Every day Hana seems more and more like a child, and not an infant. She's got such a playful, cheerful personality. We went to the grocery store today and she was smiling up a storm at everyone who glanced her way. She can get from one end of the room to the other in no time at all. She loves to play. Keepaway is the new favorite. It goes something like this: Mommy is trying to write something down. Hana tries to grab the pen. Mommy moves the pen away from Hana. Hana reaches for it again. And so on. And so on....Mostly, I still win this game, but this morning she won and dumped my cereal all over my lap.
Another big milestone is coming up - a nanny. I think we found a nanny share! I found an ad on Berkeley Parents Network from a family looking for someone to share their nanny. It turns out they live on the street right below us, literally a 3-minute drive. We met the mom, the other little girl, and the nanny today and everyone seemed to get along fabulously. If all works out, we'll start off slowly, but by March 1st will have her doing 1 full day when both Pete and I are working and 3 half days while Pete and I are trying to get things done around the house, errands, etc. and get some time for ourselves. We feel sad to leave her with someone but at the same time, we know it's good for her to spend time with other people and learn to feel comfortable when we are not there. It was clear from her interactions with the other little girl that she needs to spend more time around kids so she can learn to play without grabbing their faces and hair. :) In any case, it helps to know that she will be just a few minutes away, and one of the days the nanny will come to our house.
We made another trip to Tahoe this past weekend with four good friends. We had a wonderful time at the house. We also went cross country skiing in Tahoe Donner and Pete strapped on snowshoes and Hana and snowshoed between the trails with her. She had a blast, and two really good naps along the way. I think she is going to be a snow bunny for sure.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
One Day. Five New Things.
1. Another tooth! I had no idea she even had one coming in, but it's already half way in. She was leaning back and I caught a glimpse of it - her third on the top, upper right. Perhaps that was why she was so cranky this past Saturday in Tahoe.
2. Pulling up. She's been able to pull up on our fingers pretty consistently, but pulling up to standing using an object has been hit or miss. Today I was in the shower and she was sitting on the bathroom floor. Every minute or so, I would peek out of the curtain to see if she was getting into any mischief. She was sitting...and then a minute later, she was standing with her hands pressed up against the mirror on the door! I couldn't believe it, especially because there isn't really anything to pull up on. I have no idea how she got there. I had to jump out of the shower as her feet began to slide out from under her, as she was wearing socks on the tile floor. She narrowly avoided a face plant. Afterward, she spent several minutes in her crib pulling up to standing, falling on her butt, and pulling up again. Amazing. And then on my pant leg in the kitchen while I was cooking. It's like she's been doing it all her life.
3. Her name. I think she might know it. Today she turned her head pretty consistently when I said "Hana."
4. The raspberry. Truth be told, this started about 2 days ago, and it's her favorite new noise. She especially likes to do it when a spoonful of food is right in front of her mouth, blowing food all over me.
5. "No!" She doesn't understand "no" yet, but she is starting to learn to stop doing something when I say "Eh!" This will come in mighty handy until we get this place child proofed.
2. Pulling up. She's been able to pull up on our fingers pretty consistently, but pulling up to standing using an object has been hit or miss. Today I was in the shower and she was sitting on the bathroom floor. Every minute or so, I would peek out of the curtain to see if she was getting into any mischief. She was sitting...and then a minute later, she was standing with her hands pressed up against the mirror on the door! I couldn't believe it, especially because there isn't really anything to pull up on. I have no idea how she got there. I had to jump out of the shower as her feet began to slide out from under her, as she was wearing socks on the tile floor. She narrowly avoided a face plant. Afterward, she spent several minutes in her crib pulling up to standing, falling on her butt, and pulling up again. Amazing. And then on my pant leg in the kitchen while I was cooking. It's like she's been doing it all her life.
3. Her name. I think she might know it. Today she turned her head pretty consistently when I said "Hana."
4. The raspberry. Truth be told, this started about 2 days ago, and it's her favorite new noise. She especially likes to do it when a spoonful of food is right in front of her mouth, blowing food all over me.
5. "No!" She doesn't understand "no" yet, but she is starting to learn to stop doing something when I say "Eh!" This will come in mighty handy until we get this place child proofed.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The First Crawl
Monday, February 1, approximately 6:30 am. I was in the bathroom getting ready for work and I had set Hana down on the bathmat. She crawled over to my feet and promptly pulled my hair dryer out of the cabinet. And so begins the adventure of keeping up with a mobile baby.
Truth be told, she is still far more interested in walking than crawling. Even when she crawls, she's at least part way up on her feet, off her knees, to propel her forward, kind of in a downward dog pose. I don't think crawling is going to last very long if she continues to practice the walking. She and Pete came to visit me at lunch time today at work, and she was walking all over the place holding on to my co-workers' fingers. Very nosy - wanted to see everyone's office. :)
Unfortunately, with this sudden explosion of new motor skills comes two difficult issues: 1) separation anxiety, and 2) night waking. She has begin to show signs of separation anxiety, and I've read that it's very common for this to start when babies first develop mobility because they need to know that their mom and dad are still going to be right there as they begin to explore the world. It's also a sign of maturity and cognitive development, because it means they grasp the concept of "object permanence." Before, when I was out of sight, I was out of mind. Now, when I leave the room, she can hold the memory of me in her head and actually miss me. This has resulted in some tears, more so when she's tired or feeling otherwise overwhelmed, but it's clearly linked to my "disappearing" for a few moments.
The night waking is really a drag no matter how you look at it, especially since she has been doing so well at sleeping from 6:30 pm to 5 or 5:30 am with only brief wakings where she would fall back to sleep on her own. Now she wakes up 1-3 times a night and cannot/will not go back to sleep on her own. We've tried various levels of soothing, including Pete doing it instead of me, but she doesn't seem to calm down enough to go back to sleep unless I nurse her. So we are back to the night nursing for the time being, and I am a zombie at work. I have a feeling that the fact that she is learning all these new things is what's waking her up (busy mind and body) but she can't go back to sleep because once she's awake she notices we aren't there and she misses us. The nursing works to get her back down simply because it puts her in a food coma and then she's out...until the next time she wakes up, realizes she's alone, and then it begins all over again.
One day soon we'll catch some of the crawling and walking on video and get that posted.
Truth be told, she is still far more interested in walking than crawling. Even when she crawls, she's at least part way up on her feet, off her knees, to propel her forward, kind of in a downward dog pose. I don't think crawling is going to last very long if she continues to practice the walking. She and Pete came to visit me at lunch time today at work, and she was walking all over the place holding on to my co-workers' fingers. Very nosy - wanted to see everyone's office. :)
Unfortunately, with this sudden explosion of new motor skills comes two difficult issues: 1) separation anxiety, and 2) night waking. She has begin to show signs of separation anxiety, and I've read that it's very common for this to start when babies first develop mobility because they need to know that their mom and dad are still going to be right there as they begin to explore the world. It's also a sign of maturity and cognitive development, because it means they grasp the concept of "object permanence." Before, when I was out of sight, I was out of mind. Now, when I leave the room, she can hold the memory of me in her head and actually miss me. This has resulted in some tears, more so when she's tired or feeling otherwise overwhelmed, but it's clearly linked to my "disappearing" for a few moments.
The night waking is really a drag no matter how you look at it, especially since she has been doing so well at sleeping from 6:30 pm to 5 or 5:30 am with only brief wakings where she would fall back to sleep on her own. Now she wakes up 1-3 times a night and cannot/will not go back to sleep on her own. We've tried various levels of soothing, including Pete doing it instead of me, but she doesn't seem to calm down enough to go back to sleep unless I nurse her. So we are back to the night nursing for the time being, and I am a zombie at work. I have a feeling that the fact that she is learning all these new things is what's waking her up (busy mind and body) but she can't go back to sleep because once she's awake she notices we aren't there and she misses us. The nursing works to get her back down simply because it puts her in a food coma and then she's out...until the next time she wakes up, realizes she's alone, and then it begins all over again.
One day soon we'll catch some of the crawling and walking on video and get that posted.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Walking??
Hana has made unbelievable strides this week in her standing and "walking." She is not content to sit for very long anymore. She wants to pull up and hold on to our fingers while she walks around the room. In fact, she is starting to try letting go of our fingers but does not quite have the balance yet. She has not officially crawled but can maneuver around quite well by pushing forward on her hands and then sitting back in a different position. She doesn't exactly do hands and knees. It's more like hands and one knee and the other leg is bent with foot on the floor. She might end up crawling like that - I hear some kids have unusual crawl positions.
In the meantime, she has stopped rolling from back to tummy. She prefers to whine and whimper until mom or dad helps her back up. :)
In the meantime, she has stopped rolling from back to tummy. She prefers to whine and whimper until mom or dad helps her back up. :)
Monday, January 25, 2010
First Snowboarding Weekend
We took Hana to Tahoe this weekend to break in the new house and get a little taste of the snow. We arrived in the late afternoon on Friday to piles and piles of snow, with more coming down!! None of us slept well the first night, as Hana was getting used to the new environment and waking up a lot. At least that's what I thought all the crying was about. Then on Saturday morning, she fell backwards while sitting, which she does quite often, but this time she was crying quite a bit, which is unusual. Then Pete noticed her mouth was a little bloody so we figured she had bitten her tongue. We let her suck on an ice cube (the Tahoe house has an ice maker that makes perfect-sized cubes that we can hold up to her mouth - yay!) and that seemed to make it better. Later I saw she was bleeding again so I looked in her mouth and was shocked to see that her two front top teeth were coming in! Her poor little gums were all swollen and the teeth were just barely slivers of rice. I could have sworn she was going to get two more bottoms before the tops, as they seem to be sitting right at the surface. Guess I was wrong. So that night we gave her some motrin before bed and her sleep was a little better.
On Saturday she played in the snow a bit (see purple snowsuit pictures). She really wasn't too sure what to make of it. I wouldn't say she was terribly excited about it, but her enthusiasm may have been dampened by the teething pain. I think snow is something she will learn to love when she sees everything she can do with it.
On Sunday we spent the day at Squaw Valley. Pete went snowboarding and Hana and I holed up at the Terrace restaurant. Hana made friends with some other kids there - Marissa, a cute 15-month-old from San Ramon, and Henry from England, who was about 3 and let Hana play with his trains. We ended the day with frozen lasagna, salad, and Oreos and a roaring fire in the wood stove and drove home on Monday morning. Pete dropped me off at the BART, and I went straight to work (yuck). Hana and Pete spent the day unloading the car and recovering from the long drive.
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