WEEK 21 – October 14 – October 20, 2010 – 20 weeks old

I’m getting so big!  Mommy and Daddy are fascinated by me every day.  I am eating veggies or fruits twice a day and even at school now!  Ms. Audrey and Ms. Kathy (my teachers at school) say I’m doing really well with eating and even sitting up to eat!  Mommy and Daddy brought out the high chair that cousins Heather and Paul gave me and I have been using that to eat my big girl food.  I sit up really well and get VERY excited when that food comes near!



Look at me sittin' in my high chair!

In addition to the high chair, I’m starting to hold my bottle on my own for short periods while I’m drinking!  I like to put my hands on either side of the bottle and hold it up to my face.  Sometimes I get a little crazy with the hands and pull the nipple out, and then there is much mouthing and often some talking that occurs while I try to figure out just how to get it back in there.  The main thing is that I’m learning so much – EVERY DAY!

Holding my own bottle!

This past weekend we had lots of visitors.  Sissy came down from college and we got to play, we had cousins Leia, Tony, Jaeden and Tyson over for dinner, and we had a baby shower at our house!  It was fun to have lots of adults and kids there to play with.  I can’t wait to meet Baby Stowe, for whom we had the shower…I’m going to teach her SOOOO much because I’ll be an even BIGGER girl by then (next month)!  At the party, I got to play with Madison and Malcolm and Aunt Mary Ann.  I had been a tad bit grumpy (I think I’m coming down with a cold because I’ve been really stuffy all week), so I also go to have a nap on my Daddy during the party.  Sometimes it’s best just to snuggle in and get some good sleep on your Dad!



I also got to experience gardening with Mommy and Daddy first-hand this past Sunday.  It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL weekend here in Seattle, and since we’re getting ready to enter what Mommy calls “the Dark Days of Winter,” Mommy and Daddy wanted to take advantage of the weather to do a final clean up of the yard, take down our garden, put away the flower baskets, and prune back the trees.  I got to participate in my first bit of yardwork!  No, Mommy didn’t make me weed (she says that’s her job – she actually LIKES to do that!), but I did get to ride around on Daddy while he picked up baskets, held the ladder for Mommy while she cleaned up the trumpet vine on our pergola out back, and cleaned up the back yard.  It was a little chilly, but I wore my hat and coat (Mommy needs to get a pair of gloves that fit!) and ended up taking a 30 minute nap in my Baby Bjorn while Daddy slaved away.  I’ll reiterate – he’s GOOOOD to nap on!

My OT, Ms. Colleen, came to visit me again this week at school.  She and Ms. Audrey talked about some of the exercises I can be doing during playtime at school.  Ms. Colleen was REALLY impressed with how much I’ve come along since she visited me last time.  I’m getting much more interested in toys and using my hands to grab onto them.  I’m a big fan of the hanging hippo in our classroom, and I love my Freddie the Firefly toy with all its crinkly and shiny parts. 

Mommy and Ms. Audrey have also started “Baby Sign Language” with me and we’re focusing on basics like Eat, Drink, Milk, Cereal, and More.  Mommy and I have taken to watching Baby Signing Time DVDs in the morning while I drink my first bottle, so we’re both learning lots of signs.  Mommy tries to use them when we talk about food or my pets (doggies and fish), so I’ll start to pick up on them. I don’t sign anything yet, of course, but I am very interested in the videos (along w/ my Baby Einstein videos!) and like to move my feet along with the music.  I think I’m going to be a dancer like my Grandma and Mommy…I LOOOVE music and moving those feet!