Scarlett's Six Month Pics are Posted

We finally got all of Scarlett's six month pictures.  You can either scroll down to the July 14th post below, or click on this link:   http://loslucerosdeux.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-preview-of-miss-scarletts-six-month.html.

Enjoy!! :)

Miss Scarlett Crawled!

For the past couple of days, Scarlett has been looking like she's on the verge of crawling.

Today she was rocking up on her hands and knees quite a bit. There was a toy she wanted that was just barely out of her reach, and so I just stayed where I was ... watching. Sure enough, she lifted herself up on her knees somewhat and made two forward advances that I'd classify as "crawling." It was was sooooo cool to watch.

And THAT is why I'm so blessed to be able to keep her home with me: I get to see moments like that!!  Exciting!

Incidentally, Miss Scarlett is 7.5 months old and that is EXACTLY when Christian crawled for the first time. Reminisce here:  http://theluceros.blogspot.com/2008/06/christian-starts-to-crawl.html

(I didn't have my camera handy and missed getting the fun recorded. My phone was nearby and I tried to capture her doing it again using my phone's camera. She didn't do much while I was recording, but you can see her giving it a try (she was just to tired to give it a full effort). Sadly, the sound is lousy, as it doesn't transfer well from my phone to the website that stores the video. So you'll either hear nothing, or garbled delayed voices. :/)

Post Yogurt Cuteness

Scarlett rolling around after some delicious Noosa yogurt:

 

Tooth #2

Tooth #2 made its tiny appearance in Scarlett's mouth today!

She's been eating solids a little better in the past few days.  For dinner she had a few bites of "Harvest Vegetable Medly" and "Noosa Yoghurt." If you're not familiar, let me enlighten you:

http://www.noosayoghurt.com/

It is absolutely the most delicious yogurt I've ever had.   And I'm not even a fan of yogurt.  I can't get enough Noosa and since Scarlett likes it, that gives me an excuse to buy it. :)   (Anybody living in Bellingham, WA, it can be found at the Albertson's on Birchwood.  Anybody living in Colorado, try Super Target, Vitamin Cottage, Sprouts, Whole Foods, Safeway, King Soopers, etc.).

Another All Nighter

Miss Scarlett had a rought time in the nursery at church last night.   She was particularly tired, and was fussy when we left.  I went back in to try soothing her, she seemed fine but then went back to crying.

So I had a choice to make:  stay with her in the nursery, or go to the church service knowing the grandmas in there would take very good care of her.    Since they only had Scarlett and one other child, I decided to go to the service, knowing they'd let us know if we needed to come get her.

By the time we returned, she was asleep in the crib.

She fussed most of the drive home.  We got her to sleep at about 9:00pm and were SHOCKED when she didn't wake up until about 5:15pm.  That is about EIGHT hours.

Now, I'm no fool.  I've finally figured out that one night of good sleep isn't necessarly indicative of a pattern that has started.  A few months ago, that is exactly what I had hoped for.  But I've learned my lesson over and over since then.

But, it just proves that she CAN go without a feeding overnight. :)

Green Beans

I was so excited to try the "Baby Led Weaning Concept."   I started off with a small piece of banana.  Scarlett grabbed it immedately and in short order, put it in her mouth.   She started to gag a bit, so pulled it back out. 

I tried agian with a more mushy piece of banana.  She put it in her mouth, started to gag a bit and then "blech!"  Projectile vomiting.  

I then tried to just mix some cereal with pureed sweet potatoes to make it really chunky.  I gave her some and "blech!"  More projectile vomiting.

So then I tried just straigh ureed sweet potatoes and "BLECH!" for the third time.  Ugh!

That was how lunch went.

At dinner, we tried again with more pureed baby food - this time one that had three imgredients.   And "blech!"   So, today just wasn't our day.

I really think she's got a very sensitive gag reflex, so we'll jsut move very slowly with the "solid food" process.

Today, I bought some good ol' organic pureed green beans.  One ingredient.  And she LIKES it!   She did great at lunch and really surpirsed us at dinner when she'd open her mouth for more as Jonathan fed her. 

So I think the key is just very small bites.

And at least we're making some kind of progress!  Slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

"Mama" (ma ma maaaaaaaaaaaa mam maaa)

Today Miss Scarlett said, "Mama."  And then said it again.  And again.

Okay, well ... it was that typical "indiscriminate baby babbling" they do when discovering new sounds they can make. 

But still ... it was "Mama." :)

Miss Scarlett is Seven Months Old!

Today Miss Scarlett is seven months old!

So, what is she up to lately, you ask?

She really likes to sit up, and doesn't fall over much.  Sometimes it seems like she's making the movements to start crawling, but really ... she just enjoys rolling all over the place at this point.

She's been in the nursery at church on Saturday evenings for a few weeks now, and is doing really well.

Scarlett gets the biggest kick out of Christian, whose newest goal in life is to make is baby sister laugh.  He really had her going the other day (and though he was a bit too loud and crazy, in my opinion, Scarlett enjoyed it!).

Scarlett STILL isn't into eating  baby food.  At best, we can get a few partial spoonfuls into her mouth, but she very quickly loses interest and starts to protest.  Today she seemed to enjoy this new food better than some of the other food we've been feeding her.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, according to the "Baby Led Weaning" theory I've found, infants can eat the same food we adults eat.  Here's an unofficial description:

The basic concept is that if you eat healthy things the baby can actually eat them too (at 6+ months old) – and feed him or herself, so you can all eat together as a family (which is a novel idea after months spent switching off with the baby so nobody in the house eats together). Apparently it’s popular in many areas of Europe. There are no jars of baby food. And no homemade purees. And no spooning things into the little man/lady’s mouth. Just the same healthy food that adults eat prepared in a way that many 6+ olds can handle, which is then set on their tray and they go to town.

 the general belief is that at six months old many babies have the capacity to feed themselves, and if the item is soft enough (ex: small pieces of steamed veggies like tiny broken up broccoli florets that are very soft, chunks of banana that they can nibble on, soft overcooked spaghetti, etc) there shouldn’t be an issue with choking or being unable to chew things since a baby is programmed to masticate and swallow at that age (of course you always need to be right there as they eat, supervising as you would during any other feeding experience). The potential pluses are:

• You can eat as a family instead of someone having to spoon-feed the baby while others eat
• Your child may be a more adventurous eater because they control intake and think of it as a fun activity
• You don’t have to puree things (or buy jars of baby food) so the baby can eat whatever you’re having for dinner (tailored to work for them of course, perhaps without a lot of spices/herbs and steamed a bit longer so it’s softer)
• Your baby won’t have issues with gagging or chewing later on when you segue from purees to more solid foods because they learn to chew food thoroughly from day one instead of just swallowing blended foods
• Hand-eye coordination can be honed/improved due to learning how to use a pincher grip and get things into their own mouth

In fact, this weekend a friend of mine shared that none of her kiddos (age 4 to 1 year) have eaten baby food.  They've always eaten what she eats, just cut up into small pieces.  So there is a real-life example of how it works!

So ... I'll buy the book (because that is how I am - I need to have a book about things).  I've already tried doing this with banana chunks.  And she grabbed them and brought them to her mouth ... so maybe there's something to it after all! :)   And maybe - just maybe - doing this type of feeding will help Scarlett to become a far better eater than Christian is to this day.

Lil' GIrlfriends

We haven't seen Scarlett around other babies much.  So when these three beauties got together, I simply HAD to take a picture.

And here we can see that our Scarlett truly is a petite little princessa:

Julia, the baby on the left, is only six months old and is already 21 lbs!

Peyton, the baby on the right in yellow, was born two weeks before Scarlett.  I'm not sure how much she weighs, but she, too, is bigger than Scarlett. She's also able to sit herself up, and is already crawling a little bit.

Who's That Baby?

Scarlett's First Tooth at Six Months, Three Weeks!

I had a bit of a surpirse today when I felt Scarlett's first tooth this afternoon!  She was sucking on my finger - as she often does - when I noticed a bump on her lower gums.  I ran my firnger over the bump, and felt the unmistakable sharpness of a brand new tooth.

I'm thankful for that little tooth, as it hopefully explains why Scarlett's voice has become hoarse, why she seems somewhat congested, yet has a runny nose sometimes, and why she seemed slightly feverish this morning.  I was thinking it was problaby seasonal allergies.

Her symptoms might still be allergy-related, of course.  But my hope is it's all just from teething.

And so it beings! :)

The Irony of Peas

Ah, peas ... you have disapointed me after much elation.   I never even got to sing your praises on our blog.

We are still having a hard time with Scarlett and solid food.  One thing she seemed to be somewhat enjoying was peas.  Tonight she was doing a great job of eating her peas (the most we've seen her eat so far).  But alas, a short time later, her tummy was bothering her and she was REALLY upset.

Unfortuatenly, this istn't he first time - though it was the worst time.   So ... the one food she'll actually eat must be removed from the menu.

Next on the menu ... hmmm ...

The Teething Biscuit

Since Scarlett is not interested in her pureed food and cereal, I thought I'd give her a teething biscuit.

She likes it ... she likes it!  Of course, we have to keep an eye on her to see when she manages to get a chunk off so we can get it out of her mouth.

Although ... I just learned about a movement in England called 'Baby Led Weaning."   The  word "weaning" doesn't have the same definition as here in the U.S. ... there, weaning is what they call the transition a child makes to eating solid food ... not the cessation of breast milk / formula.  The basic concept is that an infant of a certain age can start eating the same food we adults eat ... from the get-go.  No rice cereal, no pureed foods, etc. ... ever.   I need to look more into this concept, since Scarlett isn't too much into the food we've been giving her.

But for how, here' s out little Princessa really enjoying her biscuit! :)

The Big Stroller

Today was the first time Scarlett has been in her "big stroller."  It was only "really warm" today (verses "freakin' hot"), so I thought it would be nice to get out for a few minutes.   It got a bit too warm after a few minutes - I could have handled it, but didn't want Scarlett to get uncomfortable.

I'll probably be a few more weeks before we try another walk.  It's just so hot.

Miss Scarlett is Sitting Up

For the past few days, Miss Scarlett has been able to sit up all by herself.

And by that I mean without support.  We have to get her into the sitting position, but after that, she's the star of the show! :)



Yankee Doodle Sweetheart

Our thanks to Granny for the pretty dress! :)

A "Behnd the Scenes" Video for "Yankee Doodle Sweetheart"

Still Not a Fan

Miss Scarlett is simply still not a fan of her "real food."  I just don't know why.

I spilled a drop of food on her tray, and she started to play with it.  So I put a bit more on there, hoping her hand would make it to her mouth with the food on it ... but she completely lost interest.

Not quite sure what the trick is to getting a kiddo to eat.  Christian was an eager eater at this age.

Awwww ....

Miss Scarlett's Six Month Pictures

Here is Miss Scarlett at six months!

We found a wonderful local photographer who does great work for a very reasonable price.  Both the price and the quality of work is FAR better than what we've had at national studio types of places.

The Princess and the Swimming Lessons

Since June, 10th, both Scarlett and Christian have been taking swimming lessons every Sunday morning.  

Scarlett's class involves a long of songs and repetition.  We take them to the wall often so the can learn - over time - the wall is the "safe place to be."  

She is remarkably calm during class.  Much of the time, she's just looking around, sucking on her hand.  

For the first couple of classes, I kept Scarlett above-water.  On the third class, it was time to put her under.

Needless to say, it was uncomfortable for me - but I know it is part of the process and a crucial step.  The goal of swimming lessons isn't to create an Olympic swimmer, but rather to get Scarlett comfortable in water and over time, help her to know what she is to do if she finds herself submerged in water (i.e., heaven forbid, falls into a pool).

We learned that when submerging a baby, it is important to put her head completely under water.  Apparently, if she's not completely underwater, when she feels air on her head, she'll take a breath.  So it is important to put her completely under water.   Of course, it is just for a moment and then I quickly bring her back up.

And her dunks are always preceded with "One, two, three ..." and I lift her up, and then put her under.  The second week we did this, she got this wide-eyed look on her face as I started the count to three, and I knew she somehow understood she was about to go under.

Today, her teacher commented that it is impressive Scarlett is okay floating on her back (well, I'm supporting her).  She said many babies get upset at the sensation of water going over their ears.  But Scarlett actually seems to enjoy floating on her back.   I love it when she sticks her legs straight up in the air as I pull her along.

Since we're at an indoor swim school, these classes are year-round ... not just summer classes as are at outdoor pools.   Christian is really enjoying himself in the lane next to us, and since both kiddos are doing so well, I think we'll keeping doing lessons for the foreseeable future.   Child drownings seem to dominate the news in the Phoenix area and so to us, it is extremely important that our kiddos learn to swim as well as possible.