Below are pictures of Reese at (aprox.) ten days, ten weeks, and ten months just for the sake of comparison.
Some updates:
1. Reese's eating is hit or miss lately. She still refuses almost all baby food. (Occasionally we can get her to eat some oatmeal with apple sauce and once this week she ate some sweet potatoes along with her dinner.) Unfortunately, the amenable baby who liked all foods just a short while ago has been replaced by a picky pants. We've got breakfast down to a science--a combo and rotation of pancakes, banana, yogurt melts, shredded wheat, bagel,and cheerios (we're trying to add scrambled eggs into the rotation, but it's not going well so far). Lunch and dinner, however, are total toss ups. Sometimes Reese will devour what's served, other times she hates it. One day last week she greedily ate some peas, chicken strips, and cherries for lunch, but then refused the exact same meal the next day when it was presented at dinner. There seem to be a few standbys lately when it comes to dinner and lunch fare, though: cheese crumbles, hot dog (skin removed and cut into TINY pieces), stuffing, and macaroni and cheese. Anything else is any one's guess. Reese is also "great" at letting us know when she's unhappy with her food choices--she throws terrible tantrums. On Saturday night, nothing we offered was acceptable (including all her usual favorites, as well as baby food) and she cried and screamed for over an hour. Finally, she ate two bitter biscuits before going to bed--high on the nutrition charts, I know... When Reese is done eating her meal, she also lets us know by using both of her hands to spread any remaining food back and forth across the eating tray. Shortly after this, she begins picking up food and dropping it over the side of her chair to the dog. (Annie doesn't complain.) I'm trying to make her meals big enough and well balanced, but it's a tough act right now. I just have to take solace in what a pediatrician friend of mine said: "No child has ever starved themselves. She'll eat what she needs." I just hope her food aversions don't persist indefinitely. And I wonder: when can she start taking a vitamin?
2. In the last month Reese has decided she doesn't want a bottle before bed anymore. I thought that this would be the last feeding to go, but she has clearly decided otherwise. Her bedtime bottle used to be her biggest (liquid) feeding of the day, but she started taking less and less and eventually pushed the bottle away when offered. So, we're now down to milk at breakfast, lunch, before her afternoon nap, and with dinner, as well as a cup of juice/water for afternoon snack. It seems to be working great for now. While on the topic of bottles--we'll be starting the transition to sippy cups only soon. I'm a little nervous. The pedi (and everything I read) says to try to rid yourself of the bottle by the first birthday or shortly after. I can't believe that's only 8 weeks from now! Reese takes her juice and water from a sippy cup, so starting next week I'm going to try to replace one of her mealtime bottles with a sippy cup of milk to see how that goes. Wish us luck.
3. Reese continues to enjoy the pool. We go to the pool in the late afternoon, just before dinner, two or three times a week. She loves crawling in the shallow end, "jumping" off the side of the pool into my arms, and watching the older kids go down the slides. She's got a tan line developing on her arms from where her swim shirt stops. It's a classic farmer tan. I have mixed feelings about her having tan lines--I SLATHER her with SPF 50 and we're never at the gym pool for more than a hour, so I feel like I'm taking precautions, but it still seems strange. I'll just tell myself she's getting her dose of vitamin D.
4. Contrary to what I may have thought a few months or weeks ago, Reese seems slightly disinterested in walking. She crawls quickly (and all over the house), pulls herself to standing, and cruises along the furniture often, but if you try to hold her by her hands/fingers to help her "walk" while away from the furniture, she gets crabby and instantly sits down. We'll see if her attitude changes in the next few weeks/months.
5. Reese continues to babble up a storm. She doesn't have any consistently "real" words yet, but we swear we've heard her point to Kevin and say "dada" at least twice and today she crawled over to Annie, pointed to her and said what sounded just like "dog" then did it again a few minutes later. (We call Annie "dog" around Reese.) There are other times when I think she mimics my words and she'll come out saying something that has a similar inflection, initial sound, or final sound and it makes me think she's talking. She continues to point at things all around her. She waves (still mostly to me and Kevin, and others she feels comfortable with), and has begun clapping when she's happy or excited. (She also dances when she hears music, which I will try to get on video.) I can tell that her receptive language skills are getting better, because she shows that she's understanding more phrases-- "No," "Arms up," "not in your mouth," "give that to ____(mama, or dada)," "come with me," and "stop/stay." She doesn't always like what she's told/asked to do, so sometimes her compliance also comes with some tears, but she does show she understands.
I can't believe we're only 8 weeks away from her first birthday. When I read about what one year olds can do I can't help but stare in disbelief at Reese. In 8 weeks will she really start walking (or at least get ready to)? Will she be done with bottles? Will she start drinking 'real' milk? Will she start using more words? It seems impossible because while she's definitely not the helpless baby she once was, she still seems like a baby to me.
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