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Bonnie's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 5/19/07 -------------------- 4/18/07 2/27/07 1/18/07 12/21/06 12/2/06 11/11/06 10/13/06 9/24/06 9/14/06 9/4/06 8/23/06 8/17/06 8/3/06 7/28/06 7/24/06 7/21/06 7/11/06 6/29/06 6/26/06 6/25/06 6/24/06 6/21/06 6/15/06 6/13/06 -------------------- Bonnie's Introduction

Season's Greetings

December 21, 2006

Well,  I don't have to tell YOU that it's been a while since I've updated.  Without bothering with a plethora of excuses I will try to fit in a quick wrap up of the last few weeks.

First we will start with dear sweet Lorelei.  No surprise, she is just getting more fun and scrumptiously delicious as the months fly by.  I really am trying to savor this tender period and rarely pick her up without holding her close to me and soaking in her preciousness.  She has gotten to be quite the yapper these last few weeks and, when she gets on a roll, can spend nearly the whole day playing with the sounds she is able to make.  We have shrieks, we have squeals, and we have da-da-da-da-da.  We had one occasion where she definitely did a ma-ma-ma-ma, melting my heart just that much more but alas, that is not in her frequent repertoire no matter how much I plead with her.  Sigh.  She even does a mean impression of eyyya which Ella is sure is Lore calling for her sister even though it's a bit early (okay a lot). 

Let's see, what does she like?  She's been doing a lot of jumping in her Johnny Jump up, that's always fun.  She still loves sitting in her Bumbo; this little infant seat has been such a help these first few months.  My blessings on the inventor; it really makes it much easier to include her in any and all family activities.  We have even started feeding her some baby food in it.  We started shortly after her fourth month and so far she is pretty lukewarm about the whole thing but does seem to like being able to eat along with all of us when we are all sitting at the table.  I've given her tough crusts of pizza to gnaw on and she seems to like that better even if she doesn't seem to swallow any at all.

Speaking of feeding I should mention that she is weaned now.  I think we finally petered out around her fourth month.  I know I've mentioned in the past how frustrated and disillusioned I was with breastfeeding so, although there was a twinge of sadness at this major milestone (for her and I) there was also definite relief, again, for her and I.  So now she is my happy healthy formula baby.  Truthfully, she is so interested in everything it's all I can do at times to get her to finish a bottle; I don't know how I could have breastfed her with such curiosity about the world to compete with.  Funny, though, because when she's not popping the bottle out of her mouth she's generally trying to cram just about anything else in it.  This girl leads with her mouth; if we show her something new before she wants to hold it she will go at it mouth first.  Very cute. 

She is also still very spitty; many have commented that she spits up more then most babies they have seen at this age. Not just a little drool mind you, we are talking gobs of nasty partially digested milk.  She gets a condition we fondly call the hic-pukes where she will hiccup and spit up large amounts of fluids over and over.  Much fun, let me tell you (NOT).  Some have wondered if it's because she keeps her hands in her mouth so much that she gags herself but it doesn't seem to just happen when she is cramming her fist in her mouth so I doubt it.  Starting solids hasn't helped either.  Oh well, time is what she needs, I suppose, but there's a reason her nick name is "Pukey Lukey" (ha ha).

My only other major observation lately has been to confirm that she seems to be a much more serious child then many.  Don't get me wrong, we get our smiles in due course and know we are loved but they aren't at all encompassing as I recall with Ella.  She has to be really happy—as in, when we come in to get her up in the morning—to get a full face spontaneous grin.  Other then that, she is solemn in her studies of the world.  Laughter is even more elusive.  If I get her at the right time, I can usually tickle a chuckle out of her but generally my silliness and (more significantly) will at most yield a silent grin of approval. 

Ella is doing good too.  These days, of course, it's all Christmas Christmas Christmas.  I don't mind her obsession; it's natural I think.  I have memories of counting down the days and them seemingly to take forever so it's fun to go through it again with her.   Not that she really has much choice also, we've been as wrapped up as ever in holiday hoopla. It started the first week of December when Ella had her Nutcracker shows.  They were great, of course, and I got a big lump in my throat and misty eyes watching my girl earnestly tapping and ballet-ing away.  We had our annual tree trimming get together with Jamie's family the following week.  Since then we've been to see Santa, been to a cookie swap party, made countless ornaments and wrapped together.  Ella loves to see if we have new packages and always opens all our Christmas cards for us.  So things are going quite well in her life!

The other big thing going on right now is that Jamie's parents moved to our town.  I'm very happy about this as they are older and were living on the Cape with no other family or very close friends nearby.  While they currently manage quite well on their own, they each have health issues and I was so worried that something would happen and we would have to make changes immediately, in crisis mode.  They are also very dependent on each other so if anything happened to one of them I really wouldn't want the other to be alone down there.  So a while ago we put them on the list for elder services and a space actually opened up for them much faster then we had anticipated.  All the same, they took it.  So much better, easier and more comforting to be able to bring them up here when all is well.  They are also thrilled to be living in affordable housing that will save them hundreds of dollars/month.   So far their transition has been gradual, however, and I hope that changing locations doesn't throw them for too much of a loop.  We have been trying to walk a fine line between letting them be independent while also helping them get to know the area and acquiring the things they need for their home to be comfortable.

Well, that's the last few weeks in a nutshell.  My very best to all of you during this crazy wonderful season. 

Thanks for reading,

Bonnie

Finally, here is a picture from Ella taken after her Nutcracker show.  So proud!  Lots more pictures, as well as Christmas Card outtakes, on the flickr account...