Sharing

Hannah has discovered sharing. I don't know if it's related, but a recent study has shown that children not much older than Hannah can demonstrate altruistic behavior (helping others). This past week she learned to hand us things when we say "please", and that we will give it back to her when we say "Would you like it back?". It's probably not altruism, but she loves it as a little game nonetheless. What seems a little more like genuine sharing is her sharing of food. We've found that she is more likely to eat her food when sharing is involved. It started with her though; unprompted she will eat half of a Cheerio, Puff or yogurt melt and then try to put the other half in one of our mouths. Then if we do the same, even when she seems fussy and doesn't want to eat, she will take the half eaten item from us and finish it. Apparently food is more appetizing when it has changed hands a couple of times. Heidi found that if she puckers up and holds a Cheerio in her lips, Hannah can't resist grabbing it and eating it. Makes you feel like a mama bird. Wow...that didn't sound gross until I typed it out.

Read more...

Apple Pie

Today for breakfast I wanted some bacon. We are supposed to start giving Hannah more of what we eat, so I thought "It would be awesome to give Hannah some bacon. Who doesn't love the taste of bacon?" So I asked Heidi (online) if I could give Hannah some bacon. Her response was:

Heidi: DO NOT GIVE HANNAH BACON

I got out a container of apple, vanilla and grain baby food instead. The vanilla didn't stand alone with the apples very well, so I added some cinnamon, which made it taste just like apple pie. I was really excited to give this to her, since I don't always find her food very tasty. She liked the first couple of bites, but then got fussy. I figured if she didn't want it I could always end up eating it, since I wasn't going to bother making bacon just for me and hadn't eaten anything yet. Then Heidi suggested thickening it with oatmeal and putting it on the tray of her high chair so that she could feed herself.

Heidi: did you let her feed herself?

it's ok if she gets messy

Messy she did get. After I put some of the food down for her she ate some of it and swirled some around on the tray. After that I could spoon it to her, so long as she had some of it on the tray to swirl around. This was going really well until she put her hand on her forehead, followed by one on the side. It at least resulted in an excellent hairdo.


Needless to say, this was followed by a quick rinse in the bath tub. This bath went much more smoothly than the last. I remembered her diaper, at least. I did forget a washcloth, however, and hat to scoop up the water with my hands to wash out her hair. Heidi does this very well but it is a skill that I have not yet mastered. That is, I can get the water up to her hair just fine, but I have trouble keeping it out of her eyes. Luckily Hannah is a pretty happy little girl and didn't seem to mind too much. Drying her off even seemed to go pretty well.



Then, after a quick brushing of her hair and a bottle came nap time. Which means blog posting time. Now I'm off to get ready for the day before she wakes up.

Read more...

Holy Smokes!

Too much to write about - that is why I have been putting this off. So, to remedy the situation, I have decided to make a list. Then I will update more frequently on current topics and try to check some things off of the list.

1. Hannah is signing - we have the first unprompted sign on video, so I'll be able to put a date on that.
2. Hannah is signing a lot, and learning new ones quickly.
3. Hannah can army crawl.
4. Hannah walks towards our Christmas tree if you hold her hands up. It really only works in that one direction.
5. Hannah loves her booger sucker.
6. I have discovered the absolute best way to put a onesie or a shirt on a baby.
7. Hannah did well on the car ride to Michigan for t-day.
8. I (along with some help) nailed down our ridge vent (on our roof) and removed all of the flying squirrels from our house.
9. Our chocolate lab almost ate himself to death. Literally.

That should get us up to the present.

There. Now I just have to post regularly. Wish me luck!

Read more...