Photodump

The Young One

This is where food and drink we don't want anymore ends up: off the high chair and onto the floor. Cheerios, peas, bread, milk, etc. Each meal means sweeping and often scrubbing. If she gets a spoon and she is done with whatever is in her bowl, heaven help you.

Still not walking, still monkey scooting, standing up more and pulling up. She has worked over her fear of sitting down, several times throughout the day you can hear the baby thud as she releases and hits. She'll also walk down the couch or coffee table. She enjoys getting into and out of the bumbo and has even gotten up onto things, like her toy drum.

The phrase "Mama" has become the baby aloha, it means "pick me up," "more food please," "I'm sad," etc. I guess she has recognized the attention she gets when she says it so now, whatever she wants it's "Mama." Dada did not last long. Just Mama and the crying.

Speaking of crying, 3:30am has become the new 6:00. My wife is a soldier, waking night after night to calm, pacify and attempt to placate the child who refuses to truly communicate. At times she goes at it guns blazing: clean diaper,Tylenol, teething tabs, gas drops and a waffle. Sometimes it helps, other times not so much.

I woke up yesterday morning and found Sailor in her swing with her blanket over her head and olivia and the dog on the couch. I never knew she had gotten up. Ru slept in. I made coffee.

I'm a lucky man. 

 

What Always Happens On Break

It's the classic case: olivia and the girls head out of town and I stay at home. While they are gone, milestone after milestone get missed. Ruby came back with an even better grasp of language and vocabulary. Her use of sentence structure and grammar were vastly improved...and she grew a size. We've had to take the smaller things out of her wardrobe and box them up for little sister.

Speaking of Sailor, her side of face crawl evolved and now she is fully mobile. Her method more or less consists of pulling along with her arms while scooting her legs after the arms are extended and planted. Her appetite has also increased and formula is a thing of the past. She will kill some whole milk and has gotten to the point of refusing to eat food she doesn't like as opposed to just devouring whatever you put in front of her.

Learning to Crawl

Sailor has a unique approach to crawling. It is sort of a "rest on my face and push with my legs" technique. I encourage her to practice by getting down on the floor with her and putting a block just out of her reach. She can get around like this but as you can see, it is a bit awkward. It seems she is getting closer all the time, popping up on her haunches and acting like she is going to do it and then she just goes back to the face method.

Ru was a little bit of a late crawler and for a long time she only used one knee. I try to let Sailor go at her own rate like we did Ru but it is hard, seeing other kids her age that are not only crawling but crawling well and fast. I know it will come, until then...more practice.