It seems that growing things is what we've got a lot of around here right now - whether you are referring to plants, chicks or children. The focus of this particular writing is our littlest gal - you can see here that she will soon either roll out or pitch herself forward out of our treasured blue seat (gotten by her Aunt A for Nora - thanks again!). It's been a big week for her, and one that has brought some lovely surprises for her parents! I will admit to entering the week with a bit of trepidation. I was going to work for the first time without Terah and it was a week in which I had to go in two days. As of Monday morning she had yet to take any substantial amount of milk from a bottle - a few sucks was her best trial run with Jason.
The promised text updates enabled me to slowly relax as my work days wore on. My mom was with her most of the time on Monday and Jason on Wednesday. She did really well for about 6-7 hours both days, thanks probably to her great reserves. She even went down for naps without much trouble - falling asleep dancing, riding in the jogger, or swinging. She didn't do much more than a few sucks with the bottle, and plenty of chewing, but had a little breast milk by spoon. She mostly held out until I came home after her second nap each day. My sense was she cried no more than when I am around. I knew I was leaving her in loving, capable hands but it still felt like a big milestone for both of us. Kali and Alida were of course big helpers - they are the best entertainers! And Kali, in particular, is going to have some good arm muscles if she keeps carting Terah around. This morning she basically put Terah to sleep for her first nap dancing with her in the living room. Her eyes were practically closed when Kali handed her off to go take care of her ducks. I just plopped down in the recliner and she nursed into a deep sleep.
Back to the work week: I feel so grateful to have gotten through this first week. Like it often ends up being - the anticipation and worry were worse than the real thing. She is only getting bigger, the list of foods she can play around with will keep expanding (right now it includes applesauce, squash, sweet potatoes, pickles, and dilly beans - the last two have just been sucked upon), her ability to be entertained (and distracted) keeps increasing, and the warm weather will make lots of outdoor time possible (which is a big hit with all of us). My main goal was to survive the transition, and it feels like we are doing much better than that - there's even some thriving happening! In many ways it felt like me taking Terah with me to work had gotten to the point of eroding our relationship. I have felt more energy and patience and enjoyment of her in our times together. Breaks are good. I wasn't getting any of those...
I don't know all the factors but this has just all around been a better week for Terah - better naps, less fussing, better sleeping at night, more content times playing... It's such a welcome relief - and I hope a stage that is very long lasting! We don't know all the factors but it seems like her first tooth coming through might have something to do with it - and the second bottom front tooth emerged today. She has been working hard on them - anything with in arms' reach is pulled directly to her mouth (whether that be a toy, my water jar, a blanket, the chair rails, the counter, the rope on her baby swing, Rook cards, hair, my face, my dad's head, etc...). We are solidly and expertly in the "oral phase." She would like to get a chick in her mouth too but we have not allowed those little fingers to secure their desired prize!
She's also no longer staying right where we put her. She has learned to roll from front to back and also pivots around a bit when she is on her tummy, making some progress at getting somewhere. I'm hoping she will have a little more discretion with the things she puts into her mouth by the time true mobility hits. We'll see if we luck out on that front!
In case anyone wishes to see proof of her rolling over skills, here she is! The day she learned to do it, she would roll over and then squawk to be rolled back on her tummy. Then she would do it again. She did this at least a half dozen times. It was as if she had to do it enough times to feel confident she had mastered that skill and then she was ready to move on to other things. She's doing a really good job attempting to keep up with her older sisters. I'm loving some of the signs of growing up, but in other ways it is once again going so so fast!
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