Sunday, March 10, 2013

Mom has a Mom (and shes LB's grandma)


This weekend Grandma came to visit for just a couple days. She arrived late at night on Camberly's birthday and left to go home on her own. As is usual when she visits, it was a whirlwind of spending time with Little Bird and doing some project around the house. We had been slowly making plans to redecorate the living room, so she took that on full force. Thursday was busy finding a mirror and new rug. Then Friday, Grandma took care of Little Bird while we both worked. It sounds like they had a lot of fun together. Saturday  was busy again putting the living room back together (pictures to come eventually).


While she was here, Grandma taught LB to raise her hands above her head "touchdown" after she would knock over a tower of blocks. (We haven't quite figured out the correlation between blocks and a touchdown.) Grandma is so nice she let LB play with her ipad and attack the computer keyboard. The read books together and played the piano. They did bath time and storytime. It was such a fun visit.




Sunday, March 3, 2013

A Hard Week


Poor Little Bird. This week has been tough for her. She has had a cold and she is getting one of her premolars. So she is dripping out her nose and drooling like crazy. With low fevers coming and going, multiple wake ups during the nights,just wanting to be held, lots of ear pulling, and head bonking, we went to the pediatrician to make sure it wasn't her ears. But they were just fine--its "only a cold."


And unfortunately she has passed it on to her parents. We started feeling the congestion hit a couple days after she did. She has developed a red "mustache" from all the nose wiping.  Then to top it all of she hit the edge of her eye on the corner of the futon armrest and ended up with a bruise.


But even though the nose is still running, she seems to be feeling a little better and is back to crawling around and even trying to take a few steps.



Sunday, February 24, 2013

Busy Body


Little Bird is exploring and getting into things more and more. She has learned how to stand on her tip toes to reach into drawers or on top of table edges. And she grabs whatever her little hands can get a hold of. Anything that can be pulled down, ends up on the floor. LB has also gotten very good at climbing over obstacles, like the diaper bag that used to keep her out from under the quilt rack and basket of dog stuff.


She seems drawn to Sylvester, always trying to get him, even though he is a little leery of her "hugs" and doesn't usually hang around for long. She has fun exploring under Camberly's desk to see what fabric or sewing stuff she can pull down or knock over.


She is such a busy girl and she keeps us on our toes. We never know what she will figure out next.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Ten Months


 Another month has come and gone and Little Bird continues to keep us on our toes. By our best home measurements, she hasn't gotten any taller or gained any weight. Our methods are not the most precise but it is also probably due to a combination of her eating habits and constant motion. Now that Little Bird knows she can feed herself, she will only eat a little off the spoon and wants to do the rest on her own. She is also a fickle eater--one day she scarfs down cooked carrots and the next just throws them all on the floor. This is true of a lot of other foods too--pears, freeze-dried raspberries, sweet potatoes, scrambled egg. So her intake is probably not as consistent as it was when it was all bottles. The things she almost always eats are cheese, yogurt, Joes Os, and crackers. Our little dairy and grain girl.


Little Bird has been content to keep crawling and cruising. She doesn't currently seem to interested in balancing to stand on her own or to walk. But I doubt this will last for long. She uses the skills she has to get all over the place and into everything. This month she discovered the bottom stair. Usually she just goes the the stairs to pound on them but a couple times she has gotten herself up onto the first step. She has gotten very good at climbing over things to get to her target and she will stand on tip toes and stretch so far to try to get phones and computers.



We got her a walking toy/stroller to push around. At first she was much more interested in climbing onto the box and playing with it. Now she is mostly interested on the toys that are attached and the little musical bear. But if we stand her up behind it she will push it as she walks along. But as soon as she hits an obstacle and can no longer go straight, she is done. She needs to learn how to turn.



 It is amazing how she finds things to put in her mouth. She thinks it is so fun and often shows it off to us. She has gotten good at pushing it out with her tongue so we can get it out. So cooperative.


Grandma will be proud of how LB lets us brush her teeth every night. She is getting much better at not trying to bite the bristles as we brush.


We have been trying to teach Little Bird a few signs so she can communicate with us on some basic things. She watches a video "Baby Signing Times" where they teach the signs with music. She is most interested in the introduction song and very quickly learned the sign for baby. When you say the word baby now she puts her hands together and rocks her arms. She will pat her leg for dog (although she says dah for the dogs too). And most recently she has figured out milk. So much fun.


Speaking of dogs, they are going to have to be wary of this girl. More and more she crawls over to get them.  We are trying to teach her to be soft with them because often she grabs two hands full of hair and then bites their hair and pulls it out. No wonder Sylvester is a little wary. Sadie just takes it and sometimes it looks like a wrestling match as Little Bird tries to grab a hold of her. Sadie gets her right back though with a licking attack.



Little Bird's hair is slowly growing, mainly on the top. Right after baths it is a little curly up there. Such a little joy. We love you LB.


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Sunday, February 10, 2013

A Winters Day


Today started off like a typical Sunday, as we headed to church. Little Bird was entertained by others and entertained them throughout sacrament meeting. Then she headed to the library to help Mom by attacking the paper and TV carts. She spent all of Sunday School in there getting some energy out. In Relief Society she was nice and calm as she chowed down on some Joes Os and her bottle. Once home everyone enjoyed a nice nap before linner.


Lately we have been trying to find more food for Little Bird to eat, especially ones she can feed herself. Now that she has figured it out, she often doesn't want to eat what we feed her off the spoon. She wants foods she can eat independently. The other day she we tried cottage cheese and she seemed to like the flavor, although I think she wasn't so sure about the texture. Today for lunch we tried it again but she wouldn't let us get the spoon close. So eventually, we tried just putting a big curdy chunk on her tray to see what she could do with it. After avoiding it for a while in favor of the pancake pieces, she finally picked it up and gave it a try. Success. She then ate all the rest that way and while it was a lot messier, at least she ate it and seemed to enjoy it. (The second picture is of a new funny face she makes while eating now, she scrunches up her nose, squints her eyes, holds her arms out waving, and makes a funny happy noise.)


After dinner Little Bird seemed a little stir crazy, so we bundled her up, strapped her to Dad, and took her for a walk to look at the snow.


LB helped Mom play the piano (this picture is for you Grandma) and then it was bath time and bed time. It is  so nice to have relaxing days home together as a family.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Getting to Sleep


Ever since Little Bird has been sleeping unswaddled, we have had a video monitor so we can keep an eye on her. This has been especially helpful because our old wood floors are so squeaky that she would wake up from the noise if we checked on her.  It has been fun to watch the different positions she sleeps in, usually on her tummy. And with the video, we can take snapshots (not the best quality but fun to save for memories).

We usually put her down in her crib before she is asleep and this often means she spends 10-15 minutes cavorting around her crib before she actually goes to sleep. So one day, when I put her down for a nap, I decided to watch her and take a picture every  15-30 seconds until she fell asleep. It is amazing how much she moves around. A couple times, I thought she was about to fall asleep because she would stop moving, but then she would be up on the move again. Such a funny girl.