Rice krispies experiment

Rebecca is beginning to show a preference for foods that she can feed herself (unless it's yogurt, which is always welcomed). After many frustrating attempts to feed Rebecca meat purée at supper, I decided to let her try feeding dry rice krispies to herself. We started with a bowl, but she seemed inclined to just dump it, so instead, I poured rice krispies onto her highchair tray. Although many rice krispies ultimately arrived at locations other than her mouth, she had great joy in scooping them up with her hands and shoving them in her gaping maw. I never had to worry about choking - she seems to handle the cereal quite well (if not gracefully). And she was very happy. Of course, now the floor is crunchy, and I am finding rice krispies just about everywhere. Who cares though! (Are you reading this Mom?). Actually, what was the best moment was when Rebecca decided to feed rice krispies to me by shoving some in my mouth. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. (To be honest, in the compliments department, nothing beats the little trick-or-treater who came by and said the house smelled good - a ringing endorsement for my curry if every there was one).

Teething and the world of sensation

So, we are fairly certain that Rebecca is teething again. Poor little thing. It's horrible to see her so unhappy. And with these first molars, most of the teething rings don't go in far enough - so it's teething biscuits (thank-you Mom).
As the day of my return to the workplace fast approaches, I have been reflecting on how my life will be different. Perhaps it seems like an odd thing to say, but I will miss all the sensations that I have access to here at home with Rebecca. For example, I can go outside virtually whenever I please and smell the fresh air. I can wear comfy clothing and sing silly songs to the baby. I can cuddle with Rebecca multiple times in a day for as long as she is interested. I can change the temperature of my environment. I can play music. I can eat whatever appeals to me from the fridge. I can crawl on the floor with the baby. I can be loud or quiet. I can have a midday nap. I can be aware of the time of day and the season. Each day begins when it begins, and ends when it ends, and I don't have to try to make them all the same. Some are good, some are bad, but we always get to laugh - every single day. And of course, I get to marvel at how Rebecca is changing, and I get to be part of her day. No problem seems insurmountable, and I go to sleep at night knowing that I am making a big important difference to her life.

Happy pigtails girl! (NB - pigtails on top of head because the hair on the sides is still too short).

Why is Mommy interrupting my viewing of Miss Piggy?

Baby Mum Mums

Kudos to my uncle who recommended Baby Mum Mums to me. This post is my tribute to the snack that Rebecca adores.

What are they?
They are rice rusks.

What is a rusk? (frankly, I didn't know until I looked it up)
Rusk = (1) A light, soft-textured sweetened biscuit; (2) Sweet raised bread dried and browned in an oven.

I became afraid of giving Rebecca cookies after some nasty gagging instances. Most baby cookies dissolve and then break into large chunks. Not so the baby mum mum. Baby mum mums have the melt-in-your-mouth quality of a communion wafer, but unlike said wafer, taste sweet and nothing like cardboard (I suppose the downside is that baby mum mums are not blessed).

At any rate, I lay a sizeable piece on my hand (with a flat hand in the manner of feeding a horse), and she picks it up with her index and thumb. Then, she actually crunches it (which is incredibly cute). The best part is, I am encouraging her to master chewing, but I am not stressing over the risk of choking.

Golly googly dog dog

That's the best approximation of the sounds Rebecca has been making lately.
Just in the past week, the variety of words sounds she produces has drastically increased. Who knows the reason why. It's pretty funny to listen to, and sounds more like real language. Right now, language would be nice, but it's fairly easy to determine her mood from intonations and behaviour anyway.
Rebecca has also begun to shake her head back in forth (à la "no"), but it doesn't seem to mean "no". I have no idea what it means. The mystery continues!
Rebecca has repeated her walking feat - again, only a few steps, but doesn't appear to be overly anxious to ramp things up. Fine by me!

Tiny steps

Rebecca walked on the weekend. Just three little steps, but she did it. It's amazing, not too surprising, and yet to be repeated.
We went to our last Fitmom and Baby class today. The timing is ideal, because it became obvious to me during the class that Rebecca is just too mobile to allow me to get my hour of exercise. I spent a lot of time chasing after her so that she didn't claw out the eyes of the other babies.