Hey Jealousy

I did approximately zero knitting yesterday due to running errands with a babe and subsequently collapsing with exhaustion at 8:30 pm. So today we will talk more about baby stuff!

Thanks for your great advice about feeding new things to Daughter, internet friends! I can't fully express how much I appreciate your suggestions. My mom is a wonderful resource, but she raised babies in the 70s and 80s using the Dr. Spock book and times have changed a bit. I was fully weaned to whole milk at 9 months, and also ate only table foods at that age. Today I think the medical community would pooh-pooh only whole milk at 9 months, but we shall find out next week.

Last night I decided that a slice of cheese was unlikely to kill Daughter, so I cut a Kraft single into strips and offered it to her. I happen to think American cheese is foul stuff, only good on cheeseburgers, but my little darling disagrees. She inhaled it. I could not give her the strips fast enough. I almost wept with pride as she figured out how to get the end of the smushed cheese strip out of her right hand with the fingers of her left. When she had finished the whole piece there were only about 4 or 5 little scraps on the tray (where she missed her mouth) for me to scrape up. I don't know why stuff like this floors me like it does...the only explanation I can offer is that she is my first baby and I never know what she will be able to do until we try.

Also, I am proud because these are her accomplishments, and because there are things that many other babies her age can do that she cannot (yet). A few minutes ago I received an email from a good friend whose son was born 6 days before my daughter (we missed each other in the hospital by one day!). He was just over 8 lbs at birth, compared to Daughter's 5.5 lbs. In a physical sense he has developed much faster than she has. This email contained a video of her son crawling around and pushing himself up to sit. He is smiling the whole time, showing off his 4 teeth.

So.

Jealousy rears its ugly head! Daughter a) does not crawl, b) cannot push herself into a sitting position, and c) never ever ever ever smiles when a camera is near. I don't care about the teeth because she is still nursing 3x each day and I don't need her to be chomping down on me with anything other than gums, thanks. And she smiles all the time, just not for pictures.

I know, I know, I should not be jealous or worry about Daughter. She is well within normal parameters. And her method of doing new things is to just do them, with no prior warning (note to self - lower crib mattress). This is how she rolled over to her tummy the first time - she just did it, bam, done! We never saw her try any other time and suddenly she could just do it.

Also, this little boy to whom I am constantly comparing Daughter cannot pick up a Cheerio and get it to his mouth. HA! Take that! (So mean, I know. But I am jealous. See above.) Daughter picks up Cheerios, cheese, and fruit, and gets it to her mouth just about every time. She also holds her own sippy cup - in fact, she grabs it from my hand. She waves, and will initiate "so big." She is also mind-bogglingly capable of entertaining herself with toys/clothing/fringe on a blanket/the dog, so I can get a lot done. Overall I think she is a genius and my brain knows that she is developing normally. Is it unusual that I just get pissed off when other babies can do more physical stuff? I don't know.

Morning naptime has ended. I hear singing from the crib. Maybe we will go for a walk today as it's 56 degrees! In January! In Buffalo! Hope you're having nice weather too.