Somewhere around the 5-month mark V turned into a super-delightful, good natured, sweet and silly baby. She is very affectionate and loves to give hugs and kisses to her family. She pats us on the back and says “Awwwwww.” She is a little mimic, with her head-tip, vocal intonations, and hand gestures, acting like she is having grown-up conversations with her jibber-jabber voice.
She has been a slow-starter with eating; not expressing a
lot of interest at the 6-month mark when we started introducing some
foods. She didn’t want a whole lot to do
with food until closer to 9 or 10 months, and preferred to self-feed over baby
food. Even now, it is somewhat hit or
miss. Some days she feels like eating a
lot, and other days she throws everything on the floor and wants nothing to do
with it! She is a fruit-head, and will
almost always chow down happily on blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, and
grapes.
She still loves to nurse with Mama. She tugs at my shirt, says, “dis,” and signs
milk when she wants to eat. She is an
active girl, often trying to stand, bounce, and do headstands while she is
nursing. She never had a problem going
between bottle and breast, but if Mama’s around that’s what she wants. She sleeps in our room in her porta-crib, and
still wakes at least once a night to nurse, though most night it can still be 2
or 3 times…or a million. I would love to
sleep through the night again some day.
Here’s some shocking news for you…she is small for her age!
She was holding her own, near the bottom of the weight growth chart
until 6 months, then at her 9 month appointment she fell right off to the 0
percentile. Recently, at her 15 month
appointment she was still at 0 for weight, but near the 20th for
height, and near the 70th for head.
Big brains, little body. It runs
in the family. She currently weighs about 17.5 pounds give or take (isn’t that
a hoot…I don’t even really know exactly).
She has also been a slow starter with gross-motor skills. At her 9-month physical the doctor expressed some concern that she wasn’t crawling yet, and suggested that I contacted early intervention to have her evaluated. I didn’t, but I did have 2 of
What she lacks in the gross motor area, she makes up for in
cognitive development and language. At
her 12-month appt we counted about 20 words that she was able to say. By her
15-month appt we lost track. She talks
so much and gains new words and concepts every day. She knows most of her animal sounds
(including “What does the fox say? ding, ding, ding, da-ding da-ding ding”),
many body parts, hand motions to songs, and names of family members. She is learning tons of signs now, and
recently learned to sign “nurse, please,” making it impossible for me to tell
her no. She tells herself, “no, no”
right before she does something naughty.
She says “caca” before eating gross stuff off the carpet. She loves to empty all of our cupboards and
cabinets, and the only time we have we have peace and quiet is when she is
happily emptying one of her “stations.”
She is SO LOUD! Her voice demands
to be heard. She screeches so loudly
that we are (jokingly) afraid our ears will bleed. H
and E still sleep with a monitor
in their bedroom because we cannot hear them when they call for us, even though
they are right across the hall. We can
hear V clear across the house, no monitor needed!
She is gorgeous. We
see a little bit of each of us in her, but she has a look all her own. She has big, bright eyes that strangers
always comment on. They used to be gray,
but are turning brown. She has shaggy,
stick-straight hair, with beautiful blonde highlights that hangs right in her
eyes. The moment she realizes there is a
barrette or ponytail in her hair she yanks it right out. She has 10 teeth (6 on top and 4 on bottom),
and it seems a couple more are on their way soon. 4 of her teeth were in at 6 months, and she
has the most adorable toothy grin.
She is silly, silly, silly, and makes us all laugh every day
with her antics. She is strong-willed
and demanding, and annoys us every day with her antics as well (especially the
food-throwing). She is most of all,
extremely lovable. She adores her
sisters and they adore her…mostly…when she isn’t grabbing their glasses,
pushing all the keys on their computer, or screaming loudly at the dinner
table. E
enjoys carrying her on her lap in the baby bjorn when driving her
powerchair. H
enjoyed walking her around holding her hands when she was first learning, and
now enjoys playing “chase” with her.
They both love watching her learn new things, and giggle at her
silliness.
There have been moments of jealousy and frustration because she does demand a great deal of attention. H and E were used to being at the center of our universe for 8 years, so it has been an adjustment for all of us, but all in all, our lives have been enriched by having this little ball of energy and light join our crazy family.
We wouldn’t want it any other way.
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