Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Wordless Wednesday: Disney Details

in the (empty) queue for Muppet Vision 3D // *personal photo*
Today I'm linking up over at Focused on the Magic for the Wordless Wednesday Disney blog hop!  Today's theme is Disney Details.  Click the button below to join in on the blog hop!

 
Much love,
The Geeks

Monday, August 25, 2014

Currently, Chief is... {9 months}

Okay so I'm late with this.  15 days late, to be exact.  It's an understatement to say that things are busy around here!  Chief has grown a ton in the last three months, though it feels like it's been barely three days since she turned 6 months old.  Let's talk about how much she's changed.

Growing like a little weed!  She's no longer putting on the pounds like a sumo wrestler- instead, she's growing taller by the minute.  I always get worried when we go in to weigh her, like this will be the appointment when the doctor looks at me and says, "Why are you so intent on breastfeeding?  You're done," but once again, not an eyelash was batted at the number on the scale, no 'f' words were mentioned (that is, formula), and the doctor heartily approved of our solid food game plan.  She's still in some 6-9 month and 9-month clothes, and I've started putting her in some 9-12 month and 12-month clothes, though they are definitely still a bit roomy.  I think she's even put on weight in the two weeks since her check-up, though, because her little belly is looking chunkier today than it did when they weighed her.

Eating anything she can get her hands on that we don't take away from her.  So far, the only food she doesn't like is asparagus, but I'm betting if we gave that another go, she'd be into it.  At first, we were the typically cautious, one-food-at-a-time baby-led wean-ers (heh, wieners), but lately I just give her a little bit of whatever we're eating.  Yesterday for breakfast, all three of us ate pancakes and bacon- I crumbled up a piece of bacon for her (which she heartily enjoyed because her momma didn't raise no fool) and handed her a whole pancake, which she mainly just tore into small pieces and threw on the ground, but she got some practice tearing off small bites with her teeth and she ate maybe 1/4 of the pancake.  We're also moving towards a regular cup, and I've been reading that sippy cups are maybe not the best idea, so I found this cup with a straw in the lid and she's getting the hang of it.  I got some low-sugar apple juice (Motts for Tots, which is watery stuff that barely tastes like apple juice, in my opinion) and she likes that a lot better than just water.  I have started grabbing those squeeze pouches full of different purees, which kind of feels like a step backwards, but they're very convenient for day care and if whatever we're eating is not suitable for her (fast food, for example- not that we eat fast food...)  She also really enjoys baby yogurt (which is probably over-priced and ridiculous, but I can't find regular full-fat yogurt) and apple sauce, which have also been really good for daycare, where they are less enthused about feeding non-pureed solids to infants who don't have a full set of teeth.  The majority of her nutrition is still coming from breastmilk, though- she nurses or takes a bottle before every meal, so the food is still more about learning how to eat and less about eating.



Talking almost as much as Mommy!  And she's finally saying "ma ma", for that matter.  At first, she only said it when she was upset or crying, which broke my heart, but now I hear it when she's happy, too, but not nearly as much as "da da."  In our effort to translate her, we think "da da" means "I'm happy" or even "I love you," as it's the sound she repeats when she's playing and happy and the way she responds to our "I love you"s.  We think "ma ma" means "more" or "yummy" because she says it when she's eating.  She actually says "Daddy" sometimes, too, but not "Mommy"- but again, it's more of an "I'm happy" sound than actually talking to Daddy.  Her other favorite sound is something that sounds like "boogie" or "booty" (and the first time Mr. Geek heard it, he swore she was saying "boobie" and rant to grab her a bottle); it's basically two sounds that are always said together- "boo" and "gee" (or whatever that second sound is).  She's also started squealing really loud when she's particularly excited about something- I think she's mimicking the way I squeal when Mr. Geek tickles me (which is all the time, especially since Chief thinks it's hilarious).  Apparently she'll have long conversations with the kids at day care and they seem to all understand each other.

Making facial expressions just like her Daddy!  She's recently started doing this thing where she squints at you if she doesn't quite understand what you're doing, like if you're acting particularly silly and it's not quite hitting the mark, and it's the exact same expression Mr. Geek makes when he senses  some bullshit (along with the raised upper lip thing that I talked about last time).  She still smiles pretty much all the time, and people always compliment her on it- which makes her duck her head like she's shy (she's not shy- she's the most outgoing baby I've ever met).


Listening to anything- she loves music, and she especially loves it when people sing to her (even if it's off-key, like me).  Just recently, she's started dancing when she hears music she likes- she bounces up and down or rocks back and forth and squeals, and it's adorable.

Sleeping through the night, as always, with a pretty regular nap schedule, too, though it's not something we particularly enforce- she sleeps when she sleeps.  We can count on one nap at day care- generally 1 hour, but sometimes 2- and when she's home, we might get 2 short naps or we might get 1 two-hour nap.  Although yesterday, she just had a few super short cat naps, even though she was very sleepy all day.  We tried everything to encourage sleep- nursing in a dark room, walking around, going for a walk in the stroller, even horsing around for a little bit to wear her out- but none of our efforts resulted in anything more than 20 minutes.  She went to bed early though, and even though she was pretty tired all day, she wasn't really cranky.


Loving food- especially if it's on your plate; crawling; dogs (which, for the record, are expensive creatures which require a lot of work and we've sort of got our hands full at the moment); tickles on the back of her neck; being worn in the Ergo, but only if you're constantly moving, and preferably if you're outside; swimming; pulling up on furniture to stand; grabbing things off the coffee table, especially when you tell her not to; ignoring the multitude of toys strewn about the room and going for the one thing you don't want her to have; being together as a family- if either one of us isn't around, she always seems to be looking for whomever is missing, and is happiest when we're all three together.

Hating sleeping in hotel room cribs (or any bed that's not her own, really); getting cleaned up after making a mess with food; sitting still (I had to move the monthly photo off the couch); "prison"- her pack-n-play.

That was months 7-9!  How has life been for your little one lately?

Much love,
The Geeks