Sorry I’m not on time with the monthly update, but things are a little busy around here without my right-hand man. Okay, I lie. I actually spent my Aurora-free hours last night trying to make good progress on Shadow of the Wind, the reading group book that I’m supposed to finish by this Sunday night. It’s good, but there are only so many hours in the day, and I keep getting distracted from reading by incidentals like dirty dishes, diaper laundry, phone calls, emails and so on. But enough about me. This is the girl you wanna see:
I promise, this is the last monthly update. From now on, we count in years (and half-years). Over the last month, Aurora’s been doing some amazing things. I think the most surprising thing for me was the crawling. We were sure, from her aptitude for standing and cruising, coupled with her abhorrence of tummy time, that the crawling was never going to happen – she’d go right to walking. Much to our surprise, though, she decided that it was more important to get where she wanted to go than to keep off her knees. Now the baby-proofing is really important, because she can get anywhere she likes in the house. I installed a gate at the stairs, but other than that, it’s mostly a matter of rearranging and supervision.
The biggest difference between last month and this is her sleeping habits. She’s gone from 8-9 hours of broken sleep at night, with one or two 45-min. nursings, to a whopping 11 hours, usually solid. When she cries out at night, we just wait a moment, and she nearly always puts herself back to sleep very quickly. Having that pattern established has been wonderful in every way but one: Daddy doesn’t get to spend as much time with his girl in the evenings. On the positive side, though, Mommy is less of a basket case, we’ve ended the nightly battles to get her to sleep, she’s less easily frustrated during the day, and Mommy can do stuff during the day while Aurora’s napping.
The napping is a much bigger challenge, and I confess, I’m not doing too well at it. I’m supposed to put her down for her naps 2.5 hours MAX after she wakes in the morning, and 2.5 hours MAX after she wakes from her morning nap. This sounds doable until you realize that the wakeup, potty, nursing, dressing, etc. routine takes a lot of time, and then the breakfast/lunch, potty, nursing, story, song routine before the naps also takes a lot of time, and what you’re left with in the middle is maybe enough for a quick game of peek-a-boo. So, I’ve been cheating. Going out for some groceries, maybe a walk at the mall, visiting with friends, etc. As is to be expected, this makes it harder to Aurora to go down, and aggravates the whole process. It got really bad this past week, because I complicated things with a whole bunch of longer outings, like going to ICBC, the doctor’s (twice), Science World and the Aquarium. Now she’s having lots of trouble falling asleep, and Mommy’s the one to blame.
Some of Aurora’s other milestones this month include:
- Putting things INTO other things, i.e., food back into the tupperware I took it out of, a small ball into one of her nesting cups, grass and leaves into the neck hole of my shirt, and so on;
- Standing unsupported for 10 to 30 seconds at a time. Could walking be far away?
- More “talking”, although nothing yet seems to indicate a particular idea;
This month, she’s really taken to swinging at the park, she seems to prefer meat and dairy products to fruit now, and she likes to sit on the grass and pull it out!
Recently we hooked up with our neighbours across the street for a trip to Douglas Park. Evan is 2 1/2, Maren is a few weeks older than Aurora, and Owen (next door) is 9 months old. They make a nice little playgroup!
Aurora still likes to play Peek-a-boo, but it’s wearing a bit thin at times. Having a cool new hiding place livens things up a little.
The September morning light was gorgeous in our living room yesterday. I absolutely love this time of year, when the sunshine slants and filters through the leaves of our big tree, and falls all over the living room floor in bright dappled splashes. The weather’s been perfectly wonderful lately, too. Not too hot and not too cold or wet. Perfect for long walks with my girl, or just hanging out in the living room. Happy Birthday, Sweetie!
