Banana Power

A lot of new developments this week. Here's another.

Esmé and I were sitting on the couch and I was feeding her some of my banana. After she had eaten a quarter of the banana, she suddenly got really excited and energized. Grabbing the arm of the couch...

she pulled herself up into...

Standing!

The Unwelcome Guest

Esmé has always been able to play happily by herself on the floor with her toys for long periods of time, cooing and gurgling, thoroughly enjoying herself. But a couple days ago, suddenly and out of the blue, separation anxiety crashed through our front door and has set up camp right here in our living room.

I've heard of this anxiety being mentioned before, but THIS?? No one told me it was like THIS! I can't move 2 inches away from her without enduring high volume screeching, as if I had just decapitated her favourite teddy bear. If I do leave and then re-enter the room, she desperately lunges toward me as though she had given me up for dead and clings to me with her kung fu grip. How do I eat? How do I pee? How do I maintain any amount of personal space?

And unfortunately Kyle is no remedy. She'll sit on his lap and cry as she looks at me sitting just a few feet away. (Esmé would have you believe that Kyle is a terrible father, but don't let her fool you.)

We are going to Vernon this weekend and I'm told that this will only get worse while on vacation. Yippee.

So, do I let her cry to teach her not to rely on me so much? Or do I keep her by my side so she feels safe enough to eventually be on her own? Advice? Anyone?

She Crawls!

(Please ignore the proud parent commentary.)

Generation Gap

Food Faces

Esmé started eating solids this past week. I could have started feeding her solids a couple weeks earlier but I kept putting it off. In the end I realized that I was delaying mostly because eating solids means that Esmé is growing older, and I wasn't ready to accept that. Time is flying by so quickly and my little baby will too soon be a little girl.

The first food we gave her was yams. She wasn't too sure what to make of it and was mostly just curious about the whole experience. (Oh yeah, and we forgot the bib. So amateur!)

Then we tried bananas. Those were a huge hit!

(I have no idea what she was doing here. But it's pretty funny.)

We've most recently tried rice cereal that I ground myself. She's not sold on it yet but we'll try again later!

Fireball

Esmé just fought her first fever.

She learned what pain and misery from illness feels like. She now knows the aching and the shivering that run through the body, the restlessness, sleeplessness, dizziness. And she tasted her first dose of grape flavoured tylenol.

And I have had some firsts too. I know what it feels like to hold a little bundle of fire that is whimpering and crying in my arms. I know how alert and lucid my mind can be all night long. I’ve heard the pitiful sound of my baby struggling to breathe while she’s nursing with a stuffed up nose.

I wanted to give her all the strength and health I had in return for every last germ living in her body. But all I could do was hold and soothe and pray.

And then at 3 a.m. the fever finally broke.

And then she slept.

And I exhaled.

It's Just Water!

We were testing out this cute new water bottle that Aunty Gillian bought for Esmé. You'd think that I had filled it with grapefruit juice! But nope, it's just her first time tasting water. I guess after only ever having warm, sweet milk that cold tap water must taste horrible! She was making such funny faces that I had to record it.

Visiting Grandma

Esmé and I went on a little vacation to see my parents in Alberta. It was really great to see them and their foster kids. We had a good time and were really sad to leave.

Esmé did really well on her first plane ride outside the womb. The plane was full so she sat on my lap, which is odd since there are such strict regulations for infant car seats yet babies don't get any seatbelts on planes. I guess when you are at 30,000 ft. a piece of fabric across my lap isn't really going to do much

She slept for about 10 minutes total, played with her toys, gnawed on her shoes, watched a cartoon for 5 seconds, explored the back of the seat in front of her, practiced her screeching noises, tried to eat the flight safety pamphlet, grinned at the people across the isle, and kept trying to grab the arm of the person next to her with her slobbery hands. I felt like I was in some sort of high altitude wrestling match.

The kids loved Esmé and played with her a lot. So between them and my parents, she got plenty of love and attention which meant I was relieved of my duty as "entertainer" for a little while.

Esmé in my mom's old high chair.

So sleepy after a long day of playing and chaos watching.