Standing up for her rights

For Nina, crawling was a minor milestone on the journey to her ultimate destination, which we can only assume is total world domination! Mere days after mastering the full-out hands and knees crawling, she started pulling up on things. This is a series from last weekend:

She is one motivated little babeinator! She has more or less figured out that she needs to hang on or else she will fall. Nevertheless, her poor little head has been getting pretty banged up. She doesn't know how to get down so after a while her face crumples and she cries until we help her get down.


The funny thing is that she isn't actually able to sit up unsupported yet. When she wants to play with a toy (or more likely munch on it) she holds out an arm or an elbow to balance herself. Sitting, not so interesting - standing, now that is the way to go!

"What?! I got places to go."

Crawling!

It is official, Nina is crawling! She has been doing a pretty good commando crawl (on her belly) for probably a month and a half. Then on Monday when I brought her home after daycare, I put her on the floor while I changed out of my work clothes, and sure enough she popped up onto her hands and knees and started motoring toward me. We really need a video for this one, but this picture does capture the action fairly well.

"Oooo, my favorite toys - the rattle and the captain! I'm going for it!"

Good job, honey.

So we'll mark crawling at 6 and 1/2 months. Crazy.

It is funny how she has favorite toys. There will be a pile of toys on the floor, and she will consistently go for one or two of them. In the top picture, you can see the red polka dotted donut - that one is a current favorite. She gets a hold of it and won't let it go for tens of minutes. She loves the little cardboard baby books (great for chewing, I suppose), a denim bookmark, a couple different rattles. Even in the bath, there is the blue octopus comb thingy that she always goes for first. She knows what she likes!

Nina had her first Mishap Report at daycare on Thursday. She is in a mixed age classroom going from 0 to 2 years. They section off the babies and the toddlers with a gate. Well, Nina is fascinated with the toddlers. The teachers say she is magnetically attracted to the gate, constantly scurrying over and looking through. So the report says, "Nina bumped her forehead on the inside play area gate when she was trying to look through it and/or stand up." Apparently there was a little bump, but it went down by the time I picked her up. The whole episode sort of makes me laugh. I can totally picture it in my head - Bonk! I have a feeling this will not be her last misshap!

On Tuesday (busy week), Nina had her 6 month checkup and more shots. Here are her stats:

Height: 26 inches (51%)
Weight: 16 lbs (42%)
Head Circumference: 43 cm (60%)

Dr. Enright and I talked about Nina's sleep, and she gave us a few handouts. That is one area where Nina has been moving backwards these past several weeks. ~:-(

Calgary

Over the July 4th holiday, we headed up to Calgary to visit Mirko's sister, Romana, and her family. Nina was very excited to meet her cousins! Stefan is almost 5 and half, and Filip is a little over two years old.

The first meeting of the cousins (aka miracle shot of three kids all smiling looking in the direction of the camera)

In no time the three were best buddies and ready to go off marauding the high seas together.

The boys were quite fascinated by Nina, particularly the fact that she likes to put everything in her mouth.

This shot best captures the interactions between the cousins. Stefan really took to Nina. He was great with her - very gentle, wanted to be with her and play with her all the time. Filip was more interested in doing his own thing, like re-arranging the balcony chairs.

Tetka Romana is happy to hold her niece.

On Friday, we went to Heritage Park - a historical village representative of Calgary around the turn of the last century. They have done quite an amazing job with it too, trains, boats, farm animals, old school houses, everyone in period costumes. Great fun for the kids and interesting for the parents as well. As we were leaving Stefan said, "I want to live in Heritage Park!"

Hightlight of the day was of course the train ride. Do all kids love trains or what?

And a close second was the boat ride.

Indeed, Nina experienced variety of transportation modes. Here is a not-so-old fashioned buggy ride.

In addition to Heritage Park, much time was spent in the neighborhood park.

Nina really dug the swings!

Fun for the whole family!

But for me, the next picture sums up the weekend particularly well. Many hours were spent enjoying wonderful food and company around the dinner table.

Let's chow!

Breaking News

We have some fabulous pictures from our trip to Calagary to post soon. The three cousins playing together were just beyond adorable. But first we have some breaking news - Nina is getting her first teeth in!! On the flight home on Sunday, I was feeling her lower gum and sure enough there was a sharp little point sticking up. And then this morning, I felt the tooth next to it starting to emerge! She'll have her two front lower teeth very soon. Won't be long until she can have that pork chop!

We traveled to Canada on the 4th of July so Mirko wanted to make sure everyone knew where his allegiance was! Indeed it was his first trip using his US passport.

Nina stretches her legs on the flight home.

First Day of School

Monday, July 2 was Nina's first day of daycare. It was a bit of a rough day for her - she cried a lot and didn't nap much. When I picked her up, she was confused and exhausted. The second day was already a vast improvement. When I arrived in the afternoon, she was playing away and smiled like crazy for all of her caregivers. And just like clockwork, after two days of daycare, she picked up her first cold! Poor baby.

Downward Facing Dog

Our little yogi continues to work on her strength and balance.


But the path to enlightenment also requires free play.