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!
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
