Eluned G. Sharron Bethea » July 2008 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

< > July 2008

Thu, Jul 31, 2008 11:00 AM
Eluned has been trying -- and occasionally, briefly, succeeding -- to hold her own bottle. So this morning, after she finished her breakfast, I gave her the empty bottle to play with. I came back a minute or two later to find her holding the bottle up with the nipple in her mouth.

Comments:
Sarah: I was thinking of a dumb couplet, like:

Today the nipple,
Tomorrow the tipple.

Good thing I didn't try to earn a living writing poetry.

It's fun to follow along vicariously as she learns to interact with the world around her, manipulate objects, and communicate. Thanks for the update!

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 11:00 PM
Well we had quite the surreal day, what with cool foggy weather in July and a 5.8 earthquake. (Everyone and everything's fine.) Long-time readers may remember that it was right around this time last year that I felt Eluned kick for the first time, right after another earthquake. So I guess today was an anniversary of sorts.

I figured out a new trick today with miss grabby hands. I put a toy just at the edge of her reach. She'll stay entertained for several minutes trying to get it, then waving it around in triumph.

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Sat, Jul 26, 2008 10:00 AM
When Eluned is excited or very happy, she kicks her feet as fast as she can. Picture the old Roadrunner cartoons, where they'd draw a spiral and a puff of dust over his feet and then he'd shoot off. She can't go anywhere -- yet -- but she'll kick her little feet like she's running until they're almost a blur.

Comments:
Cindy: She is so adorable and by 6 months things really start to change fast. Its great that she yaks a lot. I just love that (until 12 and then.....).
Good going with the food. Enjoy!

Sarah: Saw her at Dar and Ann's wedding. My, she's getting big. I know that's what they do (plus learning apace) but it still amazes me, the vitality of new life.

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Fri, Jul 25, 2008 10:00 PM
Northern California friends & family: Eluned, Will and I will be up your way Aug. 9th to 16th. My new job is sending me up for a week of training in San Francisco.

We'll arrive at my parents on Sat. 8/9. They're taking us up to SF the evening of Sun. 8/10 and picking us up the evening of Fri. 8/15. And we're leaving from my parents on Sat. 8/16.

I'll be in class all day during the week, but Will and Els will be tooling around SF and would love to entertain visitors. Or if the weekends and/or my parents' house is better for you, we'd love to see you there too.

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Sat, Jul 19, 2008 2:00 PM
It took us a while to get the bathing thing down. The baby bath tub I bought will be perfect when Eluned is closer to 1 year -- big enough to sit up and play but still too small for the regular bath tub. However, it just doesn't work for a newborn or even a 6 month old; we tried.

We tried a lot of things: the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink, a shower with Daddy, etc. They got her clean, but by and large she hated them all.

We had finally worked out an arrangement where, right after I took a shower, I'd sit down in our tub and Will would hand Els in to me. I'd wash her quickly, rinse her off with our mobile shower head and hand her back out to Will. She didn't like it, but she didn't hate it; it worked.

And then my Mom arrived with the baby bath tub I should have bought in the first place. It fits in our kitchen sink, and has a drain hole. It supports Els so she can sit up unassisted.

Now, for the first time, Els enjoys baths. She likes to hang out in her bath, kicking and splashing. She doesn't even seem to mind the bathing part.

Comments:
Sarah: Knows her own mind, doesn't she? I can't see her *ever* being outclassed in the determination department in the years to come.

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Fri, Jul 18, 2008 8:00 AM
More nicknames: Running Commentary (she gets quite chatty) and Shnerk (she still gets power hiccups).

Will had a lot more success with sweet potatoes than I did. He says he has "the knack." Plus we started mixing a little milk in; after all, who likes plain mashed potatoes?

But we may have our first real hit: bananas. Eluned seems to love banana.

She's also so confident now in her grasping skills that she's becoming downright grabby. Last night, given this, her penchant for putting everything in her mouth, and her new love of bananas, I tried to introduce the concept of finger-feeding herself. However, I only succeeded in coating the baby nose to knees, plus the high-chair, in mashed banana.

Comments:
Sarah: Ho Ho that's funny. Yup, motherhood is powerful...messy!

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Sun, Jul 13, 2008 3:00 PM
I woke up this morning to find Eluned practicing her grasping skills on the cat. Somehow the two of them had worked it out so that Els was scratching the cat under the chin -- well mostly, and the cat was willing to overlook the rest for a good chin-scratching. Els was also petting the cat, running her hand down the cat's side.

Will woke up this morning to go get a warm washcloth to clean the cat hair off Els' hand before she stuck it in her mouth again.

And last night Els helped me pump by holding the bottle/base.

Comments:
Sarah: I'm no expert, and I know that Els is a Capricorn, but I took a look at what *might* be her chart and I wonder if she has a Grand Trine in fire signs. If so, it is a very wonderful thing. Even if not, she is a very wonderful child nonetheless!

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Sat, Jul 12, 2008 1:00 PM
We're going slow and easy with solid food. Right now Eluned is fascinated by everything Will and I eat and drink, but not particularly interested in eating anything herself. We could probably wait a while longer, but I'm a foodie, and I really want to offer her some of my favorite foods.

She's been having tastes of things for a while now, but she hasn't actually been eating them. That all started with the dried apricots; she loved those so much we offered her a strawberry (loved it), tomato (hated it), watermelon out of a fruit salad (loved it) and a cherry (loved it). Based on those successes, we tried offering her plain diced watermelon, but she had no interest in that at all. And we tried more cherries in her mesh feeder and pureed (pureeing cherries is a feat); both went over very well.

The strawberry was my bad. I am now paying much closer attention to the list of recommended, not recommended, and forbidden foods.

So we officially started last week with avocado, which I love, but Eluned not so much. We moved on to applesauce. The first time she finished the whole bowl but after that she wasn't nearly as interested. Today we'll probably start sweet potatoes. After that I'm thinking banana, cauliflower, watermelon and plain yogurt.

We're offering one food at a time for 3 days. Doctors recommend this to identify food allergies, although it's probably overkill for Els. We're making most of her food ourselves.

Update: Sweet potatoes are not her favorite either.

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Tue, Jul 8, 2008 10:00 PM
Eluned has learned many skills over the past six months. She's become a champion breastfeeder, for one. But a lot of what she's been learning has been invisible to us. Lately, though, she's been working on skills that we can see her learn. And her two newest skills -- sitting and grasping -- give us even more ways to interact with her.

Els grabs my glasses as often as she can. She's newly captivated by fabric; she can raise it up, scrunch it, wave it around. We got that taggy blanket just in time. She likes to touch our faces now and hold our hands. I think she pinched a woman at church last week.

Els has a whole new interest in toys now that she can sit up and hold them. She's getting very active with her play gym. We brought out the Ikea stacking cups we bought a few weeks before she was born. The green and blue ones are her favorites.

And we're starting to do more with her. We took her swimming for the first time over the weekend. She seemed to love it. We found the baby swing in the playground across the street, and that's definitely a hit.

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates
Wed, Jul 2, 2008 9:08 AM
Happy 6-month birthday!

Eluned's birth stats:

Time: 9:08 a.m.
Weight: 6 lbs. 12 oz.
Height: 19 inches
Apgars: 9, 9

Comments:

Add a comment:

Name: Email:
Comment:

Notify me of scrapbook updates