Picture day

Can't blog. Got a new camera.

Scootching

This morning I left Sonia in her play gym(for those not in the know- that is a colorful mat with overhanging arches that toys are attached to) and went to put out some mail. I came back in and she was completely off of her gym! She still has not gotten the hang of rolling from her stomach to her back but she found that she could stay on her back on use her legs to scootch around. It is amazing how far she got in a few minutes when I had never seen her do it before. I have always told people that babies learn fast and not to trust them. I should listen to myself. I also have to comment that I think it is a bit sad the word "gym" is used to describe a place for babies to play.



Sunny loves to eat. This is great because so do Alan and I. We had to start giving her four meals a day because she was wanting dinner at five. Today for lunch she had some butternut squash with olive oil and rice cereal. She loved it and ate almost a half cup, which is a huge amount for her. Her love of food and adventurousness with it are such good qualities that I am a bit nervous about doing something wrong and making her picky but hopefully these are inborn traits I cannot change.

Besides craving variety in her food, she also appreciates a change of scene in her day. Again, this is great because so do Alan and I, especially when each of us is alone with her for a whole day. Last Sunday we went to the Rio Grande Nature center. Sonia got to enjoy her new hobby which is pulling leaves off of branches. Her she is looking for unsuspecting leaves.



This week I am getting a new camera, so look for better pictures. Too bad I could not upload that video Alan took of her rolling over, but hopefully I will get more videos in. For our last picture today, I have Sunny getting ready for a photo shoot.

Mobile

Sonia gave us a treat on Halloween- she rolled over! I went to work in the morning and picked her up at Jeff and Tammy's. She had started her rolling antics there and had four rolls under her belt by the time I arrived. I took her home and for a few hours, we could hardly keep her on her back. At this point she has the ability to roll from her back to her left on to her tummy, but cannot reverse this maneuver or roll to her right. As a result, she is both liberated and trapped so we often have to rescue her as you will see in the video. The video is from Alan's video camera instead of my photo camera, so the quality is much better. Argh! Once again, I cannot get the video to load. Well, look for it soon. Instead, I offer a photo of Alan and Sonia. Or should I say, Alan and his Mini-me.




Sunny is just six months and sprouting. She is now 16 lbs 3 oz and 26 inches long. She is average for a six month old and off the charts if we correct for her prematurity.

Our neighbors, Betty and Richard, gave Sunny a couple of dolls that her size. She loves them. I would have thought she was too young to appreciate dolls but she smiles at them and strokes their faces. She looks so sweet and gentle until she tries to bite their heads off.

Laughter the video

Here is the video I described in my last post. It makes me smile every time, but then again, so does anything with Sonia's little face.

Laughter

Oh my dear blog readers...I really thought I could do an entry once a week, but here I have gone almost a month without a post. So much happens that I wish I could report daily, so I feel bad when those of you who live out of town have to go a long time without an update. She is almost 6 months!

Sunny has started laughing a lot more. Alan and Tammy and Jeff and I are all coming up with new ways to make her laugh because what works one day rarely works next. It is so much fun watching her crack up! I got the video below this morning while she was playing and did not know I had the camera. You will see in the video that she tend to stop playing and smiling once she knows the camera is on her...well, you would see but I cannot get the video to upload. Maybe I can put it on YouTube or something...stay tuned.

Food continues to be great fun for her. She really loves butternut squash and avocado, but has also tried peaches, oatmeal, and beans since the last post as well as little tastes of lo mien and pho. The last two came because Alan and I are not able to develop as quickly as Sonia and we forgot to bring food for her when we went out to eat. We will remember next time (I hope) because she reminds us throughout the meal what she wants and generally feels we should attend to her more. She has a point. I cannot wait for her to be old enough to eat what we are eating.



While Sonia has been a lot of fun for the four of us, she is getting pretty nervous around people she does not see as often. Alan and I have started telling her "I'll be back" when we go to a different room in the house because she often starts crying when she notices. Separation anxiety, though in her case it is more, I-have-seen-you-before-but-you-are-not-Mom/Dad/GrandmaTammy/GrandpaJeff anxiety. This causes her to stick out her lower lip and break out in hysterical crying that only returning to one of us can cure. There is actually a word for the lower lip action in Spanish, "Pucheros". It makes me both laugh and cry when I see her little pucheros. I hope this stage improves before Thanksgiving.

As the picture shows below, tummy time is no longer as tortuous. She is starting to reach for things on her side, so I think she will be rolling over in the next few weeks. After that, I will be chasing her around and have even less time to blog, but I really want to keep it up. Partly to keep everyone involved in her life, but also for selfish reasons as it is so fun to look back on these posts.