Sippy Cup

We have been working with Anna on using a sippy cup. We have started with the Avent Bottle Trainer which seems to be working well so far. I mainly give Anna water in her bottle but will occasionally add a little apple juice which Anna loves. Anna usually only drinks about half an ounce at a time but she is learning to do it herself.
On a side note, the dentist told me that I should give Anna a couple of sips of water after each bottle of milk so that the milk does not remain on her teeth.

"An Intrepid Explorer"

Before Anna was born I signed up for all kinds of baby mailing lists like Pampers and Gerber to get coupons. This morning I got an email from the Pampers Parentpages saying "Month 8 - An Intrepid Explorer". Anna is definitely that, fearless. She crawls around looking for any shred of paper on the floor that may have been overlooked; she crawls up to the puppy (and after a few days of this Cassie has now learned to get up and walk away); she pulls up on any and everything that she can. As I write, Anna is pushing her stars around the room. It's time for us to go explore the kitchen.

Expanding Food Choices

Now that Anna is 8 months old and has 7 teeth either in or working their way in, we've been expanding the foods that we give Anna. Since she loves to feed herself we've started giving her fresh bananas, peas and green beans. The canned beans seemed to work better than the frozen ones, for they were a little softer. One problem that Anna is having with the peas is that the outer layer (skin?)tends to hang out in her cheeks kind of like a chipmunk and so I periodically have to clean them out while she is eating :). Another new favorite for Anna is Yobaby yogurt. I had wondered why it was ok for babies to eat yogurt but not have milk until they were a year old, but I finally found the answer on BabyCenter.It says the active bacteria in yogurt helps with the digestion of it.

Anna at the Beach

We had a wonderful time at Virginia Beach this past week. Anna was thoroughly entertained by family and friends and even spent a little time on the beach. Anna loved putting her fingers in the sand but it was difficult to then keep her hands out of her eyes and mouth. Since Anna is now crawling EVERYwhere I could not just put her on the beach blanket without her going towards the sand. Therefore, Anna spent more time in the house or in her baby pool than on the beach. Anna also sat through a two hour family dinner at a local restaurant thanks to her happy demeanor and lots of Banana Puffs. Today we recover :).

Heading to the Beach

We are heading to Virginia Beach this morning to spend some time with my family. I am looking forward to showing Anna the ocean and putting her toes in the sand.

Anna's New Toy: Leapfrog Learn N Groove Table

I wanted to buy Anna a new toy for our trip to the beach. She had enjoyed playing with the learning tables at several friend's houses so I bought her the Leapfrog Learn N Groove Table. It has removable legs so that she can play with it on the floor until she is comfortable standing. It teaches shapes, colors, ABC's and numbers in both English and Spanish.

Car Seat Check

Today we put Anna's next stage car seat, the Evenflo Titan 5, into my car. The car seat is convertible so it can be used both rear and forward facing. It got very high ratings at the time we registered for it and it was reasonable priced. I took the installed car seat down to the fire station to get it checked and had a good experience. I followed two other cars into the parking lot and all at once 10 firemen came out of the fire station with their clip boards. The fireman checking my seat put a noodle (one of those long styrofoam noodly things that you can use to float around the pool)underneath Anna's seat to make it recline more and within 10 minutes I was on my way. I did have to sign a paper with my name and address saying that I did not hold them liable if the car seat did not hold up if there is an accident. Anna seems much more comfortable in the seat since she has more room.

Babyproofing

Now that Anna is crawling,the time has come to go through the house and "babyproof". The outlet covers are in the outlets, little knick-knacks are put away and we are in the process of putting safety latches on the bathroom and kitchen cabinets. Today I was in the kitchen putting a safety latch on the cabinet under the sink (took me a minute at most) and I turn around and there is Anna with a hand full of the dog's food and a piece in her mouth! YUCK! The day before Anna spilled the dog's water bowl all over the kitchen floor. Looks like our dog is going to be the one to suffer during this babyproofing stage :).

Exploring

Today for the first time, Anna decided she wanted to explore the house. She found the pantry, the shoe basket, my purse and the most fascinating item of all - the covers to the air vents. It has been fun to watch her explore. I've been checking an area to make sure there isn't anything that she is not suppose to be near and then sitting her down to see where she goes. It's fun to watch from a distance (if I'm right there with her she crawls over to me and wants to be picked up). It's time to finish "babyproofing" the house.

A Beautiful Morning

For the past 2 mornings, Anna has woken up between 6 and 6:30 which has allowed us to taking an early morning walk around the neighborhood before it gets too hot. How beautiful it is outside! The birds are singing, the squirrels are scampering around and there is the occasional deer standing in a cul-de-sac (yes! that really happened). It has been a wonderful way to start the day. While I would prefer Anna to sleep a little longer in the morning, it is nice to get an early start. Now what do we do the rest of the day? :)

Crawling!!!!!!

For the past few weeks Anna has been scooting backwards and rocking on her hands and knees. Today she decided to start moving forward. She noticed the newspaper a few feet across the room and scooted forward by dragging her knees. Then, all of the sudden she decided to try it again and actually crawled across the room. Life is about to change!

Fun with Family

My cousin and her daughter, Katrinca are visiting for the weekend. Anna is enjoying sharing her toys.

Growing up so Fast

Every day I am amazed as Anna shows me something new that she can do. She has mastered eating the Gerber puffs with both hands, goes from her tush to her belly and scoots around to get objects she wants. Two days ago she went from scooting to pushing up on her hands and toes and then back to the sitting position. This morning, she put that new trick into action. As my husband walked past Anna's room, he looked inside and there she was sitting up in her crib looking back at him. She was not crying and I wondered how long she had been sitting there waiting for one of us to walk by.

Discovery Dome

Being new parents at Christmas, we had no clue what kind of toy to buy for Anna (she was about 2 months old at the time). One day I saw a commercial on tv for Playskool's Discovery Dome and I thought - that's the gift.

It was sold out at Target until after Christmas but we bought it in January since the age range started at 3 months. 3 months!! The advertising sure fooled me. Anna is now 7 months old and she is for the first time inside of the Discovery Dome and playing around. Now I need to figure out what gifts are good for a 8 month old :).

Things in Common

A friend was recently telling me about his experience at a gas station where a guy with the same car decided to start up a conversation with him about the car. In this day and age where we unfortunately become suspicious of every stranger, it can be weird carrying on a lengthy conversation with someone that we do not know. But as he was relaying the story to me it made me better appreciate a similar experience that I had at the grocery store the previous day - - the guy at the gas station had found something in common with my friend.

On Saturday Anna and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner. The trip took longer than expected not because of the people in the checkout line but because of the number of people who stopped me in the grocery aisles to ask about Anna and to share about their own children and grandchildren that were at home. When I got home I told my husband about my trip to the store and how I thought it was so strange that so many people had stopped me in the store. It was different from most of my experiences at the store and I realized why - usually I am there during the weekday morning when it is mostly moms and dads with their own cart full of kids. But this time it was people who did not have kids with them and they simply saw a smiling child, found something we had in common and wanted to chat. Next time I'll stop and take more time.

Floppy Seat

During a baby shower we received a floppy seat which can be used in either a grocery chart or high chair. One key feature is that they are suppose to be more sanitary than the nasty carts and high chairs that you find at stores and restaurants, but I like how comfy it is and how much easier it is to keep Anna's toys in. I used the floppy seat for the first time last week and it took me about 10 minutes standing in the parking lot to figure out how to correctly put it on the cart. Today I was back at the same store and the floppy seat fit on there much better, so I'm getting better with practice. I see many kids in them when I am out and about - many different manufacturers make them and some even have built in toys. I am greatly enjoying that Anna can now sit in the grocery carts and I no longer have to try to fit everything on top of her stroller or nervously push her around the store with her carseat sitting on top of the grocery cart. This is such a fun age!