Esme latest

5 months old!
Esme is grabbing lots with both hands, especially my face and hair. She reaches out with those big hands and whatever she catches, be it a nose, earlobe, or fistful of hair, she yanks and twists.

She’s rolling back and forth very fast. She can lie on her belly and push her self up quite high these days. If I prop her up into a sitting position and then bring her arms forward she can balance herself for a few seconds. Really won’t be long till she’s sitting unsupported.

She goes into an exersaucer kind of thing with rollers and can propel herself around our sitting room. It has a tray on it with toys and when Mom was here we said she was “going to work,” because as soon as toys are put on that tray, she snatches them up, puts them in her mouth and then flings them off onto the floor, like she’s being paid to do it or like she can’t rest until all of the toys are off that tray. And this is done with the most earnest expression on her face. I remember when Jolon was a bit older than this and he would wake up and go to work as well, only in his case, his “job,” was hoisting himself up to a standing position in the the bed by holding on to the headrest, dropping back down and then up again. And when there are no more toys, she usually protests, so we are always asking Jolon and Kellan to fill her tray back up.

A typical day is a wake up around 7:00. Hour nap around 9:00 or 10:00, usually on a walk with me. Hour to hour and a half nap about 1:00 or 2:00. And usually a 30 –45 minute nap around 5:00. Then I put her to bed after dinner, around 7:30. Recently it takes me only 15 min. to half an hour to get her down, and quite often this just means holding her in bed and gently rocking her back and forth. I usually nurse her during dinner and give the milk a chance to settle before putting her to sleep. She sucks her thumb to soothe herself and FINALLY I’m enjoying the bedtime routine. It’s gotten a lot shorter, with much less crying. She will quite often wake up 20-45 minutes later but it’s not hard to rock her back to sleep. Having written all of that, she was diagnosed this morning with chicken pox as well as a nasty cold and so for the past 48 hours has been understandably inconsolable.

People often ask me if it’s easier having a girl than a boy. So far, she has been an easier baby, but at this point, I’m convinced it’s partly just her nature and partly because we are doing some things better or at least we know a little more than we did the first time around.

My favourite things about Esme these days
1. her gorgeous smile
2. the way she sucks her thumb
3. the fact that she has a favourite position on me that she likes to be held in (head tucked in close against my left shoulder, thumb in mouth)
4. the way she grabs my hair when she’s snuggling in close or nursing
5. the way she watches the boys so intently
6. the way she wakes up slowly in the mornings
7. her smell
8. how funny she is blowing bubbles

I’m planning to wait until 6 months to give her any food, like I did with the boys. That’s just a month away. Jolon thinks I should give her zucchini first and I’m leaning towards pumpkin. Kellan had squash for his first meal (hated it) and Jolon had Japanese sweet potato first (liked the spoon better, but was very interested).