Beebop-a-Lula

We had some bloggy-type issues, but now they are all fixed.

Stay on the lookout for a big update this weekend.

Since both of her parents have iPhones and are constantly using them, it’s rare when Lulu can get her hands on one of our phones. This particular day while sitting with Daddy, she got her hands on both of them. And she was actually successfully called her Auntie Amelia!

We figure we’ll get her her own phone for her 2nd birthday.

No, I’m not serious.

Even though we don’t have a large, grassy backyard like some families do, we are lucky enough to have the Salem Common just down the street to go to when we want to sit in the grass under a tree and watch life go by.

Since our doctor’s appointment last week revealed that the little miss is slightly underweight, it has been my mission to feed this child as much as she will tolerate. In between reading That’s Not My Monster (3-4 times in a row) and singing the Alphabet song for the umpteenth time that day, I have been shoveling food into this kid’s mouth.

She starts out strong in the morning. Breakfast is never a problem and she isn’t too picky: cereal, scrambled eggs & toast, pancakes and Eggo’s. She usually destroys whatever I put in front of her. Lunch starts to be a problem since all the foods she used to like (chix sticks and Graduates raviolis) she will no longer eat. She will eat any kind of pasta with butter and cheese, real cheese ravioli, grilled cheese (sensing a theme here? Cheese rules all…) and roast beef sandwiches.

Any kind of vegetable has been the enemy until just recently. She will eat peas now. She loves them. Otherwise, I’ve been sneaking veggies in any way I can: I put sweet potatoes in her pancakes, broccoli bits in her grilled cheese and I got garden veggie cream cheese for her toast/bagels and to put on crackers.

Fruit has never been a problem. She eats the basics: peaches, pears, mandarin oranges, watermelon and today discovered that she likes white seedless grapes. She still shies away from the berries, but she doesn’t mind yogurt that has berries in it.

I know that it will take patience on my part to open up this girl’s palette to eat a larger variety of foods, but we’ll get there!

weight: 18.75 lbs.
height: 30 3/4″

We went for Lulu’s one year check up the other day. Since her last appointment she grew an inch and a half taller but gained less than a pound. Part of this I attribute to the fact that she has all four molars coming in all at once and hasn’t felt like eating much over the past few weeks.

On top of that, we made the switch to whole milk on her birthday, and let’s just say that it hasn’t really been kind to her tummy. The doctor suggested switching her to soy milk for a while to let her stomach settle down and then slowly introducing whole milk into her diet.

She’s becoming a bit of a finicky eater. She definitely knows what she likes and what she doesn’t like. Corn is in, but carrots, green beans and broccoli are out (I have to sneak veggies in other ways). She seems to be allergic to bananas and she *hearts* cheese! A LOT. I will just have to be more vigilant in putting different foods in front of her until we find things that she likes and make sure she snacks more frequently during the day. We have to go back for a weight check in a few months.

As of the week before her birthday: NO MORE BOTTLES!  She seemed a little resentful of the sippy cup for the first few days, but that didn’t last too long. I miss the quiet time we spent in the mornings while she had her bottle, but those moments don’t last forever.

She’s doing really great pulling herself up to standing and “cruises” around all of the furniture. She loves when we hold her hands so she can walk, although she does look like she’s goose stepping. Her balance is getting much better. She frequently stands on her own until she realizes that she’s doing it, and then she wobbles and falls over.

Most of the time she is still sleeping great, although lately she is waking up in the middle of the night (must be the teeth and tummy issues). She typically goes to bed around 7:30-8pm and gets up around 7:30-8 the next morning (sometimes even 9-9:30! We love those mornings…). On the flip side, she is down to one nap a day, which means less “free” time for me. Still thinking of putting her in daycare for 1-2 days a week so that some of my time can free up and so that she can be around more kids her age.

While we keep trying to encourage her to learn how to say new words, “hi” is still dominating. I really thought this morning I got her to say “mumma”, but she could have just been making mumumumumum sounds. We try “daddy” “spooky” and “I love you” and I do think she’s really trying to form the words but just can’t get them out.

Everyone tells you in the beginning how fast they change and this first year it’s been amazing to see all of the changes she’s gone through in one little year!

The lack of posts means we’ve been out and about lately going visiting, hanging out locally and most recently we’ve been going to the beach!

The first 10-15 minutes after getting there is always a bit frazzling for me. The combo of laying out a blanket, slathering her with sunblock from head to toe (and then myself) and the constant tug of war with her to keep a hat on her head can be a bit frustrating.

Lulu *LOVES* the water! She jumps up and down in the waves and yells “wow whoa wow whoa“! It fun to watch her get a little more daring as she inches deeper into the water (deeper being hip high on her and ankle deep on me!) and lets the waves splash her belly. I’ve also brought her a little deeper in while I hold her and dunk her legs into a wave as it breaks. Obviously the deeper the water, the colder it is, so we don’t stay deep very long.

She is very much an observer and really loves people watching (much like her parents). She especially loves other kids and gets excited when she sees them running and playing in the sand. Deep down I know she just wants to jump up and join them, but she just isn’t there yet. Soon!

We typically stay for 3-4 hours and toward the end of our day when she’s getting tired, she’s content to sit with me while I coax her to munch on snacks and hydrate herself, while we listen to the surf and watch people stroll by.

sitting pretty

her shirt says "call a vet, because these puppies are sick!" (courtesy of Auntie Mel)

nice smile with those crazy chicklets

staying warm with Mum

Last night little peep was playing before bedtime and found Forrest’s riding goggles on the floor. She did what she normally does, which was to put them in her mouth. I did what I normally do, which was to put them on her face to see what they would look like!

To my surprise, she didn’t immediately tear them off. In fact, she thought it was pretty hilarious-probably because we were laughing, too. All she needed was a mesh shirt and a pair of baggy pants and then she’d look like a little raver club kid. *oontz oontz oontz*

Forrest got a new camera a few weeks ago and is nice enough to leave it out for me to use on occasion. The problem is that I’m getting completely spoiled using it because the pics come out so great. Makes me not want to use my lil point & shoot!

yes, those are her pants on her head

These days Miss Lulu adds more and more things to her repertoire. She claps when singing “Pat a cake”, she mimics sounds back when she hears us sing or say something to her and, along with crawling, she pulls herself up to standing position every chance she gets. This marks the beginning of the end for us, because that means walking and being fully mobile is not far behind! Time to invest in some gates…

She always uses her crib rails to pull herself up and it’s really adorable to walk into her room to see her standing there waiting to be plucked outta there. Even cuter since she learned how to jump up and down on top of it all (even though I know I will have to quell those urges in her eventually)!