Rice Cereal, Squash, and Peaches, Oh My!

The past couple weeks mark another huge milestone for Kaylee. We started her on solids on the advice of her pediatrician, since she was showing signs of being interested and acting hungry despite drinking 32-40 oz. of formula each 24 hours. She is eating from a spoon like a champ now, though it took a little practice. Also, since eating food is MUCH messier than drinking bottles, we got her a booster chair that attaches to a regular chair. It's made by Fisher Price and is really easy to keep clean (no cracks for food gunk to build up in) and has a food tray and lid that snaps into the tray table portion - they're even dishwasher safe! Plus it will turn into a regular booster without a back or tray later, when she's older but still needs to sit higher. Here are a couple movies and pics of her chowing down:

Kaylee's very first taste of rice cereal.

Kaylee's second time eating cereal, this time on
the kitchen counter in her Bumbo chair + tray.
Easier than holding her in our arms but we need
something stable and safe that has a safety belt
to keep her strapped in! You can see she's happy
to eat food, though!


Kaylee's shiny new booster chair!

Kaylee eating some sweet potatoes for lunch
the other day, in her chair. She's got the whole
spoon thing down pretty good now, and she is
digging the sweet potatoes, just like her daddy!

In the world of play, Kaylee got a cute little dinosaur ball pit from her Grandmother for Christmas this year, and we have played with the balls with her so far, even though she's still too little to sit inside the ball pit part of the dinosaur. She seems to like it when Daddy covers her in the brightly colored balls... we got lots of giggles and smiles out of her when we rolled the balls all over her body and all around her...

Whoah! Check out all these balls!

Just hanging out with Mom after
playing in the big pile of balls...

We still spend a lot of time in the rocker/recliner chair snuggling. One new development, however, is that we've started to put her down for naps and evening bed while she's still awake. If we get it right, it only takes her a few minutes to fall asleep, and it's so cute to hear her contented sleepy sighs as she drifts off. She has also started waking up and talking and playing rather than crying and fussing...

Kaylee playing in her crib after waking up...

Here we are, assuming the snuggle position...
Usually it's only a few minutes from this point
when Kaylee starts to nod off and we carry her
into her bedroom for sweet dreams...

Here we are in the chair again for more
snuggle time. We seem to do this a lot -
but we all enjoy it, so that's what matters!

Something else that's really taken over in the past week is the teething. When her gums are really itchy and she's chewing everything in sight, she starts fussing and whining usually by late afternoon and all evening. A little baby Anbesol rubbed on her gums and some Tylenol for inflammation usually take the edge off so far. Sometimes she wants to chew on a cold wet facecloth, which feels good. We have a couple really cool teethers, as well - I found these RazBaby silicone teether/pacifiers that are berry shaped at Walmart.com. They are a little big for sucking, but great for chewing on, and they're soft and kinda sproingy and she has been really chewing on them in the last few days. Sometimes she chews on the berry part, and sometimes she chews on the leaf or the ring - it's all silicone, so she doesn't seem to care which part makes it into her mouth. We also have a vibrating teether, a teether hippo (stuffed animal with teether feet), rubber ring teethers, and the traditional water filled teething ring you keep cold in the refrigerator. She has also started going for my face and her Nana's face - we'll think she's wanting a snuggle and instead she grabs us around the head and starts biting us on our jaw line or chin. At first it was just funny, but she's actually biting pretty hard now and I know that as soon as those teeth are anywhere near the surface that it'll be pretty painful, so we'll have to try redirecting her chewing to her teethers.

Trying to take a bite out of Nana's face!

Kaylee is also starting to show some preference for some of her toys and books over others. Monkey is currently one of her favorites. He came from Aunt Courtney, and we all love him. We might have to pick up another one to have a spare on hand just in case this one gets destroyed (read: loved to death!) or lost or something...

She attacks it when she's in a giggly teething aggressive mode:

And she likes to play with it quietly when she's laying on the floor or practicing sitting in her Boppy pillow:

Sitting on the floor in her Boppy
pillow, having some monkey time!

OK, sitting lesson is OVER and it's just
monkey time now! Monkey is so fun!

Getting a few ZZZ's... Monkey is also
taking a break from some rough play.
You can see his nose isn't too far from
Kaylee's face, ready for when she wakes up!

Here are a couple more pics, just for the cuteness factor.

Kaylee sitting pretty on the couch...

Kaylee sitting kinda slouchy in Mama's lap after a meal.

Until next time!