Lucky Life Is Like This: May 2015

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Monday, May 25, 2015

Emma Starts Solids

Here she is in action, folks! Em loves to eat!

Our sweet girl is a peanut compared to her big brother, following along the 25th percentile for weight and 50th for height, but she's developing crazy fast. She has begun to sit up and scootch around on the floor--not quite an army crawl yet, but she can get where she wants to go by pushing with her legs and pulling with her arms. She also has been getting up on her hands and knees and then flopping forward. Crawling is just around the corner, which caught me by surprise. I thought I had a couple more months!

Recently Emma started really grabbing for our food in a determined kind of way. On Mother's Day I let her take my pizza crust to see what she'd do with it, out of curiosity. Could she possibly be ready to eat? Sure enough, she gnawed and gummed the crust to a pulp. I wasn't really ready for her to begin solids, but to stay true to baby-led weaning, I let her guide us, despite doctor recommendations to wait until 6 months. I don't know, even though I wasn't totally ready for her to start, she displayed all the signs that told me she was physically ready. So, slowly, we've started solids. A bit of avocado here, some banana there. Nothing regular or scheduled, but I can't deny that she's eating solids now. Emma couldn't be happier. The girl loves to eat.

Emma continues to be a mama's girl, shying away from strangers. I know eventually she'll get past the stranger anxiety, and won't be so fearful of others, so I don't mind the extra cuddles now. When we're on our own during the week, Isaac, Emma, and I, Emma is still completely content during the day to mill about the "livia room" (as Isaac calls it) playing. Whether she's playing on her tummy, or in my arms, or laying in bed, she is constantly swinging her legs or wiggling her feet. It's the cutest thing. And she's super ticklish, too. Every time I change her diaper I can get a few laughs, even just by wiping her! Sometimes I even get that awesome giggle out of her.

Here's a video of the leg swinging:

Emma continues to be a good sleeper. She has transitioned to naps in her crib if I can't nap with her (she's much too mobile to be on the bed alone!), and she starts the night, around 7pm, in her crib, too. She'll sleep until 1am and then nurse and sleep the rest of the night with us, waking between 6-7am. She doesn't take a pacifier anymore--she was over the paci by three months, so getting Emma down in her crib can be challenging, but we are making progress.

As a mom of two, having two kids on the move is a real game changer. My day is full and fun and equally as exhausting. And here comes summer, when I have both kids from sun up to sun down, no breaks. Eeeee, ready or not...