Lucy has made two big developmental strides this week: (1) sitting up pretty consistently and (2) perfecting the ability to take off her hat and throw it on the floor. She seems to be increasingly fascinated by the force of gravity. These are among the half-dozen notes from this week’s “Lucy Files”:/news/category/baby/the-lucy-files/ ….
(1) Lucy isn’t quite stable enough in the sitting position to be left on her own — it is still good to have someone there to prevent her from falling back and cracking her head on the floor. But she seems to be enjoying her new position. Sometimes we prop the Boppy up behind her; then when she falls back, she just looks like she is lounging around.
(2) Now that Lucy can remove and discard her hat, I suppose we will discover if she is a “hat girl” or a “no hat girl.” I’ve been really banking on her being a “hat girl,” especially since it is one of my “favorite things to knit”:http://knittingcircle.org/hats.php. My next project, I think, will be a hat that can be tied on. Will that be limiting her self-expression? Nah. I bet “Baby Houdini”:/news/2006/baby-houdini/ will figure out a way out of a tied-on hat, too. It is very cute to watch Lucy pull her hat off at the grocery store, look at it, and cast it aside with disdain.
(3) This week, we have had several successful “one-arm-out”:/news/2006/the-lucy-files-october-29/ sleep times, beginning with afternoon naps and easing into the morning naps. I was nervous that her hand would get cold, but every time we check on her upon waking, her hand is nice and toasty. (Talk about projection! I’m the one who gets cold while sleeping.) We did try swaddling with one arm out at night once this week, but it didn’t work quite as well. Lucy continues to wake in the evening 45 minutes after going to sleep, and having her arm out seemed to disturb her more. Currently, we are trying the Keri-recommended technique of “hovering” after she has been asleep for 35 minutes and patting her as soon as she stirs. Last night we tried that and Lucy never even cried. Hooray! I figure we’ll try to lick the 45-minute evening wake-up before getting into the unswaddling thing. Baby steps!
(4) Lucy had her first real tumble this week, slipping out of our grasp and falling forward. She cried and had a tiny red mark on her forehead for a few hours. I nursed her right away, probably more to comfort myself than Lucy. She was fine after about two minutes. I figured that if I want to keep Lucy completely safe, then I could just sit and watch TV with her for the rest of her life. But, I want her to experience the world, and that will include a little tumble every once in awhile.
(5) In the spirit of safety, I attempted to wear Lucy in the baby backpack while cooking, as opposed to “the usual BabyBjörn viewpoint”:/news/2006/babywearing-limits/. It was not quite as comfortable, and Lucy didn’t have as good of a view, but we stuck with it until she discovered my hair and the hair-pulling began. That was the end of that. Into the BabyBjörn she went again. Lately, I’ve been mainly wearing her while I do non-hazardous tasks (making cookie dough, measuring ingredients, sometimes chopping veggies) and then I put her into the ExerSaucer when I actually have to stir something on the stove.
(6) Yesterday, Jon and I took Lucy to exchange a baby gift at Macy’s. Since we had a store credit and don’t usually shop at department stores for Lucy’s clothes, we took a look around and found some gorgeous dresses for Christmas. We had a hard time deciding between two of them, so we held them out to Lucy and she lunged for the black velvet and red satin one. Lucy’s got very classy taste.
LOL. Love story #6.
Ahh the first child always has it so easy, with so few accidents. I remember how hard I cried when Kaia would get the slightest bump, or when she burned her hand. Now poor Mo has been bruised by objects hurled at him, bruised from his sitting adventures, and has had red marks from big sissy pinching his cheeks too hard. Glad that both of you weathered the first accident well. And I’ve always suspected Lucy of excellent taste, glad she’s proving it.
Well miss lucy, keep up the shopping, if you are like Maddy you have been shopping since she was 3 days old!! She too likes the fancy dresses, and dad can’t say no. I have a feeling this will change as the $$$ adds up!
Maddy goes to child care for 3 hours 5 days a week, there are more accidents now that she has friends to run around with. So hang in their and keep your mom on her toes!!
Benjamin currently has about 5 blue bruises on his face… he’s really good at falling and landing on things. He’s just so active running around the house that he doesn’t always look where he’s going. Combine that with his porcelain complexion and the bruises are very evident, even when they are minor (usually they only result in a couple minutes of crying – sometimes less if he’s really into whatever he was running after).
I reread my post and it sounds like we hurl stuff at Mo, but it’s big sissy once again. I think we may have broken her of throwing things near baby brother, but you never know when the Kihn temper will come out! At least he’s resilient… probably dreaming of the day he can get her back!
As a younger brother myself, I think I can guarantee that, Tysa!