It's been quite awhile since I've written about Ruth, so here I go!
wake
The little one is blossoming into quite the active and eager girl. She's friendly, though the onset of separation anxiety is upon us. Ruth definitely prefers Mommy, but Daddy is her favorite play companion.
She's taken to squawking if things are too quiet, and readily complains when her attempts to crawl are getting too frustrated. "What?! I can't figure this out immediately?!?!? Pick me up NOW!"
She is teething, and profusely. Everything belongs in her mouth, and her favorite things to chew on are usually plastic or wooden rings. She's taken to holding them in her mouth without using her hands, the way you'd see a dog walking around with a bone in its mouth. It's pretty funny looking, actually.
Especially with the rivers of drool involved.
eat
Little Ruth now eats carrots, green beans, oatmeal, rice, graham crackers, bananas, and applesauce. She likes to hold the spoon and try to feed herself, and occasionall we have to reminder her that she needs to open her mouth, and then insert the spoon.
Aside from that, it's breastmilk all the way, baby. Nursing is her favorite.
sleep
Ruth and I are back to co-sleeping, for the moment. It seems that the combination of teething and the onset of separation anxiety have made for terrifying nights for her. She's also at the beginning stages of crawling, which, on some level, must make for some conflicted feelings about her independence.
Putting her to sleep by herself is easy enough; it's staying asleep that doesn't seem to happen. After 45 minutes, she'll wake up screeching until we console her (as she heaves and sobs). So, what I do now is put her to bed between 8-9, and after she wakes up (around 10 or so), I'll just bring her to bed and nurse her to sleep there.
She still only feeds twice at night, but the biggest difference is co-sleeping means that she doesn't wake up except to feed. On her own (at least for now), she'll wake up every 2 hours or so, wondering where I am.
repeat
As a new parent, everything is, well, new. It's hard to know what's normal, and it's hard to see when I may (or may not) be freaking out. But among the (many) things I worry about in the back of my mind include the following:
- If I don't give her a strict bedtime now, I hope she won't be difficult as a toddler.
- I respond fairly quickly to her cries; am I making her too dependent on me?
- I sure hope she isn't jealous of her siblings yet to come.
- I'm so lazy about making her try new foods, I hope it doesn't take forever for her to learn to eat.
- Am I crazy for co-sleeping?
- Am I now a boring person because I have a kid on my hip?
It feels good to write those down. They're not paralyzing fears, mind you, just your average, "Yikes, I could screw this up," kind of feelings that I'm sure every parent has.
And the amazing thing is, the next child will change all the rules.
cuteness
Warning: severe cuteness ahead.
