She has really come into her own personality even more lately. Most of the time she is a happy baby who smiles and laughs. One of the daycare ladies said she thinks Alex is the happiest baby she has ever watched in her 9 years there! She has a long attention span (for a baby of course!) and will play with the same toy for up to an hour sometimes. She can be quite stubborn too, and if you take something away from her that she likes, she is already throwing temper tantrums! She growls and yells and gets really angry! (Isn't it too soon for this? Anyone?)
Lately, she has really been battling with ear infections. Just when we get past one, it seems like she gets another. We are hoping that she won't need to get tubes in her ears, so we just have to pray that she keeps responding to antibiotic treatment. She has had 7 different infections already. Her pediatrician said that it is normal for babies to sometimes get as many as 12 ear infections in their first year, especially since she is in daycare and is constantly exposed to germs.
She weighs 19.3 lbs (and they haven't measured her height recently, so I'm not sure how tall she is.) She hasn't started crawling yet, but she has done a couple little military lunges on her belly when she really wants something out of reach. She has started diving head-first from a seated position when she sees something that she wants.
She still sleeps well through the night, a 12 hour stretch, but only takes three little 45-minute catnaps during the day. She rolls over on her stomach to sleep now, and even though it makes me nervous, she is pretty stubborn about it. If I go and try to put her on her back again, she will roll over to her stomach within seconds after I leave the room.
She has started to enjoy solid foods a lot now. When we first started feeding her solids, her favorites were peas and green beans (amazing, right?), but in the past week, she isn't as excited about the veggies and prefers bananas or fruits. She has had one allergic reaction to hummus, but we don't know which ingredient caused the reaction. I had just finished reading an article that recommended feeding hummus to your baby to expose them to unusual flavors, so I dabbed a little onto her tongue and she practically crawled out of her highchair to get some more! So I fed her a few spoonfuls of it, which she loved! I was so excited that she liked it! Then within 10 minutes, her lips got swollen and she broke out in hives around her mouth. Thanks to a little oral Benadryl, it cleared up within a few minutes. I had started to get a little overconfident since we had not seen any food allergies yet, but I guess we are not totally in the clear.
Alex's favorite companions are still the dogs. Nothing can make her laugh and giggle like those pups.
"Hi Sadie! Whatcha got there? Is that toy for me?"
Sadie isn't too sure that she wants to share at this point.
"My prize is within reach!"
"I am victorious!" (Sadie looks a little miffed here, doesn't she?!)
My favorite time with her is when she is sleepy and cuddly, either early in the morning or right before bedtime. She is the sweetest little baby and just melts my heart!
