Walking (she can walk on her own, I just don't have a picture yet)
From yesterday, standing on her own, because she dosen't know anyone is looking!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Walking on the Sly
I've blogged before that Andrina has taken a step. Well, Tom and I knew she could walk, she just didn't want to. Today I decided, rather impulsively, that I would take Andrina to the children's museum. I didn't take my camera. Which, of course means, that Andrina really walked today. She was by a 10 month old boy playing (he's not walking yet) when she squatted down, then slowly stood up without holding onto anything. She stood there for several seconds, then took TWO steps forward! I knew she could walk! She has been standing more and more on her own lately and walking when we encourage her to. I knew she could walk! Too bad I didn't have my camera or videocamera to get those first real steps. Of course, there's no way to ever know for sure when she'll do it. It's all on her timetable and she decided to do it on her own today without any encouragement.
From yesterday, standing on her own, because she dosen't know anyone is looking!
From yesterday, standing on her own, because she dosen't know anyone is looking!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Big Girl Carseat!
Andrina had a vaccine-only appointment today. Which she handled really well, she didn't cry very long and was easily soothed. However, that's besides the point. She was weighed and measured and she is finally, officially, too big for her infant car seat. She is weighing in at 20 lbs, 8 ounces (under the maximum weight of 22 lbs for the infant car seat) and is 29.5 inches tall (over the maximum height limit of 29 inches for the infant car seat). So that meant when we got home and Tom and I put her down for a nap, we broke out the convertible car seat and installed it in the suv. Which was actually very difficult. Installing the infant seat was a snap, it only goes in one way, rear facing and there were two latch attachments that we connected to the latch bars and tightened the strap (which we did after reading the instructions and following them exactly). Not so easy with the convertible car seat!
With the convertible car seat, it is for newborns through little kids up to 65 pounds, facing either backwards or forwards. Backwards for newborns and infants, forward facing for toddlers and preschoolers. Well, the car seat came in the box ready to be installed rear facing for newborns. The over-the-shoulder straps were at the lowest setting for newborns too. So we had to adjust those to a greater height for Andrina. Then we were trying to figure out how to rotate the latch-attachment straps for forward-facing placement. It was really difficult and the instruction manual said that you can't use the latch system with children over 48 pounds anyways-you have to use the car's seat belt to strap the car seat into the car. So we decided to do that since it will need to be like that eventually anyways. Which makes me wonder-what good is the latch system if it is not strong enough in a crash to keep a 48 pound child safe? I don't know. But I feel better knowing that it's installed with the car's seat belt since that's safer. I think it's safer... it seems logical that it is safer that way with the 48 pound latch weight limit...
The last bit of installing the car seat was also breaking out our suv's manual (which is responsibly in the car at all times, in the passenger's side door pocket) to find out if we had tether rings in the back. This is to allow the top part of the car seat to also be tethered in too-making it safer by having another point of attachment to the vehicle. Our vehicle has the tether rings too (it better-we paid enough for it). So we did that part as well. And then there was the fun part of watching Tom trying to move the car seat be shaking it roughly back-and-forth and side-to-side. He's a very strong guy and he could not move it at all! Yay! Nice and safe, and the instruction manual said it should not move more than one inch in any direction. Well, it didn't move at all! Of course, the force of a crash would be the real test and we pray that never happens.
Oh, and the bonus of Andrina now in a forward facing car seat. She can now watch educational DVDs too. I'm sure she'll enjoy seeing Elmo and the Baby Einstein puppets in the tv in the car!
With the convertible car seat, it is for newborns through little kids up to 65 pounds, facing either backwards or forwards. Backwards for newborns and infants, forward facing for toddlers and preschoolers. Well, the car seat came in the box ready to be installed rear facing for newborns. The over-the-shoulder straps were at the lowest setting for newborns too. So we had to adjust those to a greater height for Andrina. Then we were trying to figure out how to rotate the latch-attachment straps for forward-facing placement. It was really difficult and the instruction manual said that you can't use the latch system with children over 48 pounds anyways-you have to use the car's seat belt to strap the car seat into the car. So we decided to do that since it will need to be like that eventually anyways. Which makes me wonder-what good is the latch system if it is not strong enough in a crash to keep a 48 pound child safe? I don't know. But I feel better knowing that it's installed with the car's seat belt since that's safer. I think it's safer... it seems logical that it is safer that way with the 48 pound latch weight limit...
The last bit of installing the car seat was also breaking out our suv's manual (which is responsibly in the car at all times, in the passenger's side door pocket) to find out if we had tether rings in the back. This is to allow the top part of the car seat to also be tethered in too-making it safer by having another point of attachment to the vehicle. Our vehicle has the tether rings too (it better-we paid enough for it). So we did that part as well. And then there was the fun part of watching Tom trying to move the car seat be shaking it roughly back-and-forth and side-to-side. He's a very strong guy and he could not move it at all! Yay! Nice and safe, and the instruction manual said it should not move more than one inch in any direction. Well, it didn't move at all! Of course, the force of a crash would be the real test and we pray that never happens.
Oh, and the bonus of Andrina now in a forward facing car seat. She can now watch educational DVDs too. I'm sure she'll enjoy seeing Elmo and the Baby Einstein puppets in the tv in the car!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Say "Cheese" Like Anne
My niece Anne, at the ripe old age of 2, has her food preferences down and decided. And unless anything has changed (correct me if I'm wrong April) Anne loves cheese. Cheese is one of those foods that she is always ready for. Seems that her cousin Andrina thinks the say way. Andrina loves eating cheese by itself. I also have added it to scrambled eggs for her several times and she loves it like that. And the piece de resistance` is the way she loves expensive, Wisconsin Mac and Cheese from Noodles and Company! She's had it one time but she really loved it! She loved it so much, that I'm afraid that the really good mac and cheese that they have will ruin her taste for much more affordable, and easier-to-obtain, regular mac and cheese from a box or as the Gerber Graduates entree with chicken and carrots in it. So, I've only given her the really good mac and cheese one time so as not to spoil the other varieties of it for her. But I can't blame her, it is so much better made with fresh cream and cheese, as opposed to its more processed counterparts.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Lots Of Cuddles While Reading
I've been reading to Andrina since she was a newborn but it has been much more enjoyable as she is now an older baby and I can sneak in cuddle time with her while reading! Everyday I love to get her on my lap, cuddle her, and "read" to her. "Reading" to Andrina actually mean having her point to the pictures in the book, then looking at me and saying "diss". Which I believe is her asking me what "this" is, or what the pictures are. So she points and I name. And I get to cuddle her, the best part!
12 Month Touchpoints
Andrina's sleeping and napping schedule is out-of-whack as Dr. Brazeleton warned. This is the time that she, true to Dr. Brazelton's word, is up about every 4 hours at night. Independent walking is impending on us any day now and Andrina is letting us know this by having such a hard time at night, waking up at least twice a night now. But she is very good about getting herself back to sleep on her own without a bottle. Just a diaper change and then within 5 minutes she is asleep again.
As far as walking goes, Andrina did take one, only one, step on her own on Thursday. Then she fell down and has not tried again. I think she may be one of those babies who is startled by her falling and that keeps her from venturing out again. I really believe that she is physically ready to walk independently but is not emotionally ready for it yet. However, yesterday and today there were a few instances where she would be standing holding on to something and then let go, standing on her own for several seconds at a time. So I have not been pressuring her. She will walk when she walks and I'm not going to pressure her or have false fear that she is lagging developmentally because she is not comfortable walking yet.
Andrina's nap schedule is evolving from a twice-a-day to a once-a-day too. For the past two weeks, Andrina will take her morning nap at 10am then be up at noon for several days. Then there will be a day where she refuses to sleep when put down for her morning nap. Today is one of them. I put her down and 10am as usual. She was still awake and talking to herself at 11am so I went in and, thinking there may be a stinky diaper partly responsible for her being napless, I changed her diaper and put her back down in her crib. It was only a pee pee diaper but hey, I changed it anyways. She finally fell asleep at 11:45. It's now 1pm and she is still asleep. So we just have to wait and see how long it will take her to evolve to one nap a day. It may take several months as Dr. Brazelton warned. With some days being a two-nap day, others being a one-nap day yet it's clear that one nap a day is not enough yet. The worst part about her nap schedule being in limbo is that it makes it impossible to make plans to go out with her. Like tomorrow, Tom and I want to take Andrina to an art fest in Batavia. But will we be able to? Will Andrina take her morning nap at 10am and be up at noon, ready to eat lunch then we can all go on the outing? Or will she fight the nap like today, and then possibly be asleep until 2 pm? We can't say for sure...
As far as walking goes, Andrina did take one, only one, step on her own on Thursday. Then she fell down and has not tried again. I think she may be one of those babies who is startled by her falling and that keeps her from venturing out again. I really believe that she is physically ready to walk independently but is not emotionally ready for it yet. However, yesterday and today there were a few instances where she would be standing holding on to something and then let go, standing on her own for several seconds at a time. So I have not been pressuring her. She will walk when she walks and I'm not going to pressure her or have false fear that she is lagging developmentally because she is not comfortable walking yet.
Andrina's nap schedule is evolving from a twice-a-day to a once-a-day too. For the past two weeks, Andrina will take her morning nap at 10am then be up at noon for several days. Then there will be a day where she refuses to sleep when put down for her morning nap. Today is one of them. I put her down and 10am as usual. She was still awake and talking to herself at 11am so I went in and, thinking there may be a stinky diaper partly responsible for her being napless, I changed her diaper and put her back down in her crib. It was only a pee pee diaper but hey, I changed it anyways. She finally fell asleep at 11:45. It's now 1pm and she is still asleep. So we just have to wait and see how long it will take her to evolve to one nap a day. It may take several months as Dr. Brazelton warned. With some days being a two-nap day, others being a one-nap day yet it's clear that one nap a day is not enough yet. The worst part about her nap schedule being in limbo is that it makes it impossible to make plans to go out with her. Like tomorrow, Tom and I want to take Andrina to an art fest in Batavia. But will we be able to? Will Andrina take her morning nap at 10am and be up at noon, ready to eat lunch then we can all go on the outing? Or will she fight the nap like today, and then possibly be asleep until 2 pm? We can't say for sure...
I Finally Have My Computer Back All To MYSELF!
My blogging and email has really suffered over the past two weeks. Tom's monitor blew out and he was using mine for a few weeks. I chose not to use my computer that much during that time. There were a few times when I literally told him that I had to check my email so give me back my computer hubby! But now Tom has a new computer monitor and we are back to being a two-computer household. So I have more opportunities to blog again!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
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