Things Everett Liked/Did in Month Six:
- Pulling my hair intentionally. (I wore my hair in a bun 99.9% of the time.)
- She responded to music by rocking up and down and patting her hand. She liked “drumming” on surfaces to make noise.
- She said “mmmm” when she saw a Mum Mum.
- She began babbling “mamama,” “dadadada,” and “nananana” though I still feel they were sounds and not completely associated with Dustyn or myself.
- Everett took a strong liking to everything involving our 12 year old dog, Camy. She liked playing in Camy’s water bowl and tried following her everywhere. She became a speed crawler!
- She loved swinging electrical cords. Hiding and tucking these away is a special talent because she would figure out exactly where something was even if I thought she wouldn’t notice. (This was one of her scarier interests for me so far.)
- Everett cruised around furniture and occasionally would let go to stand without support until she wobbled and quickly grabbed onto something.
- She snorted at people to get their attention.
- She randomly waved hello. (In particular to strangers in Target.)
- She willingly laid her head on my shoulder and wrapped her blanket around her when we read books before nap time.
- Playing peek-a-boo was an all-time favorite.
- Everett thought snack time was necessary all day long. If she so much as thought I had a mum mum or puffs, she would make squeaky sounds to get my attention.
- Her favorite place to hang out became amongst our kitchen table chairs. She liked sitting under them and pulling herself up. We have tile under the table so I was a bit nervous about her losing her grip and bonking her head, but thankfully she’s been so careful and that hasn’t happened.
- One of her favorite toys became the Fisher Price musical table; she loved that she could pull herself to stand, hit buttons, and bop along to music!
Things Everett Disliked/Was Uncertain of in Month Six:
- She was a very impatient eater and didn’t understand if I had to blow something off to cool it down before it could go in her mouth.
- The car seat was her worst enemy again because she hated being tied down. Her theory was “Why sit when I can stand?”
- -She didn’t sit still in shopping carts, and hated being strapped in.
- Though she could drink out of a straw, she spit the majority of the water she drank back out.
Her Eating/Sleeping Schedule:
- We had a lot, lot, love of wakefulness throughout the night again. She would usually be laying down, but would cry out a few times throughout the night. I would watch her on the monitor and it never really seemed like she was waking up, but was just making sounds that would be loud enough for the monitor to catch. In hindsight, maybe this was teething related?
- She would go down for bed at night so, so easily, but nap times were more of a struggle. She didn’t like when I left the room.
- She took two naps a day, and began eating solids twice a day, too.
- She loved yogurt, but overall hasn’t really shown disinterest in anything she’s tried so far.
- We introduced butternut squash, zucchini, eggs, yogurt, a bit of bread, and pancakes this month.
- She transitioned to nursing three times a day, with an additional pumped bottle of breastmilk before bedtime. I am always extremely apprehensive when we change our nursing schedule. Now that we’re on the weaning out phase of nursing with the hope of making it to a year, it feels like I have to be super careful so I don’t lose my supply. I don’t really feel like I know what I’m doing, but everyone keeps telling me to listen to her cues and she will kind of guide me.
Personal Notes:
- She got two teeth this month, and made funny little faces when she would realize they were there! I was completely unaware she was even getting her first tooth. She was a little crabby and everything made sense after I felt the tooth, but I’m a) going to be thankful she seems relatively mild when she’s getting a tooth, and b) I am a firm believer in the Baltic Amber necklaces. She hasn’t drooled much at all. Her teeth have been big surprises because it wasn’t weeks and weeks of crankiness. She would want extra snuggles, but since she’s moving around so much now, who am I to deny that? This momma wants that snuggles, too!
- She got her first cold this month. Boo.
- We began trying to teach her sign language for “more,” but sometimes that got confused with her clapping (I guess if she’s getting more of a snack, that’s reason enough TO clap) which she’s beginning to do as well.
- We got a little more settled in our home and unpacked a lot more once we made a few changes to our closets to make them more efficient. Bringing our former foster daughter to this home has been really fun because she’s got her own room, but she still has a few questions about when we’re going to the other home. It’ll take a few visits for her to grasp the change, I think.
- Everett’s bedroom got painted so it’s not plain and off-white anymore. My father-in-law helped us out a TON by painting for us. He started with the girls’ rooms and I absolutely love the color. It feels so cheerful. Everett’s other bedroom was more of a mint green and the more I saw the color, the more I detested it. If I’m pregnant again, I think I’ll try to pick a color I’ll love or be more patient about it.
Everett crawled to my FIL, her Poppy, while he was painting under the desk area. Note: since we couldn’t paint before we moved in, we purchased paint from Sherwin Williams during their 40% off sale to get the no VOC paint. Our house didn’t smell fumey at all. Expensive, but good stuff! (Wait for a sale if you can…)
These were back to back frames of Everett playing peek-a-boo with me. At first, I don’t think I realized what she was doing and then it clicked that she was playing! I thought maybe she was ducking or moving to another part of her crib. Silly girl!
Pam - I love your recap of her life. The pictures bring me so much joy too.