Sitting, Bananas, Squash, and Family

Scarlett has been making big strides! She continues to sit for longer and longer periods of time. She has graduated from rice cereal and has moved on to bananas and butternut squash. Paul and I have started making up her baby food in bulk and freezing it. It's pretty easy and we really like that we know what is going into her little belly. We're giving her the same food for 4 days straight before introducing a new one. Next on the list is avocado, sweet potatoes, and acorn squash. Last Sunday night we got to see Simon, Toby, Luke, and Michael while they were in town. It was crazy to see Luke (about 16 months old) because he was about Scarlett's age the last time we saw him and now he is a little person! It's hard to believe that in less than a year Scarlett will be doing all the things that Luke is doing now. Sunday we also started Scarlett on bananas. She seemed to like them better than the rice cereal... especially by the 3rd day when they were very ripe and thus very sweet! Then she was slurping them up and looking for more. The biggest problem in trying to feed her real food is that if you give her eye contact (especially any praise), she smiles and sticks her tongue out and whatever food is on it slides right off. The whole thing is pretty cute and very funny, which makes us laugh and her do it more. I've had to stop looking at her while I feed her. She seems to like the butternut squash, but it is much thicker, so she doesn't eat as much of it as she did the rice cereal or bananas.

Paul's mom and uncle Happy came into town this week for Flossy's 92nd birthday. Saturday we went up to have lunch, dinner, and spend the night so everyone could see Scarlett and celebrate Flossy's birthday together. It was great to see Scarlett with her Nana and she got a huge kick out of uncle Happy. She seemed to really like his voice. It took Scarlett a long time to go to sleep in the pack and play. It's a lot less firm than her crib mattress at home and she also seemed to wake up a bit more easily (it sort of sways when she rolls over). She also woke up when I coughed since the pack and play was at the foot of our bed so the rest of the night I had to try to muffle my coughs in the covers to not wake her up. It was sort of a long night! Today she hasn't slept much at all (about 1 1/2 hours compared to her normal 5) and has been a little more bipolar than usual! It makes me worry about leaving her with Paul's aunt when we go to Corinne's wedding in a couple of weeks. I would hate for our normally very easy baby to terrorize them for 3 days!

Crawling seems to be in our near future. Scarlett pushes herself all the way up when she is on her belly and in the last week she has started being able to get her knees under her and push. She also gets her butt up into the air and pushes over to her side. If she can get those two moves to happen simultaneously, it's all over!



Uh oh. Time to get serious! Reality is setting in and Scarlett is about to get to a point where her movements are out of our control. Up until now we have had the ability to know exactly where she would be when we stepped out of the room. We actually have to be more careful now. Stop growing up Scarlett! We really do love it, but at least slow down a little???

Like Shonna said earlier, Scarlett's sleeping pattern has started to change, and not just in the pack-and-play. When we go on these trips, she seems to sleep 20-30 min where at home she would be out for 2 hours. The strange thing is she acts like she just had a full nap. Wide awake, full of energy and smiles. She doesn't make up for it during the next nap, its just as if everything was normal. At home, she has started to fuss a little more when we put her down for the night. She is so excited about her ability to move that all she wants to do is attempt crawl, stand, or jump. The last thing she wants is to lose all of that time by having to sleep! In addition, I believe she is at the beginning of the "manipulation stage". She is starting to cry a little when we leave the room, and is all smiles when we return. Shonna and I just look at each other and say "oh no here we go". Don't worry, I work in IT and live in the middle of DC politics, so I'm used to game playing! Concerning IT, where the act can be conniving or at the very least self-promoting, I may play dumb, and the person will have no clue that I know they are full of it. On the other hand, if I call them out, 95% of the time they will attempt to deny and become defensive. So whats the right way to go about it? Not sure the exact answer. All I can do is be true to myself and take the moral and ethical high ground. Concerning a beautiful baby girl who is simply trying to get attention? I just might have to give in!!! :) It will be virtually impossible to keep from running to her every time she cries- no matter how manipulating it might be, but I'll try to stop myself... with Shonna's assistance of course. I would love to just say "nice try Scarlett" but I have a feeling that won't work.

Well, next weekend is the beginning of Shonna's birthday week (which is actually this weekend because we are a week late hitting send on this version of our blog), followed by Scarlett's 6 month b-day on the 8th, followed by SHONNA'S FIRST REAL MOTHERS DAY.