Five-month check-in

Madeline doesn't have another scheduled doctor appointment until September, so I took her by the office today for a five-month weigh-in. She weighs 16 pounds, 11 ounces and is 25.5 inches long. She's grown an inch since her last appointment, at the end of June, and put on 1 pound, 10 ounces. That's 26 ounces, or 0.8 ounces a day, over the last 31 days.

So sleepy

Madeline, exhausted from our walk in the neighborhood today, napped heavily on our bed when we got back. She was so tired she couldn't even make it through an eye-rub before she drifted off, her hand draped limply on her cheek. Maybe riding around in a stroller is more tiring than we might think.

Five months

Lacey commented during our walk yesterday afternoon that Madeline's fifth month has seemed longer than the others, and I agreed.

My theory is that the month has seemed longer because less has been happening. While Madeline has been showing advancements in many areas, she hasn't made any major developmental leaps. Each day is a subtle progression on the last. Cumulatively she's more skilled than she was at the end of June, but the abilities that have been improving involve comprehension and fine motor skills - things we notice as her parents but that may not be so obvious to the casual observer.

On top of that, Madeline's meal and nap times have become quite regular, and Lacey and I have built our daily routines around Madeline's activities. The days are mostly predictable - nap, play, eat, nap, etc.

Because of these factors, our lives seem to have quietly fallen into a comfortable schedule in these recent weeks. We generally know what works to get us through the day.

The downside is that Lacey and I find ourselves ticking off the days as they go by, our goal each day simply to perform the routine and make it to bed that evening. We're focused solely on the present. I find myself stretching to come up with a long-term goal to capture my attention but, in the end, lacking the time and/or energy to follow up.

There's nothing wrong with adhering to a schedule - it can make everyone's life a little easier. But we need to be careful about becoming slaves to the schedule, and we need to find ways to spice up the daily routine.

Now that Madeline is a little older we have less of an excuse to stay home and stick to the rigid daily regimen. We owe it to Madeline to introduce the world to her, and we owe it to ourselves to make sure our lives are more than an ever-growing accumulation of merely completed days.

Notes on the month:
- Madeline's evening sleep has become very regular. No matter how the day's been, she is invariably ready for bed after her evening feeding at about 6:30. In bed by 7, she sleeps soundly until Lacey gets her up at about 9 p.m. for one last feeding. After that, she sleeps through the night until about 6 or 6:15 a.m.

- The 9 p.m. feeding seems to be a relic of the days when Madeline ate more frequently in the evening, and the fact that she doesn't wake on her own for this feeding makes me question its necessity. But we're wary of stopping it in case it makes her hungrier earlier in the morning. She sleeps so soundly through the night that we're cautious about disrupting the routine that's been working well up to this point. Now that she's started solids for her evening meal, we may try to ease away from the 9 p.m. wake-up call in the coming weeks.

Her first meal

Tonight was a very big night. We've been building up to this moment for weeks - acclimating Madeline to her high chair and letting her join us at the table during our meals. Increasingly she would watch us eat with interest and excitement, and when she sat in our laps at the table she would reach for the plate. We also gave her a baby spoon to practice holding and sticking in her mouth.

Tonight the preparation culminated in Madeline's first solid food. Until now she has only had her mother's milk, anywhere from six to twelve times a day for the last five months. In recent weeks she's been showing all the signs of being ready for solid food, including her interest in watching us at mealtime and her propensity to put everything she can grab into her mouth.

Tonight's meal was a small bowl of rice cereal, mixed with a bit of water. From the first spoonful she seemed to know what she was doing. After a couple more, she was keeping the entire spoonful in her mouth instead of letting some dribble out. When she saw the spoon coming she would lean toward it in anticipation. She finished nearly the entire bowl.

Madeline didn't seem to concentrate too much on the taste of the food. She pretty much took it in, noshed it up for a couple seconds and then swallowed it down. Granted, rice cereal is probably one of the blandest foods available, and the doctor said Madeline was already familiar with different tastes since the milk she's been drinking to this point reflected the foods Lacey had eaten. We'll stick with rice cereal for a while, starting once a day and then adding more feedings as warranted.

The twenty-first week

It's been quite interesting to watch Madeline over the last couple weeks. It seems like she's progressing so rapidly, improving her skills with every passing day. She's gone from casually batting at objects dangled in front of her to determinedly reaching for things that catch her eye. She can sit up mostly unassisted, but she occasionally needs a little extra support or to be righted after listing to far in any direction. It's fun to watch her play with her toys while sitting up or while sitting in her high chair.

She's even started playing with toys while on her tummy. At first she was so focused on just lifting her head, and once that was mastered she started looking around the room. Later she would notice a toy nearby, but now she plays with the toy and doesn't seem to be thinking about the fact that she's on her tummy. This has all happened so fast - it seems as if every day she takes her skills to a new level.

I am a little frightened to think of the potentially volatile mix of her inquisitive nature, her increasing mobility and her penchant for sticking everything in her mouth. It's making me think a lot more about the cleanliness of our house as well as the things we encounter out in the world.

Also this week:

- Twice this week I've had the chance to take Madeline to lunch, once with about 10 people from my work and again with my brother. Both times Madeline was just as good as can be - she quietly absorbed the activity of her surroundings and, after a while, fell asleep in my lap without a peep. In both restaurants there were loud children all around, and I couldn't help but wonder when Madeline will begin to act out in public. She's just been so angelic every time I've had her out, I feel like I must be due for a meltdown!

Here today, . . .

It's funny how, the day after I posted the last video, Madeline stopped making the razzing noise. She's back to communicating with her normal "oohs" and "ahs." It seems like no habit she discovers lasts very long - something that captivates her for two days might be completely forgotten on the third. When everything in your world is new, it must be hard to focus on just one skill.

No matter what the noise of the moment happens to be, Madeline loves to talk. She'll go on incessantly, talking to her toy, to the calendar on the wall or to nothing in particular. She talks with purpose, her wrinkled brow imparting weighty significance to the topic at hand.

But what I love the most is when she talks directly to me, when her face is close to mine and she gently places both of her tiny hands on my cheeks, drawing me close and looking into my eyes while offering a forceful discourse on whatever it is that occupies her active and blossoming mind.

The latest craze

For the last few days this has been Madeline's new thing. She does it when she's happy. she does it when she's getting ready to be fussy. She does it when she's hungry and she does it when she's tired. She can do it for many minutes on end, presumably until her lips get tired. It's like she's forgotten everything else she was learning and this is the only way she vocalizes.

Most of the time she does it with pursed lips, but she also does it with her tongue out. She first did it months ago, but it seems as if she rediscovered it this weekend and is working on perfecting it into an art form.

Of course, the fact that I can't stop laughing when she does it probably doesn't discourage her.

1,000

I love keeping track of numbers, mostly those representing some of the more mundane data in my life. For instance, I log every mile I run in a computer database, along with time and pace, and I remember the date of the last time I, um, lost my lunch (Dec. 24, 1988). Having a baby is a data-keeper's dream, and this blog has allowed me to make record of every accomplishment and event, no matter how insignificant.

I also enjoy photography, and today my two proclivities intersected when I took Madeline's 1,000th picture (that number doesn't include the hundreds of images I've immediately deleted from my digital camera because of poor quality or missed moments). I've averaged 203 photos each month that Madeline has been with us. Madeline is 143 days old, so that means I've taken an average of 7 pictures a day.

The 1,000th photo was not necessarily the best of today's bunch (I like the smaller one, No. 999, better, and ended the day on No. 1,015), but if I keep up this pace I'll have about 24,880 more chances at decent photos by the time Madeline turns 10!

The twentieth week

I am posting this video with three goals in mind:

- To illustrate Madeline's newfound enjoyment of putting everything she can grab into her mouth;

- To show why we've started putting a bib on her during the day; and

- To provide fodder for thorough embarrassment when she gets a little older. (Hopefully when she's even older she'll realize how cute it is!)

Grabbing the ring

Madeline's hand movements are getting so deliberate and common that this item feels a little unremarkable. Since Madeline was born we've had a little pink papa-san-type chair for her. When she was an infant we would bounce her to sleep for hours in this chair, and its battery-powered vibrations were sometimes the only thing that would soothe her.

The chair came with an arch from which hang two stuffed dragonflies and a blue ring that, when pulled, plays a short melody. When Madeline was tiny I marveled at the fact that one day she would be reaching for those dangling objects. And today was that day. Well, she's reached for them before, but today she finally grabbed and pulled the ring. And two minutes later, as I was hearing the tinny electronic tune for the fifth time in a row, I wondered if this was really something to be excited about!

She also rolled over today during afternoon playtime.

Her smile

Looking back through the pictures I've posted on this site, I've noticed that there aren't very many photos of Madeline with a full, radiant smile. There are many in which she looks happy, but the last all-out smile I posted was about five weeks ago (the first one was in mid-April).

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This isn't because Madeline doesn't smile often - on the contrary, she smiles quite frequently. I just haven't had the camera around when she does it. Maybe that's because she smiles more when I'm engaged with her than when I'm behind a camera. But this week I wanted to make a point of capturing a few of those heart-melting grins on camera. After all, it's not too much longer that her smiles will be toothless!

Taking notes

We've put Madeline in her high chair a few times over the last week - she'll sit with us during meal time and stare at our plates and watch intently as we bring food to our mouths. We also give her a baby spoon to hold and experiment with.

I guess you could say she's starting to learn how to eat like a grown-up by watching us, but it's hard for me to believe she actually knows what's going on (she also stares at the ceiling fan, after all). We'll find out soon when we introduce Madeline to her first solid foods.

The nineteenth week

As I recall, it's been about a month since Madeline last rolled over. This week she rolled again - on Thursday she did it three times in a row, seemingly with much less effort than before. And she rolled in both directions. She's moving so much when we put her on her belly that more rollovers are inevitable.

I didn't catch yesterday's rollovers on video, and that was intentional. Many times when I sit down to play with Madeline I have the video camera or the still camera at hand in case she does something interesting or cute. But I also want to make sure I am enjoying her as much as I can while not on the other side of a lens. Pictures and video are great for reliving moments later, but I also need to remember to live some moments as they happen, and that means putting the camera down!

On the other hand, I had the video camera handy earlier this week when Madeline was in a talkative mood, and when she saw the camera she got even more excited. We laid on the floor together for a long time, talking and laughing and getting the footage I've posted above.

Otherwise, this has been a pretty good week. Madeline and I have had fun during the day and she's been pretty good for Lacey in the evenings, too. Lacey has started letting her stay up a few minutes later at night to make sure she's good and tired before putting her to bed, after a couple instances of Madeline crying for a long time because she wasn't quite ready. It's been successful the last few nights. Tonight she went to bed at about 7:15, about 15 minutes later than before.

Shades of gray

I am beginning to realize that major developmental milestones rarely happen suddenly. It's not as if Madeline will be sitting one day and then suddenly rise up and walk across the room. "Baby steps," they say. These things take place gradually, with barely perceptible improvements each day, and we patiently wait, watch and encourage.

So when does Madeline officially crawl? Is it when her tummy rises up and her knees are under her body? Is it when she drags her body across the floor with her arms, or pushes with her feet, when her tummy is still touching the floor? The fundamental concept is mobility, after all.

Today Madeline rotated herself 90 degrees while laying on her stomach. It only took a minute or two - her legs are pushing off with purpose and her arms reach out in a repeated swimming motion. In other words, it's hardly accidental. If her feet didn't slide on the rug beneath her she would have moved herself in a forward line. Is that what crawling is - forward motion? Some books say babies find it easier to crawl backward at first.

I'm not ready to label today's activities as crawling - I'll wait until she moves herself backward or forward in a more linear fashion. But if today was any indication, that feat lies in the not-too-distant future.

Tummy training

It's so much fun to watch as Madeline gets more comfortable on her tummy and starts practicing those crawling motions. She gets a little better each day.

Let's see you do this

That's right - she's got all five fingers in her mouth at once!

July Fourth

There is a lot of significance attached to the Fourth of July. For most Americans that significance is obvious, but for our little family the day has a new meaning. On this day last year we found out Lacey was pregnant.

It's amazing how a piece of information can change everything. I was thinking recently about how I had never really stopped to appreciate the fact that Lacey has given birth - not in the specific sense, of course, but the idea that she experienced such a life-changing (and body-changing) metamorphosis. She's now among the legion of women who are mothers, who have given over everything about themselves to create another human. Everything she was had to be reconsidered; the person she had been all her life had to be set aside. It's truly something to inspire awe.

But the reason I never stopped to consider this is that this whole thing hasn't ended. It's not an event that happened and now can be reflected upon. In fact, it's been a non-stop adrenaline rush since July 4, 2007 - the day our lives changed forever. For the last year we have been completely immersed - in the pregnancy, in the nervous weeks leading up to the birth and, since February 29, in the gargantuan, unending task of caring for an infant. We haven't had a chance to stop and catch our breath and think about what we've been through.

Our joke last year was that, rather than Independence Day, on July Fourth we would celebrate our "dependent's" day - the day we ceased being two carefree kids running giddily through the amusement park of life; the day we took on a greater, more solemn role as parents. The odd truth is that was the day we truly mounted the roller coaster - parenting has whisked us to dizzying heights and, just as quickly, brought us screaming to gut-twisting lows. And the ride is still just beginning.

So on this July Fourth we'll miss the friends and fireworks for the first time as our baby sleeps quietly upstairs. But we'll raise a heartfelt toast to the Jeremy and Lacey of July 3, 2007, and think of the adventure they have before them.

The eighteenth week

Madeline continues to impress us with her increasing mobility and engagement. This week we've noticed that she'll turn her head in the direction of specific sounds, such as our voices. She'll also watch objects by moving her entire head rather than just following them with her eyes. It's fun to get near her without drawing notice, and then say her name and watch her turn quickly toward me and smile.

She's also pushing up more when she's on her tummy. She can get her entire chest off the ground now, and looks around with purpose rather than in the random manner of someone unable to fully control their head. (Compare the photo above to this one from a few months ago.)

As for her sleeping, we had to discount several days this week. She received some immunizations on Monday and she was pretty grumpy for a couple days afterward. She was out of sorts during the day and reverted to crying for long periods at bedtime. But in the last couple days she's been much better - she's more cheerful during the day, she's taking better naps and she's going to sleep more quickly at night. She's also slept until after 6 a.m. on several occasions, making for 8-plus hour nights.

Gaining a new perspective

She still needs a little extra support, but Madeline really likes sitting up these days. There's just too much for her to look at to spend the day on her back, staring at the ceiling.