Life's a Beach

I've been told in no uncertain terms that I am falling down on my duties of posting pictures. Apologies. I'm a little busy here, people. Jeesh. I mean, I've got lots of soaps to watch mothering to do.

We are finally enjoying good Chicago weather and have been taking advantage of our beautiful nearby beaches. Libby is in love and can't get enough. Beach, sand, and park are all very popular words around here these days.





While I'm waiting for the photos to upload, I'll share a favorite Libby story from a couple of months ago. So Libby often insists on eating whatever Emma gets to eat, so she has a heaping, yummy bowl of baby rice cereal (made with water, no less!) when Emma does. One day I gave Libby her bowl and then went back and dickered around with Emma's trying to get it just the right consistency (not that it matters because she loathes solids).

All of a sudden I heard a "Good, Emma!" When the comment finally broke through my daydreams, I turned around to find Emma's face smeared in Libby's cereal and Libby jamming her spoon into Emma's mouth (or at least the vicinity of her mouth).

Emma gets to eat lots of things from big sis Libby. I've found everything from a slice of bread to a piece of stick cheese in her mouth. (At least Libby gets her to take it. Most of the time, I just get raspberries when I'm trying to feed her solids.)

Our Girls

Tonight we ate dinner outside on our back deck. Libby was beside herself with joy and proclaimed "outside!" at least 107 times before, during, and after the meal. While we were eating, she looked up at the sky and cried, "Moon!" "Yes, yes," we said. "That's the moon, little genius." Then she yelled, "Peekaboo, Moon!" and flung her hands up in the air toward it. Peekaboo is her new way of saying "I see you."

Libby loves looking at parenting magazines. This picture will show you why I once called my mom and said that I swore Libby was going to start tearing our recipes any second.

Fine table manners. The kid watches me drink the last of the milk from my cereal bowl far too often. Here she's digging the egg drop soup at a Chinese restaurant. Man, did she chow down!

This is Emma's standard tummy time look. Notice how there are no tears? She's so chill. She's always like, "That's cool. I'll just hang out here for a couple of hours. No biggie." I swear she's already trying to get into crawling position even.

More tummy time. I know the picture is dark, but I love 1) the rivulet of spit running down her chin and 2) the cat paw jammed in her face (and she's apparently totally fine with that).

The girl will not eat her solids. We had reached a better point a ways back, but she just is not into it. We've tried rice cereal, bananas, sweet potatoes, peas, avocado, and even pears. Nothing will entice her. She does love sitting up in her high chair, though. (P.S. Like the drool?)

Saved the best for last. A beauty, isn't she?

Speaking of Libby

So Libby's speech in the last couple of week has been so interesting. It started with her adding the names of people when she'd say stuff: "Here ... Emma" [said as she hands something to Emma]. "Bye-bye ... Da-da."

And then a couple of days ago she started adding her own name to the narrations: "Peeeee-yyuuu ... Bibby" [said while I'm changing her dipe, and all I can say is that kid ain't lyin']. I love the cadence of how she says these narrations with a slight beat too long and a slightly different tone. I told Martin it sounds a lot like one of those fill-in-a-name-to-a-recording things (like Libby's Elmo Knows Your Name doll, which says "I like kitties, too ... LIBBY.") So she'll say things like, "Uh-oh ... BIBBY."

Then yesterday she jumped from adding names and started stringing ideas together. She's started with "more." "More ice" (ice cubes are her favorite food group). "More dog." "More airplane." (In case you were wondering, I'm excellent at conjuring up more airplanes.)

It's so exciting! I feel like we're on the beginning of the long march toward sentences. Way to go ... BIBBY.

The Big Time

Thanks to my sharp-eyed friend Susan, who spotted a request for interviews with moms of Emmas (and other popular names), the girls and I are now famous!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136270

Emma Update

Happy Mother's Day! Sorry the pix are importing sideways. Why do they do that?




So Emma is almost five months old. So far, we've survived (and -- somehow -- so has Emma despite Libby). Some updates:

Emma has rolled over a couple of times but has yet to do it consistently.

She now has had a couple of solids -- banana and rice cereal. The first couple of meals resulted in gagging and puking, so we waited and have tried intermittently since then. The last two meals have finally been more successful. Hurray! Today she even kicked her little legs with excitement throughout the meal.

She slept through the night (9-4) about a week ago and last night gave me a Mother's Day present of 11-4. Ahhhhh. Stretches of undisturbed sleep. Heaven.

And most important: She has begun noticing the kitties and reaches out for them all the time now. Run, Nub and Seven, run.