Fine Dining

Emily enjoyed her first meal in her own highchair. She fought gravity as her little but kept slipping down the seat. However, within the next few weeks it should be the perfect fit. Her fine motor skills are improving. With each "solid" feeding, she keeps more of the food in her mouth. Carrots appear to be a favorite. I know the food is going somewhere in that body, because she weighted in at 17 lbs on Thursday at her sixth month appointment. (75th percentile for weight and 80th for head circumference - a lot of room for thinking!)

Shrine to Emily

I went a little overboard upon ordering Emily's professional pictures.
But who could resist this cute face!

Letter to Emily: Month Six

Dear Emily,

You are six months old today. You, who changed my life forever. I remember last June, laying on the couch praying the lime Gatorade would stay in my stomach. I thought "Is a baby really worth it?"

You closely examine any object placed in your reach from the red blocks to the rubber-made lids. Maybe you are preparing to be a scientist - someday studying microscopic viruses through a lens.

When we lay on the floor to play, you grab, with intensity, your yellow dinosaur, shake it once, and stick it in your mouth.

In your last life, I think you were a bird. Whenever you are excited, you flap your arms exerting such a wind that my hair blows. Then, you start panting like you just completed wind sprints.

Your father moved your bath time to after dinner when we found cereal in your hair, on your legs, between your toes, within your elbow crease, and all over your face. The first time, he exclaimed, "Why did we just bathe her?"

I am definitely breast feeding your siblings. A few weeks ago, your father and I spent the weekend getting sick, so you spent it with GranAnne and GranDan. By Sunday night, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Stephen, and GranDan caught the baby flu. But you never got sick.

We ran errands last week with Aunt Jennifer. In all three stores, people stopped us to goggle over you and exclaim how cute you are. "She looks like a cabbage patch kid."

I think you are on the verge of crawling. By next month's letter, I predict we will be Emily proofing the house.

Love,
Mom

Advertisers Everywhere

If you are expecting this next post to be about Emily, you should stop reading now. Instead, I am using my blog as an avenue to vent about the advertising industry and how it permeates all aspects of child rearing. (I am currently reading "Packaging Girlhood," but more on that later.)

Like many of my friends, I subscribe to Baby Weekly, an on-line news letter that provides tips and developmental charts for "baby" on a weekly basis. This week's letter discussed eating solids.

"Now that your baby is eating some solid foods, fresh is usually best. However, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, beets, carrots, collard greens, and turnips contain large amounts of nitrates in some parts of the country. Nitrates can cause a type of anemia in your baby. Even though you can't personally test the vegetables in your area, rest assured that baby-food companies take precautions not to use vegetables high in nitrates. So if you want to feed these vegetables to your baby, it is safest to buy commercially prepared jars."

Carrots and beets are some of the first vegetables recommended to feed babies. This letter asserts that commercially prepared jars are the best. I have a hard time believing that the baby food I make at home contains more hazardous ingredients than commercially jarred food.

Firsts

Emily successfully cut her first two teeth last week. She spent the weekend at GranAnne and GranDan's house while Dave and I celebrated Suzanne and JP's wedding. Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Stephen contributed to her entertainment as Emily decided it was more fun to be with other people than to play on her own. (Jennifer inquired, "How can 14 pounds rule an entire household?") During the reception, Dave called Jennifer to check on Emily since my parents attended the wedding as well. She said she noticed a little white in the baby's mouth when she put her to bed. Of course, my mom and I shared the Jennifer-does-not-know-what-she-is-talking-about-look. The next morning, my mother called me and said we would be disappointed because we missed Emily's first teeth. Dave and I actually got lucky as the teeth are still in her mouth today.

In other news, Emily started solid foods last week. Accustomed to the continuous flow of milk in a bottle, she cries like a banshee in between bites. I can't possibly get the spoon re-filled and into her mouth quick enough. Wait until I introduce ice cream.



She now rolls over and over and over. Dave has her on a strict work out regime so we expect her to be walking by the end of the month.