhere from 5-15 minutes. We do all kinds of little things, but she'll get this awesome smile on her face and lean into me, like she's shy. Sometimes, she'll give me little kisses, but this week, she put my whole nose in her mouth and licked it. LOL. She's so funny!

For months, I've been singing the same song to Madeleine before bed. In the last week or so, she's started to relax and lean her head against me while I sing and rock her. It is one of the best things ever. She also will do this for naps, but there's something super special about bedtime.

CAMP CRAWL!
On the subject of crawling. It is true that Madeleine doesn't crawl much, and that her technique is not textbook when she does crawl. We discussed this with her doctor at her 9-month visit, and the doctor said not to worry. She thought Madeleine would have it down by a year old. Madeleine doesn't get a ton of practice crawling because our floors are mostly wood and it's a lot cooler now than in the summer. If she has warm enough clothes on, it's hard for her to get good gription on the floor.

Still, we do want her to learn to crawl, and we need to provide those opportunities. So starting Wednesday, we put her on the floor a lot. This is the inaugural run of Madeleine crawling. She's already improved since starting Camp Crawl. She's got a decent grasp of technique, but she just needs to realize that it's more efficient to get her belly all the way off the floor. And the doctor said she'd get it eventually.



Teething Update
Madeleine seems to really like having four teeth now. She can rip into food, and chew on her toys differently. The food, especially, is great. I think her improvement in eating may have something to do with her teeth. Anyway, in this pic, you can kinda see both sets of teeth.



Slideshow

Video of the week!

Week 42: October 28 - November 3

HOLIDAY ANNOUNCEMENT: I know it's a bit early, but we're working on Madeleine's Christmas List. I'll post the link each week, but if you want to, you can bookmark the page if that's easier. I'm posting it early because some of the items are for sale at Etsy and might therefore be very limited, and with the holiday season approaching, I wanted to give you the best chance of getting what you'd like to get Madeleine. I do apologize for the lack of pictures on the list. I don't know what the problem is. Sorry!

Nursing

Matt suggested I move this section down, to give the reader something they WANT to read about first. However, I figure this is the only section where I really get to mention what's going on with ME, and it's first, so people can skip it or read it and forget it when they see stuff about Madeleine.

SO! All is well. Almost great, actually. :)

Sleeping

YAY. Sleep is going superbly, despite a few little bumps in the road (pun... intended!) Madeleine's naps are consistently over an hour, and on Tuesday, she even slept almost 2 hours for her second nap! It seems as though she's starting to make up for lost sleep in her naps. If she has a short night, she'll have longer naps, which is great. No issues here right now!

Solids/Food

Last week, I reported that she was really into food. And she definitely is. However, she still doesn't seem to quite get the concept of swallowing. I know she IS swallowing some, because the food disappears more now, and we see it in her diapers. But a lot of food still comes out of her mouth. She'll chew on it for a few minutes, then - bloop! - out it comes, pushed by her little tongue. She also doesn't get the idea of drinking. We've tried giving her water, and she has swallowed some, but it seems to be more by accident. OH well, we'll just keep trying!

Foods she LOVES: biscuits, apples, cantaloupe, peaches, tomatoes
Foods she likes: zucchini, green beans, chicken, carrots, asparagus
Foods she doesn't love: bananas, cucumber.
Potential problem foods: cheese, yogurt (dairy??)

By the book...

According to "Your Baby's First Year, Week by Week," during this week, Madeleine:
1. Sits down from standing position (um, not really. She's super close, though. She uses Matt or I to help her sit -- smart baby!)
2. Responds to music by rocking, bouncing, swaying, humming (maybe??)
3. May repeat word incessantly, making it an answer to every question (she doesn't seem to talk with us much)
4. Grows aware of self (vague......)
5. Imitates gestures (YES!!)

New Things

BIG week this week. I think it has something to do with Madeleine FINALLY getting over her month-long cold.

To begin, a little setup: on Thursday, Matt put Madeleine down for her second nap, but she didn't seem too tired. Also, it was pretty warm, so we didn't put her in a sleep sack (either the light or heavy). Both of these things resulted in a FIRST. Madeleine stood up in her crib!! She was just cooing and talking to herself, and I looked at the monitor to see her in the corner of her crib in a new stance. I told Matt she was trying to stand, and then I turned away. When I glanced back, she was pulling herself up!! It was awesome! She made such pleased sounds.

BUT THEN, it occurred to me that she would have to get down in order to actually take her nap. The question became, do we go in and put her down, or let her figure it out? I frantically looked online for what other moms said to do, and the conclusion was unanimous: leave her. It was sad, because eventually her happy sounds turned to cries when she couldn't get down. Eventually though, she did, and I didn't see it. It took her a few minutes to calm down from being so upset, but then she fell asleep and slept for an hour. We had to wake her in order to preserve her bedtime.

So yay, Madeleine, standing up in her crib! It was super cool. She hasn't done it since, and I suspect that's because we do put her in the sleep sack for naps. It's probably got pros and cons. The good is that she won't get stuck standing up and have a hard time getting down, but the bad is that she doesn't get to practice getting herself down (and up of course, but I think down is harder). Also, at the end of her naps, it would be cool if she could stand up. But with the cooler (cold!) weather, this is the best way we can keep her warm during sleep.

MOVING ON! NEW TEETH! This also happened on Thursday. When I was feeding her before bed, I happened to see something in her mouth. I felt around, and felt the tip of a new tooth! It's the top middle. After a day or so, it was obvious she was getting both top middle teeth. Yay!

The new teeth are causing some bumps (as alluded to in the sleep section). Sometimes she avoids meals because her teeth hurt, and she's nursing longer and gnaw-ier (not a word, I know...). She's also been a little fussier. It's odd that she doesn't seem to have any symptoms until AFTER the teeth break the skin. I've been giving her meds before naps the last few days, and I think it's helping. She had started to wake early, though by early, I mean around an hour (nothing like those 30-minute beauties we had around 6 months! DO NOT miss that time!). Tuesday's 2-hour marathon showed me that the meds are helping. :)

Okay, so WHAT ELSE? How could there possibly be MORE, you ask? Well, it's not as big, but on Saturday, Matt was helping her stand and she was holding onto his fingers. Then she got a block in one hand and had to let go of one of Matt's hands. Then she grabbed the block with her OTHER hand, and she stood ALL BY HERSELF for about 5 seconds! She had no idea what was going on, though. Her concentration was on the block, so when Matt tried to duplicate the move, it didn't work. She hadn't set out to stand, just to hold her block.

FINALLY, also on Saturday, we saw some genuine crawling action. There were verified belly lift in her movements! Plus, for the first time in 2 weeks, she crawled all over the place.

Sunday morning, she woke early and had a runny nose, and we were SO bummed that she was getting yet another cold. But Monday saw no signs of a cold, and she actually slept until 7! Oh, she slept til 7 on Saturday as well, for the first time in at least a month. This was MUCH celebrated by all -- we got to sleep IN on Saturday, yay!

I've noticed her using her pointer finger more. Which is great, because soon she'll be able to pick up things using the pincer grasp.

Misc

Monday, we had a hair-brained, last-minute impulse to go to the Pumpkin Farm and Apple Barns in the Ellijay area, so we made our plans, packed everything up, and headed for the North GA mountains. It was awesome. Madeleine was crazy about the pumpkins -- pics and video below. We only got to spend half an hour there, but it was completely worth it. Then we went to my aunt's house in Jasper for her to take her afternoon nap, and for us to hang out a little bit. We got to see my cousin Matt (so hard not to write Matthew, as I have always called him!) and play some serious ping-pong. I think 6 games while Madeleine napped? Oh, and speaking of her napping, she slept for over an hour at my aunt's house, slept through the phone ringing, the answering machine (which was in the room where she was), a little dog noise, and us playing ping pong below her. She is seriously the BEST BABY ever.

Madeleine still loves to stand and walk on our fingers, but she's also started cruising from one piece of furniture to furniture. :)

Seriously, right now, she is so awesome. Almost every moment is a ton of fun. She laughs easily, smiles, plays.... I can't believe how much I am enjoying her and life right now. I love being with her, watching her learn, watching her grow. It's incredible that she will soon talk, think, and reason, and that we get to be part of her life.

Teething Update

I think we had one week without this on here. LOL. There are now four teeth of note in Madeleine's mouth. It will probably be some time before I can get a picture of all 4, but here you could definitely see the top two. I had to use the flash, but I think it's a decent picture anyway. [Click to see bigger]:




Slideshow

You could say that I did my best to make up for last week's lack of pictures. :)

Video of the week!

Two videos this week from the pumpkin patch. Madeleine LOVED the pumpkins!