on a roll, part 2

Yesterday evening, Leni managed to roll herself over, front to back. This one happened largely as the pediatrician had described. She was pushing up on her arms (which she is not a fan of doing, she would much rather keep her head up with her incredible back and torso muscles - no arms needed), looked too far over to one side, and toppled over to her back. It took some squirming to convince her legs to follow but they did. My husband and I were very encouraging, and it was cute to see her beam in response to our lavish praise, even though it was clear to me that she had no idea why we were so excited. Hopefully she will reproduce this event again.

It does make us less nervous about the fact that she flips herself onto her belly each night during her 30 minute "I won't go to sleep" fit that she takes every night in her crib.

rite of passage

So Leni finally caught some random bug, and now we're all sick. It's pretty minor as illnesses go, some coughs and runny noses, but it's hard to hear her cough, and watch her run out of steam faster than usual. Plus, when she is worn out, she cries with much more gusto than her usual whine. It's especially challenging because I'm pretty worn out myself.

The silver lining to our grey cloud? Each time I sneeze or blow my nose, Leni looks at me to let me know just how silly I am. Good to know she is entertained by small things.

Hopefully, we'll all be better soon.

the influence of family

We spent the last week visiting family, and the cousins definitely enjoyed spending time together. Leni learned a new trick, one I think she picked up from her older cousin (he's 10 months to her 5).

liberation from the home front

Although I had forgot, my babysitter had not, and she called yesterday to know when to come so my husband and I could go out. This makes three times that we've been out since she was born. First we went out when she was one week old while my parents watched her - a quick lunch. Second we went out when my mother-in-law watched her - a quick dinner. Both times we came home to a crying baby.

But this time success! Perhaps because we left her crying in her crib putting herself to bed. And she was still asleep when we got home. (Although I believe we both spent the whole time vaguely tensed for what we believed was the inevitable phone call from the sitter saying 'come home now!')

Iron Man is a great movie. But even better was the opportunity to be out for just a bit with the love of my life, and only him.

what to get for a five month old

On Wednesday, Leni hit five months. While I anticipated it for days in advance, when the actual day came, because our lives are nothing if not busy, I missed taking her picture, and then the picture of the two of us, that I try to get to chronicle her growth. But, in truth, one or two days in either direction doesn't make that much of a difference.
For this particular anniversary, we bought her a sipppy cup. She is thrilled to drink (or perhaps lap, then let drool out) water from a cup, so we thought this would help. Both options are equally exciting, and equally ineffective.

But after drooling/spilling all over the dishcloth, she will hold on to it as long as she can as a security blanket. Nice.

making a break for it

I know Leni is up when I hear gurgles and coos from her room. She is often staring fixedly at her mobile - I believe she is willing it to start moving. (Sadly, without frequent help from mom and dad, it never does.) When I hear her up, I go to get her out of bed. Today, she appeared to be trying to get herself out on her own. She was just as content horizontal in bed as she is vertical, so there was time to snap this shot. (Note the intent stare towards the non-pictured mobile.)Addendum: Currently all of her socks are either too small or fall right off. It doesn't help that she pulls on them all the time. We mean to rectify this shortly.

remembering chicken legs

As I changed Leni yesterday, I was struck by the fact that my newborn has been replaced by a baby. She had funny little chicken legs (fat thighs, skinny calves), and was generally stringy (see photo). Now, she's certainly not a fat baby, but she has the solid legs and arms that will serve her well as she starts to move, crawl, and eventually walk. I feel vaguely ridiculous for saying this about my four month old, but she's growing up, right before my very eyes.

Look at her cute little chicken legs! Merry Christmas Leni.

sucess in traveling

So yesterday I screwed up my courage, and stuck myself and Leni in the car to do a YW visit to another unit in my stake. My husband couldn't come along because of his calling, so it was just the two of us. Leni was great in the car, very pleasant to the young woman sitting next to her. She didn't cry in church, and ate when it worked for me (Sunday School, as always). She was vaguely distracting during my lesson, but who can resist smiling at that happy face? And now I know, I can travel again. And we will.

Thank goodnes Leni decided to not hate the car seat!

the joy of waking up myself

This morning, for the first time in recent memory, I woke up because I felt like it was time to get up. Leni did not wake me up - either by chatting with her mobile or crying.

We put her to bed around 8, like usual. She needed to feed again around 1, like usual. She cried a little bit after putting her back down, but we decided to give her a few minutes, and she fell back asleep. More feeding at 4, like usual. She woke up at 6 with the sun, like usual, but this morning we let her fuss on her own for a bit. The next thing I remember is Michael reaching for his scriptures. Leni got up about 20 minutes later. I could exist on sleep like this.

Never, in all my years of waking up did I realize how absolutely wonderful it is to wake up on your own schedule - not someone else's. I'm pretty sure this won't last, but for today, it was beautiful.

self-soother?

In what could be an exciting development, after two and a half months of hard effort, Leni seems to have mastered the thumb suck. I put her down for her nap, and she started to cry - she is not a fan of the seperation. I determined how long I would let her cry, and tried to keep myself occupied. When I checked on her after my shower (ahhh.... to be clean), she was - yes - sucking her thumb. She had cried out twice, but then magically finds it again, and is asleep once more. This could be the beginning of a great relationship. (In the back of my head I think - I'm going to have to break her of this habit some day - but for today I am just grateful that she is learning to help herself sleep.)