Leaps and Bounds

I know I keep saying this, but I can't believe how fast Ella is growing.  Every day is something new and I love experiencing it all with her.  She's been playing more with her toys and really taking an interest in interacting with them.  Here she is cuddling, grabbing and eating her alligator.

During the last few weeks, Ella's been going through another developmental leap, which has made her clingy, cranky and restless.  She's generally a really good baby, so when she makes a leap, we really notice her change in behavior.  The most obvious challenge has been her waking in the middle of night and being difficult to console back to sleep.  Having a baby who normally sleeps 10-12 hours straight through the night but then starts waking up crying at 3 am has been challenging.  I know we're pretty spoiled with a good sleeper, but it's still difficult nonetheless.  We started putting her back into her co-sleeper by our bed when she wakes in the middle of the night so we both could get some sleep, and sometimes we had to pull her into bed with us.  I've noticed how differently she sleeps now, signifying how much she's grown.  I used to have to cradle her in my arms while we slept, but now she just lays on the mattress and snuggles up on us.  She'll reach her hand out to feel us there and fall asleep next to us.  While I was pregnant, I swore I'd never sleep with her in bed with us, but parenthood makes you do a lot of "take-backs" and this has been one of them.  She's been a cuddlier since she was a newborn and it's been a bit of a challenge not to indulge her all the time.

Sleeping in one morning in our bed.

THANKFULLY, her leap is coming to an end, and she's been back in her crib, sleeping through the night, for the past three days.  It's been so wonderful waking up to find her still sound asleep in her crib and getting our room back!  I really recommend "The Wonder Weeks" for new parents because it helps to know the reason for the changes in behavior in your infant.  Knowing what to expect and understanding why Ella is acting a certain way has helped us be more confident parents.  So far, she's been pretty on schedule with her leaps, and it's just nice to have some insight in how she's growing.  The leaps are rough (and getting rougher) but it's amazing to watch her develop new skills.  That being said, I'm more than happy to enjoy this upswing until she hits her next leap.

Five Months Old

Happy Five Months, Ella!

You are learning so many new things every single day!  (And teaching us so many new things along the way!)

Most notably, you are starting to sit on your own and you're starting to teeth.  The former is exciting, the latter, frustrating.  But both are evidence of how much you're growing (and thriving)!  You learned to roll over from your back to your stomach, though you're still getting stuck until you learn to push yourself back.  That means sometimes we have to rescue you in the middle of the night.  Otherwise, you're sleeping ten to twelve hours, which gives you plenty of time to creep and inch and turn around in your crib.  Every morning you wake up in a new position, but you always greet us with a smile.  You're learning the joys of playing with your toys.  Your favorites?  Sophie, hippo, and the rosary beads your Nino gave you.  Also, you are responding more to books and enjoy classics like, "Goodnight Seattle," "The Going to Bed Book" and Babylit's "Pride & Prejudice."  You discovered your feet and grab at them whenever you can: in your Bumbo seat, on the changing table, in the shower.  You continue to chat away at anyone who will listen, though you wonder why Remy and Mia don't respond back to your witty conversational attempts.  Still picky about nap time, you prefer to be held and cuddled.  But you make it easy for us to do that now that you're cuddling us back.  You love hanging out in your baby carrier while we go shopping, and you smile and flirt with all the sales people who find you adorable.  We're placing bets on whether or not you're going to be a singer, because, Baby, those are some pipes you have!  You are shrieking and squealing in high-pitched tones, especially when you're getting tired and need a nap.  Daddy says you swallowed a pterodactyl.  Mommy thinks you're part baby peacock.   Either way we are madly in love with you, Babycakes!

There Were 5 in a Bed...

... and the little one said, "Roll over!"

We've seen it coming for some days now.  But today she made it all the way and all on her own.  She rolled over.  But instead of rolling from her front to her back (which is easier and usually learned first), she rolled from her back to her front.  Ella has always liked sleeping on her side, and we've even termed her sleeping position "shrimping."  (For some reason, I think she looks like a giant shrimp.  Maybe it's the large head to body proportions.)  She figured out how to swing her top leg over while laying on her side and push herself up onto her elbows and forearms.  It takes a lot of grunting and whining and frustrated quips, but she gets there.  She did it a couple times yesterday with some assistance from me, but today, while she was supposed to be napping in her crib, she did it all on her own.  In her crib.  While I watched on the monitor, excited and horrified.  Excited because it's such a great feat for such a small little body.  Horrified because she hasn't learned to flip from her front to her back yet, and the idea of her rolling onto her tummy in the middle of the night and getting stuck makes me super nervous.  So of course, I take a picture before running upstairs to get her.

Instead of falling asleep, she chose to exercise instead.

That's my little Babycakes.  She has an agenda of her own.  Now that she's rolling over, I'm assuming the crankiness and clinginess we've been experiencing with her the past few days was because of her developmental leap.  Learning a new ability is exhausting work and she needed the extra comfort.

Tonight, after her bath, while I was trying to get her pajamas on, she rolled over again.  And again.  And again.  Adam got to witness it for the first time, and we just kept cheering her on as she kept flipping herself over on our bed.  It was hard not to help her when she was trying to get her bottom arm out from under her, but we knew she needed to work through the frustration and do it on her own.  And we couldn't be more proud!  (That being said, we'll be watching the baby monitor extra close tonight.)