Lilly doings in April

Passover - She has tried and liked pieces of matzah. She's not getting a whole lot, don't want to actively make her constipated but she did enjoy the cracker-ness of her pieces (small ones for those wanting to visualize). We went to Rabbi Linden's house for the 1st night sedar. And we actually showed up 30 minutes early, instead of 30 minutes late! But those 30 minutes would come back to bite us. I bathed her before leaving our house and put her in her pjs. She also ate her dinner so all she needed before going to bed was her bottle. Once we got the rabbi's house, it was 7, around her bedtime, so we gave her the bottle, she took it, and then the other guests started showing up. So Lilly was all into them. As soon as the rabbi and his wife called for us to be seated Mark took Lilly upstairs to the Pack and Play, the rabbi had put out. But boy was she not HAPPY to be put down. She started crying. And continued for ten minutes until I went in to check on her. She stopped when I picked her up. I rocked her, walked around the room, even turned on the radio, though I wasn't supposed to as their house was already ready for Shabbat (oops). But when I put her back down, she started wailing again. So after ten minutes and several prayers later, Mark went back upstairs. He was there awhile, so I brought the diaper bag with me, and she had still be crying and didn't look like she was going to go to sleep anytime soon. So I took her home. She was fine again, once I got her into the car. Must have been the new people, new sleeping environment, and she dozed in the car, took us about 20 minutes to get home from Metairie. And she was fine when I put her in her crib at home. I got home around 9. The sedar lasted until 11:30PM, so it was probably a good call on our part to leave. Mark got a ride home and got back around midnight.

JCC - She's growing more comfortable at the JCC babysitting. She willingly goes to Cory in the mornings. She enjoys the sight of the other kids, the usual ones who come during our hour. I've started going five days a week, to build it into her routine. Now instead of three, T, W, and F, she now gets M and Th. She interacts well with Cory, she loves shaking her head at her. And Cory shakes back. And at times she even smiles for the front desk receptionists. The two always coo over her, but she has yet to publicly display affection back, except for some small smiles. It's all reserved for Cory and the other kids in babysitting!

Highchair - While she has a love/hate relationship with the home highchair, she has become much more comfortable sitting in highchairs at restaurants. She now usually willingly sits in the chair, provided we keep her occupied with either her dog blanket, plastic pink purse, plastic set of keys, Mum-Mums, or other baby food. We went to dinner with friends a couple Saturdays ago, and she was just captivated by Jacob, their six-year old. He's got two younger sisters, so he's great with babies. He kept entertaining her. Even offered her a french fry. Or part of his cupcake, we politely declined on both parts. But he made funny faces at her. He talked to her. And he even retrieved items for her, stuff she would throw to the ground, he got. And we took her our to eat with us, to Crepe Nanou, and while we sat outside, it was a good call, as she kept talking and screeching, she sat in the highchair the whole time! I fed her the soft parts of French bread, a definite like, and my sauteed carrots and green beans, another like. She's captivated by other kids, so Saturday night we went out to eat with my parents ( we were all in Dallas), and sat outside, and there were 5 girls, probably ranging from 1 1/2 to 13. And Lilly could not take her eyes off them. They were running around, singing, eating, and Lilly was just in people watching heaven. She gladly stayed in the highchair, was fed a Mum-mum, parts of a roll, and a carrot. She was happy. With this observation mode, she's also quite ok, for the most part, to sit in the grocery cart seat. At least sitting she's on the move and up high and able to observe the aisles and comings and goings of people.

Crawling - still going backwards. Can rock back and forth, and becomes quite frustrated that she's can't get that forward momentum.

Talking/Babbling - With agua and go, we've added mama, gaga, and a 'K' sound. Still keep practicing dada with her but so far no go.

Ear Infection, Again

Lilly's got another ear infection. She had been tugging at her ear, as I stated in the last post, so we went to visit Dr. G, and yup, sure enough, her ear was infected. Luckily the other one was clear. So Lilly couldn't take Ammoxicillin again, as she just finished it and wouldn't be as effective, so she is on something called Omnicef. It's a white, unrefrigerated liquid, and it smells like strawberry. The Ammoxicillin smelled like bubble gum, and Lilly hated it. So we had to mask it in her bottle. I thought, this one smells like strawberry and isn't as overpowering as the other. She's going to like it, as she's really into the taste of the cherry Tylenol. And plus, she's only taking 2mg so she should be good.

So I measured out the liquid and squirted it slowly into her mouth. She took it in, licked her lips and was fine. But this was Wednesday. Thursday - another story. She took just about.5mg and started to wiggle and fight me on it. So I put the rest of it in her bottle and it turned the formula pink. But she took it.

Friday, I tried to squirt it into her mouth again. But that was a bad idea. I laid her on the rug, put the plastic syringe towards her inner cheek, and squirted. And boy did that make her angry. She started to cry. But she was taking the medicine. So I made the executive decision to keep squirting the Omnicef. She started to wiggle. Fought me hard. Swallowed the medicine but I thought she might puke it up, as she fought real hard not to swallow it. I hated having to do that to her, but she needed the medicine. Hopefully she won't be scarred from the episode. Today we put her meds in her bottle and she sucked it right up.

Lilly

Lilly has progressed from go and agua to now variations of 'ma'. Sometimes it sounds like mom, mama, and sometimes, like yesterday when we were at Sam's Club and she saw me pull out a package of Baby Mum-Mum's, it sounded like mum-mum. She was riding in the cart and became so animated when she saw the package. She jumped right up in her seat and said 'mum-mum' or something to that effect. Another lady in the same aisle ( we were both shopping for toilet paper) laughed as she heard the excitement in Lilly's voice. It was pretty cute yesterday.

This morning I took her to the JCC, and for the first time, she went willingly to Cory. She didn't cry or wail or wine. She just went straight to her. It was awesome. Both Cory and I were touched. It's great that Lilly feels so comfortable in an environment outside of her own. When I came in to get her, after working out, the doodlebug was on the floor, on her back, playing with her dog blanket. Cory had been taking the small dog and touching it on her face, while Lilly laughed.

She hasn't been all smiles, like she is in the picture. She's been tugging at her ear, and has another cough, and getting over a cold. She's also getting her upper two front teeth. The left one has broken through, the other hasn't yet. So she's been in some pain. So we're not sure if her ear is teething or cold related. So I'm taking her in to see Dr. G this afternoon. Just want to check out her ears.

Sippy Cup

We're trying to get Lilly used to a sippy cup, as Dr. G said we should switch her to a cup by 12 months. Dr. G suggested us get her a cup and let her play with it. And then eventually fill it with liquid, and let her discover she can drink out of it.

So we're past the introduction phase. Now we're in the 'let Lilly drink water from the cup' stage. But it seems that she wants to put everything else in her mouth, except the sippy cup. Nope, she likes to swing it up and down, enjoying the swishing the water makes as it moves around in the cup. But put it in her mouth. Nope. We even took out the mechanism below the top of the cup, which stops the water from rapidly coming out. But all that did, was increase the amount of water to come out from the cup and thus all over me, as Lilly continued to shake the sippy cup up and down.

So hopefully we'll get there. She does enjoy the bottle. I hope she will enjoy the sippy cup too.

Agua or go

So Lilly said her first word.

Go.

She's said it several times and we don't think she actually knows what it means. She just says it over and over again. When Mark asked her if she wanted to stay home with him or come to Whole Foods, she kept repeating 'Go'. Though we don't think she knows an alternative response. So go it is going to be!

She's also said something that sounded like agua. She's said this first, for a few days now, but we're not sure how she would know agua. Neither of us speak Spanish to her nor does anyone else. And while she might hear the language every now and then, we don't think its enough for her to grab onto the word. Though you never know.

My pal Violet

Lilly has a new furry friend. Her name is Violet, and she is a purple stuffed dog manufactured by Leap Frog toys. It was given to us when Lilly was born, and because it said it was for use when 6 months and older, we put it up in her closet. When JJ was here, we went through her closet and pulled out the toys she can use now, and put away the clothes she can't fit into. And thus, that's how Lilly met Violet. And it was a great match.

Violet can be programmed, through a USB port, to say 'Lilly' and can also be personalized, as we set her favorite color ( green, it's mine), animal (dog, as she loves her bluish gray dog security blanket), and food (baby food), and Violet in a sing-songy way can recite all her favorites as well tell Lilly that she loves her! It's cute. Lilly has given her a hug, in the best way she can, and she has also tried to kiss or bite her nose, or probably both! But Lilly's face definitely lights up when she sees Violet. And I programmed some songs into Violet, like 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Jingle Bells" Though Mark thinks its not the appropriate time of year for Jingle Bells, but she can always use some Christmas music in March!

New Lilly Items!

So yesterday it seemed like it was a day of firsts for Lilly! She really mastered the art and balance of sitting up, so we plopped her on the ground, on her jungle gym mat, and she sat up, and reached for items, marveling at this whole new perspective. She also played with a set of Winnie the Pooh blocks, all while sitting up. She and Mark had a great time, though I don't know who was more excited about tumbling the blocks over, her or Mark. If I had to guess it would have been Mark. We spelled her name out with the blocks. And she only tried to put two blocks, out of many, in her mouth. What an accomplishment!

And last night we left her with a new babysitter - granted Lilly was already asleep, and didn't awake during any of Liz's stay at the house - while Mark and I grabbed dinner with two of our friends. It was a great date, I finished up my antibiotics and prednisone, so I had two delicious glasses of Russian River Chardonnay (2007). Mark had two Pimm's Cups. Delicious.

And Lilly is enamored with screens, anything that flashes. She sees my computer - she jumps and gets all excited. Mark holds her while checking his blackberry her face is all aglow with the newness of the small image. I'm worried that we're raising a technology addict or at the very least overstimulating her brain with these new and fast images.