Handy tricks

Her hands have become noticeably more versatile lately. She reaches for and holds onto things much more easily. She will lie in her stroller or on her playmat and hold a toy in one hand, sometimes in both, manipulating it comfortably: turning it around, squeezing its legs.

Tonight after we changed her diaper, she grabbed the corner of the cloth she was lying on and rolled over onto her tummy, wrapping it around her in the process like a superhero cape. Now that was cute!

Another recent hand trick is useful when we dress her. After we've pulled the outfit over her head and body, she will push her hands out into the sleeves. She can't usually manage to get them all the way through, but that's what Ima and Abba are for! It's much easier than having to push her arms all the way through the sleeves (or the other way around).

Rollin', rollin'....

Today's new trick: Rolling from her back to her tummy. In fact, almost every time we lay her on her back, she finds her way onto her tummy.

The only problem is that she's not very adept at rolling the other way, and she still can't crawl or even wriggle very effectively, so she finds she's stuck on her tummy without much to do and soon starts kvetching.

What do you expect, kid? You got yourself into the situation!

On the verbal front, over the last few days when we ask her if she's hungry - using the kvetchy sound she makes when she wants to eat - her face will light up with a smile if that's what she needs. That's become her equivalent of "yes" - a bright smile means we've figured out what she wants.

Assisted standing!

Tonight, Abba again let her hold his two index fingers, one in each hand, and pulled her to a sitting position. This time, though, he kept going, and she stood up, holding on to his fingers. She seemed very pleased with herself, and tried to straighten herself up as if she wanted to stand even higher.

She could only maintain the position for a few seconds before her knees gave way and she settled into a half-sit, half-stand, with her knees bend under her at a right angle. Then, after Abba let her down, she wanted to go again. She sat and stood over and over again until she got tired.

Realize that no one was holding her; she supported herself by holding on to Abba's fingers!

All ready for Shabbat

An outing to Ikea

We had a lovely day today. Jason took a day off work and we took HG for a major outing today - IKEA! We saw they had reasonably priced solid wood cots in their catalogue, so we decided to take a look. See the lovely outfit she wore!

She was good as gold, looking at everything, smiling at all the people who stopped to coo at her. The trip was made easier by the fact that Ima has managed to pump some milk , so we took along a couple of bottles in a cooler. We could feed her as we shopped, rather than looking for somewhere to breastfeed all the time. She has taken to the bottle quite well, and Ima has taken to the pump quite well, so outings are now easier, providing we've had time to sterilise bottles etc.

When we got home HG nursed for quite some time, interspersed with a lot of big smiles and gurgles and a lot of baby chatter. True, she seems to make random sounds, mixed with screeches and cooes, but her eyes are so intent and expressive as she talks that I'm sure she was trying to tell me all about her exciting trip to IKEA.

Laughing and balancing

She laughed today! Not a throaty gurgle, but a proper laugh! Ima was playing with her, dabbing her milky lips while making funny noises, and she responded with a laugh - several times. It's wonderful to see her enjoy herself so much.

Abba gave her his fingers to grasp - one in each hand - and pulled her into a sitting position. With him keeping his fingers in place, she kept holding on and managed to support herself seated for a while that way. This is best done in the middle of the bed, where any falls are soft! She's certainly getting stronger, and learning to support herself and keep her balance better all the time.

Assisted sitting - briefly

She has a new trick almost every day lately. She's becoming stronger and more agile all the time. This evening, Abba sat her - carefully - in the center of her playmat, carefully balancing her with her legs bowed out a bit. She managed to balance in the sitting position for up to five seconds before tipping over.

It's a long way from that to sitting up on her own, but it's a start.

Increasingly we notice she's restless when she plays lying down, and much prefers being held higher to see around. We're hoping she'll enjoy sitting up almost as much - we could use the breaks!

A gnawing problem

She's been a bit cranky this week, at times inconsolable. Over Shabbat, we may have worked out why. She's been drooling more than usual, and she's taken to gnawing hard while feeding (ouch!). She's also been putting her fingers and fist in her mouth - a lot. It finally hit us: She's probably teething.

We know it's early for teething, but apparently it can happen. The actual teeth are presumably still a couple months away.

A new trick for Shabbos: She was on her tummy, holding up her head nicely - she's become quite good at that - when she moved an arm and destabilized herself. Within moments, she had rolled onto her side and over to her back. It's the first time she's flipped from her stomach to her back. By accident, we assume, but that's progress too!

In shul, she paid attention to the siddur and seemed to try to help turn the pages. Later, at home, Abba sat with her to read her soft fabric book together, the one about farm animals. She maintained her interest, again helping with the pages. New surprises every day.

Waving hello?

It's one of those things we're not quite sure about, but she might have waved hello today. Seeing Abba when he came home, she smiled and moved an arm towards him. Coincidence? Maybe.

Earlier she did the same when a visitor walked in, a stranger. Come to think of it, her earliest smiles, the subtle ones of her first week, were also elicited by strangers. Does this mean she won't be a shy girl?

Developing computer skills

Ima was holding HG while working on the computer today, when she became fascinated with the mouse pad. She leaned her upper body forward towards it, and tried to crawl onto the keyboard shelf to get to the keyboard.

A budding author? Programmer? Time will tell.

Improving at a crawl

She's working on her crawling skills - or wriggling, to be more accurate. Tonight Abba put her down on her stomach at the foot of our bed, and sat facing her at the head, holding the sunflower. She started to propel herself forward, as she often does when placed that way.

Her arms still aren't strong enough to hold her upper body up for long, so most of the propulsion comes from her legs. She pushes herself forward by her legs, overcoming the resistance of her upper body, which remains down on the bed. Sometimes she'll wriggle for a while before managing to inch forward, then she might get it together and suddenly make more progress. Often she'll end up rotated a bit; she can't always control her direction well.

But, with increasing effort, she eventually made her way across the bed almost to her father, who took mercy on her exhausted self and gave her a big hug. It was her best crawl so far!

Getting good at grasping

As this picture attests, she's getting better at holding onto things!

Here she is in her crib, with a soft book unfolded around her to keep her entertained - when she isn't mesmerized by the rotating mobile!

A new sunflower

Last night HG was given a gift: A soft rattle shaped like a bright colorful sunflower, with a stem and petals and a smiley face on top. She took to it right away.

It's light enough for her to hold and manipulate easily. She holds it by the petals, or sometimes by the stalk, talks to it and moves it.

This is clearly going to be a hit.