It's been a while since there's been an update about Ellie! As my brother so eloquently put it last time he asked, "What are Ellie's latest tricks?" [Pictures and videos to follow when I can find the time at home!]
Well, over Easter weekend we had some fun in Milwaukee (Ellie's 2nd trip!) and Ellie was showing off for the newest Toerne cousin, Silas (1 month)!
Rolling and Reaching... Ellie is now an old pro at rolling around, side-to-side, belly-to-back... whatever it takes to get herself where she thinks she wants to go! She's especially good at rolling to her side, or swiveling while on her belly to get things to her side or behind her.
When a toy or item of interest is directly in front of her, she's stretching herself out as long as possible to get one arm out in front of her to reach with. If she can't quite get at said toy, she'll push a little with her legs to get her body to move forward, but as of yet this process can still be very frustrating for her and if she's on the cusp of needing a nap or a meal, this can result in the most pitiful little sad face you've ever seen!!
Almost Crawling! Ell is getting up on all 4's now, but has not yet figured out how to lift her arms and legs to crawl forward. It's been fun to watch her first learn how to pull her belly up off the ground, and now to get up on all 4's more confidently and kind of rock forward/backward as that first crawling "step" is almost here!
She has been able to move backwards from the crawling stance by pushing on her arms and letting the rest of her body just slide backwards (belly on the ground). This makes her especially mobile on hard wood floors where she slides all over the place!
Strengthening Those Legs for First Steps... If you hold Ellie under her arms and let her stand on your lap or the floor, you can tell all that time in her jumper is paying off! Her legs are quite strong, and while she still lacks control that keeps them from buckling under her at times, she can stand with locked legs or push up from bent legs and.. as mentioned.. jump-jump-jump when her booty is supported by the jumper or mama's hand!
When we let her stand and hold onto us or a nearby piece of furniture, she's capable of standing there on her own, but we don't let our hands get too far away because she still tips over or lets her legs give out underneath of her, which could bang up baby if we're not careful!
Sitting Upright When picking Ellie up after a diaper change or out of her car seat, she now has enough strength to basically do a motion similar to an ab crunch and pull her upper body forward a little to "help" get her up. It's especially entertaining when getting her out of her car seat, as we are undoing the 5-point harness from around her shoulders and waist, and often times she sees hands coming toward her and automatically tries to lean forward. This can make getting her out even more tricky than before! She's learning patience though, as we fumble with the buckles and belts and free her of the car seat!
Also, when sitting on the floor, she can mostly keep her balance while sitting upright (legs out in front of her). Usually Eric or I will be on the floor with her, using the Boppy (U-shaped pillow) or our legs to protect around her sides and back, incase she decides to lean or tip to the side or back. Usually these changes of direction are inspired by needing to reach a toy, which generally Ellie just had in her hand until she decided to throw it for fun!
Chatty Ellie... Ellie continues to find her voice, and over the weekend became especially fond of the "Ba" sound. "Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba" was a common theme in Milwaukee! Also, sometimes she'll hold 'a' for a long time ("Aaaaaaaaaaaahh"). I will match her tone and volume, and we'll both be simultaneously holding the sound for a little while, which generally she enjoys! Or sometimes I'll tap my finger against her open mouth while she's making the long noise to get it to cut in and out quickly... Similar to how we used to make noises to be like an Indian Chief when we were growing up. She's caught on to this little trick quickly!
She's also capable of a little back-and-forth, where she'll make a short sound (usually of the "Ah" nature), and we'll repeat it back to her. And she'll do it again. Then we do it again... and so forth. All of that still doesn't begin to capture all the cooing, giggling and blabbing she's doing other times! Luckily she hasn't resorted to crying for attention (for the most part)!
Expanding Her Solids Menu I still feel like we're a little behind on the solids, but her menu has more recently included lots more bananas and peas. Favorite fall-backs are sweet potato, oats and rice cereal. Beans are next on the list!
She also is learning to pick up little puffs and put them into her own mouth to eat. It's adorable when she thinks she's put one into her mouth, only to find it's stuck to her slobbery hand. Or other times she'll see me holding it between my thumb and index finger, and instead of grabbing the puff from my hand, she'll grab my hand and lead the puff into her mouth! I'm loving her problem-solving skills! :)
"She must be teething..." Ellie is yet to sprout that signature first tooth from her bottom gums, but we joke around every time she's extra drool-y or gnawing on everything from toys to fingers. "She must be teething!" Or... she's just like any other baby, who loves to feel the different tastes and textures in her mouth! Soon enough, folks... soon enough she'll be biting into apples and chowing down on steak... :)
Doctor's Orders I'm not a big fan of medical intervention, so generally if Ellie doesn't have any major indicators of an issue (not sleeping, not eating, crazy high fever, etc...), we want to let the little things run their course. Runny nose/boogers, slight cough or slight fever have really been the worst of it and we never went beyond Tylenol for the fever. However, towards the end of March we've had a few things happen that set things into motion...
First, Ellie was in contact with another kid who was later confirmed to have Pertussis (whooping cough). The pediatrician said we didn't have to give her anything for it since Ell wasn't showing any symptoms and has had 3 of the 4 vaccinations against it. Yet the doctor did say we could give her meds as a precautionary measure. Since it can take up to a month for the symptoms to show themselves, the doctor's recommendation was to take the meds. So we had Ell on that for a few days as directed.
A few days after those meds ended, a fever showed up one day at daycare and we had to pull her out for a day and a half at the end of the week. I was more nervous about this fever because it didn't fix itself (or, even with Tylenol helping) within a day and the temp seemed very sporadic, getting quite high at times. But luckily it subsided after 2 days and again, she was eating and sleeping throughout, so we thought nothing more of it.
Then, a few days after the fever passed, another call from the daycare told us that Ellie had some whitening inside her lip and cheeks, which is a sign she could have Thrush (basically, a yeast infection of the mouth; nothing serious). I had actually noticed the whitening over the weekend a few days before this call. Yet she hadn't shown signs of discomfort while eating or sucking on her soother, so I thought maybe it'd go away on it's own. But now that the daycare brought it up, I took her to the pediatrician to be sure.
Once there, we learned she not only had thrush, but also a left ear infection. This meant starting her on two different meds (Nystatin and Amoxicillin, respectively) for these conditions. To top it off, the effect of taking Amoxicillin is a higher likelihood to get/continue to have thrush, so we couldn't take one but not the other.
Luckily, all these drugs will be done by tomorrow, so we're hoping our 9-month check-up in mid-May will prove to be ear infection free and another glowing check-up of a happy, healthy baby!
Smile! A lot of us noticed over the weekend that Ellie is getting especially used to the camera... It only took so much as the "beepbeep" of my camera telling me it was focused and ready to snap the perfect shot for Ellie to stop what she was doing and look in my direction with a smile! She's also quick to smile at others, be it a familiar face or not. We love it!
*Whew* ... So much happening, so little time to blog about it all! I hope you feel a little caught up on Miss Elliot now!
