finger foods!

On Wednesday we had a milestone of a lunch... Sara started feeding herself!

I put some pieces of toast on her tray as I had been for a few days, and as she picked them up she started doing the cutest thing - she decided to feed ME! She held out pieces to me and said 'hmmm?' with an expression like 'try some, Mommy!' I opened my mouth and ate the toast, causing her to wave her arms and giggle like it was the greatest thing. Completely adorable. We played this little game for a few minutes, and then suddenly it happened - she put a piece in her own mouth! I clapped and cheered for her, so she did it again (after chewing and swallowing her first piece). She was on a roll. I added some bits of cottage cheese and started videotaping the occasion. Success!

Yesterday I had to make a dash to the grocery store for some finger foods, so next we'll move on to pieces of banana, mango, soft cooked veggies, etc....

I'm also seething about a customer service situation we're currently involved in with a baby store. It's somewhere we had never shopped before and I recently made a large online purchase from them. I'm reserving the story for when the situation has been resolved, but I promise it will be a full blown (and hopefully humorous) rant of a "please, please, as my friend or family member, do not EVER shop here" nature...

some new year firsts

Phew - I've spent the past week recovering from the holidays and getting back into a routine, and consequently not much time online. Our first New Year's Eve with Sara was really nice. We joined our friends in the late afternoon, and after the girls played we enjoyed a yummy full-fat appetizer dinner.
Sara went to sleep perfectly in her playpen, which was awesome, allowing me to enjoy some wine in the hot tub with the ladies while the guys played a hockey video game until the ball dropped. In fact, Sara was TOO quiet, prompting a drunken daddy to sneak into the room and make sure all was well at 2:30am - I was sure he'd wake her, but once he put the idea in my head, I couldn't go to sleep until he checked!

Sara has already crossed one resolution off of her list... she has started saying 'da da', and it's so cute. Her daddy is very happy about this new development, especially after a few weeks of nothing but 'ma ma'! I have a hunch that she actually knows what she's saying, because yesterday she kept repeating 'ma ma, da da'. She also started clapping her hands, which I love. This is an exciting development that we were working on for a couple of months.

She's still going backwards with her crawling, but she can really move now - especially when she gets to our hardwood floor! She doesn't seem too bothered about not going forwards yet, because when she wants a particular toy she just pivots around until she can reach it. I have learned to just relax, knowing from experience that Sara's temperament is very cautious with new things (much like her mommy), and she does things only when she's ready. And once she has mastered a new skill, she can't get enough of it!
Over the past week I've been trying to encourage her self-feeding skills. I've introduced some finger foods on her highchair tray (baby cookie, broken up toast, steamed pears.) She mostly just pushes it around, which I find funny considering she puts everything else into her mouth! Her grasp is really good - she picks up the pieces and examines them, and then usually just throws them over the side. She eats pieces off of my finger though, and I'm relieved that so far her chewing skills are great. Yesterday we made a bit of a breakthrough with her cup. She finally drank some water - eagerly! I've taken the no-spill valve out for now until she gets the hang of it, which makes for very wet and messy drinking lessons. It's a mix of me holding the cup for her, and then her holding it. She loves to shake the cup and down, and once when it splashed her in the eyes once, she got angry and pushed the cup away with all her strength. Lesson over. Hee.

This morning we went back to the pool to start the winter session of our diaper fit class. It's much smaller this time, only 5 of us. One of my main winter projects is Operation Flat Belly - my post-pregnancy belly, which was almost gone, has grown back as a post-Christmas belly. So, it was good to get moving in the water. Sara is the oldest baby this time, and for the first time, I was the mom being asked various developmental questions or for tips about getting a baby to like the water. I'm so used to being the one with questions, so I'm happy to help though it made me a bit wistful -- likely also because I was reminded that many of the moms from the last class are heading back to work already. Sara still loves the pool so I'm going to start taking her during free swim times more often. As usual, she was the lifeguard magnet! They gravitated right to her, playing little games and waving/clapping with her. I was so proud of my little girl!

what a difference a year makes

This afternoon we're busy packing up our little fam to ring in 2008 at our friends' house. I'm awestruck at the many blessings 2007 brought to us and how much things have changed, and while I'm a bit sad that it has gone so fast, I'm excited for all that lies ahead in 2008. It's incredible to think that this time last year Sara was tiny and curled up inside my belly as we had a quiet new year's eve at home eating and watching movies while other friends went out to a bar in Toronto (not the most pregnancy-friendly plans!) Quite honestly I'm really not a new year's person so that was perfect for me, but this year it will be special to celebrate with Sara. I'll probably head up to bed shortly after midnight though, because she'll be awake and chattering away by 7:30am!

Instead of resolutions, I'm working on a short list of things I want to accomplish in the remaining few months of my maternity leave - but it's not done yet. Sara, however, organized just like mom, has her first resolutions on the chalkboard in our kitchen:

1. Learn how to crawl (forwards - backwards is almost down)
2. Give lots of hugs
3. Say "Da-da"

Happy New Year!

merry

This Christmas was quite possibly my favourite holiday so far. We spent two days filled with family, love, laughter, food, a special present and many happy memories. After weeks of stocking practice (learning to pull things out of containers), Sara had lots of fun opening her stocking with Daddy after breakfast, wearing her Christmas jammies from Grandma and Grandpa. This little pink fish bath toy is one of her new favourite things.
... and then more fun ripping wrapping paper!
She loves her new car from Santa.
And Christmas dinner for 10 was a great success (phew!), with many thanks to everyone pitching in and helping. Honestly, I don't know how our mothers did it mostly alone! Sara was in great spirits all day and sat happily in her highchair at the head of the table. She even had her own bowl of turkey and mashed potatoes for dinner. She even popped a Christmas tooth!

What it's all about...
I'm now ready for a long winter's nap until the new year.... so until then, I hope that your holiday has been as merry as ours!

Sara's first boyfriend

Just a short photo post as I'm knee deep in cleaning, organizing, wrapping etc... oh yes, and eating. This is Sara's first boyfriend, an early Christmas gift from baby K. She's pretty enamoured with Ernie. Sara has started copying my actions sometimes, and when I showed her how to hug him and give him a kiss, she eagerly did her version!

She also learned how to wave this weekend, it's very cute! She's very close to crawling, and saying ma-ma all the time.... so sweet.