From Babyhood to Toddlerhood

Our baby girl is growing up before our very own eyes. These last few months have brought many changes.

1. Feeding: Adah has dropped both her bottle and her pureed baby food. This, of course, has brought some challenges in finding foods that are both manageable enough for her to eat by herself and appealing to her new finicky tastes. (By the way, it appears that Adah has acclimated to living in the South more quickly than either Chris or me as we discovered that she LOVES biscuits. Last week she gleefully swayed her head back and forth when one appeared on her high chair tray.) Unfortunately, she occasionally refuses meals and is still bottoming out the weight chart. We've read all the books, consulted doctors, agree on a strategy for raising a healthy eater, and yet it's still hard not to worry. In any case, here is a clip of Adah eating peas (one of her current favorites)...

2. Agility: Adah truly is a mobile girl these days. She has learned to crawl up and slide down the stairs in our house (a skill that will be useful to me once the new baby comes). With this skill has also come the ability to climb everywhere ... on to the couch, chairs, footstools, bookcases, Daddy/Mama, etc. (She really did climb me the other day ... I held her arms and she started walking up my belly. Monkey girl!) She will frequently climb into her rocking chair, push me onto the ground, and start throwing her back into the chair to get it to rock ... all the while sporting a huge grin of pride. Here is our stair climbing master (although I can't figure out how to rotate the clip):

3. Music: It appears that Adah loves music. One day, we turned on some music and she started bopping her butt up and down to the beat. Now, wherever we are (i.e., the living room, the car, the coffee shop, etc.), if she hears music she starts head or butt bopping. Even if it's just the 5 second intro music for NPR! I've never seen this, but Chris has even caught her bopping around when there is no music playing aloud (maybe it's in her head!).

4. Separation Anxiety: We had an unfortunate month over the holidays when Adah had a hard time being too far away from me. While it's lovely to be wanted, it's not lovely not to be able to cook dinner, answer the phone, or go to the bathroom without Adah vying for attention. It was also quite hard on Chris and he is especially glad to have his daughter running back into his arms these days.

5. Comprehension: The biggest change of all is Adah's increasing ability to understand what we are saying. Now, when Chris leaves for work in the morning Adah waves her hand bye-bye to him. And when it's time to put toys away we can tell Adah "bring Mama that book" and she will bring it over to bookcase to be put away, or "put this toy away" and she will walk to toy over to the toy drawer and throw it in. I plan on using this to my advantage while it lasts.

Holidays 2008

This update is well overdue, I know. (Some of you have gently reminded me!) We have had a busy holiday season with some travel and much too much sickness. I think we spent every day of December with either Chris or me sick. Luckily, Adah didn't catch anything from us!

For Thanksgiving, the three of us traveled to my aunt's house in New Hampshire for a little family reunion. Most exciting was that Adah had a chance to meet her Great Grandmother. Unfortunately Adah developed a little separation anxiety from me while we were there and had trouble getting much sleep at all. Still, she found time to wander the house, play with blocks, and get herself up and down steps. We all came home exhausted realizing how challenging traveling with a one year old can be.

Christmas was a special time for us as a family as it was our first in our new house. Adah enjoyed looking at the Christmas tree and all the ornaments. She would often point to it and smile, her hand getting just as close as they could to the ornaments without actually touching them (well, most of the time). If we reminded her not to touch it, she would quickly put her hands behind her back and look away as if touching the tree was the furthest thing from her mind. What a funny child! In addition to the tree, we also set up our nativity set for the first time this year. Every morning we told Adah who the figures were and what they were doing. On Christmas morning, the pregnant Mary was switched out with Mary and Baby Jesus. It was so funny to see Adah's reaction ... she noticed right away and seemed so surprised. It amazes me how much she is understanding what we say! In any case, Christmas was a joyful day and we were grateful to be able to spend it with Chris' Dad (aka Grandpa Rozell) ... paper was just as amusing as the presents themselves, a yummy Turkey dinner was had by all, and there was lots and lots of playtime. My favorite memory of this holiday, though, was time spent Christmas Eve dancing around the living room. Adah has just started dancing (i.e., bopping her bum up and down when she hears music). On Christmas Eve, we put on holiday music and swung around the living room with Adah in my arms and big smiles from ear to ear. Chris' Dad was amazed at just how busy his granddaughter is! It was nice to be able to share the holiday with him.

For New Year's, my Dad and Charlotte came to visit. We ate lots of good food, went to the "park of misfit toys" (as I affectionately call it), and toured a wonderful exhibit at the High Museum of Art. Adah was struggling a bit trying to decide whether she needed one or two naps a day (something we are still trying to figure out), but still managed to play as much as possible while she was awake.

Happy New Year to all!