More posts about reading and food

Yep, 'tis true... Aria had her first solid food. All that organic baby food that y'all brought to our baby shower is finally getting put to use. :) Her first food was rice cereal mixed with breast milk on January 23rd (at 4 months and a week). We didn't get pictures of that, unfortunately, because we were too busy cracking up at all the faces she made. (We did get a little video of it.)

Later, a more organized us got some good pictures of her eating mashed up carrots - which she seems to like. Now that we're four or five attempts in, she's starting to eat like a pro. I think today she had about eight little spoons worth.


She's becoming much more active. She's constantly craning her neck and turning her head this way and that to try and see everything that's going on. She gets frustrated if her view is blocked. She doesn't like lying down too much right now - she always wants to be propped up against a pillow, or preferably, having one of us hold her up in a sitting or standing position. She has rolled over from her tummy to her back a few times, and from her back to either side, but not from back to tummy. She still isn't a big fan of being on her tummy, but since she's stronger now and can hold herself up on her arms better, she doesn't get frustrated as quickly.

She's become much more vocal, too. She has sporadic interludes where she initiates a conversation with us by making a bunch of ooo and aaah sounds. She's dropped the elephant-like trumpeting she used to do all the time - and actually, we find ourselves missing it. She giggles a lot now, especially up on the changing table for some reason.

We've started reading to her every night as part of a bedtime ritual. She loves the brightly colored books by Sandra Boynton that Lisa gave us. She'll giggle at them and even reach out and turn the pages. "Barnyard Dance" gets her particularly excited - we think she likes the rhythm of the words in that one. She doesn't care for anything with too many words on a page. She also likes "Goodnight Moon" ok as long as you read it quickly. Linger too long on a page and she'll start looking around for something to grab and jam into her mouth.

Recently my parents came out to visit, and we had a great moment of storytime with Grandma - during which Aria showed off her newfound page-turning prowess:



One other milestone that we just passed: we had to move the straps in her carseat because she had outgrown the initial setting. Her feet are starting to poke out of the end of it, too. She's getting big.

Hosanna and I are finding that although we seem to be finding our groove as parents, our relationship is suffering for it. I'm sure all parents out there are rolling their eyes and going "duh" right now, but still, it's making us sad. We don't have nearly as much time to talk to each other. When we do talk, it's so often talk about Aria that fills up the space, and we forget to check in with each other. And we are finding the issue of me being at work tough to deal with: I struggle with my identity as worker vs. husband/father a lot, and Hosanna struggles mightily with my unpredictable and sometimes long working hours. It really bothers her that I can't come home at a reasonable hour every day, and my tendency to not show up at the time I said I would exacerbates it exponentially. This is proving to be one of the hardest challenges our relationship has faced, and unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's going to get any better anytime soon.

I've been sick all weekend. It's the first time I've been really sick since Aria was born, and it's been a really new and un-fun experience. It's simply not possible for me to take all the time I need to rest and get better. I've been really worried about getting Aria sick, but there's not really any way I can avoid being in contact with her for three or four days. It's actually made me nostalgic for other sick days I've had, e.g. "remember that time last year when I was really sick and I just stayed home and played xbox all weekend? yeah... that was the life... except for the throwing up..."

Hosanna's done a pretty good job of being sympathetic, although she has pointed out on a couple occasions that since she carries the food around in her chest (and Aria still steadfastly refuses to take a bottle), if *she* ever got sick, there's no way that she could take even a single day off from child care.