Phoebe has a neck!

So many little things happen every day with Phoebe that I think to myself "I should write this down or go put it on the blog," but I never quite get around to it. I am going to be sad when I can't remember some of the fun things she did. She is eight months old, and I just noticed two days ago that Phoebe has a neck--I don't know when she got it, but it's there: thin and round. Before she just had a head that sat on shoulders. But now when she looks around, I can actually see her neck craning. It is fascinating that these things happen and you don't notice them happening--just all of a sudden they're there.

I didn't have my camera downstairs last night, and it is hard to capture the pictures (especially this one) when you are by yourself anyway, but I want to remember this image, so I'll write about it. I was watching Sydney since Terra was working and Mom and Dad were out, and I was by myself because Brett had a late track meet. So I had the girls and Henry in the basement: Phoebe was in the exersaucer with her bib on and I was feeding her organic garden vegetables from a jar (which is a challenge because she does not stand still in her exersaucer--she likes to bounce and bob around), Sydney was sitting on my lap playing with the toys on the exersaucer and eating magic puffs, and Henry was standing impatiently between my arms trying to lick Phoebe's face and spoon between bites and get Syd's snacks. I imagined that if I could stand outside myself and see that happening, it would look pretty ridiculous. I discovered that I can manage several individuals at once and fairly successfully. I even got Phoebe to sleep while Sydney was playing in same room.

Because of Sydney, Phoebe got a little bit ambitious last night--she was watching Syd play at this stand-up play station and she wanted to do it, too; so I had to hold her underarms as she stood at this toy and played with Sydney. It was great. Phoebe is still not sitting up on her own and she is not crawling. Her fine motor skills are good, however--she can grasp small things and she uses her fingers well rather than her whole hand. She reacts well to most things. She likes to play peek-a-boo; if I give her a cloth of some kind, she'll cover her face and wait for me to ask where she is and then pull it off herself. Then she laughs. She says "mama" and has been saying that for quite some time--well over a month. She would also say "baba." So I figured since she was getting some sounds I would start working with her more rigorously (although I did push the ma ma ma ma mommy quite a bit). I didn't take notice as to when was the first day that she said "mama," but I decided to start working with her on da da da da daddy. We did that for about a week--I would say it several times a day. Then on Tuesday, March 14, all of a sudden she started saying "da da da da da da da" and even got the "daddy" sound out. And for at least a week that's the only sound she would make "DA DA DA DA!" She would yell it and get really happy with herself. It was great! Now she is back to saying mama with an occasional dada. We are working on "Water" since the beginning sound isn't so much different from the other beginning sounds she knows. She is becoming more cuddly and snuggly. She gets very excited when she hears her daddy's voice on the phone. She is also becoming more demanding, so I have to start being more careful with giving in to everything she wants if she starts screaming for it. :)

Everyone always wants to know, so here is how things are going on the sleeping front: She does not sleep straight through the night, but she is 90% better than she was up until two weeks ago. I decided that I was going to take control of our nighttime routine rather than continue allowing her to control it as she no longer needs night time feedings for nutrition and we both need to get good nights of sleep. We had one night that was very hard, but it was worth it because I know it is best for her physically and emotionally. She screamed and I bounced my head off the wall, but we made it through the night with a lot of consoling but without getting her out of her crib and ever since that night, she wakes up usually once if at all before 4 AM and all I have to do is give her her pacifier and put my hand on her chest for a minute or two to get her back to sleep. Then she will wake up sometime after the 4:00 hour (generally closer to 5 or 5:30, but before 5 the last couple of mornings) and I bring her back to bed with me so that she can nurse and fall back asleep and then we get up sometime after 7. So it is working well. Once I ween her from nursing in a couple months, I will work on getting her to sleep through that 5:00 wake up as well.

I am sure there are several other things that have happened with her since the last time I updated, but she is up from her nap and wants my attention. I will happily oblige.