Button is with the grandparents for the night, which means I have time to…um…fake that I didn’t completely neglect the Month 7 newsletter.

This isn’t really a newsletter. It’s basically a chronical for my own records so I can look back and see when things happen.

She’s SO ABOUT TO CRAWL. In the last week she has learned how to get from a laying to a sitting position, and how to pull herself up into a standing position in her crib without any help.

Which, of course, means that she’s also ready and eager to try all sorts of other things she’s just not ready for yet…like standing up without holding on to anything for support, and launching herself after certain objects - both of which result in the rather unpleasant face plant. (more…)

WALK THIS WAY
We’ve created a monster. We started teaching Button “baby steps,” where she holds onto our fingers and takes little, wobbly steps, one foot in front of the other. We figured she would enjoy this based on the way she loves to grab our fingers and pull herself into a standing position.
I do believe she has made the connection between these baby steps and moving from Point A to Point B. Now, she is no longer content to lay, sit or stand for any period of time, especially when she sees something (or someone) on the other side of the room that interests her. It’s never long before she starts looking around and getting that little pre-fuss of discontentment. And if she’s standing and we’re not assisting with baby steps, she starts trying to leap her way across the room, which—if we’re not careful—results in a face plant on the carpet.
Though not yet to the point of being able to pull herself from a laying to a sitting position, she has gotten quite good at sitting recently and can sit up without falling over for an almost-indefinite period of time. This is nice because the fancy-schmancy mobile she had previously become bored with is like a new toy from the sitting-up angle, so we’re enjoying her renewed interest in it.

NANNY TRANSITION…AGAIN
We got some unfortunate news recently that, due to a contract stipulation with her school district, Mindy would be unable to continue to be Button’s nanny. We were all very sad about this, as Button seemed to enjoy her time with Mindy, and we had really appreciated being able to have Button at our house every day.
As he tends to do, God provided us a solution with another friend of ours who was looking for a nanny position in order to get out of her current job situation. Kathy happens to live only minutes from our house and has a 17-month old boy, so the two kids will be able to get some social interaction during the day.
Kathy starts this week, and we think things are really going to work out well. We are thrilled that our Little Button will still get to spend the day with someone we know personally, and also that she will continue to get to spend most of her time at our house, in an environment she is familiar and comfortable with.

OTHER TRANSITIONING
The time of breastfeeding has come to an end and we are officially on straight formula now. Little Button has finally taken to the taste of it and doesn’t reject it anymore as long as it’s heated to the perfect temperature. (I told you she was picky, right?)
A relief by all measures.
I must confess that although I found breastfeeding to be a valuable and rewarding part of my child’s development, it’s nice to be able to drink caffeine and eat hot dogs again.
Formula is expensive, and we are spoiling ourselves by buying the ready-to-serve kind because…well frankly, mixing powder is annoying.
But it’s so nice to never worry about having enough to feed her, about what effects my meals will have on her digestive tract, or about what to do if we’re in public and she gets hungry. At first I went through a bit of guilt over the transition, but I’m getting over that now and enjoying it.
We did recently feel the effects of no longer having the breast milk immunity factor, however. Little Button came down with her first cold the other day, probably because we are bad parents and let her chew on a paper coaster in a restaurant.
Said cold was complete with itchy watery eyes, red, runny nose, coughing and the most pitiful pout known to man. She doesn’t cry or get overly fussy when she’s sick, she just mopes. And it breaks your heart every time you look at her, which leads to multiple hugs and carrying her around all day just because. And then when she’s well again, she doesn’t understand why she is no longer in your arms every waking minute.
Fortunately, she seems to have inherited my immune system, complete with the ability to sleep anything off. After 24 hours of heavy napping and a good night’s sleep, she was back to her normal self and the coughing/sneezing/dripping/pouting was no more.

All in all, the past month has flown by and we continue to be amazed at our daughter’s growth and development. Each new stage is more fun than the last and we can’t wait to see what the next month will bring.

Clothing Monster
Little Button turned 4 months old today and fits perfectly in clothing size “0-3 Months.” Go figure. At 4 months, size “3 Months” has plenty of room for growth and “3-6 Months” is like dressing my child in grunge, with the pants falling down around her knees and sleeves that extend three inches past her fingers. She just needs a pair of red boxers and Sketchers and she’ll be ready for the X-Games.

One of my new favorite activities is shopping for her clothing, as there continue to be more and more simply adorable baby clothes to add to the collection. Yes, I am aware that she now has more clothes than J and I combined, but fail to see why that is a BAD thing.

J thinks I’m totally obsessed, but I have to take ad¿vantage of the fact that I CAN pick out her clothes before she gets to the stage where she wants to wear chains and black lipstick. Or worse, decides that her favorite color is pink and that she wants to paint her room fluores¿cent pink so it glows all the way down the hall and emits a high-pitched sonic wave that makes the dog hide in the closet under the stairs.

Playing
Her hands are still her favorite pacifier and she enjoys using her index and middle fingers to play with her tongue. She’s wearing a mit over her left hand today because she has managed to suck a big blister on the back of her hand. Her first hickey. And probably her only hickey, as her father has instigated the rule that boys are completely off-limits until she’s 35.

Her favorite game, and one she can get hours of pleasure out of, is “Stand Up,” in which she lays on the floor and grabs your fingers - one in each hand - and you pull her into a sitting position, and then into a standing position. Once she pushes herself up onto her feet, her eyes get huge and she lets out a laugh as if to say, “My domain has just increased ten-fold! Today, the living room. Tomorrow - the WORLD!”

She has reached that stage where everything must be grabbed, including but not limited to, Mom’s hair, dog’s ears, anything within reach on the table, her bottle, her toys, and anything you happen to be holding, especially if it contains liquid that can be spilled in your lap. At a restaurant last night, she very nearly pulled an entire plate of salmon into my lap. I looked down at the end of the meal and she had a fistful of chocolate sprinkles from my dessert. I can’t blame her for that one though…it was CHOCOLATE. She is her mother’s daughter.

Learning
She has a “concentration” face now, so we can tell when she is really trying to grab something specific with those little curious fingers. She stares intently and sticks her tongue out ever so slightly. She especially has to concentrate when she’s trying to get both hands to do something at the same time, like grab each foot.

We love watching her study things, because you can totally tell what she’s thinking. Like when she spends several minutes studying her feet because one foot has a sock on it and one doesn’t. When she wakes up from a nap in a different place from where she went to sleep, there are always a few minutes of confusion as she looks around with furrowed brows.

She babbles now, particularly when she’s very happy or very annoyed. We have little conversations in baby-nonsense. She hates the fact that I make her take naps and will often lecture me about it until she falls asleep. In the mornings, which are the happiest time of day, she lays in her crib and squeals little noises of pleasure to her stuffed animals while she eats their faces.

Daddy’s Little Flirt
She can be drifting off into a nice slumber, but the second she hears Daddy’s voice, she wakes up and starts looking around for him. When she locates him, she bats her eyes and starts smiling.

J is trying to get her to say “Daddy” and spends countless evenings with “Can you say Daddy? Daaaa-Deee? Say Dad-dy?” Her response is usually to break out into an open-mouthed smile and giggle at the silly man who makes funny noises.

But nonetheless, she has developed her first crush. And it’s totally mutual.

Eating
We’ve recently started the foray into solid foods by adding cereal to her milk. She hasn’t noticed at all—a good thing.

Our only complaint about her eating habits is that she refuses to give more than 1/2-second between “I think I’m hungry,” and “HOLY CRAP THE WORLD IS GOING TO EXPLODE IF I DON’T GET SOME FOOD 5 MINUTES AGO!!!”

As a result, we find ourselves rushing frantically to the bottle warmer with her in one arm, trying to avoid setting the dog on fire with the flaming arrows she’s shooting out of her eyes.

Once the bottle touches her lips, the fire-breathing dragon gets exorcised and she returns to her normal, happy, smiling self. After she finishes her bottle, she’s ready to play with a smile so big she has to open her mouth and stick her tongue out because her cheeks can’t stretch any wider.