Strides forward

Major advances in baby development are brewing, y'all!

For one thing, Annika's reach is like eight feet, more or less; she upset a bowl of salsa all over herself and her mom at Celia's this weekend, a bowl mom thought was out of reach ... Also, she's doing a lot of downward dog (a sort of pike position, like a pushup but with her rear in the air to form an upside-down V) and rocking on her hands and knees, which we think will be a crawl very soon. And just today, down for a nap in her crib (having broken herself of both the swaddle and the need to fall asleep in someone's arms before being transferred into the crib in just the past couple of weeks), she got herself into a sitting position from (I think) her back; she's been doing sitting-to-stomach for a couple of months, but this is new. Finally, she can stand almost unassisted; she pulls herself up on your hand (or, ah, the crib railing) and surveys her domain, just about bursting with pride. She's taken to walking, holding onto both of mom's or dad's hands, with big moonwalking steps -- she couldn't do it on her own yet, but she enjoys the hell out of practicing. And I mean, if you put your hands out, she'll grab them, pull herself up, and take a big step faster than you could imagine -- so you best be ready for that! Foodwise, she's been eating the Stage 2 Gerber dealios, which are a coarser puree and come in LOTS more flavors, with more than one thing in many of them (e.g. one of her favorites is Harvest Vegetables with Grain -- she gets so mad when that one's done that we have to feed her another serving, which is usually a fruit blend, such as her pear & pineapple or apple & sweet potato varieties). And we're trying to introduce her to the sippy cup, which she doesn't really get -- the only BPA-free one we have right now has a rubber sippy bit, which she loves to gum but hasn't figured out how to tilt up to get the water from. Real People Food ahoy ...

And in other news, my good friend Amanda, from back home, has just had her first baby! Beautiful little Audrey was born May 22, weighing in at 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches in length. Congratulations to the C. family, and welcome to the world, Audrey! We can't wait to meet her.