Another first

Megan took her first ride on a 'real' swing at Cattus Island Park on February 23. Don't let the photo fool you, she spent the majority of her swing time laughing. 

30-seconds at a time

Megan is getting ready to sit on her own - totally unassisted. Last night she sat upright on her own for roughly 30-seconds before leaning forward to tripod with her hands in front of her. She sat that way for a bit longer and then, as she attempted to sit back up straight, she tipped over. She did a command performance this morning.

It won't be long now!

Baby book review

This is Megan's current favorite book. It just arrived in the mail yesterday and she's already run her fingers across the various textures on each page. The battle in our house is over which child of mine gets to touch which tail first. This despite the fact Logan refers to it as a "baby book."  

Here's Megan doing one of the things she likes to do best - stand in her excersaucer chewingon her butterfly rattle.  

Five, Friends and Fiendishly good shopper

Today Megan is five months old. Don't tell her that though because she tries so hard to be much older. ;) Megan's latest pleasure is standing. Yes, standing. Typically she does it holding on to our hands, but she's been known to cling to the edge of a table without as much fingertip supporting her. Yes, there are hands behind her waiting to catch her - but still, she beams with pride as she props herself against the plastic Little Tykes picnic table all on her own. She's also been caught trying to take steps as we hold her hands high above her head. Her little legs set apart wide as she shuffles and she doesn't get more than an inch or two, but try she does. Obviously she's much to young to be pulling up on various objects on her own, but she will do her darndest to pull herself up when you offer her your hands.

Of course, even without her feet, Megan is mobile. No, not crawling yet as that would mean she'd have to remain on her belly without screaming bloody murder for more than a moment or two. Megan is a roller and a wiggler. She can roll both belly to back and back to belly - she just doesn't do it often. Instead she does her favorite thing - rolls onto her side. She loves laying on her side so she can better play with a toy. She'll scrunch herself all up in a little fetal ball and attack whatever toy is nearest her. Sometimes that toy gets away, and when it does Megan will use a series of back to side rocks and lurches to move her baby body to a spot near the offending toy. I've placed her on her activity quilt before dashing off to help big bro with the potty only to come back and find her on the opposite side of her quilt facing a brand new direction - and laughing at me for it.

Megan very clearly has the ability to anticipate recurring events. For example, my little dare devil loves it when we drop quickly to a squat as we hold her and sing Rock-a-Bye-Baby. She giggles her fully body laugh every time we do it, and that laugh starts in early. The moment you cradle her in your arms and sing the first note she starts to smile. 2nd note and she giggles as she stares at you in a way that just says "Yup, I like this song! I know what's coming!"

She also LOVES play Peek-a-boo. She starts to smile and laugh as soon as you begin to pull something over her eyes. We tend to play this game at night after her bath and so her hiding place is behind a towel. If I let go of the towel - letting it drape loosely over her face - she'll pull it off herself and burst into a fit of laughter. And then, if you're not fast enough, she'll pull the towel back up over her head. Granted she isn't very good about getting both eyes covered at once, but cut the kid a break, she is, after all, only five months old.

She's also working on sitting for real. She can't be up on her own for long, but the second counts are indeed getting longer and longer. She is also become fairly competent at the tripod sit (hands in front for support.) She'll hang out like that for a pretty decent amount of time before tipping over to a side.

Megan is a very sociable baby. She loves talking to people. She loves when people talk to her. Yesterday we hosted a Valentine's Party for our playgroup. Megan made friends with a little girl just a few months older than herself. Meg stood in her excersaucer as her friend stood holding on to the outside of the tray. They babbled at each other and exchanged giggly smiles for a fairly decent amount of time. I've no idea what they conversed about but they both seemed to enjoy it.

However, her most favorite baby friend is the one she sees in the mirror. Megan loves to play with the baby in the mirror. She coos at her. She smiles for her, laughs at her and leans in as close as she can get without smacking their foreheads together. She pulls and reaches for the mirror until you position her close enough to touch. She reaches out her not-quite-as-balled-up-all-time-time fists towards the other babies. She opens her hand up wide and attempts to grasp that other kid's fingers. She never seems bothered by the fact that the other baby has weird hands you can't quite hold onto.

That said, we think her favorite toy is her brother. In fact, we're convinced some mangled attempt at his name will be her first word. She worships Logan. When she hears his voice she turns her head in the direction until she locates him. . . then she smiles wide. When she's crying he can often make her stop. Its amazing how fast those tears go off and the giggles come on. When he gets close enough to her she'll throw her arms around his head in a little baby bear hug and plant a big, wet, drooly, open mouth on his head in an attempt to kiss him. She clearly adores him and the feeling is mutual. He's already standing up for her, by the way. At the aforementioned playgroup some little kid started pulling out toys from Megan's basket of goodies. Logan, who was actually happily sharing all his stuff, ran over and attempted to yank the item from the 17 month-old's hand yelling "No! That's my baby sister's toy. You can't have Megan's toys. Give that back."

Lastly, Megan is a great little shopper. I took her with me to Children's Place today. When I plopped a cute little hat on her head, she very literally grabbed my face with both hands and placed a big wet sloppy kiss on my cheek. After her clear approval of the nifty little hat, Megan lurched herself forward and grabbed on to the matching skirt with both hands. I had to pry the thing from her grasp in order to pay for it.

Chatterbox and boxsteps

Megan loves to talk or at least attempt to talk. Its rare that she's awake and not chattering away in that sweet endearing stream of baby sounds. She's discovered volume, so a lot of that babble is loud babble. She blows raspberries. She noisily sucks away at her thumb. She laughs a big deep belly laugh that seems so surprising coming out of such a little body. She experiments with sound. She'll look you in the eye and babble back at you if you talk to her. She loves to be told she's pretty. Telling her so is sure to solicit a full-faced smile and some well placed cooing. She's a confident little lass.

Megan also loves to dance. She likes the ChaCha a lot. She likes to Hokey Pokey. She loves to slow dance to Sam Cooke songs. She likes to hold onto your fingers and stand. She likes to be held as you sway and then to be dipped. She likes if you sing Rock-a-bye baby and then, while still holding her tight, you quickly drop down low creating a "free-fall" sensation for it. This girl is going to be a rollercoaster fan.

Megan got her first real taste of "real" snow this weekend when we got nearly a foot of the stuff. She liked it just fine as long as someone held her. 

Megan likes mushed up prunes. She liked them so much she decided to jump in and try decorating, er feeding, herself. 

This way and that way

Its been a week since Megan first rolled and also a week since she last rolled. That first time she went from tummy time to her back. Every opportunity since then she'd lean slightly to her side and then decide it was just easier to yell until someone took pity on her and lifted her up.

Tonight though she went the other way. Megan saw a toy to her right that she wanted to have. It was just out of her reach and so she flung her weight as hard as she could in an attempt to reach over for this thing. First time she did it she got up on her side. Then she fell back to her back. Second time she did it she got 3/4's for the way over. Mommy put just a finger tip on her shoulder blade with no actual pressure and Megan flopped down on her belly. She grasped at her toy, then realized she was on her stomach again. She decided instead to scream. And to scream loudly.

Megan's Food Review

Barley mush is much better than rice mush. To illustrate this point before you can talk grab your mother's hand and pull the spoon closer to your mouth as she feeds you barley mush.

Smile and laugh a lot too. Although this does not illustrate the point as well when you've smiled and laughed over rice mush previously.

Granted, I'm sure Megan would have much preferred the half a grilled cheese sandwich she manhandled this afternoon when Logan wasn't looking.

4-Months

Megan Rose turned four months old yesterday. That means today was her four-month well baby visit with Dr. G. As she did last time, Megan greeted the doctor with a nice display of her social skills. He came in to hear her hysterically laughing over a rousing game of Peek-a-boo we were in the midst of. "Ahh, that's what I like to hear! So she's laughing and interacting very well. Perfect." he said.

Actually that was the second time he came in. The first time he got to witness her turning pages in her "Miss Spider's New Car" book - something she decided to do for the very first time ever right there in the doctor's office. Then he realized he forgot his stethoscope and had to excuse himself.

She was pronounced perfect in every way and even delighted the doctor with a very nice smile directed at him when he referred to her as "Pretty girl." I do think Megan, even at four-months old, is fully aware of what that term means. It has ALWAYS gotten a smile out of her.

She is a big girl - falling in the 80th percentile for girls her age in all measured categories. She is 14 pounds 11 ounces and 25 1/4 inches tall. I do forget her head measurement already, although the scratch pad paper its written on is somewhere amongst the Miss Spider books in my diaper bag.

Outside the doctor's office, Meg delights us daily with a cache of new tricks. Today she decided to give blowing raspberries a try. Usually it means a whole big mess of spit bubbles tripping down her chin, accompanied by the silliest sound you ever did hear a baby make.

She enjoys singing and will join in any good song with her own array of lyrics disguised as cooing. She loves to laugh and does it often. She wakes up each morning happy to greet the day - although she loudly protests taking a break from it later in the form of a nap. Meg hates naps and when she finally succumbs to one her big brother is sure to do his darndest to wake her back up. Go figure.

She likes her books. She pokes a little finger at the pictures while she babbles at them. She fixes her gaze on each new page. She calms when we read. . .until she gets bored and then she lets us know she's had enough with a few well placed yells emanating from her reddening face.

Meg has a temper. Yes, this we know even at 4 months old. There are times when she is clearly yelling (not crying per se, just yelling) for the simple fact that she's ticked off at whatever great injustice has been done to her - it may be that she was simply placed on her belly or that she's been left in her play yard a moment too long.

Meg likes food. She watches 'real' food with great interest. She widens her already big blue eyes and she bobs her head forward in a move that must surely be an attempt to sneak a taste. She is particularity interested in whatever happens to be on her big brother's plate. Perhaps this is because she some how innately knows that he's the one most likely to sneak her some.

She loves being outside. She naps better outside - a fact that makes Mommy a bit bummed Megan wasn't born in the spring. :) She prefers to sit up like a 'big girl' in her stroller and not ride along in the car seat hooked to the stroller tray. She likes hanging out in the double stroller - all upright and proud in the back seat while Logan occupies the front. She smiles while she's in there and she checks out the world around her.

She likes to play games - peek a boo and piggy toes. They make her giggle which makes us giggle which makes her giggle more. She squeals, scrunches up her face and squints her eyes when she laughs. She loves playing with her new toys - the ones Santa brought her for Christmas. She lays on her activity quilt purposefully smacking the bar that makes the little bird pop out of its house and whistle.

She loves to take a bath. She's ditched any semblance of a bathseat and lays in the largest amount of water that allows her to splash while keeping her ears fairly dry. When she's in the tub she laughs and splashes. WE think she may be gearing up for a gold medal in the backstroke someday. She kicks her legs and flops her arms up and down. Sometimes she moves so forcibly in the water she splahes a sizable amount up into her face causing her to blink droplets from her baby-blues. She rubs them dry with her curled up first and then laughs about it before starting her swimming drills again.

She loves her people. She gives each of "her" people a beautiful toothless grin and a small sound that lets you know how much she absolutely adores you. She watches us move through her world with a great intensity - and if you happen to move away from her at a time she was hoping you had arrived to pick her up, she yells - loudly.

Megan is happy. She is opinionated. She is stubborn. She is determined. She is loving. She is cuddly and she is adored.

A weekend of milestones

Megan will be four months old on Wednesday. To commemorate the event, Megan has set about to tackle a few milestones a couple of days early.

First she got her go at "real" food. Megan has been scoping out real food for about a month now. She watches people eat. She follows forks from plate to mouth. She lunges at Logan's bowl of cereal in an attempt to get fistfuls for herself. (Lucky Grandma intercepted.) This weekend we decided to give her a shot at her own food. She sat up in her high chair shoving her bib in her mouth as she waited for the soupy blah rice cereal to arrive. With the first spoonful she made a little face and pushed the rice back out at us. The second was different, as was the third and the fourth. By the time she was into her fifth small dab on a spoon she was laughing and flapping her arms in glee.

Now she's an old pro. Even as she mangles her tongue around her mouth a bit trying to figure out what to do with this thicker mush, she keeps a good 98% of what she gets in and swallows it down. Logan has also taken his turn in the fun. He sits next to her and takes over for a few spoonfuls - gently placing the baby spoon on her lips as he says "Here! Eat this!" She smiles at him. She watches him carefully and when she opens up, he sticks the spoon and waits for her to slurp. We are working with him to slid the rice cereal off into her waiting mouth.

Sometimes she steals her spoon from Logan. She waves it around like she's showing off her prize. She gets rice cereal in her baby-fine red hair and across her cheek - sometimes even in her eye. Then she shoves the spoon in her own mouth and sucks away on it which makes Logan laugh and announce that Megan is a big girl who can feed herself. Then he holds his hand out under the spoon and says (as we all to do the dogs!) "Give. Megan give."

The bigger milestone, perhaps, is that Megan has begun to roll over. She did it tonight for the first time although she's been toying with it for weeks by getting herself up on a side. Tonight, however, she surprised herself by flipping all the way over from belly to back. I had just laid her down on her stomach and she was happily playing away. She got herself up high on her arms - elbows nearly locked tight - and then she did it. She leaned to her right and found herself smack on her back lying half on the toy center of her activity blanket. She laughed about it and kicked those round legs a bit. Then I put her back on her belly. She got frustrated then and instead of rolling a second time she buried her face in her blanket and screamed about it. Hey, she's got a true red-headed temper.

He's back. . .

Megan seems to have eyes for her brother - or at least eyes on him whenever he's around. The looks she gives him, as mentioned previously, seem to say either "Ahh, my dear, loving brother, he's so cool!" or "Holy Cow! Here he comes again! ACK! Someone save me!" As sweet and innocent as Logan looks in this photos, I think Megan's eyes tell latter. Perhaps its the quasi-chokehold he appears to have her in.  

While enjoying her most favorite Christmas gift, Megan ponders rolling. 

Laugh and the world laughs with you. . .

Megan has been laughing for a while at this point, but lately it seems to have become one of her favorite activities.

Talk to her - she laughs.
Sing to her - she laughs.
Come peak at her in her crib when she first awakes - she laughs.
Smile at her - she laughs.
Pull a shirt over her head, pausing to cover her eyes a moment - she laughs.

She laughs.

She laughs.

And she laughs.

Megan is a happy baby. . . usually.

Roll Baby Roll

Ok, so she's not rolling yet, but she fiercly wants to. At least it would seem so. Megan has been caught about halfway to her back during belly time. She gets her upper body twisted to one side but can't seem to get those legs over with her. When she's fed up with time on her stomach, she rocks and wiggles as she fights hard to get herself sunny side up.

Of course the same is true when she's on her back. She rocks and rolls so much sometimes that she nearly gets herself up on her side. A bit more power and she may surprise herself one day as she flips over to her stomach.

One of her latest feats -- belly time with her head held high. Although she fought hard to do this from just about day 1, she's really got the hang of it now. 

3 Months old!

Technically its tomorrow, but I figure the night prior is close enough to being "offically 3 months old." I watch her lately and just sit in awe at how much she has changed. She's no longer has all that "newborn" business about her. She's total baby now, although given her druthers I think she'd rather be two like her big brother.

Megan is determined to sit herself up. If her eyes are open while she's in the car seat she pulls and strains against the restraints lifting her shoulders and head from her seat in attempt to get herself all the way up. She does the same thing in her bouncey seat and her swing. The girl wants to sit badly.

She's also determined to talk. If Meg is awake and not eating, then anything that remains within her line of site for more than 5 seconds becomes a viable conversation partner. She coos, goos, squawks, squeaks, giggles and makes a lot of cute sounds in a cadence that can only be described by saying honestly, the girl thinks she can talk and we can understand her.

We've also kissed the baby tub goodbye. Megan is a decent sized girl for her age - already in the neighborhood of 24 inches tall. She hates the baby bath tub. It makes her squish up her legs like a little froggy legs just to fit in it...which also makes her cold fast. Instead we've begun to use a mesh seat that resembles the bouncey seats. She sits on it and kicks her leg like nuts. She streches out and laughs. She talks to us and to the facuet.

Megan is starting to eye 'real' food. She sits on a lap at dinner if she's boycotting her 'alone' time in the swing or bouncey seat. As she sits she stares at our plates and then occasionally, watches the food find its way to a mouth. Her eyes get wide and she bops her head forward as if she's a little bird attempting to peck away at the meal.

She's a little girl in motion. She prefers to be moving as often as she can - which usually means she's up in arms that walk her around. She seems to enjoy music, especially if its music to which the arms holding her is dancing to while her big brother spins in circles until he's dizzy or dances like the "Rockettes."

And, on a medical note, the move to the crib (which has been FLAWLESS!) and the migration of focus to the upper left of Megan's field of vision has done the trick. Her neck is no longer 'wry.' She holds her head up straight and strong without even tilting slightly to the left. She turns that head freely and often - side to side, up and down. She's always had this penchant for holding her head up. She was lifting her head and shoulders up nearly from birth...but it did take that temporary left tip for a bit there. Now we're back to normal. I'm sure our next OT visit will be the last.

What's with that Olie

Logan was never a "Mozart" baby. You know those Baby Mozart Videos - they come in all sorts of flavors today - Neptune, Mozart, and so on. He could care less. As a young infant, however, he found Rolie Polie Olie captivating. He loved it. He'd sit and watch it for as long as it was on.

Apparently there's something about Disney's show about this round little robotic alien because Megan is hooked too. We have a handful of Olie books that we accumulated during Logan's obession. Over the weekend both Daddy and Mommy read these to Miss Meg and each time she'd stare at the images, laugh one of those big baby laughs and then talk to her buddies. She seems to really like Zowie and Spot.

Sunday night the boys went food shopping leaving the girls home. I had to start dinner and so, fresh off an Olie book, decided to see if she'd stare at Olie for the few minutes it took me to start boiling an egg. And she did. Well she didn't just stare. No, Megan conversed. That's what Megan does. There is very little in Meg's world that she does not attempt to hold a conversation with. If she's not overtired or hungry, she's a happy camper and that means her mouth is in full cooing mode. So Mom started boiling an egg, let the dog out, let the dog in, set the timer when the water boiled AND dropped the recently removed diaper in the pail while Olie, Zowie, Billy, Spot and Megan had a chat.

Apparently that round-headed, smiling yellow robot is still a great thing. Long live William Joyce's creation.

Like a weed

Several people have commented lately on how "long" Megan is looking. And its true, she's certainly grown and is already nicely fitting into her 3-6 month clothing with the big "3 month" mark not even arriving for another week. At her 2 month Well-Baby visit on November 13th or there abouts she measured 22 inches tall. . .just on the cusp of all those 0-3 month outfits. Today, on a whim, I decided to measure her again. She's now 23.5 inches. That's assuming I'm on the mark and since I the same method was 100% correct the day of her last appointment I'm going to take it for what it says. Twenty-three and half inches 'tall' at just shy of 3 months old. No wonder she fits her new sized clothing well. That's an inch and half in less than a month. geez