It won't be long now

As I've mentioned, I try to give El plenty of floor time to strengthen her little muscles.  I still can't get her to roll from her tummy to her back again, and she is getting even closer to rolling from back to tummy.  But today, I realized that my plan to make sure she was developing physically might be backfiring.  I had her on her stomach today, and she wanted desperately to get a block just out of reach:

You can see it in her eyes.  After stretching out both arms and finding it too far away, she resorted to this:

Well crap.  She just has to figure out a few more things, and she'll be crawling.  I suppose now would be the time to start childproofing everything.  On the bright side, I was considering my need for more exercise.  I suppose chasing her around all day should fit the bill.

Teething, it's a real pain in the. . .

. . .mouth.  I was going to say mouth.  I'm not 100% sure El is teething, but considering the fact that she was going all Walking Dead on Sophie the Giraffe's face, I would guess so.  Either that, or she's the most adorable zombie ever.

Also, if you haven't realized it yet, I'm a weirdo.  The fact that I only have a four month-old to talk to all day, well, that inevitable means those weird thoughts that I tend to only express to my wife will now be passed on for all of you to enjoy.  The above zombie comments are Exhibit A.  Anyhoo, El is still in high spirits, but she has definitely been fussier this entire week.  When you think about it, teething is one of nature's cruel jokes.  You have to spend years forcing those little things through, only for them to fall out so you can force bigger ones through.  Rough.

Sitting up is hard to do

Having apparently mastered the art of rolling from tummy to back, El seems to have lost interest in it all together.  Neither Mom nor I have managed to get her to roll over since last week.  She has started to get very, very close to rolling from back to tummy, though, which is very exciting.  There's this little matter of her arm being in the way, though.

El also has a bit of a dilemma - when Mom or I hold her in a sitting position she really wants to lean forward and play with her feet.  The problem is that she can't control how far she leans, so she pretty much sinks down to the floor.  Today she at least figured out how to get her head and shoulders off of the ground.

There's long way to go, but we'll get there, baby girl.

This baby, she is a changin'

I suppose one of the biggest reasons I feel so fortunate to be staying home with El is that I get to see all of the subtle changes, from the way she grips a toy to the new sounds she makes.  The things that entertained her just a month or two ago are boring now, so we have to constantly find new ways of making her smile.  My new favorite is making her Blast Off.  Now that I've done it enough times, when I tell her she's clear for liftoff and begin counting down, she breaks into a big grin.  For Mom, coming home from work tends to get a good smile.  And when that doesn't work, there's always this:

Yep, this baby, she is a changin'.  I'm looking forward to what fun, new games we'll get to play next.

Leaving for work is harder to do

When my wife was still on maternity leave, leaving for work was the easiest thing.  Mom and El were both still fast asleep, so I'd get ready, pack my lunch, peek in on them and go.  But now that I spend all day with El, and she also wakes up earlier, it's tougher.  This morning I went in to work for nine o'clock, and El was wide awake and looking at me with those adorable eyes.  It definitely makes it harder to leave, especially considering that I knew she wasn't going to be up for long after I got home.  But we packed plenty of smiles (and a bath!) into those two hours.  Plus Mom texted me some cute pictures while I was at work.

Side note - our cat, Barney, is so good with her.  She'll get a handful of his fur and yank on it, and he doesn't even move.

Hangin' with Cousin Em

We made our weekly trip out to Uncle S's house once again to see Grandma B and Cousin Em.  Upon arrival, the two couldn't stop looking at each other.  We reached a whole new level of cuteness when El was doing some floor time and Em was hanging out with her, being either Baby Em or Doggy Em (when he pretends to be like his baby cousin or Tuggy the dog).  It did provide for a cute picture:

Bonus - Em has seen me often enough now that he refers to me by name.  Or his sixteen month-old version of my name, which is pretty darn close.

SAHD Tip Ten - If you have a relative or a close friend who has a kid at home too, hang out with them regularly.  Seriously, like once a week.  The day will pass a lot faster, the kids will be really cute together (Exhibit A above), and it's a nice way to break up the week and save your sanity by talking to someone else taking care of a small child.

My Daughter is Weird

She really is.  When I put El down for a nap and she gets her thumb into her mouth, I can just leave the room knowing she's down for the count.  Or when she's getting tired, she'll pop her thumb into her mouth and I'll know it's time for a nap, which is great.  But here's the thing - she won't just find her thumb when I put her down.  She'd rather lay there, squirming and fussing with her eyes closed.  For a few days, I'd give her a pacifier for a few minutes until her eyes started to droop, and then pull it out and she'd replace it with her thumb.  Now I just take her hand and move it to her face, thinking the entire time, "Really, El?  You can't do this yourself?"

Of course, I'm just happy that she naps at all.  Still. . .she's a little weird.  And adorable.