Beyond just milk - A whole new world!

Z has been eating solids for about 3 months now, but we recently have been moving into the world of finger foods and interactive mealtimes. The messiest food so far has been "the teething biscuit" as evidenced by this picture taken at Gma K and Gpa S's house. Z turns the biscuit over and over vertically before beginning to eat it using her hands, mouth and face. In the last month, she has mastered her pincer grasp quite well by eating lots of tofu and recently the old stand by, Cheerios. After studying child development and psychology during grad school, I find all of this learning fascinating, especially as I see Z work through some specific stages of development (specifically Freud, Erickson, and Mahler for all you developmental psych buffs out there). D's dad often talks about all the new information that Z is taking in on a daily basis at this young age, and it is so amazing to see it happen - to watch the little wheels turning. I have read so much about all this both in school and in our many parenting books, but there is just nothing like watching a baby move from toy to book to toy to cat to parent as she decides what she wants to do and as she seeks to understand her world. I know many of you who have parented for years may be thinking, "Yes Jen, this is how we all started out - are you just getting this now?" My response: I got it intellectually a long time ago (and wrote many a paper on it!) - now I am getting it through eyes I have only had for the last year of my 36 years of life - parent eyes. I can see why so many people tell me that 9 months is one of their favorite ages!

Little Z and Her new "trick".

Christmas Round Three

On Saturday, we had Christmas with the P*atricks at Friendship Village in Bloomington, where Dav*e's grandma, J*ean, lives. Grandma J is Zo*e's only living great grandparent. Here is a four-generation picture - we will try this again at the next gathering so we get Z's smile. Z and mommy opened Z's presents first - wonderful toys, books, blocks and a winter hat. Z then helped mommy open her presents and got quite excited about my book about babies. I think I mentioned before that Z gets very excited to see babies or pictures of babies - in fact, she uses a different tone of voice all together when trying to communicate with other children or with animals (especially cats). Da*ve's step mom, B*onnie, passed on a wonderful collection of blocks to Z this Christmas as well, complete with an explanation of the generations that have played with them from the 1880s to the 1960s. In a world where everything is so disposable and cheaply made, it is a rarity to have heirlooms such as these passed down through time and to think that when Z plays with them, she will be playing with the very toys that those who have gone before us played with also. It is also very special to be the recipients of heirlooms that have been passed across families - because D is related to B through marriage, we did not have the opportunity to meet or know most of her family of origin. However, we have "gotten to know them" through the stories B has shared about their lives. This is truly a gift that we will cherish for years to come!