. This is out of order, but Emma really started sitting well the past week or so. She reaches for everything from sitting, and sometimes will launch herself forward onto her belly, wishing she could crawl. I have good video of it, but no time to post. Sorry no photos. And sorry the videos on the last post didn't work well-- maybe I'll fix them later. :)
Dan took Emma to a friend's house yesterday to return something, and she wanted to play with their 10 month old's toy. Dan told me she had stood on this toy for 10 minutes or so, and I thought he meant an exersaucer. Was I ever surprised when he showed me this photo above. Pretty impressive!
We took Emma to the park last weekend and she went in the baby swing for the first time. She loved it! She was less sure about the big swing, the big girl stroller, and the slide.
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Photos out of order, but here is Emma playing her first round of Dungeons and Dragons. :)
Emma's new favorite toy is this sock monkey. Thanks, Woelks!
Emma loves to read. She especially likes to taste the books. :)
Emma is growing by leaps and bounds. At the pediatrician's yesterday, she weighted 13 lbs. 6.5 oz. and was 24 in. long. She's grown 3 inches in two months! She's 50% for both weight and height. She's 20 weeks tomorrow, but still has a week and a half before she's 5 months old. Can you believe it?!?
It seems that in the past two weeks, she's quickly discovered all sorts of skills she didn't know she had. First, she started really enjoying holding herself up on her belly (not previously enjoyable) in a modified yoga pose, then she started rolling from tummy to side, tummy to back, back to side and almost back to tummy. She then discovered her feet, and very quickly discovered that those feet could reach her mouth and were quite tasty. She also just mastered sitting up supported on her hands, and for quite some time has loved standing up supported. She's drooling up a storm, putting everything in her mouth and really loves her toys. She can even grab a toy in each hand now. She also takes Mommy's face sweetly in both her hands, and when she wakes up in the morning, she loves to lay between Mommy and Daddy and reach for Daddy's goatee with one hand and his face with the other. She is always eager to wake him up in the morning, reaching for him and squirming over to him until she gets his attention.
She also loves other kiddos. We watched a friend's 16 mos. old son, Lukas, and Emma was so fascinated that she skipped eating and napping, and when he left, she slept for 3 hours straight! (She's never napped that long.) It was also Mommy's practice at caring for two kids at once. When Lukas's mommy left, he was crying, and Mommy, while holding nursing Emma in one arm, managed to pick him up and sling him onto her opposite hip with one of his legs draped over Emma's nursing body. Emma kept on nursing, and he was comforted, and neither seemed to notice the odd arrangement. Today we played with Eisley, Mommy's friend, Suezanne's, 7 mos. old and Emma had so much fun. Photos and video to follow.
On Father's Day we met Dan's dad, Mike, and brother, Mark, in Oceanside (about halfway b/w Irvine and San Diego) for lunch at a Thai restaurant. Here she is with Grandpa in the outfit from Nana Anne.
Emma looking unhappy with Uncle Mark. She really does love him.
Emma's doctor says she might be teething. Whatever it is, she sure is drooling a lot and LOVES to chew on Sophie, her teething giraffe friend. She finally figured out how to get those spindly legs into her mouth and just went to town.
Inspecting the meal...
Can I get both legs in my mouth at once?
Mom, don't tell me this doesn't look exactly like the female version of the photo of Matthew with sunglasses.
We took a little walk at a nature preserve in Irvine and stopped to sit on a bench. While Daddy was holding her on his lap, she looked up, gasped with awe and just smiled in wonder... the wind was blowing the leaves in the tree above and it was just about the most fascinating, wonderful, beautiful thing she thought she'd ever seen (after Mommy, of course). She loves wind. We were sitting at home and the wind blew in through our screen door and hit her face and she just gasped in joy. Check out the video of her excitement at the tree. She's our little naturalist.
Emma blowing drooly bubbles- a new favorite trick!
For the 4th of July week, Dan's Uncle Phil, Aunt Maureen and their four kids came to San Diego. (Dan's grandma, Barbara/Mackie, was going to come, too, but broke her shoulder the week before. We were very sad she could not come.) Here we are at the beach on an unusually overcast and cool day.
Aunt Christy, Emma agrees that the fashion authorities should have intervened in the selection of this outfit...
With Uncle Mark again.
She does not appreciate me posting the above photo. She doesn't think it's flattering.
Emma loves her daddy! First time at the ocean! No, Daddy is NOT just about to launch her in.
Look what I can do! Emma supports herself with her hands. She did a great job of this today while playing with Eisley. I think she was inspired by Eisley's skills.
Emma is now big enough to carry in a hip carry with the pouch sling. She likes this because she can see the world much more than if she were facing in toward Mommy. Soon she'll be able to be carried on Mommy's back.
Little froggy girl after bathtime.
Emma showing off her tripod sitting up skills to Eisley. She was even coordinated enough to hold herself up with one hand while reaching for the Eeyore. This was a day of unprecedented sitting up development! She'd only sat up like this for moments on previous days, but held herself up for several minutes today. It's amazing how quickly they develop! And it also explains how sleepy she is during the day... and how often she wakes to eat at night???
We were visiting our friend, Devin, today, who just gave birth to little Logan the Tuesday before last at South Coast Midwifery Birth Center. The husbands of Devin and "the other" Suezanne, Eisley's mom, also work with Dan (Suezanne's husband and Dan are on the same team) and all three of us couples moved to the area recently for the jobs. All three of us are part of the transplanted wives group through the company, though Suezanne and I met at La Leche League. She's been a huge encouragement through the pregnancy and Emma's early months as she had a three month head start. Funny that all three of us would be natural-birthing, transplanted, video-game company wives.
Emma is fascinated with Eisley's toy and Eisley is fascinated with Emma.
Emma played right past several of her usual naps and at one point was so tired from all the excitement that she even fell asleep in Mommy's arms, which she hasn't done in ages. It only lasted 20 mins., but we'll take it. She then fell asleep in the car ride home and so far is doing a longer than normal sleep stretch tonight. All the excitement wore her out! She loved Eisley's new toys, and loved talking to Eisley. Eisley is 7 mos.
Below is video of Emma demonstrating sitting up supported on her hands. You can tell she really just wanted to burst into a crawl to get to Eisley, if only she could. It's a lengthy clip, but worth watching to the end to see their first attempt at sharing and Emma's great efforts to get Eisley to talk back to her.
We took Emma to the park last weekend and she went in the baby swing for the first time. She loved it! She was less sure about the big swing, the big girl stroller, and the slide.
