I feel increasingly lucky each month to actually get a shot of Zara lying still on her back. Typically, as soon as I set her down, she rolls right over and starts crawling away. It makes trying to change her diaper so. much. fun. She's getting huge, no?
General Observations, Physical Changes, Etc.
No check-up this month, but according to my own measurements, Zara is sitting right at 19 pounds and is 28.5 inches long.
She now has two bottom teeth which I can testify are very sharp. Luckily she doesn't bite. Much.
Apparently, Zara has very fat feet. I bought her some adorable new shoes (6-12 month size) and they were too small. I couldn't even get her big old feet inside them. It doesn't help that she tends to curl up her toes, thus making it nigh impossible to cram shoes on them, but when I do actually wrangle some shoes on her, they won't close because her feet are too fat. Most of the time she goes barefoot (she always kicks her socks off too) so I'll just worry about shoes when she's actually walking. Which may be next month at the rate she's going.
Zara and Suyom share many of their toys. They both enjoy rats, tape measures and plastic bags.
Zara has started to make a lot more noises. I was starting to get a little worried because she doesn't vocalize much, but in the last week, she's really started to make a lot more sounds (ma, ba, da, and ga being her favorite) and she blows raspberries quite frequently, but most especially right in my face.
She's a crawling monster. She crawls everywhere and fast. She also tries to pull herself up onto everything and can cruise along the furniture. Most of the time it means that she's trying to pull
herself using my pant leg, which depending on the pant, means I get pantsed quite frequently. She also really likes the bookcase in the office and pulling out the books. David has been encouraging her to leave his Chinese dictionary alone and instead go after the 501 Japanese verbs. Because we don't really need Japanese verbs.
Zara also loves to kick. Whether she's sitting, laying down, or being held, Zara likes to kick, kick, kick, particularly her right leg. It's rather amusing.
Zara also seems to be entering the "I want Mommy all the time" phase which, in some ways, is flattering, but in other ways, is downright annoying. She used to go willingly and happily to anyone that wanted to hold her, but lately, she cries if anyone else holds her, even David. She's always looking for me and often launches herself out of other people's arms if I get too close. She does still smile and flirt with people all the time (when I'm holding her) but she does get shy, and bury her head in my chest on occasion. For some reason, she does it most often around Koreans.
Eating and Sleeping Habits
Zara is still a fan of the milk but she has been doing a pretty good job of eating solids. So far, she has eaten apples, pears, bananas, peaches, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, rice cereal and oatmeal. She prefers oatmeal over rice cereal and loves all the fruits, except for the peaches. She didn't really care for the peas or the sweet potatoes but she does seem to like the carrots and butternut squash. I pureed a whole bunch of carrots so I really hope she learns to love those carrots. I've got a bunch of them.
Zara eats solids in the afternoon for lunch (most days) and at dinnertime (everyday). She still nurses about every 2-3 hours, but not for very long. It seems like she barely eats anything before she starts trying to flip over and crawl off my lap.
With the solids has come more solid waste. I really miss those sweet smelling purely breastmilk poopy diapers. Because what she's got going on now? Stinks. Luckily, she seems to be pretty regular, meaning that she generally has one big poopy diaper in the morning. After we wake up, I change her into a disposable diaper and once she's had her big poop, she goes back into cloth diapers. So much easier than trying to clean those disgusting poopy diapers. Today, however, she totally blew out her diaper. She had poo all over. Literally. It was everywhere. Her onesie was covered. Fortunately, David was home and I declared it was his turn to change her but he seriously had to hose her off in the shower.
Changing her diaper feels like a battle each time. She won't stay on her back and flips over as soon as I take the diaper off. And she screams and wails if you try to get her to lay down to put a new diaper on. Sometimes, it takes both of us to get her properly cleaned and diapered.
Sleeping is still a struggle. Zara just will not fall asleep on her own. She falls asleep easily in her car seat (when we're driving) or if I have her in the Ergo carrier. Lately, I've just been letting her nap on me (in the Ergo carrier) because if I try to put her down, she'll only stay asleep for about 5-10 minutes before she wakes up. But she'll sleep for over an hour if she's on me. (I don't know how that's very comfortable.)
At night, I typically nurse her to sleep on our bed and then she sleeps with David and me. She typically wakes up at least twice during the night to eat more, but when she sleeps with us, I just have to roll over and it barely disrupts my sleep, which is good. But she's also been waking up about two hours after she falls asleep to eat more. I wish I could break her of that habit.
I succeeded in getting her to sleep at 7:30 three nights in a row but it didn't remain that easy. I think 8:30 is a better bedtime for her. She seems to sleep better when she goes to sleep later. I wish, however, that going to bed an hour later would mean that she'd sleep an hour later in the morning, but no. No matter what time she goes to sleep, Zara wakes up between 6:30am and 7am every morning. But I refuse to leave my bed before 7 a.m. (more often 7:30) so Zara just has to content herself with the toys I shove toward her while I drift in and out of consciousness.
Infant sleep is a topic fraught with many controversies. I am aware of all of them and I'm even more aware of what other people say I should do to rectify some of Zara's sleep habits. Make her cry it out alone, in her crib. Don't nurse her to sleep. Don't co-sleep, ever. "Train" your child how to sleep. Don't go to her immediately if she wakes up in the middle of the night. She'll eventually learn how to get herself back to sleep on her own. All that jazz. Basically don't do everything that I'm currently doing. I don't mean to disparage these ideas or even the mothers who use them, and find them successful. I certainly like the idea of them. Believe me, I'd love nothing better than putting my baby in her crib at 7:30pm, walking away, and having her sleep for a solid twelve hours with nary a peep or cry. It would be bliss. But that is not my reality. I did try it. (Though most people would say I just didn't stick it out long enough. And it's true. I'm a wimp.) I have thought long and hard about what Zara needs and how best to parent her while fostering a good, caring parent-child relationship. And I have felt--time and time again--that right now, this is what Zara needs and I will try to give her that as long as she needs. But I know that when she's ready, Zara will learn how to sleep on her own and without interruption. I don't feel like I need to justify our decisions, but I know I complain about Zara's sleep habits quite a bit. I don't mean to elicit sympathy or advice (though both are always welcome). It's been the biggest challenge in parenting for us so far and I feel that it's important to document her sleeping habits--and our responses to it--so that I'll remember what we did and why when the next baby rolls around.
Accomplishments and Firsts
Zara mastered crawling this month. She's a speed demon.
She has also learned how to pull herself up to standing, cruise along the furniture, and has gotten much better at sitting back down again on her own. She still falls quite a bit, but that seems to be happening less frequently.
Zara is beginning to figure out this whole waving business. She sometimes flaps her arm when we wave at her but I'm not sure she's really made the whole connection yet.
Zara definitely recognizes her name. She often jumps and stops what she's doing when I yell, "Zara! No!" generally right before she pulls the trash can over.
She's stood by herself (without holding onto anything) for about 2 seconds before promptly falling on her bum.
Baby's favorite toys, places to go, etc.
Zara still loves her animal countdown book, her rubber blocks and any and all books. Lately, she's also been delighted by one of my Easter bunnies who sings and flaps its ears and the plastic Easter eggs. I bought her a little pink basket and she grabs the handle and shakes it until the eggs fall out. Then she goes crawling after all the eggs and works really hard to pick one up (since they tend to just keep rolling away). One of her favorite things to chew on, besides my sewing tape measure, is her little rubber toothbrush.
Zara likes to be sung to, though she doesn't show much preference for any particular song.
Zara is a great traveler. She does well in her car seat and is happy to watch the world from her stroller or her carrier. Unless she falls asleep in her car seat, however, she typically rides in her carrier when we're out and about because Korea is not a stroller-friendly place.
Here are some of my favorite Zara photos from the past month:
Love this baby. Most days.
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