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02 Mar '09 - 781 W, 21 I Allie's 7 Month Birthday

Last Sunday, February 22, Allie was seven months old. I know I can't believe how quickly time is flying by, and that it is already March 1st. How did that happen? It feels like we just celebrated the new year, no? And I don't mean Chinese New Year, either. I mean Times Square, ball dropping, happy 2009! I am hardly even used to writing "09" on my checks (cheques to us Malaysians) and it is already March.

At any rate, Allie has progressed further in this last month. We are done with reading stories from the Crab Orchard Review at bedtime. Now we are reading another short story anthology (I forget what year the book covers but I know that Michael Chabon edited it). For the most part, Allie sleeps well - from her 8 PM bedtime to 6:30 AM, with usually only one night-time feeding. She loves to play, babbles and laughs at our silly antics, and is learning to kiss, having become a master hugger. The kisses are still kind of hit or miss though, usually wet and drooly. But she is attempting them! She rolls backwards and forwards effortlessly, and can stay sitting up without help for short periods of time. And of course, now she is an eater of solid foods! Here is a tally of foods that we have introduced to her to date (observing the 4-day rule in case of allergies) as well as Allie's rating of them:

1. Rice cereal - Thumbs up
2. Sweet Potato Puree - Thumbs down
3. Carrot Puree - Thumbs down
4. Mashed bananas - Thumbs up
5. Yellow squash puree - Thumbs down
6. Yellow squash puree + mashed bananas - Thumbs up
7. Applesauce - Thumbs up
8. Pea puree - Thumbs up

Makan time is definitely not boring - it can be fun and fast with her reaching for the food (for the thumbs up items) or she may turn her head and try to run away and refuse to keep eating (for the thumbs down), but that is all part of growing up. We are making all of the food ourselves (rather than buying baby food in jars) except for the cereal of course. And this process is fun, and quite rewarding if Allie happily eats it up.

Here come the boatload of pictures, showing how Allie spent her 7 month birthday. As always, please mouse over the pictures for captions.

We start off the morning downstairs on the gymini while Mama and Papa worked.

Then it was time to change out of her pyjamas and put on her new striped onesie:

Then it was time for lunch (we still haven't gotten around to buying a high chair but the vibrating chair works well). Today's lunch: squash puree + mashed banana.

Allie had her usual naps, and when she woke up she was full of beans!

Then it was dinner time (rice cereal):

And a little more playtime:

After another action-packed day, Allie took a bath and went to bed. Her parents followed soon after - we are always exhausted by bedtime! But it's definitely an amazing time and I can't believe Allie has come so far. I was looking back at pictures of her from when she was born, and she looked so tiny! Anyway, we look forward to more culinary and other developments in the coming months (crawling, perhaps?). To close this entry, one of my favorite pictures of the day, taken in the morning when she was playing on the gymini:

oh my goodness, what a cutie pie, adn how big and cute she is! i still can’t get over how much she looks like both of you – isn’t that so funny!!

i am glad you’re both enjoying this precious time – it goes sooooo fast!!!!

meme () - 03 March '09 - 00:45

anything + ice cream. bet that’d be a thumbs up!

btw, this post… thumbs up!

zarin - 03 March '09 - 13:00

lil: the literature says to try the foods again in a few weeks. chances are she will love them then.

onyang yati: hang jangan buat i terlioq ok? i pun nak mi goreng mamak!!!

meme: thanks for stopping by! and yes i think i’m starting to see more of me in her, and it’s cool to see the developments. sometimes it’s like she looks different every day!

ath: ha! i should post the picture of her refusing to eat the thumbs down items. memang food critic habis!

chris c: i will let you know when the teeth comes in so you can say the line. reserved especially for you!

zarin: anything + ice cream definitely a thumbs up from me, at least! hehehehe

tom: oh dear, another non-fan of squash?

sila - 04 March '09 - 02:14

selena: it sure goes fast! we are taking plenty of photos and yes there are videos as well thanks for the good advise. now i’m going to go back and replay the videos to see if i can hear any differences between now and earlier.

sila - 07 March '09 - 04:32

jang: i actually taste the puree before i give her. to be honest, i like the sweet potato puree quite a bit. and the applesauce too. hehehehe. the others are so-so lah. what to do, cannot add salt thanks for the ideas on mixing. i’m starting to do some food mixes (of the ones that have passed the 4-day test). woohooo!

sila - 14 March '09 - 09:09