Baby University

Hello from Addelyn!  It's been an exciting few days...

It seems like Addelyn's development has just EXPLODED recently.  We've had so many milestones recently, I'm just constantly amazed at her:

First baby food:  
I don't have a picture of the occasion, but I started giving her baby food on Tuesday, October 4.  I originally planned on starting when she was 6 months old, but I decided to start adding the baby food to Addelyn's rice cereal during her nighttime feeding to start getting her used to the different tastes.  So far we've done squash (a big success - she likes squash) and peas (she had a miserable look on her face the entire time and ended the feeding short when she refused to eat any more and started crying...), though I didn't use rice cereal with the peas because it wasn't a feeding at bedtime (which is normally when she gets the rice cereal).

Eating twice a day:
Again, I didn't plan on starting the twice-a-day solids until Addelyn was officially 6 months old, but I learned that doctors reccommend babies eat no more than 32 ounces of milk per day.  Addelyn has been eating more like 35 or 36 oz per day, so they say to start feeding more solids until it's down into the 26-32 range.  So I started giving her lunch on Thursday, October 6.

Walker Fun:
Addelyn is probably the smartest baby in the world...when she runs into something in her walker she can get herself unstuck by backing up and turning.  The first time I saw it I was absolutely speechless.  She had run into the couch and she just looked directly at me, smiled, and backed up about three feet before turning and going somewhere else!  Did I mention she's not even 6 months old yet???  It was literally a jaw-drop, hand over the mouth moment.  Here's a video of her maneuvering all around the basement. She was getting a little frustrated, so she needed a lot of encouragement, but she eventually made it all the way to me and she was SOOO proud of herself!

Rolling over Back-To-Tummy:
Addelyn is officially rolling over from her back to her tummy (via her left side only) and her tummy to her back (either direction).  She hasn't figured out that it is a viable mode of transportation, though, so the rolling over in general doesn't happen very often.  Mostly it's to get off of her tummy if she's playing and to get onto her tummy if she's going to sleep.  And she sleeps SOOOO much better on her tummy.  It's 6:30 am right now and Addelyn has been asleep since we put her down at 9.  I don't remember the last time that happened!

Rocking!
Addelyn doesn't get up on her hands and knees by herself yet, but if I put her down on her hands and knees she will rock forward and backwards and REALLY look like she wants to go somewhere.  I give it about a month before she's crawling around :-)  I've started baby-proofing the family room where she plays...

Sleeping with Mommy Sans-boppy
Addelyn usually spends the first two hours every morning (from 7-9 am usually) sleeping in bed with me.  Up until about a week ago I had her in her boppy pillow so that I wouldn't roll over on her, but she started getting mad at it and not going to sleep because she can't roll onto her side in it...so I just took her out of it and now we cuddle much closer.  I sleep very lightly when she's with me, and I have absolutely no worry anymore that I'll roll onto her in my sleep or that she'll roll off of the bed, since I'm constantly in contact with her.  It is an amazing feeling cuddling with my baby, and I look forward to those two hours every day!  (though the waking up isn't always the greatest...she usually just hits me in the face until I get up and play with her...turns out babies don't understand "5 more minutes")

Not Wanting to Go to Sleep:
Addelyn has decided that, with the exception of sleeping with mommy, sleeping is not nearly as fun as playing.  So occasionally she throws a HUGE fit when she gets tired because she doesn't want to go to sleep.  I get her in the end by going on a short walk if it's light out - something that has always calmed her down and lulled her to sleep.  Or if it's bedtime, she usually doesn't cry unless she's still hungry, So I just feed her a bottle and she's out.  I try not to let her fall asleep in my bed with me when she's throwing a fit because I don't want her to think she gets to do that every time...just in the mornings and on days when I'm really tired and she's being good :-)

Cause-and-Effect:
Addelyn has learned cause-and-effect.  She now shakes a rattle with a purpose.  I noticed it for the first time on October 5:

Bounce, Bounce, Bounce!!
Addelyn loves to bounce in her bouncy toy now!

Finally, it isn't a milestone, but it is a HILARIOUS video...I gave Addelyn an apple to suck on for a little bit yesterday and she absolutely LOVED it.  I've let her taste an apple once before and when I eventually took it away she threw a fit for 5 minutes (a long time for her).  This time I was ready with a bottle at the end, so she was a little more forgiving.  She's crying at the beginning because I was giving her the apple before I took the video, but ran away to get the camera and she did not like that!

Stats:
Age:  5 3/4 months
Weight:  17 lbs, 3 oz
Length:  26.5 inches
Drinks:  about 5 7oz bottles of milk per day (4 oz of which is formula)
Eats:  4 teaspoons of rice cereal mixed with baby food at bedtime, & baby food at lunch time
Sleeps: 12 hours/night - 9pm-9am  (usually wakes up around 2am for binkie and 5 or 7am for bottle)
Naps: 2 or 3 1-hour naps/day occasionally a 2-hour nap
Awake for: 1.5-3.5 hours at a time during the day.
Clothes size:  mainly 6-9 month and some 3-6 month
Motor skills:  sitting up almost unattended, rolling over tummy-to-back and back-to-tummy, rocking on hands and knees
other skills:  babbling, going backwards in her walker, shaking a rattle
words:  no words yet...unless you count mama, but I don't think she knows what it means.
signs:  she understands "milk" and we're working on "change diaper", "help", "out", "up", "fall down", "play", "tired", "night night", "book", "bye bye", and "eat"