This was a big month for Zooey! She found her thumb (finally), although, she doesn't seem to be much of a sucker. She spits out binkies, she sucks on her thumb for a bit then stops. We'll just have to see what she does in the future. She got her first three teeth, and it looks like another one is on it's way through any day now. She likes to play with her teeth - either by running her tongue over them or putting her fingers in her mouth. It's been a rough couple weeks with teething, and I have been bitten a few times, although not too bad (let's hope it stays that way or stops altogether). Zooey was pretty miserable for a few days, but she always perks right up once those painful moments are gone.
We started Zooey on solids at the beginning of her 5th month, as recommended by her pediatrician. She's a big girl, you know! Born at 8.2 and now weighing 14.4! She started with cereal once a day, then we worked it up to 2, then we started oatmeal and fed her solids 3x per day, and finally introduced some veggies. I have really been enjoying making her baby food. It's a lot of fun, and I love knowing that I am preparing something for her to eat. It's an act of love, and I really like doing it. So far, she's had squash, green beans, sweet potatoes and pears. The pears are new this week, and she's not crazy about them at all. Maybe she'll be like her aunt and prefer veggies over fruits - nothing wrong with that. :) I'm sure we will just need to give it a little longer.
Two nights ago, she slept her first 12 hour stretch. Wow! Dropping the dreamfeed wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, but that's probably because I got all of my mopiness out of my system before we did it, and God was good to answer my prayer that it would be a smooth transition for us. It improved her nighttime sleep and her naps; she has dropped her 4th nap of the day in the last 2 weeks.
She's so cute! Now she sits in her highchair and watches me fix dinner, then we sit down to the table as a family (I'm sad to say this is a first, at least consistently, for us) before she eats and has bath and bedtime. We talk and chat, and she hams it up for Daddy every night - I foresee a Daddy's girl for sure! She's also discovered that she can bang her toys on the highchair and drop them on the floor to make quite the exciting noise. :)
Zooey has also started to have independent play in her playpen. Most of the time, she really likes it, and it gives us some time to do a couple of things when she's awake. She likes to look at the fan or grab her toys and squeal/laugh/talk to herself. It's nice to know she enjoys her time to herself; I'm hoping this will transition into a good quiet time period for her when she's a toddler.
Nursing continues to be going well (except for the biting), and I am so thankful that God has allowed me to nurse her for this long; I pray that I'll be able to do so until she's a year old. Zooey's little hands have started to wander when she's eating. She grabs my shirt, my necklace and just moves that little hand all over the place trying to explore. I'm sure she'd grab my hair if it was long enough! I don't know why, but I just find this cute. I'm going to make a special necklace for her to hold onto while she's nursing.
I'm sure there is so much more that she's learned and done in the last month that I'm completely forgetting, but these are the things that stand out to me. It's neat to see her learning skills and taking everything in. It must be pretty cool to see so many fun, new things every day. Zooey is my precious little blessing, and I am so thankful for her. Parents always say you'll never understand the love, protection and joy you feel in your children until you have one. I am truly getting that more and more every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment