Journal › 2009 January

Cam tried to let Emma take a nap in her crib today, just like she’s done on other days. But naps in the crib just aren’t happening. Emma likes to roll over too much from her back to her tummy. And as you can see here, she’s getting quite good at it. But she can’t roll from her tummy to her back yet. Once she’s on her tummy, she’s not always comfortable. So the rollover usually ends in crying or screaming until we get her on her back again. Then the whole cycle repeats. Over and over. And over. And over. Good thing she’s cute, right?

(Oh, and did we mention she’s learning to make interesting sounds by blowing through pursed lips? You’ll see and hear those in the video too.)

Emma is eating like a champ! We’ve been giving her rice cereal for about two weeks now, and wanted to try something new. At the beginning of the week, I made a batch of pureed sweet potatoes for her to try. She loves it! Today was her third day eating sweet potatoes, and she ate every last bit.

Now we just have to decide what to try next. Apples? or Doug’s favorite, avocado!

My, how much better we’ve gotten at eating our cereal. The tongue reflex is starting to disappear, and she’s starting to lean forward, anticipating the spoon in her mouth. Rice cereal is going well; banana, not so much.

After being frustrated for well over a month now that she couldn’t roll over from her back to her belly, Emma has finally mastered the art of The Rollover™. Well, ok. Maybe she hasn’t “mastered” it yet. But as she shows in the video below, it’s now a simple maneuver for her. In fact, she’s rolling over onto her belly almost every time we lay her down on her back now.

She hasn’t rolled over in her crib yet. But we’re not going to be surprised if we walk in one morning and find her already on her belly.

Today, we tried to feed Emma her first solid food: rice cereal. Not really a solid food, I know. But it’s not just milk either. There was one big problem: she didn’t know what to do with it. As Cam and I each took turns holding the spoon up to her mouth, she’d stick her tongue out to push it way. Or she would turn her head away after she learned what was coming. I don’t think any cereal actually got into her mouth. Most of it went down her chin. I think we’ll be working on solids for a while.

Emma is five months old, and has officially passed 14 pounds in weight! Like all other months so far, she was just as amazing this month. We constantly wonder how she can go from one stage to the next so quickly. This month gave us a big gift. More sleep! We no longer wake to feed her every two hours. There were several nights where Doug and I woke up scratching our heads, truly amazed she slept for so long. continued ›