6 months

Dear Annika,

You’re beginning to scare me. I should get used to it, because this can only get worse before it gets better. A few days ago, you were on your hands and knees next to the coffee table, and you reached a hand up to the top of the coffee table to see what was up there. A few weeks ago, this was unimaginable; at the beginning of this month you weren’t getting up on all fours yet, and if we put you down that way, you’d just rock back and forth briefly and then get back down onto your belly. Now you're able to get up on all fours on your own, but you’re not sure what to do next once you’re there.

In the past weeks, in addition to all-fours and sitting independently, you’ve hit another milestone – you now distinguish strongly between strangers and family

Your 6-month appointment yesterday went well, except of course for the screaming bloody murder about getting your shots. Hopefully that trauma is counterbalanced by Dr. Lubell’s pronouncement that you are now allowed to have real grown-up food – bread, crackers, mushed-up fruits and veggies - and are allowed to eat meat. No more do you have to gaze longingly at our plates and be told “no” all the time. Unless we’re eating chocolate ice cream, in which case all the puppy-eyes you can manage will not get you a bite until you’re at least two. Because we’re the meanest parents in the world.



You’re 16 lbs 7 oz now, and 26 inches tall. I was certain you were at least 18 lbs, because whenever I have to carry you around a lot, my arms complain.

Speaking of complaints, we need to have a talk. About your sleeping habits. I’m very grateful that you now sleep through the night on a regular basis, more grateful than words can possibly express. This is wonderful, splendid, heavenly even. But does it HAVE to take an hour or more get you to sleep in the first place? Usually, it starts well. We settle down in the rocking chair together, you get a warm bottle, and we cuddle and rock and you start to doze off. But then something happens. Sometimes it happens when I deem you sufficiently asleep and try to put you down, sometimes it happens just as I start to think about but before I’ve even moved. Suddenly the process hits ‘reverse’ – your eyes flutter and then open, you start waving your arms and kicking your legs. Some nights you’re awake but content, cooing and gurgling at me as if you’re telling me all the things you did that day. And other nights, you’re cranky and restless, arching your back, pushing away from me, rubbing your eyes and whimpering because you're tired - but not about to fall asleep, no sirree. We usually go through at least one cycle of “falling asleep – waking back up – falling asleep again” before you’re down for the night. Sometimes Dad takes you for a car ride if all else fails, but we try to avoid that. I have a fear that you will develop a stubborn resistance to falling asleep ANY OTHER WAY than in the car.

But on the whole, I figure if this is my biggest complaint I should count myself very lucky.

Love,
Mama

5 months

Late as usual… pertains to this month’s newsletter, and all too often it’s the story of my life. I have high hopes for you that you’ll be more organized and punctual than I am; you got a good start by coming into the world a few days ahead of your due date. But I know that as your mama, I am only part of what shapes the person you are becoming. Some of who you are is built in, some is up to me and Dad, and some of it is the rest of the world.

So far, you’re quite the character already – you love me and your dad, and you show it by practically leaping out of other people’s arms to get one of us to hold you, but you also have an independent streak. Make that a wide, wide swath. Once you’ve been held and cuddled for a bit, you start squirming and pushing away from the shelter of loving arms, trying to win your freedom, to go exploring. You’re not crawling yet, but you seem almost ready. I’ve seen you raise yourself onto hands and knees, but once you’re up, you don’t know what to do next, so you look around, and then get back down on your tummy. You can roll with the greatest of ease, and pivot and creep around, so between one motion and another you manage to get into all kinds of places when my back is turned. One day I was in the kitchen making a bottle for you, and had placed you on your play mat. I came back to find that you were several feet away from the mat, gnawing on the leg of an end-table.

And it isn’t just exploring – you’re a thrillseeker as well. You love it when Daddy tosses you up in the air and catches you – whenever he does that, you grin from ear to ear and giggle. You love to be swung around, spun around, bounced around… anything that goes fast.

In Kira, you’ve found your first friend – if friendship means grabbing each other’s faces, sharing germs, babbling at each other, and crying in tandem. Now that she’s walking, she will probably set for you a whole new standard of how to find trouble.

When it comes to food, your lust for new experiences is somewhat tempered by the fact that, let’s face it, baby food from a jar is not especially delicious stuff. But your first food was rice cereal, and while I expected that your first taste of it would elicit a “yuck!” face and ejection of the offending substance… I was half right. Most of your first meal did end up on your shirt, but not from lack of enthusiasm on your part. You instantly fell in love with cereal, with the very idea of eating “real” food. I have video to prove it. You can’t resist grabbing the spoon and taking control, even though I suspect you have figured out that it’s not the most effective way to actually get food into your tummy. So far, your solid food repertoire consists of rice, oatmeal, peas, green beans, and sweet potatoes. You ate all of the above reasonably happily, but the green beans were definitely not your favorite. I have tasted all of the baby foods before I fed them to you, and I have to say I agree with you. The peas are tolerable, the sweet potatoes are good, but the green beans are pretty awful. You can’t win ‘em all.

Love,

Mama

4 months

Dear Annika,

Does it seem clichéd and obvious to open by saying that I’m amazed at how much you’ve grown and changed in just a month? Too bad. I’m going to say it anyway.

You’re 13 lbs 11 oz now, so probably sometime in the past month you hit the “twice birth weight” point. If you keep doubling your weight every 3 months or so, you’ll be nearly as big as me by your first birthday. No wonder they say babies grow up fast.

Your repertoire of vocalizations has increased substantially – from soft contented “aahhhs” sung to your bottle when you’re satiated on milk, to excited “ooh ooh ooh!” sounds whenever you see a cat, to gleefully ear-piercing shrieks and squawks. I’ve never heard any sound that’s simultaneously so much fun and so headache-inducing.

Now, instead of abhorring your tummy time, you love it, you actively engage in it – because you can now roll over. Front to back, back to front, any which way. You can also sort of pivot in place on your tummy. This started around the middle of the month, and by now you’re very nonchalant about it. “Hey, I rolled over again… gimme something to play with now that I’m taking on the world on my own terms!” In the last week you added a new trick – the skydiver pose, in which you hold your head up, and also lift your arms out to the sides and your legs off the ground so that only your belly is on the floor. Or, you can push yourself up on your arms so that your chest is off the ground; you can also lift your bottom up in the air but you can’t do both at once yet. Whenever you’re on your tummy and you see something that interests you and is out of reach, you bounce up and down and wave all four limbs as if you’re sure that just moving them around should get you where you’re going if you just try hard enough.

You’ve had lots of adventures this month. You started the month by flying across the continent to Oregon, where you met your great-grandma Lillian, your great-uncles Jerry and Gary, great-aunts Diane and Barbara, and cousins Erin, Heather, and Erika. It wasn’t the first time you saw Uncle Alex and (soon to be Aunt) Anne, but they were even more delighted with you than they were when they saw you at 2 months. You got to go for walks, and you saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Cannon Beach is an enviable introduction to the sea – too bad you won’t remember it. We’ll just have to take you there again. And again and again, probably. You would have liked the coast better if it hadn’t been chilly and windy, but as you will learn, those are key features of the Oregon Coast. You seemed to like the airport and airplane rides; you were fascinated by all the people and noise going through the airport, and on both flights you spent most of your time asleep, for which I was incredibly grateful. The stewardesses were amazed at what a good traveler you were.

Later in the month, you got to meet my friends Lisa and Jeff when they came to visit. We went to the Morris Arboretum, which held your attention briefly until you got too hot and tired and you HATED having to wear a hat. Later that day, we took you to visit Grandma and Grandpa Khavin to celebrate Grandpa’s 51^st birthday. You enjoyed the social scene, but the real highlight of the visit was when you got to swim in the pool for the first time (with Mom or Dad holding you, of course). You splashed and kicked like a frog; I’m guessing that you’re going to be one of those kids who can swim before you walk.

Whatever we’re eating is now of immense interest. A few days ago you succeeded in swiping a piece of French toast off of my plate. You put it in your mouth and happily sucked on it until I took it away – spoilsport that I am, I didn’t want you to gum off a piece big enough to choke on. And besides, French toast with its allergy-fraught wheat and eggs is nowhere on the list of Approved First Foods.

Another milestone – your first mishap. You managed to squirm your way out of your bouncy-chair, to fall flat on your face. Of course I came running as soon as I heard the thump, and picked you up almost before you had a chance to scream; I felt horribly guilty for not strapping you in. But you are evidently made of rubber – there wasn’t even a hint of a bruise anywhere, and in about 15 seconds you forgot that anything had happened.

The cats have learned to be wary of you, because lately you’ve developed an unhealthy interest in them. Unhealthy for them, that is. At every opportunity, you shriek at them, kick them, and grab fistfuls of their fur in an ecstasy of exploration. I just look at the cats and say “Now you know how I feel!” Because you also love to entwine your hands in my hair and hold on so I can’t put you down, not to mention grabbing my glasses, pulling on my lips, and sticking your fingers in my mouth. I have to admit that I’m not so averse to eating your fingers, though – I take advantage of every opportunity to nibble on them.

Love,

Mama

Father's Day 2008 Pics

So for Father's Day, I took Annika to visit "Grandpa Khavin", which is still for some reason a strange thing to call my Dad.  I suppose I'll eventually get used to it.  You reading thing, Grandpa!?  Annika was asleep; fell asleep soon as we left Blue Bell, and stayed asleep a good hour after we got to Edison.  Big surprise there!

Much cooing and squirming... drooling, and being passed around from one set of hands to another ensued.   But then we got a little bit tired, and decided that laying around in the Pack'n'Play is not so bad after all!  Especially considering the fact that it was set up outside... on a nice day...

And then we fell asleep.  Oddly enough, we fell asleep at Grandpa & Grandma's house, and woke up at home in the morning.  Magic?  Maybe.

Not Chronological

Okay, so I had intended to post Annika pictures in chronological order, but that's not gonna happen; I'm lucky if I can get a chance to drag some photos off of the memory card and get them up here at all.

These are from this past week - we had dinner with my friend Jenn on Friday night at a place in Chestnut Hill, and Annika was showing off her newfound smiling and cooing skills, flirting with the people at the table behind us, and generally being a little charmer.

The sleeping-baby picture was because I wanted to remember how cute and innocent she looks when she's sleeping... although I think here, she looks sort of frowny.

We're Up!

And we're hungry!  As usual.