Under the Sea

Sometimes things just get too exciting in the undersea world of Ingrid's playmat. She is however properly dressed for the occasion.

The Many Faces of Ingrid

Playing around after a successful sling practice session. Note blue paisley sling in background.

Sitting Pretty

Ingrid loves her new vibrating bouncy chair. I love it so much I bought a second one and shipped it to MI to maintain our sanity during our trip. Mama said "what you can't take care of your daughter without that?" Uhm. You just wait and see. It's not just for posing in.

New Tricks

Week seven finds Miss Ingrid with some new skills. She is deeply engrossed in her right hand. She balls it into a fist and moves it away from and towards her eyes. When it's a couple inches away her eyes totally cross. Very cute. That hand is also good for wacking things (like her new wooden rings, thanks Kendra!!! ) and occasionally even grabbing something on purpose. She likes to chat now too and finds it very funny when I copy her sounds. AaaaaH! EeeeeeeeeH! and she really likes Eh-Oh!. Those teletubbies were onto something. A couple days ago she discovered that when she kicks the arches of her baby gym, the whole things shakes. At first this made her squeal with delight. Then it kind of freaked her out. Sort of like discovering you can cause earthquakes. She almost has her head under control, which helps when admiring herself and her many goofy expressions in the mirror. She can entertain herself on the mat for about 15 minutes now (then her squeals of joy turn to screams of over stimulation) and also enjoys such mellower activities as listening to Mike translate One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish into German. She also had her first session with a babysitter on Friday afternoon (lovely Rebecca, the post partum doula who helped me the milking machine). Mike got some reading done and I got my hair cut, bought some duds for my new shape and for Ingrid (note the polka dot sundress, love the baby consignment store here in town) and spent some quality time at Downtown Subscription, my beloved local coffee shop. She also made some progress on her "sling training". Last time we tried, was the first time she did not scream while I was putting her in it. What she seems to hate is having her head in it. Since she can hold it up pretty well now, I just leave it out until she starts to snooze. That's how I plan to schlep her on the airplane to MI in a couple weeks, so she needs to understand that my goal is not to smother her.
Oh and wait, I almost forgot the best new trick of all... last night she slept from 1 a.m. until 6:45. Of course I didn't, but thanks to the wonders of expressed milk I was able to sleep from 8 a.m. to 12:30 today.