18 July 2005
Raina spits up a lot, and she doesn’t like it. We go through burp clothes like crazy and have to change her onesie 2-3 times a day. We have recently realized the utility of bibs and now Raina wears one at almost all times, and now we go through 2-3 bibs a day in addition to countless burp cloths. (post-note upon further reflection, operation perma-bib while theortically sound, was impractical due to the common problem of lazy parenting)
Raina used to love her carseat. Everytime she got in it we were taking a trip, and she likes to move. But recently she has come to associate it with being left alone at the YMCA and being stuck where she can’t really play. So she does not like it when you put her in her carseat.
Raina does play now. Her play station as we call it has multiple dangling items that Raina has learned to either grab and hold onto or swat and bat. She also grabs and tugs. Kicking the play land support arches has lost its allure, as she has discovered using her hands to play. Hitting with her hands has more success for movement and sound.
Raina’s newfound hand dexterity also includes putting it in her mouth which she excitedly does. Once upon a time she enjoyed putting her hand in her mouth, but it would only happen by accident. "Oh wow this is nice" "Wait where did it go" Now she clumsily opens her mouth in excited anticipation and wanders and flails her hand in the general direction of her mouth until she succeeds, which then results in multiple minutes of loud drooly hand sucking.
Speaking of drool. Raina drools. A Lot. In fact it appears that she prefers to keep a store of drool just on the outside of her lips, which is fine unless she turns to her side or leans over resulting in drool drippage and transfer. She blows raspberries in all conscious moments. Wiping up the drool is a mostly futile endevour, for she always makes more.
Raina likes to be naked, but wouldn’t you? It is after all summer in St. Louis and our house is 81 degrees. But back to the nakedness, she really likes it, she gets excited and happy when you start to strip her onesie off.
We were initially concerned about Raina’s lack of concentrated pooping. This turns out to be unfounded. She has overflowed her diaper at all potential points of failure, resulting in soiled onesies, sheets, mattress pads, pillows and parental clothing. Most of these pooping incidents are prefaced by loud gurgling flatulent noises. These can easily be heard from . . . Well anywhere in the house, and have been known to wake her sleepy parents at night. But often Raina is able to take the sleep disruption in stride and ignore her dirty deeds for numerous hours.
Raina has had some gassy issues. She doesn’t like it, and nor do we. It can be stinky and painful for her. Often she ends up releaving herself unintentionly coordinated with a sneeze or cough or cry.
Raina’s neck strength is quite impressive at this point, and we find ourselves rarely concerning ourselves with supporting her head. In a similar vein, her legs are also quite strong. She rarely is interested in standing when she is happy, those times are best spent looking at things such as funny parental faces or mirrors or in her play land. But when unhappy, her first instinct is to tense up all her muscles. Eric likes to use this opportunity to get her to practice standing. She does not appear to like this very much but, until she calms down she is quite incapable of avoiding it. She can maintain her weight (but not balance) for almost a minute these days.
Raina gets quite fussy after feedings sometimes. Burping does not seem to come as easily as it used to.
She has become a fan of being held up so that she can look around. Although she cannot balance herself very well she likes sitting either in laps or on the floor.
Raina will on occasion have pseudo conversations with you. You say something she grunts back. We hope to have her talking in no time.
All in all Raina has been fantastic whenever we go out to eat at restaurants. She will just sit there quietly and stare off into the background or go to sleep. I believe our record at this point is like 8-0, which is quite impressive. Dinner at home often does not go as smoothly.
Raina used to love her carseat. Everytime she got in it we were taking a trip, and she likes to move. But recently she has come to associate it with being left alone at the YMCA and being stuck where she can’t really play. So she does not like it when you put her in her carseat.
Raina does play now. Her play station as we call it has multiple dangling items that Raina has learned to either grab and hold onto or swat and bat. She also grabs and tugs. Kicking the play land support arches has lost its allure, as she has discovered using her hands to play. Hitting with her hands has more success for movement and sound.
Raina’s newfound hand dexterity also includes putting it in her mouth which she excitedly does. Once upon a time she enjoyed putting her hand in her mouth, but it would only happen by accident. "Oh wow this is nice" "Wait where did it go" Now she clumsily opens her mouth in excited anticipation and wanders and flails her hand in the general direction of her mouth until she succeeds, which then results in multiple minutes of loud drooly hand sucking.
Speaking of drool. Raina drools. A Lot. In fact it appears that she prefers to keep a store of drool just on the outside of her lips, which is fine unless she turns to her side or leans over resulting in drool drippage and transfer. She blows raspberries in all conscious moments. Wiping up the drool is a mostly futile endevour, for she always makes more.
Raina likes to be naked, but wouldn’t you? It is after all summer in St. Louis and our house is 81 degrees. But back to the nakedness, she really likes it, she gets excited and happy when you start to strip her onesie off.
We were initially concerned about Raina’s lack of concentrated pooping. This turns out to be unfounded. She has overflowed her diaper at all potential points of failure, resulting in soiled onesies, sheets, mattress pads, pillows and parental clothing. Most of these pooping incidents are prefaced by loud gurgling flatulent noises. These can easily be heard from . . . Well anywhere in the house, and have been known to wake her sleepy parents at night. But often Raina is able to take the sleep disruption in stride and ignore her dirty deeds for numerous hours.
Raina has had some gassy issues. She doesn’t like it, and nor do we. It can be stinky and painful for her. Often she ends up releaving herself unintentionly coordinated with a sneeze or cough or cry.
Raina’s neck strength is quite impressive at this point, and we find ourselves rarely concerning ourselves with supporting her head. In a similar vein, her legs are also quite strong. She rarely is interested in standing when she is happy, those times are best spent looking at things such as funny parental faces or mirrors or in her play land. But when unhappy, her first instinct is to tense up all her muscles. Eric likes to use this opportunity to get her to practice standing. She does not appear to like this very much but, until she calms down she is quite incapable of avoiding it. She can maintain her weight (but not balance) for almost a minute these days.
Raina gets quite fussy after feedings sometimes. Burping does not seem to come as easily as it used to.
She has become a fan of being held up so that she can look around. Although she cannot balance herself very well she likes sitting either in laps or on the floor.
Raina will on occasion have pseudo conversations with you. You say something she grunts back. We hope to have her talking in no time.
All in all Raina has been fantastic whenever we go out to eat at restaurants. She will just sit there quietly and stare off into the background or go to sleep. I believe our record at this point is like 8-0, which is quite impressive. Dinner at home often does not go as smoothly.
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