Livy Laughs
Originally uploaded by kyleroth.
This week’s Thankful Thursday is devoted to my pirate and my princess. Liv is 6 months old today and I look at her and wonder where the time has gone. She is no longer a helpless infant who simply eats, poops and sleeps. Now she interacts with us and wants to play and be a part of the action. She refuses to nap during the day, for fear that she will miss out on what’s going on around her. Despite the lack of naps, she is happy and content to soak in her environment and chew on whatever is within reach (usually her fingers and toes). When you pick her up (rescue her), she will grab you by the cheeks, give you the sweetest open-mouth kiss, and squeal with delight. There is no more laying her down on a blanket while I throw in a load of wash or escape to the bathroom…she is mobile. She rolls all over the living room floor in search of something to put in her mouth (this makes me so nervous because Kade still doesn’t understand that his little toys are dangerous). I’m going to have to break out the playpen and baby-proof the stones on the fireplace in preparation for the next step…crawling. We are working on sitting up, which she has almost mastered. She has been eating solids for about a month, and her favorite foods are peas and sweet potatoes (which is the exact opposite of Kade…he despised peas and would spit them out before I could even get them in). I’m having a hard time getting her to eat the fruits (weird…I know), but she gobbles down the veggies like nobody’s business. She still wakes up at least twice a night (usually more) to nurse, but it’s my chance to snuggle her close when she’s finished and whisper in her ear what a gift she is and how lucky I am to have her to love. It’s been a whirlwind these past few months, and that silly grin makes it all worth it…
To round out our milestone day, I enrolled Kade in preschool today for the fall semester. We missed the open house (due to 20+ inches of snow last week), so they set up an appointment to visit the school today. Kade had a blast playing with the class, and I was impressed with the space, choice of activites, and staff. So, starting in September, Kade will be an official preschooler 3 mornings a week. I’m pretty emotional about it now, but I know that after the first week or so the reality will sink in that I have some free time (with Liv) to get things accomplished around here. It will be nice to have some mother/daughter time too. I devoted so much time and attention to Kade because he was my only one and I could, but I’m always left feeling like Liv is missing out on that interaction, and preschool will give me the opportunity to have that. It won’t stop the tears though when he puts his backpack on and heads out the door with Daddy for his first day of school.
6 Comments
happy 6 month birthday Liv!!
(and yay! preschool)
I am so proud of my grandchildren.
Liv is beautiful and smart and
Kade is so handsome and smart. Can’t wait to see them this weekend.
Love & Kisses
You made a great decision for Kade. The interaction with other children his age is so important for his development. My friend teaches kinder and said she can tell in a very short time which kids did not go to preschool.
Please be reassured, we love your kids almost as much as you guys do. We have to or we wouldn’t be in this profession, right? ;-)
Amanda
Jenn - thanks, and enjoy your little Magpie because as cliche as it is…time really does fly by.
Mom - we love you too, and we can’t wait for you and Dad to visit. Kade can’t stop talking about it.
Amanda - I hope that Kade’s teachers have the same love and conviction for the profession that you do. Your class is lucky to have you. I’ve realized that social interaction is a significant part of education, and Kade definitely needs it. Now I can’t get him to stop talking about going back to preschool. How do you explain to an almost 3 year old that they have to wait another 6 months for school to start?
Benny never liked the fruit and still doesn’t. he went through phases with the peas where he loved them and other times he would spit them out. carrots were his favorite. he is a salty kid just like his momma. lately it seems he has a pretzel in his mouth 24/7.
He was also a pig when he was on the baby food. one container of food didn’t cut it for him. I’d have to feed him more and more and eventually he was up to 2 (stage 2) vegis and one fruit at every meal. no one told me how to feed him. he wanted more so i kept giving it to him. oh my God, the amount of poop was unbelievable. then when he didn’t want to take a bottle and the poop stopped for days i freaked out and called the doctor. she didn’t think i was serious when i told her how much he was eating. of course he didn’t want to drink, he was full. so when i cut back to one vegi and half a fruit he was pissed. i felt like i was starving him. I’d finish the food and then he would give me this look like “Where the f* is my food, Lady?” later i figured out that i could make it thicker with the cereal and it would fill him up a bit more but he wasn’t full enough that he didn’t want the bottle. soon after that i went to pasta and it’s been pasta and chicken soup ever since.
so don’t make the mistake i did and feed her to much. I’m probably the only mother on earth that has made that mistake and didn’t realize it. i mean, 3 containers of food… 3 times a day… no wonder the doctor laughed at me :)
Love,
Viv
happy half birthday! today happens to be my baby girl’s half birthday, but she is a year older, 18 months today. they missed birthdays by a day and a year.