juthwara

It's been a busy month, full of physical and mental developments. K seems to have realized that she's subject to periodic employee reviews and has ramped up her job productivity as a result.

The physical:

She has been rolling over from back to front for the past two weeks. Sadly, she can't roll back so she winds up sprawled on her stomach like a beached whale, but this gives her plenty of the pediatrician-mandated tummy time. This has also created fun new adventures, like the time I put her down on the bathmat before giving her a bath and left the room for a moment, only to come back and find out she had rolled over and was now face-to-face with the heating vent. It wasn't on, so no harm, but it's these fun experiences in parenting that make you consider investing in a defibrillator. Goodbye, baby I can just leave anywhere; hello, mobility.

When on her stomach, she enjoys practicing yoga. Downward dog and cobra are two favorite moves. She doesn't enjoy cobra much, but then again, neither do I.

Her trunk strength is definitely increased. When I hold her against my shoulder, she now pushes away from me and holds herself up instead of lying limply against me. This increased strength means she is enjoying the fun baby game of throwing herself about with abandon with the sure knowledge that Mommy will catch her.

Grabbing is a hugely enjoyable activity, followed closely by chewing. She now takes great enjoyment in holding onto things; she's much happier when we go out if I put a toy in her carseat for her to hold. Her manipulation skills are improving as well. She carefully holds her lion rattle with rubber leaves attached for teething purposes and slowly and thoughtfully sticks the rubber leaves in her eye.

Speaking of chewing, the first throes of teething have started. She spent most of last week emitting rivers of drool, chewing on everything in sight and being generally cranky until we gave her Tylenol. Her general attitude was rather... bipolar. One minute, it would be, "The world is ending and NOBODY CARES!" the next, "Oh Mommy! I haven't looked at you for two minutes and seeing you is the best thing that's ever happened to me!" The symptoms subsided without anything poking through, so we may have a long haul ahead of us. It's early for teething, but according to my mother, my brother and I were both early teethers, so I guess she's taking after the Atkinson side on this. Gee, so far she's gotten reflux and early teething from me - just what I wanted! Now all she needs is my hellacious allergies and eyesight and my joy will be complete.

Vital statistics will have to wait until her appointment on Monday, but I'm pretty sure she's at least 16 pounds, probably more. She's _heavy_ these days - who needs a weightlifting program when you have the Amazing Colossal Baby? She's getting long as well. I was noticing when I gave her a bath yesterday how much skinnier she looks just because she's getting longer but not fatter. We bought her a bunch of cold weather clothes at the Carter's outlet two weeks ago, and I'm already having trouble snapping the onesies at the bottom (sigh). Thank goodness for the garment extenders I bought.

Mental development:

Life is so fun these days! She wakes up with a smile on her face and looks so utterly thrilled to see us. The mere act of speaking to her is reason for great rejoicing. Everything she sees is utterly fascinating and usually funny as well.

She's really taken an interest in the cats recently. It was certainly wise of us to invest in two black and white cats for her high-contrast viewing pleasure. The cold weather means the cats have decided that she's not too much to put up with if they can cuddle close to us. This week, she petted one of the cats for the first time. She sat on my lap and felt Sonya's soft fur (without pulling it!) while Sonya simply sat and purred. They may be friends yet.

The increased interest in the world means she's so much more distractable now, in both good and bad ways. Bad when I'm trying to feed her and she decides that she'd much rather be grinning at me or twisting her head around. But so good in that when she's upset or cranky, we can jolly her into a better mood or hanging on until we can fix the problem.

She can also anticipate. If she's upset and sees us putting on the sling, she'll often get quiet and even smile, knowing she's about to go in the sling.

Singing continues to greatly amuse. We have established that Manamana is the Funniest. Song. Ever. Lap bouncing games are great fun as well. The Grand Old Duke of York, which involves both singing _and_ bouncing, is so fun her head might just explode one of these days.

It's such a melancholy thing, being a parent. I spend quite a bit of time worrying about her development, that she isn't hitting her milestones properly. And then she makes a major developmental step or even a minor one and I'm hit with the fact that my baby is constantly and forever growing up and away from me.

But one look at this face makes it worth it.