Yesterday was Bear's 8.5 month birthday. She celebrated early in the morning by showing off her improved army crawl. She has become much faster and a little more confident in being able to move independently. Daddy decided to video tape her early morning crawl and I enjoyed watching it shortly after. It was very funny to watch because bear checks in with daddy mid-crawl by giving him a grunt, as if to say "this is so hard daddy!" Daddy quickly responded with a "you can do it!" And bear then continued on with her travels across the floor. And, before she knew it she had reached the motivational item (daddy's iphone) which had once seemed so far away!
Later that morning bear and I made one of our 3 weekly visits to Target. We had a lot of items to get so we were stuck in the store for a long while. Mommy had prices to research regarding baby shower gifts, new bottles, new baby food, etc. etc. etc. And all the while bear became very hungry from all of this shopping. So there I was wandering around Target, one hand pushing the cart and the other holding a bottle... It definitely slowed my shopping down from a regular walk to a slow paced stroll. I really didn't mind though. Getting out with bear during the week is one of our favorite things to do!
When bear finished her bottle she quickly moved on to reaching for items stocked on the isle walls. She seemed to be most interested in the isle with all of the baby toys. She grunted, babble and stretched her left arm out straight towards the toys. She was clearly saying "mama, mama, that one, that one, please!" I was curious to see which toy she was reaching out for (to see whether it was just one particular item that she wanted or if she was just reaching out for the full isle). I picked up a variety of toys, one at a time, to see if I got any special response but nothing really seemed to get her attention. I suppose she either got bored with me or was far too over stimulated by all of the colors and shapes to just focus in on the one item.
By the time I thought to check my watch, we had some how managed to be in the store for over an hour. Bear was getting fussy and even though I hadn't finished everything I had hoped to finish... I decided we both had had enough. We waited in line for a bit (why they had only one check out isle open I just could not understand...) in the mean time bear smiled and babbled at another little baby boy ~ who definitely did not seem impressed by bears attempts to get some attention. He stared back at her, frozen, (an maybe a little frightened?) as if he had never seen any one his size before. He may have not been impressed with bears social babbles and flirts but I certainly was! I quickly responded to her with lots of loves and kisses!
After Target we decided to meet up with daddy for a quick lunch break at the park. We went on the swings and then onto the slide. I think the ride on the slide happened so fast for bear that she really didn't quite understand what had just taken place. "First we were up there and now we are down here...?" But, the swing ride was lots of fun! And nothing to think about except how fun this feels. And, best of all, mommy and daddy are smiling at me... this is obviously fun!
We moved on to one of the picnic tables and opened up bear's first finger foods. She wasn't quite sure what to do with the little puffs. She played with the puffs in her hands and then brought them up to her mouth but would not put the little puff all the way in past her baby lips. Just a light lick, only to make them soggy and sticky... bear would then shake her hands in attempt to let go of the bizarre puff but it stuck on her chubby baby hand like glue... After some exploration and pondering, I brought one up to her mouth and she seemed more willing this time to let the puff in. After a suck or so she quickly changed her mind and spit it out. She seemed a very unsure of what was just in her mouth.
We tried again later that afternoon.
She chewed perfectly on the little bites but seemed very afraid of swollowing and would eventually spit the item out. I suddenly realized that I should have moved her up to more chunky solids before introducing her to such a strange piece of food. We'll hold off for a day or so and try some level 3 solids. At least now I know that I won't have to worry as much about her choking since the chewing seems to be instinctual.
****~ Can you find the little bear in this picture? ~****
We then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring our toys. Bear will crawl right up to her toy bin and try to reach for all of her toys. To avoid a toppling toy bin we have started to just spill the bin before she can reach it. Bear will then spend a good amount of time exploring and digging through her toys. She will then chomp, lick, shake and babble at the one item she picks out of the bunch until she's ready to move on to the next. On this particular afternoon she found her old pink pacifier, popped it in her mouth and began sucking on it. She has refused all pacifiers prior to this moment, at least since she was around 3 months old. But today, since she found it on her own, I suppose, it is much more tasty and suck worthy. So we are still not fully crawling or eating finger foods and advanced solids. But bear is moving at a nice steady state. I know one morning I will wake up and wonder where my little bear went because there will be a big bear who has suddenly taken her place at breakfast.
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