I haven’t been this thrilled with Kiwi getting older since, well, she was born.
Six months marks a watershed in her short life.
Sweet, sweet sleep
Most important in her development, of course, was the sleep training. Kiwi transformed from a sleep-shunning infant who never slept longer than two hours at a time to a Ferber-ized champ who puts herself to sleep (no more bouncing!!) and snoozes for up to six hours at a go.
Getting more sleep means I feel less like a hollowed out shell of myself—and means I get to enjoy this dumpling much, much more.
We’ve been here long enough that people have stopped asking us how we like our “new” neighborhood, house and town. But I’m just as grateful today as I was on that first day we moved in.
When I graduated high school, a group of friends and I went camping alongside the sand dunes at Honeyman State Park. We went skinny dipping, we played drinking games, we flirted—and, gathered around a campfire, we burned the spiral notebooks and three-punch paper we had filled with notes on biology, history and literature.
As remnants of high school went up in smoke, I felt ready for a new chapter to begin.
I’m considering doing the same with our giant stability ball—because that’s apparently what I do when sleep training works.
She rolls, she giggles, she kicks, she chews on anything she can get her gummy mouth on.
She has dimpled cheeks and rolls on her thighs.
She watches her sister play, stares out the car window on drives, listens to books and turns toward any sound to figure out precisely what made that noise.
Up until last week, when Kiwi tried her first food, all that growth, activity, curiosity and learning was 100% fueled by breastmilk—magical, powerful, nourishing breastmilk. Read more →
Yesterday Kiwi got a series of vaccinations. I had hoped the shots would make her sleep—after all, after the first round of ’em two months ago she got her longest stretch of shut-eye ever.
We must have been on the same page because this week my mom, Eric and I also tried sharing our day’s high and low at dinner. It felt a little silly, but it was nice to hear the highlights and dips of my loved ones’ days.
Here, then, are a few smiles from my week. Read more →
Kiwi ate her first food. (No, I’m not counting the snow.) She’s acted ready for weeks now, but I just hadn’t gotten around to it, and I wasn’t keen on the possibility of messing up her sleep, reflux and sensitive stomach even more. But this week we made it happen.
“Mom, are we ready to eat yet?”
I had planned on pureeing sweet potatoes, as I did for Peeper’s first food almost exactly two years earlier, but I didn’t manage to cook them. So I just mashed up a banana with a fork, swirled in some breastmilk and called it good.
(Isn’t that funny how a baby’s first food is such a big deal with your first kid, and with the second one, not so much?)
Kiwi seemed more confused by the banana than anything, but she didn’t hate it! She had several bites and Peeper even fed her a few. And when Kiwi took a bite, Peeper clapped and cheered! It’ll be fun to continue to offer foods and witness her palate—and appetite—expand. Who knows, maybe Kiwi’s culinary adventures will even inspire Peeper to eat more (though I’m not holding my breath).
Big girl in a big bed
Peeper also met a milestone: She transitioned to her big girl bed.
“I’m showing you two, right?” Peeper asks, holding up her index and middle fingers to show how old she is. She hasn’t quite mastered holding up a half-finger, though technically she should: She’s 2 1/2 years old.
Eric and I routinely marvel at how freaking awesome she is. She makes me laugh, like when she warned Eric, “Don’t get a head wedgie!” and when she blows a raspberry and says, “You tooted with your mouth.”
In the days leading up to Christmas, Peeper kept sneaking glances out the window. “It’s going to snow soon,” she said.
Yet the rain continued, and snow refused to accumulate.
The lack of powder was even more cruel considering a huge snowstorm stopped her Aunt Amy and Uncle Luke from driving down for the holiday. At least Peeper got to see all the snow on FaceTime when we talked with my sister.
Then finally, finally, over the weekend it snowed!
I recently read my friend Deb’s post about being grateful, and her spontaneous list inspired me to count what I’m thankful for, too.
Tales from the Motherland is hosting a LinkUp for bloggers to post their own gratitude missives. The instructions are easy:
If you’d like to join in, here’s how it works: set a timer for 10 minutes; timing this is critical. Once you start the timer, start your list (the timer doesn’t matter for filling in the instructions, intro, etc). The goal is to write 50 things that made you happy in 2015, or 50 thing that you feel grateful for. The idea is to not think too hard; write what comes to mind in the time allotted. When the timer’s done, stop writing. If you haven’t written 50 things, that’s ok. If you have more than 50 things and still have time, keep writing; you can’t feel too happy or too grateful! When I finished my list, I took a few extra minutes to add links and photos.
To join us for this project: 1) Write your post and publish it (please copy and paste the instructions from this post, into yours) 2) Click on the blue frog at the very bottom of this post. 3) That will take you to another window, where you can past the URL to your post. 4)Follow the prompts, and your post will be added to the Blog Party List. Please note: the InLinkz will expire on January 15, 2015. After that date, no blogs can be added.
Will you join in? All it takes is 10 minutes!
The end of the year is the perfect time to reflect on the many, many good things in my life. I’m looking forward to 2016, but first, here are 50 small things for which I’m grateful.
Kiwi is powered by breastmilk.
