Baby B

Dear Sylvie (at 8 months)

February 6, 2010 at 11:53 pm

Dear Sylvika,

Well, I thought since it had been only a short time since my last letter to you that there wouldn’t be much to say, but you sure proved me wrong: you’re on the move! In January (on the 19th) you started your very best impersonation of a caterpillar. Using your two arms together as a unit, you grunted and pulled and dragged your lower half across the floor, desperate to get to your O-ball. With each passing day, you are becoming more adept at locomotion, and you’re finally starting to realize that you have these things called “knees,” but you’re still not entirely sure what to do with them. Nevertheless, your slither is rapidly picking up speed and you are getting into all kinds of new trouble. Your new favorite form of mischief is to head right for the television cables and/or the radiator (both of which we still have not childproofed – bad us!). We *have* childproofed the death trap of a coffee table we had because you spent all of your remaining time crawling under it and then sitting up and bonking your head on the underside. Today, we got some soft storage ottomans, and you were endlessly amused by pulling yourself up on them and then falling back onto your butt. You are a busy little bee these days, getting into all kinds of trouble. You are now fully aware of what “no” means, and you stop momentarily when I say it, smile slyly, sometimes shake your head, and then continue on.  Oh, we are in for it now!

You’ve got some new language tricks these days, too. You’re pretty consistently saying “mama” or, at least, “ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma.” I can’t say that I believe you know what it means at this point, but it’s still music to my ears every time you say it. Other sounds you’ve enjoyed making as of late include “baba,” “blah, blah,” and “CHAAAHHHH,” which is a gutteral growl that originates deep in your throat. You are thoroughly amused by the sound of your own voice and babble to yourself as you play.

Last week, you started a baby swimming class. I knew from your pool party experience this past summer that you weren’t a huge fan of cold water, but what I didn’t know was just how vocal you would be about it this time around. While all the other babies registered surprise, pleasure, or curiosity on their quiet little countenances, you chanted “MMMMMMMMM! MMMMMMM! MMMMMM!” at the top of your lungs nearly the entire time you were submerged. The instructor practically had to yell over you to be heard. It wasn’t clear exactly what you were feeling since you never cried or laughed, but you sure wanted to communicate something!  I’m still deciding whether we’ll go back. The day after our first class, I read an article about babies who are exposed to chlorinated pools having higher rates of childhood asthma. This is probably the neuroti-mom in me since we’re only spending about 30 minutes in the water, but you’ve had this bad cough for over a month now, and anyway I’m not even sure you liked it. We might try once more this week and see how it goes. I’m really excited for you to be a little fish in the water, but there’s plenty of time, I suppose.

You are fully immersed in the world of food with two meals a day now, and you’re getting the hang of it. Favorites this month include yogurt, peas, and oatmeal, and you’re becoming much more willing to try new things. You still screw up your face in hilarious little contortions with something novel, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t like it. You are still in love with “solids,” and your new favorite is little tofu cubes that you can pick up yourself. It takes you a good minute to get that one calorie or so into your hand and then into your mouth, but you are determined! And you’re developing quite a good pincer grasp with all of the lint-seeking you’ve been doing on the floor lately. Oh, and I’m sure you and all of the other readers of this blog don’t need to know this, but I can’t restrain myself from saying just this one word about food poops: Yu-uh-uck! Can’t we just keep doing this breastfeeding thing until you’re fully potty trained?! Doesn’t that sound like fun?!

In other news (and I hesitate to even say this for fear of jinxing it), sleep seems to be getting somewhat back on track. Daddy and I decided to do a little pre-midnight sleep-training with you, because the wake-ups were just getting ridiculously frequent. We let you cry them out, going into your room every few minutes to let you know that you were OK and that we were there. Every time we left, you would cry harder, which was hard to bear, but you did catch on surprisingly fast. It was painful for all of us, but I think it ultimately helped you figure out how to self-soothe. Within three days, you were putting yourself back to sleep within a minute! Now, we really don’t have to go into your room until your early morning wake-up. I’ve been trying to be tough about the no-big-bed-before-4 a.m. ground rules, but really, I’m a huge pushover in the middle of the night. More often than not, you’re waking pretty much at 4 on the dot (I guess you internalized last month’s post!), but when you do wake at 3:30 or even 2:45, well, I just don’t have the fortitude to follow through. I *have* noticed, though, that the time is creeping ever earlier, so you may want to watch that – there is a firm and consistent teacher somewhere deep down in me, and she may emerge if consistently deprived of enough sleep!

Wow, my big baby girl, will it ever cease to astound me when another month goes by? With every passing day, you are moving farther from a helpless and dependent newborn and toward a little person with her own ideas, preferences, traits, and quirks. It’s so much fun to get to know you through every step of your evolution. At eight months old, you are so much more fascinating and wonderful and perfect than I ever could have imagined, and I am thrilled to have you in my life. And you know what’s wild? You *still* haven’t been out in the world as long as you were inside of me! That’s amazing to me, considering I feel like I’ve known you forever. Perhaps, on some level, I have. Happy 8 months, sweet, sensational Sylvie. I love you big bunches up to the sky.

Kisses,

Mom

By phillygil | Posted in Dear Sylvie