Five months - Growth, lullabies, solid food and a holiday thrown into the mix

Elise with daddy

Elise is growing and developing by leaps and bounds. She is nearing five months old, and really starting to show signs of her impending toddlerdom (yes, I’m a mom and therefore permitted to make up silly words). She now has a morning routine of babbling and cooing conversations. She is also testing out her squeals and shrieks. They get louder and shriller each day, and never fail to make us smile. After each squeal, she smiles with satisfaction realizing she has got our attention.

The one downside, to all her new found energy and vigor, is that bedtime has become a struggle. Elise usually has a morning and afternoon nap and is then awake for about six hours before her bedtime. One would think she would be exhausted and fall right asleep; wrong, she fights it like crazy! She is perfectly content in our arms, but the second we lay her down for bed she starts squirming and goes into inconsolable mode. We pat her back and sing to her, but try not to pick her up as we want her to learn that crib=sleep. She's getting better, but with her teething (her second tooth is now on its way through) she is even fussier than usual. Thankfully, the last few nights she has fought a bit less and is gradually getting accustomed to her bedtime routine. Of course, who can really blame her for wanting to be close to mom and dad at all times!

Getting in her "mommy time"

Another sweet moment this week came from Daddy. He has been helping put her to bed a bit more lately, and has come up with his own lullaby to sing to her. Daddy’s lullaby: “Sweet little baby I love you” (x 4 verses), “Sweet little baby it’s time for bed” (x 2 verses), “Time to close your little baby eyes” (X 2 verses), "Time to dream your little baby dreams" (x 2 verses),“Sweet little baby I love you” (x 1 and repeat as many times as needed). When I saw him singing this to her, I got tears in my eyes; it was just about the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard.

Elise also celebrated her first Thanksgiving this week. In preparation, mommy spent quite a few hours in the kitchen baking pies and desserts. Elise hung out with momma in her jumper. She was as active as ever on Thanksgiving morning; bouncing, cooing and shrieking, then smiling afterwards proud of herself. Of course, in all her morning excitement, she missed her nap and was then cranky for the rest of the day. She was also too shy to let any of the family in on her babble conversations.

Whenever I bake or cook, I often let Elise smell the spices and ingredients. She enjoys the new scents and seems ready to sample them herself. Every time Clint or I eat, Elise just stares up at us fascinated. She now grabs at our plates and food; trying to get a piece for herself! We decided that with the amount of interest she has been showing, it was time to give her rice cereal. We sat her in her highchair for the first time and she held herself up ready to eat! She did great during her first rice cereal feeding. At first, she would sample the cereal then push it out of her mouth, but eventually she got the hang of swallowing it down. Daddy was also able to feed her exclusively and he really enjoyed it.

"Feed the baby!"

Elise stealing daddy's food

Juggling work and a baby

Surprise!

This week, mom and dad were super busy trying to catch up on work; in preparation for the holidays next week. Elise has been gradually doing better at keeping herself entertained. When we work we always have her in the office with us, either in her bouncer chair or on her play mat. While her pink bouncer chair has done well in the past, I think it may be nearing its retirement. Elise’s legs hang off the end of the chair, and when she gets fidgety she starts squirming and writhing in attempt to escape from it. I keep the bouncer on top of my desk, next to the computer, so I can play with her while I work. Now when she fidgets, she is able to almost lift the chair base with each squirm. It surprises me every time, and I end up having to take her out of the chair and either hold her or put her on her play mat.

The play mat keeps her attention a bit longer, but she is now semi-mobile so she ends up squirming off the play mat and moves across the floor on her back. Clint call this her, “crab crawl”. She usually squirms and “crab crawls” her way over to Clint or I and looks up at us, with a little mischievous smiling face, ready to be picked up. I would love to say I don’t give in, but let’s be honest, she usually gets her way. I give in more for my own selfish reasons, as I love holding her in my arms and want to take advantage of every presented opportunity.

Elise working her charms, ready to be picked up

I’m starting to find ways to work around Elise’s schedule. She wakes up and eats at 7am. After I feed her I usually have about an hour where she moves at a slower pace due to digestion. I then put her down for a two hour nap at 9am. Her next feeding is at 11am, giving her downtime until almost 12:30pm. She then has her afternoon nap around 1:30 – 2:30pm. Her next feeding is at 3pm, and then she has a wake period until bedtime with two additional feedings. So clearly, I get much more work done in the morning than any other time of day.

While I am getting more efficient at utilizing the time I have available, there are still days where it is just plain difficult to get things done. Elise gets cuter and more interactive by the day, so I find it harder to set her aside now. She still isn’t fully mobile, so I can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like once she is crawling and walking and I have to chase after her. We will probably end up putting her in day care a couple days a week sometime next year. I am championing the idea of day care, more for the social exposure than anything else. Elise has already been showing signs of “stranger danger” and I want her to grow accustomed to being around other children early on. I’m sure she will do very well once she gets adapted to the new routine.

"My thoughts on daycare...ehhh no thanks"

Shopping cart pull-ups

Elise had her very first shopping cart ride! She successfully held herself up (virtually unassisted by mom and dad) and navigated the aisles. She made the funniest little strained face while attempting to hold up her body. It was the most precious thing I’ve seen! Of course, we got adorable photographic documentation. While this isn't exactly big news, after reviewing the photos, I just had to post them!

The first tooth has arrived!

" Say hello to my first tooth!"

Our little 4 month old has her first tooth! After a week and a half of extra fussiness, we just discovered that Elise’s first (pearly white and sharp) little chomper has finally broke through. It is her lower left front central incisor. She looks extra cute now when she smiles and her first little tooth is displayed for the world to see!

Tummy time update, and the whole "stranger danger" phenomenon

Working on crawling

 

I have spent much of this week giving Elise extra tummy time to encourage her to crawl. Now that she holds up her upper body so well, I figure we’ve got to get her legs up to speed. When I put her on her stomach, she immediately pushes up on her hands, elevates her shoulders and props up her head, yet in doing this she automatically curls her legs upward toward her back (acting like a see-saw).

We are working to teach her to unlock her legs and push upwards with her butt, so she can get some leverage to practice crawling. She will usually start to cry after about 5 minutes of tummy time, so my experiment for this week has been to let her get a little frustrated and see what results. As I expected, the result has been progress; albeit slow, but progress nonetheless. When she gets frustrated, she does either three things: 1. Squirms around fussing and then relents to fall down on her tummy and give up 2. Squirms around fussing and finds a way to turn over onto her back 3. Squirms around fussing and pushes her butt upwards and knees underneath her body, allowing her to push her legs outward and move herself. Obviously #3 is what we’re looking for and we are slowly getting there.

Another big thing we’ve noticed building over the past month is Elise’s separation anxiety. It started, a few weeks back, when all of a sudden she began to cry when Grandma came over to watch her. I always answer the door with Elise in my arms and then tell her, “Look who’s here, Grandma’s here” and pass her over. One week it just kicked in out of nowhere. Elise looked at me, then up at grandma, then back at me and proceeded to wrinkle up her nose, squint her eyes, push out and quiver her bottom lip and start to cry. Grandma was taken aback the first time and I couldn’t help but laugh, as her little sad face was just too precious!

Over the past few weeks, she has cried in the arms of just about every person (other than mom and dad) who hold her. It’s the same routine every time. She’s ok for about 30 seconds to a minute and then realizes she’s not with mom or dad and the tears start flowing. I laugh every time, because she makes the funniest face and her sad little lower lip is just adorable! I didn't realize she could have separation anxiety at such a young age. I’m sure it is just a phase. However, I plan to continue giving her exposure to new people and surroundings, so she will eventually get through her aptly known “stranger danger” phase.

Elise and the infamous lower lip

Discovering the world beyond eating, sleeping and crying

"Let go momma, I'm ready to explore!"

Feeding Elise has gradually become a challenge, as the world around her grows more interesting by the day. If she hears Daddy’s voice, my fingers typing on the keyboard, or any sound for that matter, she likes to whip her head around to be part of the action. It's good to know that she has become fully aware of her surroundings, but lately just about everything distracts her. Daddy has made a game out of amusing her and diverting her attention during feedings; of course this drives mommy crazy!

It has been amazing to witness the progression in Elise’s cerebral development. She has gone from a tiny baby, reacting solely on an instinctual basis, to a tuned in and cognitively developed little person responding to our cues and her surrounding environment. It seems incredible, that all this has occurred in only a few short months. I’ve always heard people say how fast kids grow and develop, but I now know you can never really appreciate or understand this until you experience it firsthand with your own child. It is truly an amazing feeling to witness this new life emerging before our eyes.

Fits of Laughter!

Elise laughing

The highlight of this week has been Elise’s countless laughs and giggles. Daddy always gets the best laughs from her. He has perfected his technique, and is able to reduce her to fits of laughter in no time flat. He usually turns her upside down, makes all kinds of funny noises, and kisses her cheeks. She lets out giggles, laughs, long coos, and sometimes even uncontainable squeals. I love seeing the transformation in Clint from husband to now daddy/husband. He is able to be an absolute uninhibited goofball and get rewarded for it. In Elise’s eyes the goofier the better!

While changing her diaper the other day, mommy made an invaluable discovery. Elise is ticklish; make that extremely ticklish! When I wiped her, near the side of her hip, she let out an uncontrollable little giggle. It was absolutely adorable! I started to smile and laugh when I heard it, which caused her to laugh even more. I wish I had got the moment on video. However, Elise and the video camera have yet to make friends. Her best moments, have been for mom and dad’s eyes only. The second I go to grab the video camera the window of opportunity closes, as Elise suddenly becomes inhibited and preoccupied. I have managed to capture many great moments though. At some point, I will upload a few of our favorite videos to share.

Sweet little Elise