First camping trip

Our first actual in a tent, on the ground camping trip went very well. We went with a group of friends, 7 of us in total, and shared two campsites next to each other so we could spread out. We were very lucky to get some of the better spaces – we left at 5:20 am and made the 6:20 ferry to hit the campground just after 10 am Friday morning. There were cars just behind us looking at the spaces we found as I was running to drop things in one space and confirm with the people packing up in the other that they were leaving and we could register that spot too. The whole campground was full by early afternoon.

K did really well with camping, even as a new walker on uneven ground and with some confinement (pack and play some of the time in camp, difficulty getting around on the rocky beach, and lots of car seat time for travel). She seemed to really enjoy the constant low level of stimulus of having friends around and being outside all day rather than our usual up and down as we go between time at home and activities that are fun but draining like gym and the zoo. She actually slept better in the tent than she usually does at home, I think because she was exhausted but without getting overstimulated and cranky.

The highlight for her was definitely playing in the sand – she was absolutely delighted with grabbing handfuls, crawling, walking and being buried up to her chest in it. I hope she continues to enjoy it this much each year to come.

It was special to share these places that I grew up in with her for the first time: the campground, the spot we stayed in, even the exact place we pitched out tent, was one we had before when I was a kid. We went to second beach the second day as we did every year when I was little. The pitchfork tree has an arm down now from a recent storm, but still stands as notably as ever. On the way back, there is a tree just a bit up from the beach with a tall network of mossy roots that has held stones, shells, feathers, treasures for as long as I’ve visited and I’m sure long before and long after I ever come by. These days are good days.  

Is this place at your command

First ocean steps - K loved camping and is seriously cranky about being home.

11 Months

I really cannot believe we are at 11 months already. I feel this sense of surrealism at each major milestone, but 11 months feels somehow more poignant. Almost one year old.

Almost. One. Whole. Year.

K is blossoming with so much personality and expression, I can feel the pace picking up for her too as she is on the cusp of walking and talking, and is so very aware of the things we do and say.

I am currently home, from June 27^th through August 8^th I am taking the remainder of my maternity leave. I didn’t plan it this way, but it is absolutely wonderful to have the time now to be present for these leaps in development, and to be able to do so much with her – go to the zoo, baby gym, playdates, the park.

She has been standing for long stretches since her 11m birthday – up to a minute or so if she is distracted – and has taken single steps before sitting back down a few dozen times now. No more than one at a time still, but I think she will be fully walking by her first birthday.

July so far

Our days have been long and lovely. It seems like so much time every morning, but we fill them quickly with walks, hikes, baby gym class, visits, the zoo, the grocery store, hunting for thrifted treasure.

Since I never got around to posting the 11 month update, here’s one in retrospect to where she was at around her 11m birthday. At 11 months K weighs 19 lbs and has two teeth (center bottom, first was the one on her left, the next one came in just about a week later and then nothing since). She has been standing up on her own without pulling up, just in the middle of the floor, for more than a month now – mostly when holding and distracted by a toy. She can stand for a long time now, record is about a minute, but will look up, lose her balance and sit back down. She has taken a few steps independently but doesn’t like to walk holding hands. She is very attentive to the things we say and waves anytime someone says “hi” or “bye” and waves also at sirens and trucks we hear go by occasionally. My favorite is when she catches context without the usual key words, like when my dad was over and said “well, it was nice to see you – I should get the car back” and she started enthusiastically waving goodbye.

Up to present now: The week of 7/11-7/15 she got two new teeth and on the morning of 7/15 she suddenly went from taking 2/3 steps at a time to 6/8 steps at a time. Now on 7/21 she’s at around 12 steps at a time and can sometimes step on or over things and keep going, and often bends down to pick something up and then keep going. She still only says mama reliably and uses tone and inflection to convey the rest, but she has also said dada a few times, ball twice, and seemed to try to say dog once while pointed at a dog, but it was fairly unclear so I’m not sure if that counts yet.

I’m looking forward to her walking well so I can put her in dresses and long tops without tucking them in, but it’s surreal to see how soon this stage will be done. I gave in and gave her Juniper Kitty early and she adores her – especially the paws and whiskers. I may add a tail too.

Thursday

K and I went for a 5.5 mile hike this morning with some friends and had a great time, but I am worn out. It only had a 500 foot elevation but I just don’t have the stamina back for hiking since I lapsed on fitness to work 50+ hour weeks while pregnant for a big project. I want to get back to the strength I used to have so we can enjoy more of the outdoors again, and really this means both Geoff and I need to be stronger than we used to be since there is now a 20lb person and her things to carry as well as what we need.

The three babies on the hike were so cute playing and working on snacks at the waterfall. K and others her age don’t really play together yet, it’s more of a coexistence, but they do sometimes try to steal each other’s snacks, or toys when we’re home. K enjoyed crawling around and getting absolutely caked with dirt.

The last picture is actually from this morning. We just set up her crib (found on craigslist, but originally from Ikea), last night with one wall down against my side of the bed. She really enjoyed playing in it before bed and even slept some of the night in it. This morning she scooted over towards me with her eyes still closed, started to crawl and I pulled her over and she snuggled in for more sleep.

This afternoon was the first time she walked holding hands instead of the walker toy, we went all around the front room and down the hall. She finally went down for the nap that is normally around 2-2:30 at 4pm. I am dusty and sticky from sunscreen and nectarine handprints, but it's nice just to sit for a little while and enjoy the breeze through the upstairs window.

She has a first curl! It’s a tiny little thing, on the left side in the back. I wonder how curly her hair will be?

Dreams

 

 

There are so many bedtime stories available, and of course any book your child chooses can be a bedtime story, but these are my favorite right now. To me, a great bedtime book needs three things – a relaxing cadence, pretty pictures, and a sweet message.

Dream Animals – The animals that carry children to their dreams.  

Goodnight Moon – Not sure if anything needs to be said here, a classic that holds its place.

Time for Bed – This book is beautiful and sweet – I would put it in my top 5 that every child should have, hands down.

Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones – Beautiful art, and the writing has a nice rhyming cadence except for one page that randomly does not rhyme. I just read the leopard page as “all tired leopard snores” instead of “all tired tangled paws” to rhyme, which may be confusing if we still read this when Keira is reading herself, but it works for now.

The Runaway Bunny – This isn’t written as a bedtime story, but it fits with tone and imagery. It was one of my bedtime stories growing up and is one for us now as well.

Starting Solids - 6-11 Months

I started out very by-the-book on introducing solids, and that lasted all of about 2 weeks before we started tossing out “rules” and eased into baby led weaning. For months before she had food, she had been very interested in what we were eating – reaching for it and would get mad when we didn’t share. I thought for sure she would be excited to try food, and that we’d need to only offer it after she had milk to prevent dropping milk intake.

On her 6 month birthday, I gave her avocado mashed with breastmilk and she was not at all impressed. I offered the same thing for the next two days, then offered butternut squash puree – no thank you. After a few more days, we added sweet potato puree which I was sure she would like but that was pretty uninteresting to her as well. She quit trying to steal food from us too – having discovered she didn’t actually care for what we had.

Next we tried carrot puree which she actually did eat some of, and then began adding fruit too. The first thing she really liked was raspberries (whole), then carrot puree, then tuna and salmon (crumbled). The first thing she ate a decent amount of instead of just a taste was baby oatmeal mixed with mashed blackberries, raspberries and blueberries with a little coconut oil or butter – this was our go-to for a while.

I never worried much about how much she ate – we subscribe to the “food before one is just for fun” perspective. We settled into always offering three times a day at meal times at around 7 months, but she still mostly tasted with only the occasional real meal at that point. She started getting more into eating around 8 months.

Now at 11 months, she eats three solid meals a day and snacks. She still only has two teeth, but we find that many things don’t really need them. She feeds herself, almost never accepts purees or being fed by others, and has coughed on a few things only a few times and has never choked. I’m careful with peels – blueberries get cut in half, and peels for larger pit fruits get scored but not removed since a lot of the nutrition is in the peel and I also want her to just be used to it. Meat is cut into small pieces especially if it’s from a whole piece (chicken breast) and not a processed piece (sausage, hot dog).

I don’t differentiate types of food for breakfast, lunch and dinner except the things I’m making for us that she gets some of too. A typical meal for her now at 11 months includes usually 5-10 of the following with at least one fruit, vegetable and protein: blueberries (cut in half), raspberries, blackberries, banana, nectarines, watermelon, apricots, salmon, tuna, breakfast sausage, hot dogs (pealed), hamburger, feta, brie, mozzarella, cheddar, noodles with butter, noodles with tamari sesame oil and Chinese 5 spice, sweet potato fries, steamed carrot rounds, frozen peas, spinach tofu nuggets, scrambled eggs, unsweetened French toast, frozen pancakes (I like the GF ones from trader joes). I also offer her bites of anything I make for us that is at all baby safe. She sometimes seems more open to trying complex flavors if we are out somewhere instead of at home – she enjoys sampling things at potlatches that get flung to the floor when we try at home.

I just got her some of these snack cups a few days ago and she LOVES them. I load them up with puffs, yogurt dots, rice cakes and freeze dried fruit and offer them a few times a day, in the car and on stroller walks. For the car she only gets puffs and yogurt dots because I’m a little paranoid about choking and I wouldn’t be able to get to her right away. When we’re home and off the carpets, I put fruit and veg in them instead, like frozen peas, frozen wild blueberries, bits of cheese, etc. Really, anything goes.

I don’t worry a lot about what she eats yet, since she still gets about 20 oz a day of breastmilk so I feel her basic nutritional needs are being met regardless, but I do try to keep introducing vegetables in a way that encourages her to eat them so she’ll used to them when she needs them more. She doesn’t always reject them, but does have a definite preference for fruit and meat.

I typically offer a few puffs to start just to get her to sit down in the high chair, then 2-4 kinds of veg go on the tray. We wait a few minutes and add some meat next, a few more minutes and then a grain maybe, and fruit is now last and only after she stops reaching for what she has. I just made this change this week, she used to get some frozen blueberries right after puffs to keep her into it while I was still getting the rest of the food ready, but moving fruit to the last spot helped with eating other things.

That pretty well sums up our experience with solids from day one to now. I hope she continues to at least tolerate healthy foods and vegetables, but I try to do my part by offering lots of healthy options. We’ll see in time if that helps, or if we just end up on hot dogs and fish sticks by 2 years old like many before us.  

Finery

I was going to try to sew a birthday dress, but decided that would be too ambitious for my skill level and time available. Found this little top on clearance at Baby Gap for $8, so we're going with this. It reminds me of the things we have from my grandmother and her mother - sweet and simple white lace with a beautiful handmade quality to it.

Making

It has been a long time since I had time for crafting and I am really enjoying having some time to make things again. I’m working on Miss Juniper Kitty for K’s birthday, but I added paws and went with pink ears to match, and changed her eyes to blue since K has blue eyes currently.

I am also working on felt flowers to top the teepee I’m making for her main birthday present. I haven’t decided yet on 4 poles or 5, but found some free patterns online and inspiration pictures, and bought fabric – a natural light canvas.

July

Happy 4th! We had a great day visiting with friends. K enjoyed watching firecrackers and sparklers earlier and is now completely worn out and sleeping through the noise. I'm glad it rained earlier because our whole valley is lit up from next door through the next town over. We had pretty much a full display from the back deck - unexpected and so much fun.

We haven't done a lot with sign language, but we always do "all done" when getting out of the high chair and I started having her do it to get out of the bath also. Yesterday she signed "all done" during a diaper change she wasn't happy about - nice try.