Juliette is now 7 months old! We've battled her first major illness, have introduced sleep training and solids and are ALMOST crawling, but not really. Here is a quick chart (with my commentary) from babycenter.com to give a snapshot of where she is:
Mastered Skills(Most kids can do):
Emerging Skills (half of kids can do):
Juliette also LOVES reading books. Our nighttime routine involves three books before bed. I try to do some repetition in reading so she has a chance to let the stories sink in. Anything with an interactive option, she is ALL about and knows what she is supposed to do on each page. For the most part, when it asks to feel something, she jumps right in! "Pat the Bunny" has proven a little more challenging, but after a day or too she was "Patting the Bunny," "Playing Peek-a-boo with Paul," "Feeling Daddy's Scratchy face," and even selectively sticking her finger "through mummy's ring".
There is a page the asks the child to "Smell the Pretty Flowers." Up until now, I have been bringing the book forward to her nose as she remains in her lounging position against my chest, holding it there for a few minutes so hopefully she realises there is a smell and then we go to the next page. Last night, when we go to the flower page, she pulled herself forward with her abs and pulled the book to her face! I immediately turned to Andrew and shrieked, "She's a genius!" Seriously, it took her about a week and a half to get it after reading the book semi-regularly. Maybe this isn't that advanced, but hey, she's undeniably starting to understand things around her! I randomly went back to that page two more times and she smelled both times! Mommy was very proud.
Juliette also battled her first major illness when we got back from the States. It turned out to be nothing more specific than a viral infection, and she was puking up the Calpol (baby Tylenol) I was trying to give her to break the fever. Her temperature peaked at 104 F and I freaked out and called my good friend (and mom of 3 little girls under 4) and asked what I should do! Helen saved the day with Paracetamol (Tyenol) suppositories! And it didn't even phase me to insert them. You don't even think when you're a mom and your kid is in trouble... you just do what you have to do.
Thankfully the Tylenol worked amazingly! And a week later (including 3 trips to the GP and one to the hospital because she stopped having wet nappies) we were back in optimal health.
Finally, one more notable change has been sleep training! After 4 days of "tough love" Juliette is consisently putting herself to sleep at nap times and in the evening for bed time (that took a bit longer) and is sleeping in her crib without mom intervening from 8:30 PM until 7:00 AM. Every now and then I hear her on the monitor during the night, but she's able to get herself back to sleep after 5 minutes or so. It's the nights were she sleep soundlessly during those times that I sleep HORRIBLY because I think I am unable to subconsciously stop listening for her!
I almost don't want to say it, for fear for jinxing our current situaton, but ever since we have done the sleep training, her schedule has been consistently down to the minute for all sleep!!! I REALLY hope this is the trend for the future. I better start thinking about baby number two because if I start getting to sleep through the night, I don't know if I will want to start this all over again... ;)
- Sits without support - She's been doing this from 5 months.
- Drags objects toward herself - She's been doing this since about 4 months!
Emerging Skills (half of kids can do):
- Lunges forward or starts crawling - She's been lunging for awhile to reach objects that are a bit too far. No desire to start crawling yet, but yesterday she did look like she might try for half a minute before deciding the toy wasn't worth it! She's quite content being stationary!
- Jabbers or combines syllables - JJ has done this solidly from 5 months although she is NON-STOP now! Lots of "ba ba" "ma ma" "da da" "deh" for dog and "ga ga."
- Starts to experience stranger anxiety - This started around 5 and a half months and was mostly with men. If I'm around, she's usually OK with most people. It is the separation anxiety that's MUCH worse. Although, we have been making slight improvements on this front with her new pterodactyl (who knew that started with a "p"?!) call - a little shriek she does if she notices that I have wandered out of the room or she thinks I am not paying attention to her. If I do not respond, she will do it again. If I do not respond again, she starts to get distressed! If I do respond, she goes happily back to playing. It's just a check to see if I'm around and listening for her! I am trying to replace the shriek with "ma ma" but have had no luck so far...
- Waves goodbye - She is very selective with this. She knows how to do it, but prefers to save it for when she sees herself in a mirror as opposed to making Daddy feel good about himself when he leaves in the morning.
- Stands while holding onto something - Not her strong suit. She's been good at bearing weight on her legs for the last couple months, but she's too wobbly if you try to get her to do it on her own just yet. Again, this kid is very happy to sit and roll around only!
- Bangs objects together - JJ has done this for a few weeks now and is very proud of herself when she does it! She bangs just about anything together, but the stackable rings make her beam with pride when she does it!
- Begins to understand object permanence - She has this down solidly already. She has know for over a month I'd say. She always looks for things she's dropped, she gets super stressed if I've snuck away and she realises I'm gone, she loves playing peek-a-boo and when we go to change nappies, she always looks for her toy we keep on the changing station (she needs to hold a toy otherwise she does crazy gymnastics to try and get the wipes, powder, bum cream - just about anything that may be in reach!).
Juliette also LOVES reading books. Our nighttime routine involves three books before bed. I try to do some repetition in reading so she has a chance to let the stories sink in. Anything with an interactive option, she is ALL about and knows what she is supposed to do on each page. For the most part, when it asks to feel something, she jumps right in! "Pat the Bunny" has proven a little more challenging, but after a day or too she was "Patting the Bunny," "Playing Peek-a-boo with Paul," "Feeling Daddy's Scratchy face," and even selectively sticking her finger "through mummy's ring".
There is a page the asks the child to "Smell the Pretty Flowers." Up until now, I have been bringing the book forward to her nose as she remains in her lounging position against my chest, holding it there for a few minutes so hopefully she realises there is a smell and then we go to the next page. Last night, when we go to the flower page, she pulled herself forward with her abs and pulled the book to her face! I immediately turned to Andrew and shrieked, "She's a genius!" Seriously, it took her about a week and a half to get it after reading the book semi-regularly. Maybe this isn't that advanced, but hey, she's undeniably starting to understand things around her! I randomly went back to that page two more times and she smelled both times! Mommy was very proud.
Juliette also battled her first major illness when we got back from the States. It turned out to be nothing more specific than a viral infection, and she was puking up the Calpol (baby Tylenol) I was trying to give her to break the fever. Her temperature peaked at 104 F and I freaked out and called my good friend (and mom of 3 little girls under 4) and asked what I should do! Helen saved the day with Paracetamol (Tyenol) suppositories! And it didn't even phase me to insert them. You don't even think when you're a mom and your kid is in trouble... you just do what you have to do.
Thankfully the Tylenol worked amazingly! And a week later (including 3 trips to the GP and one to the hospital because she stopped having wet nappies) we were back in optimal health.
Finally, one more notable change has been sleep training! After 4 days of "tough love" Juliette is consisently putting herself to sleep at nap times and in the evening for bed time (that took a bit longer) and is sleeping in her crib without mom intervening from 8:30 PM until 7:00 AM. Every now and then I hear her on the monitor during the night, but she's able to get herself back to sleep after 5 minutes or so. It's the nights were she sleep soundlessly during those times that I sleep HORRIBLY because I think I am unable to subconsciously stop listening for her!
I almost don't want to say it, for fear for jinxing our current situaton, but ever since we have done the sleep training, her schedule has been consistently down to the minute for all sleep!!! I REALLY hope this is the trend for the future. I better start thinking about baby number two because if I start getting to sleep through the night, I don't know if I will want to start this all over again... ;)
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