Meggie has toes

Megan Rose not only discovered she had feet recently, she figured out how to get those toes in her mouth.

New Sounds

Megan has added two new sounds to her baby vocabulary:

1. Boowah! - A variation on the briefly used Boobah, Megan has developed a great Al Pacino (in Scent of a Woman) impersonation. We've told Logan that its her way to say "Brother" and so now when she says it and he's paying close enough attention he'll answer her "Yes, Megan. I'm here."

2. Dada - Yes, Megan has added the sound Dada. Not quite yet a word because she says it whenever she feels like it and not just when she's talking to Daddy, but its a start. She typically combines it with something that sounds a lot like Hey or Hi. "Hey dada. Dadadada. Hi dada."

6 Months old

The mid-way point has been pretty important for Megan. By her six-month "birthday", she could:

- sit on her own without tipping - unless she saw something out of reach to lunge for.
- Make a variety of different sounds including "Mmmmmmma!" when she wanted Mommy to pick her up and the most recent "Baaabah!" that she started making today.
- Stick her tongue out as a means of playing with Grandma or anyone else she felt would enjoy some face making.
- Reach out her arms to someone she wanted to pick her up.
- Manipulate a vast majority of her toys the way they were meant to be played with, including her turtle that spins around the little balls and plays music, her crib fish tank, and everything on the excersaucer.
- Take steps, yes I said steps, when someone stands behind her holding her hands so she can balance on her feet. She loves to walk!
- Wiggle and scoot her way around when she's laying on the floor.
- Drink out of a sippy cup. To date she only gets formula or water occasionally in a cup.
- Play a wicked game of peek-a-boo by turning her head away from someone and then quickly twisting her head around so she's looking right at you. Makes her laugh hysterically each time she does it.
- Tackle her big brother.
- Make a 60 pound dog run in fear.

Growing Girl

A few days early for the actual 'birthday', Miss Megan Rose went to visit her doctor for her 6-month well visit. The little lady, while still growing rapidly, is starting to settle back into a more 'average' size for girls her age. The silly nurse thought she could get Meg's weight pre-set on the scale and aimed for the vicinity of 16 pounds. But 16 pounds Megan is not. No, Megan is 17 pounds, 6 ounces. To go with her rollie-polie weight is a solid 25 1/2 inches. She's hitting all her milestones on target and is, to quote the doctor, absolutely perfect. Sure, we knew that!

Little Miss Thing likes to think of herself as being older than she is, meaning she likes to be on her feet trying to walk as you hold her hands above her head. Her brother did this too, although he was several weeks older at the time he started. When the doctor came into the exam room today, Megan was standing tall with her hands above her head so I could hold them, and she was attempting to walk herself across the room. "Show-off!" he said. Then he laughed and commented on nice it was to see her enjoying herself like that.

And then Meg did what Meg does best. She laughed, babbled and grabbed at people's face till her heart was content. Doctor noted all that and said based on those things and his exam she was just as she should be.

A milestone for Megan Rose

At five-and-half-months old, Megan has hit a big milestone. She can sit, sans tripod, unsupported! She can sit upright for several minutes until something out of reach gets her attention - then she lunches and tips herself over. 

Nearing a milestone

Today Megan sat on her own. It lasted maybe two minutes - perhaps a bit more - and then she tipped herself backwards onto her elbows before easing down into the mattress. It long enough for me to grab the camera and take several photographs as proof. She sat without tripoding for a bit and then with just her right hand down at her side for a little extra support. It won't be long now!

She's also thinking about mobility. She is fully capable of migrating around her activity quilt - ending up a totally different direction than where you put her down if you wait long enough. When she's on her belly she "swims" by moving her arms and feet rapidly. Sometimes it even propels her a bit. Lately she's also been pulling up one knee under her stomach as if she's thinking about how to get up on them to crawl.

And when she's not working on sitting or laying down to play, she's having someone or something help her stand. Standing with her hands over her head in your hands, she'll take little shuffle steps laughing all the way. She wants to chase her big brother. She lunges at him as he moves by her as if the simple act of thrusting her body forward will move her to him.

She's also honing her shopping skills. Today, as she sat on my lap while I made resservations for Logan's special birthday trip to see Thomas, Megan snatched my credit card and sat proudly holding it out before her. Later in the day we went to the Mall with Grandma. Gram held two outfits before Megan and said "Ok, which one do you want?" Meg looked from one to the other several times and then reached out for the dress. We held the short set - which was the same material as the dress - closer to her and said "Don't you like this?" She looked it and then turned her head again reaching for the dress. Needless to say, Grandma bought the dress.

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.