Let's see, the girls came back on the 22nd of March. The flights went OK and we all got home safely, but tired. Bianca's first two teeth had erupted in Poland so they had had a trying week.
We went to Bianca's 6 month check up the following evening and she clocked in about 400g heavier than the month prior; which isn't much, but she was teething. We got the green light to start solids and the doctor even laid out the order of introduction of various foods.
We had 2 days of solid introductory fun before we took a family vacation to Tenerife. We had some invitations to go Stateside, but after 2.5 wks of hustle and bustle in Poland; we needed quality, tranquil, family time. Our week in Tenerife was awesome, see pics below, and Bianca enjoyed the pool, the attention, her new pack, the warmer weather, and being spoiled by having both parents around all day long. Her love of solid food was lukewarm at best and she slept through the whole mountain drive up to Mt. Teide, 3700 m; well, we actually only got to 2400m by car. Ewa and I enjoyed the relaxation, the meals, and the ability to sit on our patio and drink our alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in such a relaxing setting.
At some point in the last 10 days we decided to stop feeding Bianca at night because we thought that that was the reason she kept waking up. So our plan was, diaper changes only, no feeding. The first night she woke up, like clockwork, at 3:30. We changed her and put her back to bed. Some fussing, some crying, no wailing. The next night, the same. The third night she went to 5:30am or (this is from 8:30pm, with Ewa feeding her when we go to bed). The last four nights its been: in bed by 8:30pm and not a peep until 7, 7:15am. Score one for the parents! Ewa has been able to get 8hrs sleep, I think, four nights in a row now. That's almost pre-baby sleep.
Bianca is starting to go to the
guarderia. We think it will help with her socialization, immerse her in a solely Spanish speaking environment and give Ewa some much needed and deserved time to do what she wants to do; not what Bianca allows her to do. She started with 10min on Wednesday, 20 on Thursday and a full half-hour on Friday.
Bianca is now rolling front-to-back and back-to-front like some sort of wiggling automaton. As soon as she is set on her changing mat she arches her back, twisting, reaching for whatever is on the mat. Her best belly time is on her changing table. She gets all the way up on her arms and stares at things just out of her reach; only succeeding in making herself inch backwards. She hasn't quite grasped the idea of pulling her knees underneath her, but she's getting closer.
She loves to sip things. She doesn't like baby bottles, but she is very keen on cups: coffee bugs, beer bottles, water bottles; anything WE are drinking from. The sippy cup with the valve that requires suction to get any liquid out - and prevents spills and leaks - interests her, but she just likes grabbing it, she can't get anything out of it. She likes her cups open, latching on with both hands and shoving it towards her mouth. She lacks the fine motor control to only tip it as much as she needs to sip so Ewa and I have to moderate the force she pulls with. Every successful sip gives her immense satisfaction, like she is conquering some strange new skill: like the first time you realize you can whistle.
Her babbling includes several syllables, including 'ma ma', 'da da', 'ba ba', but no association of these terms
with anyone and she still likes giving her raspberries. She waves, but in a indiscriminate manner. Now that I've finished The Infinite Gift, I am keen to keep a vocabulary journal; to catalog her words.
