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| E did not want to have her picture taken today! This is the best one I captured. Doesn't she look sweet, though? |
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| For size reference, here she is with a few of her favorite toys. |
Sleeping: We were traveling from July 14-27, and it really messed up Evie's sleep schedule. She started waking up twice at night all over again, but just in the past few days she is back to waking up only once, in the very early morning. Her naps really regulated this month. She now naps for 30 minutes to 1 hour twice a day, one hour after she wakes up in the morning, and then about 3 hours after the first nap. Sometimes she also naps for about 30 minutes in the late afternoon between 3 and 4. While this isn't a lot of daytime sleep, it's better than she'd been doing, and I am grateful!
Teeth: Evie cut her two bottom teeth at the end of July. It didn't seem to bother her much. Hallelujah!
Play: Evie continues to grow by leaps and bounds in this department. She loves to crawl around the house, pulling up on everything in sight. She is starting to cruise a little bit, but we are not pushing this! She also likes to walk holding onto our hands, but again, we are not pushing it. This child is determined to do all this as fast as she can, but I'm not quite ready for it! I'm already missing a lot of the cuddle time we used to have since she is so much more interested in moving around than in hanging out with mama.
Something really sweet that has started with Evie's increased mobility is a little game that Finlay plays with her. As I've mentioned before, she really likes his toys, and he has picked up on that. He will now walk up to her while she is playing on the floor, with a favorite toy in his mouth, and wait for her to make a move for it. He then slowly backs away, keeping the toy just out of reach, creating a little game of chase. You can tell he is soooo proud of himself for coming up with the game, and Evie LOVES it. So precious.
Evie has also started waving. She, of course, won't do it on demand or all the time, but she definitely waves hi and bye when she wants to. It's so cute to see her little arm flapping up and down and the big smile on her face! Evie is giving kisses now too. Sometimes after being prompted and sometimes without warning, she will lean in and kiss you anywhere on the face - mouth, cheeks, nose, chin, whatever she can reach. It is too too too sweet!
One of Evie's favorite types of toys is "texture books," those that have all the different kinds of fur for animals, etc. She has always loved to turn pages, but now she feels the pages of just about every book, whether it has textures or not.
A new, less pleasant thing we have started with Evie is a little discipline. Since she has been exploring, we have had to start using "no." She doesn't really get it yet, but hopefully she will soon! We always try to explain, like " I know Evie wants to play with her sleep sounds machine because it has fun buttons, but she can't yank out the power cord because that might hurt her. No playing with the sleep machine. It might hurt Evie." Clearly I know that she doesn't understand all this yet, but I want us to be in the habit of giving her effective discipline so that once she does start to get it, we'll already be doing it the right way. Evie has also started to throw temper tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants. It is so hard to ignore her screaming and try to calmly explain to her what is happening and why she isn't getting what she wants, but again, I know starting these good practices early will pay off in the long run.
Sizes: Evie is now wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes. I did expect her to thin out a bit more now that she is mobile, but she is still a little chunk!
