Easily Confused
Babies are funny and we often assume they know a lot more than they really do. The other morning Meghan was feeding Sydney and I sat down on the couch with them to chat. I ended up being there long enough for Sydney to look over, see me, and smile. Then I got up to go grab my shoes while Sydney wasn't paying attention. At some point not long after, she looked up, realized I was gone, and then kept looking around to find me. Very cute. She had lost her daddy and was very distracted by it.
Playing with the mirror
We've shown Sydney herself in a mirror many times and she usually just grins at herself. The other day I actually walked up to the mirror with her so she was only a few inches away. She looked at herself in wonder, smiled, and reached out to touch herself. She seemed perplexed when touching the glass. Lots of grinning.
If you like Pina Coladas...
So we've had a few attempts at trying to get Syd eating solid food. They have not really been well received. Once she figure out what's going on she starts looking around the room, ceases making eye contact, and pretends that if she's not looking at us, we won't keep trying to feed her.
Our first attempts were with rice cereal, which basically just turns milk into a paste. The first time we tried it, we got some priceless facial expressions. The second time, not much better. The third attempt was with some mashed up bananas. I theorized she needed something with a little taste. ...the reaction wasn't much better although it's possible that some banana landed in her tummy. Today, we again tried some rice cereal and some went in... of course at the rate in which it went in, one feeding would take 20 hours and result in more cereal on Sydney's bib than in her tummy. It seems that after about 3 spoonfuls of anything, we discover that she hasn't swallowed the last two. ...and that's if she doesn't just stick her tongue out and push whatever we spooned in out onto her chin. And then there is the other hazard. She loves sticking her fingers in her mouth and playing with her tongue so it's not odd for her to just reach in and pull the food out with her hand.
Of course the funniest part is watching Meghan say "Ahhhh" and try to get Sydney to open her mouth. Syd thinks this is funny and laughs at her but doesn't really open up. Feeding involves a lot of laughing.
Our last solid attempt was tonight. Meghan was eating some Pina Colada flavored yogurt and I suggested we give some to Sydney. Some actually made it in, and again she made some interesting faces. I suppose pina colada isn't the most "natural" flavor to give a baby.
Spitting up
Sydney has good and bad days with respect to spitting up. Some days (not too often) she's a fountain. Other days, everything stays down. Most days she spits up a mouthful her and there. It doesn't seem to concern her at all (even when she does the fountain) so I think that makes it less stressful for us.
One recent trick is burping, spitting up in her mouth, and re-swallowing it. I think I've witnessed her doing that at least 5 times this weekend. Gross... but again she seems unfazed.
Earlier today, Syd was getting very fussy and Meghan stuck the pacifier in her mouth. Then came one of those in the mouth spit-ups. ...and then, it sprayed out her nose. That was a first. Sydney howled. Apparently that was a little more than she could take.
Temper at an early age?
Here’s something a little frightening. Sydney has on occasion been known to arch her back and flail her arms and legs when she’s not happy.
(Of course when she is happy she grins really big and flails her arms and legs.) Day care actually mentioned that to Meghan. The act is similar to a 2 year old’s temper tantrum and not something to be expected out of a baby not yet 5 months old. We may be in for it before much longer.At present Sydney is usually most irritated when it takes you too long to get her clothes back on after changing her diaper… or if you don’t feed her in a timely manner.
mmmm Fingers (and toes?)
Sydney has this thing going on right now where her fingers have to be in her mouth.
While being fed, what could be better than sucking on a nipple… but sucking a nipple and 2 fingers at the same time.
While playing, Sydney often has 2 fingers in her mouth. …and sometimes she’ll add a third from the second hand just to make sure she’s got some fingers in there. …after all, her tongue might escape or something.
While practicing sitting up we hold her hands and she’ll often lean over and try to suck on one of our fingers. She doesn’t really get the concept of “no” yet and just keeps trying.
Sometimes lately when she has a bib on, she’ll stuff part of the bib into her mouth and cram a couple fingers in to jam the bib in further. It’s amazing that this baby will attempt to put anything and everything into her mouth but will actively avoid swallowing solid food. …go figure.
And to top it all off, this afternoon, Sydney was sitting up and grabbing a hold of her feet with her hands. She literally leaned forward and tried to pull her foot toward her mouth. She would have been successful had she thought to bend her knee but instead it was just an open mouthed baby straining forward pulling her own foot toward her mouth.
Finally getting some hair
After what has seemed like a really long time, our bald little baby is finally starting to grow some hair. The entire top of her head is now covered in very short, very fine, very blond hair. Hopefully before much longer it will be long enough to see without being right up next to her.
Tonight we were joking about getting her some wigs. Mohawk. Pig tails. …several styles for different occasions.
Still trying to sit up
Sydney is still trying very hard to learn how to sit up. If she's laying down, she pulls her legs up into a sitting position. If you're holding her in a reclined position, she struggles to try to lean forward. Unfortunately her control still isn't there. There's a lot of straining, but she can sit at most unassisted for a few seconds before wobbling over - normally after being distracted.
Of course all of this straing to sit up has some consequences. Namely spitting up and farting/pooping. We try to avoid sitting after a feeding because she'll spit out a mouthfull at a time. Farting/pooping is also a danger. Those who know Syd know she's not exactly discrete. Yesterday while sitting up on Meghan's tummy with Meghan lying down, Syd grinned, strained, and filled her diaper in loud "poonami".
We just shook our heads... and then I pulled her off Meghan so she could get up.