New developments

Someone asked me about Penny's recent developments, so I will go ahead and post them here. Her hands have opened up and she is grabbing at everything now. Once she gets a hold of whatever it is, she tries to get it into her mouth next. She is starting to sit-up by herself pretty well. Although she still needs someone to stand-by in case she tips over. The above two things are what the pediatrician told us to look for as signs of her being ready to eat solids. But, we will hold-off a bit longer on starting solids. Finally, she is laughing a lot more now...video to come

Testing the baby swing

I have been enjoying the last few weeks of full-days at home with the little one before I go back to work.
Minkz has decided to take a couple of weeks off when I go back to work, so he and Penny will have some quality bonding time soon, too.

good morning family

San Mateo County Fair

Tower of Power was a little too loud for the baby, so we checked out the animals at the fair instead. One photo is from the free petting zoo and the other is from the caged farm animals on display. Penny was a little too tired by this point to care. It was nostalgic to be back at a county fair. It's been about 20 years since I last went...

Penny feeds herself

Sometimes Penny gets a good grip on the bottle and can feed herself.

Stranger, Danger!

I've noticed in the past week or so, Penny protests sometimes when other people hold her. I don't think it is 'separation anxiety' because I am usually right there when it happens (my understanding is that separation anxiety happens when mommy is out-of-sight and baby doesn't understand enough to know when, or if, mommy will ever come back). I guess this is a case of clinginess or 'stranger anxiety'. I have had some challenging experiences trying to cook and/or eat with people when she won't let them hold her. I'm hoping that if we keep letting other people hold her, she will eventually get used to it.
On the positive side, she has been better when left alone with her dad, she is finally getting better at taking the bottle, and she is generally in a good mood now that she is napping better.

baby, a.k.a. Sharky

I'm sure you have noticed that Penny has a major cowlick at the top-back of her head. When we respond to her crying in the crib, a lot of the time she has flipped over onto her belly. The first thing that you see is that hair, sticking straight up like a shark fin out of the water. Thus, we call her, "Sharky".

Night Waking

Penny was waking only once per night (around 4 am) for a while. However, since our San Diego trip, she has been waking two to three times during the night. The easiest way to get her back to sleep is to breast feed her, but since I know that she can sleep through (she doesn't need to eat), the better thing to do would be to get her back to sleep without feeding at the first waking (around 12:30). Otherwise, she will get used to the all-night, all-you-can-eat buffet...

The hat fits