Liesl update

I can't believe I only managed two blog posts for the entire month of May. We were busy at the beginning of the month with various things, and preparing to go on vacation, and then we were in White Rock for 2 1/2 weeks, and there was little time in the family chaos for blogging. So I've been retroactively filling in some pictures and updates.

It's been a momentous month for our baby girl. Maybe momentous is too strong a word. But she's changed and grown a lot and is clearly no longer a newborn. She seems much more alert and aware - turning her head to keep up with the action, smiling at games we play, attempting to communicate with her hands and body. She reaches out for us, and grabs on when she wants to stay close. If she's happy to see one of us, she does this adorable full-body wriggle, while smiling and waving her arms around. If you're holding her and she wants to go somewhere, she'll kick and move her legs as though she's walking through the air. She has decided opinions about toys, and if you try to take away something she's currently playing with, she'll squawk loudly in protest. She likes shiny things and electronics - a little magpie.

She is trying hard to both crawl and stand. Watching her older cousin Roxy (10 months) crawl around my parents' place definitely gave her ideas, especially since Roxy would crawl over, steal a toy, and crawl away with it. :) Liesl sits and leans way way forward, balancing onto her arms, and rocks onto her knees. She's learned to get onto her belly somewhat gracefully instead of flopping face-first onto the ground. She can turn herself around and manages to move a bit, either by scootching on her bum, or pushing backwards on her belly. I don't think her arms are yet strong enough to hold her up for crawling, but she's trying hard. It's fun to contrast her crawling attempts with those of Sebastian at this age - he started off on his belly, pulling himself forward with his arms alone - commando-style.

She has developed a lot more enthusiasm for solid foods, and I've been rapidly expanding her repertoire. So far, my initial impression has continued: she likes fruit, and everything else is just okay. Even when I try to mask the veggies by combining them with fruit, she is noticeably less engaged in the whole thing. But she loves finger foods most of all. She loved eating crackers with Roxy. The other night I gave her a stick of asparagus and a peapod and she gummed both very happily. She seems both more interested in feeding herself and more capable of doing so than Sebastian at a similar age. She's definitely demonstrating more dexterity with her pincer grip than he did, which allows her to grab those tiny Cheerios with ease.

And last, but not least, she has her first tooth! It arrived at some point in the last week, on the bottom gum, and my best guess is that the next teeth are following close behind.