Weeks of Big Milestones

Evie has been leaping firmly into the world these past few weeks! She feels like a little girl to me now, no longer the beautiful, porcelain doll of her first months. She locks her eyes on me and clearly communicates her needs. She's more active in general - especially in the mornings from nine to eleven - which means that she's napping regularly. She takes a nap at eleven in the morning and again at three in the afternoon. She's asleep by seven in the evening and only wakes up twice during the night - once around midnight and again at four-thirty. At seven she's wide awake and ready to play. Sometimes she hears the other children on the block getting ready for school and wants to go outside on the porch and watch the action. One day we'll be rushing to get her packed up and in the car - probably with just as much chaos as we hear from our neighbors!

The biggest news of the past two weeks is that Evie has had several important breakthroughs! Or, according to her pediatrician, she's reached three major milestones: Rolling over, grasping objects with one hand, and the development of binocular vision (i.e. depth perception, gazing intently, and accurate tracking). This is all very exciting for her proud mother of course. I think it might also be kind of exciting for her, although in some ways she's getting more frustrated than before. Now that she's really focusing on what she wants to grab, and has the depth perception to accurately aim for things, she becomes quite peeved (and sometimes injured) when the object doesn't go from her hand to her mouth quite as smoothly as she'd intended! 

One of the most important 'milestones' Evie reached was when she was with her Auntie Becky doing "Tummy Time" on Sunday (2/6)! Here is a video taken just after the event!

                                                                                

                                                                          

Valentine Video

A Reasonable Bit of Quiet

"Try to arrange things so that you can have a reasonable bit of quiet every day" .
Evelyn Underhill

We're back! We've had many happy surprises since our last posting, starting with Evie's Papa arriving unexpectedly at our doorstep on Friday night - all the way from New York! This surprise was both weird and wonderful. Because Boris has always felt ripped off by his many trips to California without seeing one Redwood tree, we took our little bean on the road to Northern California to see the Sequoias in Grandpa Dick's neck of the woods. As all of you know, Evie has been born into a family of Redwood lovers and it was just pure joy to see her big eyes grow even wider as she took in these quiet giants. Her little body relaxed into mine as I carried her for the first time in the 'big girl' Baby Bjorn on the many trails throughout Pt. Reyes. She insisted on being carried face forward (usually babies under six months face the parent). She giggled and kicked her legs as we walked. It was supremely delightful.

So, because I know you've all been in suspense from our last posting, let me report the results from the Flax Oil trials without further delay: After a very nonrandom, uncontrolled two week study, we have concluded that Flax Oil has cured Evie of her intestinal distress. Yes, you heard that right. Evie is no longer pushing obsessively for several hours each day. Her poops are slip, sliding away! With that said, we are on to the next challenge: Teething.

With her pooping problems behind her, so to speak, Evie is now focusing on her gums. She is stuffing both hands into her mouth and staring at me in bewilderment. Then her eyes narrow and she starts grunting and drooling. Eventually her eyes well up and her tears mix with her saliva as her look turns to...what I can only call... betrayal. Her little mouth, once the center of comfort and pleasure, has become a throbbing, bubbling cauldron of unexpected torment. Poor sweet noodle! If anyone has any home remedies for teething, feel free to share. I don't want to give her any of the numbing ointments because I've heard they contain yucky chemicals and don't work very well anyway.

Now that we're home and back into our routine, the posts will return to their daily schedule. Your comments are very fun and much appreciated. Stay tuned for the next installment in the adventures of little Evie.