Author: Brand_New_World_Betsy

IMG_4688.JPG, originally uploaded by griffey.

Ok, so maybe it’s not a big deal, but she just learned something today. She can now lift the flaps on one of her books all by herself. It is called Peekaboo Zoo, and there are animals hiding behind different kinds of flaps. Some pull down, some sideways, some upwards. She can do almost all of them by herself, and she even knows the appropriate timing. I’m amazed by her sometimes.

She’s also trying to pull up in her crib any time you sit her up after a nap. We’ll probably have to lower the mattress soon. Ugh, my poor back.

She’s also reaching for people now, which is pretty recent (last couple of weeks). Mainly she reaches for me, but sometimes daddy. And she can also wave “hi.” Sometimes she gets confused and uses both hands, which is super cute.

We’re still waiting on the biggies, like crawling. But all these little developments are fascinating.

IMG_4557.JPG, originally uploaded by griffey.

Favorite foods: carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes (no joke)

Favorite books: still pretty much the same as before! Plus a book that has pictures of babies and animals comparing body parts (Two cheeks…two cheeks; two eyes…two eyes; two arms….two arms; etc.). She fusses until I read it again and again and again.

Favorite toys: dishes; balls; rubber ducks; magazines; empty boxes; the mirror (see photo); remote controls; phones (is currently into non-toys, as you can see)

Hobbies: standing any way possible; rolling all over the living room floor; trying to pull up in my crib while sitting; popping bubbles while mommy blows them; watching Indy play fetch; checking the mail with mom (still her favorite activity of the day)

IMG_4441.JPG, originally uploaded by griffey.

Eliza loves to eat, just like her mom and dad. She’s good at stage 1 foods, so we’re heading to stage 2 soon and trying some finger foods along the way. So far, she’s not into anything too sweet. She prefers her veggies. And she doesn’t like juice, she wants water in a sippy cup instead. Dream kid so far, right?

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Sewanee pulls out all the stops on the 4th, but the festivities just weren’t meant to be enjoyed by us this year. The dog show was okay this morning, but Eliza was sleepy and a bit grumpy. We only got to see about three floats of the parade before it started raining. The arts and crafts fair shut down before we could make it, due to the rain and Eliza’s nap schedule. We were invited to a barbecue, but we had to leave before the food was served in order to get Eliza to bed. And no fireworks because, well, little E goes night-night at 7 pm. I’m disappointed, of course. It is usually one of my favorite days of the year. Well, here’s hoping next year is better. Eliza will be 19 months old then. Crazy!

IMG_4290.JPG, originally uploaded by griffey.

Favorite foods: carrots, oatmeal with apples, maple teething biscuits

Favorite toys: stacking cups, links, anything that rattles, balls, spoons, bowls, rubber ducks

Favorite books: Tails (Matthew Van Fleet); Brown Bear, Brown Bear (Eric Carle); First Words; Moo, Baa, La La La (Sandra Boynton)

Favorite music: mommy’s special Eliza songs; “Splish Splash” (sung while taking a bath, of course); the oldies station; “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”

Hobbies: standing while holding onto furniture or mom/dad; playing with Indy (the dog) and Cola (the cat); sitting by herself; pulling leaves off trees; checking the mail with mom

IMG_4204.JPG, originally uploaded by griffey.

So the bottom teeth have broken through. Huge sigh of relief! Now, there’s at least one of her top teeth trying to come through as well. We had one glorious grump-free day (yesterday), and now she’s fussy again. Poor girl. I know it must hurt.

Another recent challenge: sleeping in her crib. She has decided she’d rather be with us, wherever we are. So she cries when she wakes up in the middle of the night and we’re not there. It has gotten so bad that not even our patting/shushing works anymore. It used to work perfectly, and she would barely wake up. Now, she is completely awake, thrashing about, crying and screaming unless we pick her up. All this means one thing: it’s time for the dreaded sleep training. We’ve been putting it off for months. We’re not even sure we agree with the whole idea. But here we go. Desperate times, desperate measures.

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Had her checkup today, and she now weighs 17 lbs, 5 oz and is 26.5 inches long. She is still in the 75th percentile all the way around, so she continues to be a big, healthy girl. I can’t believe she is 6 months old already.

She had a great weekend floating in Aunt Jenna’s pool for the first time, which she absolutely loved. She had a great time “swimming” with Dad, Nana, Pop, Jenna, and cousin Parker.

IMG_4116.JPG, originally uploaded by griffey.

Eliza fed herself for the first time yesterday, some rice crackers that dissolve in your mouth and get really, really sticky. It was more for play than for nourishment, and she definitely needed a bath afterwards. We’ve found that she’s not happy watching us eat dinner…she wants to eat with us. So these little crackers are a good way to keep her occupied. Granted, they became toys instead of food by the end of our dining experience. Especially fun was the game where she pushed them off the Bumbo tray onto the kitchen table so mommy and daddy had to get their hands sticky picking them up and putting them back on the tray.

Cousins, originally uploaded by griffey.

Eliza made her first big trip to Kentucky over the weekend. She met more people in three days that she had met in her life so far. Great grandmother, great grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends. Everyone fell in love with her, of course, and she seemed to have a great time.

Here she is with cousins Drevin and Hannah, happy to be the newest member of the group.