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Gwen notes
Nov. 27th, 2012 08:29 pmI said at the beginning of the month that if I committed to NaBloPoMo, you'd be hearing a lot more about Gwen. Sorry, folks, those of you who aren't kid people.
- We finally have another tooth! Bottom right. I noticed it this morning while brushing her teeth after breakfast, and it's actually some ways above the gum, so it probably cut over the weekend. Joel did say she was extra drooly, but otherwise didn't really notice anything different. We're very lucky that so far, all her teeth haven't bothered her much.
- She's completed mastered our (much steeper and shallower than usual) stairs. It's not uncommon to turn your back and find her half-way up. Unfortunately, because of the way our staircases are set, there simply isn't any way to put up a gate. However, we've got about 35 days left in this house, and of those, she and I will be gone 20, so I'm hoping that we can get away with just watching her closely.
- This morning after I fed her some applesauce, I left some in the ramikin and handed her the spoon and let her practice. She definitely understands the connection between spoon, mouth, and food, but putting it into practice is more difficult. Quite often what happens is that the spoon is held in one hand, and the other hand picks up the food. Another time, I looked over and she was scooping up food with the bowl, but then inserting the other end into her mouth. Both tactics remind me of one of the cats we had in high school, who would like one paw and then rub the other over her ear in washing. Eventually, after 5 minutes or so, she gave up on the spoon, picked the ramikin up, and started slurping the applesauce down like juice. That's my efficient little baby.
- As I said yesterday, Sinterklaas and some Zwarte Pietjes came to daycare. We missed the first half of the party due to napping, but got there in time for her to have her picture taken on Sinterklaas's lap:
She's rather nonplussed, but it's a better picture than the first one of me on Santa's lap. Dad dressed up as Santa, and I didn't recognize him underneath the beard (and not simply because of the beard, because he had one until I was about 10), so we've got a couple pictures of me bright red and screaming. There's even one where I still have tears all over my face even though he's pulled the beard off and I recognize him.
(Side note: I still find Zwarte Piet, both the concept and this particular instantiation, rather creepy.)
- I still marvel when I watch her walk. And the best part is as soon as she gets close, she throws herself at me for a hug. She's never been a particularly cuddly baby (though not a particularly non-cuddly one either), nor has she ever shown strong preference for Joel or me vs. other adults, so these spontaneous hugs are awfully sweet.
- She still loves biking, and one of the highlights of the trip is when we get home and she sees Joel through the kitchen window. Her face lights up and she starts waving like mad.
- Yesterday morning, I was a bit startled to find her walking around saying "Ga Ga", very clearly and deliberately. I'd never actually heard a baby say that before, even though that's the prototypical baby talk.
- We bought her a second pacifier in April, and then tried for almost 8 months to get her to use it. She finally started using it over the weekend while I was gone, since her usual one was lost. (Joel eventually found it inside the wipes container). I've been trying to take pictures of her with it, but no luck so far.
- As you can see from the picture above, Gwen got a book from Sinterklaas. This morning, she saw it on the floor, grabbed it, crawled back over to me with it, and plopped down in my lap. First time she's done that.
- We finally have another tooth! Bottom right. I noticed it this morning while brushing her teeth after breakfast, and it's actually some ways above the gum, so it probably cut over the weekend. Joel did say she was extra drooly, but otherwise didn't really notice anything different. We're very lucky that so far, all her teeth haven't bothered her much.
- She's completed mastered our (much steeper and shallower than usual) stairs. It's not uncommon to turn your back and find her half-way up. Unfortunately, because of the way our staircases are set, there simply isn't any way to put up a gate. However, we've got about 35 days left in this house, and of those, she and I will be gone 20, so I'm hoping that we can get away with just watching her closely.
- This morning after I fed her some applesauce, I left some in the ramikin and handed her the spoon and let her practice. She definitely understands the connection between spoon, mouth, and food, but putting it into practice is more difficult. Quite often what happens is that the spoon is held in one hand, and the other hand picks up the food. Another time, I looked over and she was scooping up food with the bowl, but then inserting the other end into her mouth. Both tactics remind me of one of the cats we had in high school, who would like one paw and then rub the other over her ear in washing. Eventually, after 5 minutes or so, she gave up on the spoon, picked the ramikin up, and started slurping the applesauce down like juice. That's my efficient little baby.
- As I said yesterday, Sinterklaas and some Zwarte Pietjes came to daycare. We missed the first half of the party due to napping, but got there in time for her to have her picture taken on Sinterklaas's lap:
She's rather nonplussed, but it's a better picture than the first one of me on Santa's lap. Dad dressed up as Santa, and I didn't recognize him underneath the beard (and not simply because of the beard, because he had one until I was about 10), so we've got a couple pictures of me bright red and screaming. There's even one where I still have tears all over my face even though he's pulled the beard off and I recognize him.
(Side note: I still find Zwarte Piet, both the concept and this particular instantiation, rather creepy.)
- I still marvel when I watch her walk. And the best part is as soon as she gets close, she throws herself at me for a hug. She's never been a particularly cuddly baby (though not a particularly non-cuddly one either), nor has she ever shown strong preference for Joel or me vs. other adults, so these spontaneous hugs are awfully sweet.
- She still loves biking, and one of the highlights of the trip is when we get home and she sees Joel through the kitchen window. Her face lights up and she starts waving like mad.
- Yesterday morning, I was a bit startled to find her walking around saying "Ga Ga", very clearly and deliberately. I'd never actually heard a baby say that before, even though that's the prototypical baby talk.
- We bought her a second pacifier in April, and then tried for almost 8 months to get her to use it. She finally started using it over the weekend while I was gone, since her usual one was lost. (Joel eventually found it inside the wipes container). I've been trying to take pictures of her with it, but no luck so far.
- As you can see from the picture above, Gwen got a book from Sinterklaas. This morning, she saw it on the floor, grabbed it, crawled back over to me with it, and plopped down in my lap. First time she's done that.
