Delaney and Friends

Delaney is one popular little girl!  She's had playdates since she was just a few weeks old, but her playdates have become much more fun for her lately.  Most of the playdates are "parallel play" when the kids play along side each other. 

Delaney's Wild Wagon Ride

I've been SO excited for Delaney to have a wagon.  Poppie/Grandpa pulled out all the stops with this top of the line ride that he got for her.  Radio Flyer has come a long way since I was a kid!  This wagon has padded seating for 2 w/ seatbelts, options to fold down 1 or both seats to create a flatbed, a tray table for eating/playing, etc., cupholders, a cooler/storage in the bath and another storage compartment in the front for the diaper bag.  It even has a canopy with UV protection for hot, sunny days!  Delaney now needs her own parking space in our garage! 

It was only fitting that she take the maiden voyage with her best friend Jasper.  They both loved riding in Big Red!  This wagon has an exciting life ahead with trips to the Farmers Market, the beach, the park, soccer games, and just out and around.   

Valen-tiny Delaney

Happy Valentine's Day to our sweet, little Valen-tiny girl!  (She's in the 30th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height). 

Delaney has brought more love and joy to our lives than we ever imagined.   We celebrated the day by spending some quality time together before breakfast and getting 3 new books, including a newer, larger edition of Pat the Bunny, since she chewed her way through the previous version.  Delaney sent out and received several Valentine's from friends and admirers.  And being Valentine's Day and all, she had a special lunch date with Jasper. 
 

10 months

Time is going by too fast!  We are seeing more and more of Delaney going from a baby to a toddler.  She grows and changes significantly every week. 

At 10 months Delaney is:

-          Refusing the bottle.  Bottle feeding has given us grief from Day 1, and now her abilities to refuse combined with her strong will have  made bottle feeding impossible/extremely difficult.  Since milk is their primary source of nutrition for the first year and she should be having a minimum of 20 oz a day, her refusal has been quite stressful.   She is still nursing well (knock on wood) so I’ve continued to breastfeed at least 2 feeds a day and the rest of the time we try our hardest between multiple people, cups and techniques to increase her milk intake.   We are starting some process of weaning from the bottle to a straw cup, which is typically a difficult transition, but for all of us, will be a happy day. 

-          Drinking from a straw cup, which is great news.  We’ve been practicing with sippy cups since about 6 months, but the straw sippy is what we’ve had the most success with since it does not require her to lift up and tilt back.  She can also drink from a normal cup with help.  She just isn’t drinking very MUCH. 

-          Eating solids well.  She now feeds herself 100% of her meals since she won’t let us get near her with a spoon anymore.  The amount of time I spend cooking and menu planning for her is ridiculous.  For breakfast she usually has:  banana pancakes, scrambled egg yolk with spinach or toast with fruit spread and/or bananas.  For lunch and dinner she has: quinoa cakes, zucchini and rice balls, matzoh balls, pasta with olive oil and parmesan cheese, meatloaf, butternut squash cubes, sweet potato sticks, veggie burger, tofu, lentil balls, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, squash cubes, avocado, etc. 

-          Waving “bye bye,” pointing and babbling a LOT.  We can tell that she is trying to say some words but it’s mostly just babble now.    

-          Mimicking us all the time, including blinking and sighing, our favorites. 

-          LOVING the park.  She likes to go on the swing, climb UP the slide, watch all of the other kids, look for airplanes, but her favorite thing is to crawl around in the sand.  She can finally play with her bucket and shovel which were bigger than her when Erin first got them for her!  She goes to the park at least 3 or 4 times a week. 

-          Playing and playing hard!  She could skip eating and sleeping altogether and play all day long if we let her.  She loves her toys (and her non-toys).  She is curious about everything.  

-          Knows her name.  She looks up when we say it. 

-          Knows other names- Mama, Dada, Baba, Dakota, Ilma, Poppie.  When we say, “Where is Dakota?”, she will look around until she sees her. 

-          Teething- her 3^rd tooth just came in.  She now has 2 on bottom and 1 on top.    

-          Understanding more and more of what’s going on around her.  It’s impossible to know how much she understands, but we see her comprehension improving daily.  She can do every command in the Pat the Bunny book, if she hears an airplane and is inside, she will try to go a window so she can look out, when she sees an airplane outside she points at it, she can catch a ball and throw it when we ask her to, if we tell her we are going to go upstairs she will head toward the stairs.  

-          Climbing up the stairs quickly. 

-          LOVES animal books, pictures and sounds.   She actually loves reading in general which I am so thrilled about.  It is one of the few times a day that she will sit still in my lap.  Of course, if the book isn’t compelling enough she will squirm until I pick out one that suits her better. 

-          LOVES her Peter Rabbit that she got for Christmas.  She has shown a clear preference for him and always smiles, laughs and hugs him.  So cute. 

-          Sleeping 13 hours at night, but naps have gone down to about 2 hours total on average. 

-          Has an extremely active social calendar:  Mondays she goes to Storytime class at the library, Tuesdays she goes to a music class, Wednesdays she has her PRIVATE music class, Thursdays we take her to Jackie’s Class/Mommy and Me, Fridays we take her out to lunch, Saturdays and Sundays we always have a lot planned for her including going out to breakfast, visiting friends, going to new parks, going on hikes, going to the Farmers Market, hosting playdates, etc.  She likes being out and about, exploring new environments, being amongst people, and going on adventures.  We are having so much fun exposing her to the world! 

A Day in the Life

Delaney turned 9 months yesterday and rather than post about her milestones, I decided to document a day in her life.  Before we had a kid of our own, I often wondered what families DID all day.  Delaney is an especially active little girl and so we try to engage her with as many outings, playdates (although there were none on this day), activities, games, explorations, etc. as possible.  

Here is a day in our life...   

6:30AM-  I am up to pump and Brice is up to prepare Delaney’s bottle for the day and wash the pump parts.  We store the milk, prepare her food for the day and make sure everything is cleaned up and ready for her. 

7:20AM (she usually wakes between 7:00-7:30AM)- Delaney is up.  (The polka dot crib cover is because our daughter is a badger and was gnawing on her crib.) 

7:25AM First (of MANY) diaper changes

7:30AM- First bottle of the day.  Meanwhile I walk and feed Dakota. 

She finishes 7oz!  It's a good day!

I wrestle her to get some pants on. 

She plays in our room for awhile, always delighted by Dakota.

She plays with her toys. Dakota supervises. 

She plays with some of her Not-Toys. 

And she's off to explore other parts of the house, including her favorite room, the closet.

 She loves the closet because of the interesting fixtures to grab, chew and climb on. 

 But mostly because her best friend is always there, who she always greets with a big smile and kiss...

 We practice waving, a newly learned skill. 

8:15AM- We head downstairs to her play area (which gets rearranged multiple times a day) so that we can start preparing her breakfast while she plays some more.  This morning she is playing with her ball bucket, which includes balls with different kinds of textures, surfaces, sizes and colors.  She throws, rolls and chews on them.  We roll the ball back and forth with her for as long as she is still (not long). 

We try to rotate her toys around, but this Learning House is one of her favorites that she always gravitates to.  She waters the flower, checks mail, pulls pieces out, opens the door and crawls back and forth, etc. 

 8:30AM- Breaskfast.  Today it's green beans mixed with cereal and breastmilk, cubes/sticks of sweet potato and cauliflower for finger foods, Puffs for when all else fails, and her sippy cup to practice drinking. 

 8:45AM- Playing Peek A Boo while Dakota cleans up her breakfast. 

 We take turns scarfing down breakfast while watching/entertaining her. 

 9:00am- Outfit and diaper change and back to playing/cruising. 

 She always needs to be holding something, a small toy (like this shape) or a sock are her favorites.  She likes to multi-task. 

 9:20AM- A trip next door to the swing. 

 9:30AM- We go for a walk, pointing out everything she sees.  Every walk is an exploration.  She loves to look at airplanes and looks up as soon as she hears one. 

 9:45AM- Story time.  I am not sure how much she is understanding, but she sits and listens to the book and looks at the pages.  I know that she is processing some of it because on some of the more interactive books (Pat the Bunny, Where is Baby's Belly Button?), she is starting to participate.   Reading is one of the most important things that we do and we try to make it part of every awake time.    

 10:00AM- We sing a few songs and put her down for a nap. 

 10:05AM- But she likes to play/hang out in her crib for a little bit before going to sleep.  This includes trying to untie the strings in her bumper, trying to "pick" the polka dots off the sheets, chewing on the guard rail, crawling, singing, etc. 

 10:10AM- She's down for her nap.  Meanwhile we run like crazy to clean up the tornado of toys, food, clothes etc., shower, get dressed for the day. 

11:30AM- It was a nice, long nap and now she's up again.

11:35AM- I nurse her, but not without many distractions.  Delaney wants to know where the smallest noise comes from, needs to be sure she isn't missing any action, pulls my hair and clothes, looks up and smiles and laughs, etc. 

 11:50AM Quick playtime/reading upstairs. 

 12:10PM  We load up the stroller (which sounds easy, but we pratically check luggage to go out to lunch) and are off. 

 12:30PM- We attempt to give her lunch (chicken with carrots, barley and sweet potato) at the restaurant.  Most of it ends up on the floor beneath her or on her high chair cover.  She enjoys avocado for the first time!  She flirts with the waiters and stares at other kids.  She loves looking around new environments. 

1:45PM After a quick stop at Big Sugar Bakeshop for dessert, we are back at the house for more play.  Delaney has a book of animals and we sing "Old Macdonald." 

 2:15PM Another diaper change before naptime. 

 2:20PM Story time. 

2:30PM She is finally tired and we put her down for a nap.  We use the time to clean again, prepare her dinner, prepare our dinner, and sit for 5 seconds. 

3:45PM Another great nap.  She nurses and we are off on a hike!

And then back home for more play time.  This evening's toy is a shape sorter.  She doesn't understand sorting shapes yet, but she likes throwing them against the ground to make noise, chewing them, and looking at them closely. 

 Delaney puts on a musical performance.

 4:50PM Dinner and the aftermath

 5:20PM We head upstairs to play together on the bed.  Delaney gets striped down since her clothes are covered with food.  We play Hide and Go seek, sing songs, listen to music and dance, jump on the bed together.

 When she wants to play, she wants to play, and will try to wiggle free if we are holding her.  This is her Twist- Arch her back- Push off with her feet Move. 

 6:00pm  Bathtime!

By this time I've run out of energy to take more pics, plus the flash seems to be bothering her when it's dark, and the rest of the evening is dimly light and as mellow as possible.  

6:20PM I nurse her

6:40PM Goodnight Moon story time.  We say Goodnight to everything in her room and put her down.

6:45PM She is down for the night.  We then clean again, feed Dakota, eat dinner, make her food for the next day, defrost her milk for the next day, watch some TV, pump one last time and go to bed!