Rose-11 Months!

Date: January 20, 2021

Sleeping Pattern: We've settled into a really nice routine. She has 2 naps that are each about an hour (10-11am and 2-3pm) and bedtime starts at 7pm (usually asleep around 7:30) and then she wakes up around 7:30am. It's been pretty steady and nice. She sometimes takes a little bit to fall asleep, sometimes not, but she's able to handle it all herself. Big girl! The routines are all still the same. Sooo yeah!

Eating Habits: Not too different from last month! Nursing is good. She occasionally (I think when her teeth are bothering her) will gently bite but it's not bad and she gets very upset about being scolded for it. Lately, though, she will frequently end her nursing sessions by going "muah!" with big kisses on the boob instead of drinking hahaha. Sometimes she'll even cuddle it, because she's a sweetie. Eating solids continues to be pretty smooth, she's now up to 3 meals + a snack (she eats after her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd milk feedings and then dinner). She still eats most things-the only thing she hasn't been as big on is meat by itself (she'll eat it in stuff, and usually will still at least try it on its own) and peppers she mostly seems to not like. Carbs and fruit (and yogurt) continue to be a bit of a priority but she'll also happily nom on some cucumbers or Indian food or chicken pot pie. She has water available whenever she's eating just on her tray and she's good about just grabbing and chugging some when she needs it. And yeah, it's going pretty well and smooth and stuff. My only complaint is that she's started demanding people's food-fully reaching for and yelling at us to give it to her. One time she followed Michael around the house, trying to climb up his legs, to get at an apple he had. Dinner time is extra noisy when she wants something on your plate. As always the girl lets us know what she wants.

Development & Firsts: Rose celebrated her 1st Christmas! She absolutely loved it. She was a very happy girl all day. She also got her 3rd tooth (top left central incisor) and now has this cute grin where you just see the 1 top tooth flashing. She started standing on her own this past month as well and is getting better and better at it (eep walking probably won't be too far behind!) We attempted putting her on the sled for the first time but she wasn't a huuuge fan. Particularly if her glove got in the snow. Another big first is she got to watch the first ever woman vice president get sworn in (she's not allowed screen time-aside from video calls-but I made an exception for the inauguration.)-she seemed very pleased. And, yeah-she's just becoming more and more of a little person that we can communicate with and she's a smart little one!

Mischief:  She still enjoys a fun bit of play-mischief. Crawling super fast towards what she shouldn't have and big grins and giggles if you playfully say "what are you dooooing?" But honestly not that mischievous! Just fun-loving. 

Cuteness: I cannot adequately describe the sweetness of this baby. She is pure love. The amount of kisses and cuddles she gives are just, the best. She blows kisses now, too, and will do it at request (or anytime we say bye to anyone pretty much, or if anyone blows her a kiss). She also will respond to requests for "mwah's" and give you a big MUAH kiss. Her loved for stuffed animals and dolls has especially become ramped up (getting her very own dolly for Christmas certainly didn't hurt. She immediately hugged her and kissed her.) and she will snuggle them up in her arm and give them all the cuddles and kisses. We have a monkey puppet that's become a big favorite, for some reason. She starts going "oooh oooh ahh ahh" (all the animal noises are stinking cute) when she sees it and then when you give it to her immediately tightly cuddles it and will hold it out for you to kiss then she'll kiss it and...yeah. You get the idea. It's a never ending snuggle and smooch fest over here. She and James have been especially loving on each other this past month too. So many big hugs and kisses. They love to play with each other and frequently make each other giggle. They also frequently yell at each other and squabble over toys and stuff. Rose has started acting like such a little sister sometimes. Like there's this fluffy mammoth they got for Christmas that she was taking a turn with and she literally leaned out of Michael's arms to dangle the mammoth in front of James and grin in what seemed like a victorious/teasing manner. Or anytime he wears his turtle costume she like guffaws and points hahaha. But then she'll also just sway and sing "bruh buh bruh buhhhh"--those are 2 new things for her. She sings and dances now. She started dancing the 1st time when James sang the ABC's like 10 times in a row she was grinning and swaying. Then she started doing more and more whenever someone sings. And she loves to sing "da daaaaaa", "bruh buhhhh" or "mamaaaa" (the latter is a more recent addition that I am very pleased about) over and over while swaying. When she's dancing or excited she'll also do a cute little bounce. Her daddy love has become especially pronounced. One day Michael went into the office (a rarity) and she was so clingy afterwards. The whole following week she like followed him around and would come find him and demand his attention and love like constantly. He is not mad about it. She really looks for any of us when we're not around and always likes for us all to be accessible to her lol. I've also decided she must like accessorizing because she will pick up bows, headbands, and hair ties and put them to her head like she's trying to put them on. She'll even do it with the baby doll's headband (which is much too small for her lol). She also loves putting her winter boots on, she'll put her foot on top of it. And she'll grab her clothes and put them on her (not like...put them on but put them on her....you know what I mean). I love it. I love her. She also gives high fives. And will just lay and cuddle with you. And kiss the cute babies in books. And demand you find her all the animals in books to do their noises for her. And give you giant forceful kisses. And giggle and crawl quickly towards something fun for her. And end up sputtering water everywhere because she tried to kiss her reflection in the bathtub drain when there was water in the tub. She's just the happiest cutest most affectionate and wonderful little baby. 

Nicknames: Rosie, Rose Rose, Roses (Michael's mom calls her this), Rosie Posy, Baby Rose, Miss Rosie, Baby girl, Pretty girl, Lady, Young Lady, Chunk/Chunk-a-munk, "The Chub/Chubby/Chub-a-lub" (James calls her that), Meatball (mostly used by Michael lol), Sweetling, Sweetie-girl, Sweetie pie, Cutie-girl, Silly girl, Honey girl, Honey bun, Muffin, Little miss, Missy, Ma'am, Sweetness, Love, combinations of all of the above.

Talking: Rosie is rarely quiet. Always talking (and frequently yelling). Still unsure what all words/phrases she may be saying (sometimes I think I hear something but know it could be me reading into it. I'm sure some of it is what I think, though) but definitely lots of dada, mama, bruhbuh. She's also started singing! She'll sway side to say and say, in a lyrical tone, "dadaaaa, bruhbuhhhh, mamamaaaa" it's real cute. Animal noises have been a big development this month. She's been able to do elephant for awhile but now she knows monkey, giraffe, lion/tiger, penguin, crocodile, butterfly (she flutters her hands/arms and sometimes tries to whisper "flutter" repeatedly, it's adorable), dog, cat, fish, sheep, cow, pig, and we're constantly working on new ones. She loves looking through books or for animals to then have us practice the sounds while we point to them and like quiz her lol. 

Favorites: James, mommy, and daddy. When James is being sweet to her/pretty much anytime she sees him. Snuggles. Kisses. Being held. Books. Dancing. Singing. Daddy's guitar. Daddy wearing his glasses. People and video calls (if she hears someone on Zoom she starts getting so excited and tries to go where they are). Babies and animals and making animal sounds. Stuffed animals and snuggling them (especially the monkey puppet we have). Smiling and laughing and playing. Attention, play, affection, as usual. Eating. Anything she thinks is fun or funny or cute. She likes most things and is happy and smiling most of the time. She's a delight.

Dislikes: Being yelled at/scolded. Being taken from something (particularly a toy) she wants. Being told no (if you really mean it anyway). Getting wiped down after eating. Being kept still when she wants to go someplace. Not being able to eat what she wants when she wants/you taking too long about getting it for her. Teething. 

Concerns: General COVID/lack of socialization. But that's just life right now. Otherwise nothing really!

A Day in the Life: She and James get up around 7:30. I get them and take them downstairs then nurse Rose. Then change her diaper and get her and James breakfast (usually fruit and yogurt or toast or cereal or something). Then we play for a little bit before I change her and put her down for her nap around 10 (unless he has an early meeting this is also when we wake daddy up). She wakes around 11 and then I nurse her, change her, give her lunch, and then we play for awhile. Around 1/1:15pm we start James' nap routine and not too long after he's down we get Rose ready and she goes down around 2. Both kids wake around 3 and then I nurse Rose and we play for a bit, give her a snack, then I make dinner. We eat around 5/5:30 and then play (and/or take a bath) until 7 when Rose's bedtime routine starts. Michael or I read to her then say goodnight to things, including James, and then the other adult takes her upstairs to get ready and then I nurse her (while singing "Rosie") and put her in her crib. She usually falls asleep not too long after, while we're getting James ready for bed. And then that's it! She sleeps until morning.

^The last photo, bottom right, in the collage is Rose watching the inauguration. Look how sweet!

Rose-10 Months!

Date: December 20, 2020

Height: 27.56 inches (as of doc's appointment on the 14th)

Weight: 19 lbs 1 oz. (as of the 14th)

Sleeping Pattern: Things are good now but eeep this was a rough month. I think there was a leap/regression and Rose started fighting falling asleep. She also started sitting and standing in her crib. She'd seem sleepy and assume her sleepy time pose but then as soon as I left the room she'd stand and cry then sit and fall asleep while sitting and WOULD NOT LAY DOWN. For like a week she did this and would pretty much just be sitting and off and on crying throughout the night. It was not a good time. But she eventually figured out that laying down is better and now she frequently ends up sleeping on her belly after she stirs. Her naps have also gotten shorter but I think she's just getting older-and her night sleep is (now) a nice long chunk so I think it's fine, but I definitely am wondering about when to transition her to 1 nap. 

Eating Habits: Nursing is good-I love how when I feed her she'll frequently like wind her little feet up around my arm and kick them in the air. It's cute. There have been some instances of her experimenting with biting but she's usually pretty gentle and it's when she's like done drinking. And she luckily doesn't do it all the time (also she still just has the 2 teeth which helps lol). Eating solids is still going great-she eats breakfast after her 1st nursing session, lunch after her 2nd, and then dinner is usually around 5ish. She still likes pretty much everything, peppers are the only thing I'm not so sure about right now. She's definitely starting to show a little bit more preference-namely for carbs and fruit. Who can blame her? She gets offered water whenever she wants during meals and she is very good with her cup (although she needs to slow down on her chugs, lady loves that water). Unfortunately she's started dropping food onto the ground which she definitely finds to be amusing-us not so much. It's not terrible yet though and luckily I remember the various strategies from James so it's manageable lol. Oh and if she's hungry and you haven't already fed her (particularly if she sees food) she'll start smacking her lips and tongue at you.

Development & Firsts: I feel like she's become a little person who I can legit communicate with this month. Like she understands requests and can respond in her own fashion. If you tell her to come here or get something she will (or she'll grin and do the opposite for fun) and frequently when you ask her something she'll say "yeah". If you ask her where something/someone is she'll point to it and if you ask what an elephant says she'll do the sound and put her arm up like a trunk. More on all of that in talking but yeah lots of communication. She's also cruising (walking while holding something) and has started crawling up the stairs (she's not terribly interested usually but she did do it once. However she was not a fan of failure and when she slumped down a step--she was totally fine I had her--she was quite upset and didn't want to do it again lol). She also, I think, started being able to sit from laying-which is part of what led to the sleep troubles I mentioned. She's still really good at figuring out how things fit together and has managed to actually fit legos together, stack the stacking cups inside of each other, and put the little shapes we have through their appropriate holes. On the firsts front she had her first experience with James' birthday and she got to go see Christmas lights (she just kept cooing and talking up a storm in the car so clearly the whole thing was fun for her). She also played in the snow for the first time (she was....fine with it. It sort of made her freeze-pun slightly intended-up. She just sat there wide eyed mostly lol.)

Mischief:  I think Rose has found her mischief. And it's adorable. She'll hang off the side of her high chair and sweetly smile at you while she drops things off of it (whilst you're telling her "Rose don't...") She also loves to crawl very quickly away from you-especially towards something/somewhere she knows she shouldn't-and look back at you and giggle (I do enjoy making this a game when possible and catching her and saying "what are you doing?" over and over again as it makes her have fits of giggles.) She's gotten particularly fixated on finding any crumbs on the floor and trying to eat them-which she thinks is hilarious. I, less so. There are just various occasions where she will know she has a thing or is doing a thing she should not do and her reaction is to either just give you a very sweet innocent face or the most adorable grin and/or giggle you've ever seen. It's not fair I tell you! Unfortunately she does then when she bites during nursing too but I try to maintain my serious face and be firm so she knows it's not a joke. Man it's difficult, though. Still more sweet than sour in this one but she's definitely getting a bit of spice. 

Cuteness: She's still the sweetest cutest most pure thing. This month she's started giggling more easily--like she's finding more and more humor. I'll just make a face at her and she lets out a giggle. I love it. Her whole face lights up and it's the sweetest sound. The constant pointing and beginnings of responses and communicating are amazing. Her little voice is so so cute. The way she brightens up and grins and waves and calls out to Michael, James, or I when she is just seeing us (or honestly if we looked away and then looked back like a second later haha) still just makes us all feel so special. Her waving has really picked up-she waves all the time and it can be so funny and  so cute. When we went to the doctor she waved excitedly at everyone she saw (the ladies behind the desk had more of the staff come out to see the cute baby) and she always waves when we do video calls and such. She really gets so excited to see people. Poor baby doesn't get a chance very often but she definitely is social and so open and outgoing. When she sees her grandparents on porch visits she always tries to touch them through the door and grins and gets so wiggly and excited (and, I think, is attempting to say grandma). She even gets stoked when she sees pictures of them or her aunts and uncles. And she loves to clap too-various times when she starts feeling happy or proud or excited the big grins and claps will start up. One big thing that has happened this month that brings me so much happiness is how into books she has gotten. Rose will now crawl to the bookshelf we have in our front room with the kids books on it and just stand and take books off the shelf-sometimes just for fun but oftentimes until she finds the book she wants then she'll either look at it or bring it to you to read it (one time I asked if she wanted me to read it while she was holding it and she got so happy and crawled into my lap and sat to be read to.) She will kiss any cute baby she sees in the books over and over and she loves the ones with soft things to pet as well. Her favorite books make her grin and laugh when you read them to her. It's amazing to see--and since everyone else in this house is also a book lover it makes my heart smile. One of her favorites is Baby Sounds and it is in English and Spanish. As a result of that book we can now request besos and get kisses. She loves to give such big kisses. I love them. Sometimes she'll just hold my head and bombard me with kisses. She also makes the most fun, cutes faces. Of course the big happy grins. Also the slightly different mischievous smiles. The tiny mouth "o" of silly/false surprise (which is a tiny carbon copy of my face. Have I mentioned how much she looks like me? A much cuter version lol). A big pouty lip combined with a stuck out tongue. Sticking her tongue in and out and making a "lalalala" sound. And of course just her general, big eyed, taking everything in face. Her hair is also very fun-I still love the pigtails but I've also done little mini buns (like pigtails but in bun form) and those are freaking cute as heck. It's getting so long and it's crazy how much she looks like a little girl already. Especially when she's walking by pushing James' old toy car across the room and giggling with pride. Oh and now that she sleeps on her belly (I still put her down on her back but she almost always ends up on her front) she is all rumpled and pink cheeked when she wakes up-usually with her hair almost completely covering her face-and then I get a big drooly and warm sleepy smile and snuggle when I get her out of her crib. She's so snuggly, there's nothing like it when she just lays her head on your chest to cuddle.What else? She is really into Michael's guitar still-she sometimes will smile at Michael and crawl over to it, communicating "let's play daddy!" Still enjoys lots of different toys and putting things together-and she gets very proud when she gets things together in the right way. As always....impossible to even conjure up and sum up all the cuteness in this girl because it is infinite. 

Nicknames: Rosie, Rose Rose, Rosie Posy, Baby Rose, Miss Rosie, Baby girl, Pretty girl, Lady, Young Lady, Chunk/Chunk-a-munk, "The Chub/Chubby" (James calls her that), Sweetling, Sweetie-girl, Sweetie pie, Cutie-girl, Silly girl, Honey girl, Honey bun, Little miss, Missy, Ma'am, Sweetness, Love, combinations of all of the above.

Talking: She's still a little chatterbox-possibly even more now. And, like I said above, there is definite communication happening. She points, makes elephant sounds, follows directions, imitates sounds or things we're doing,  responds, etc. We were reading a book and it asked what color the person's hair was. I pointed and said "blue" and Rose pointed and say "boo." She also points to pictures of our family and clearly recognizes them and for my brother even said "johhh" (Josh) and I'm pretty sure she's trying to say grandma. When my mom and MIL were doing porch visits recently she said "dada" to them in a way that is different than how she usually says it like she's trying to say grandma. We'll see. Still unsure on what exact words she can consistently say aside from mama, dada, and bruhbuh but she's definitely saying yeah and it's always really funny lol. Just lots of little words where we go "did you just say---?" Excited to see them emerge more definitively! 

Favorites: James, mommy, and daddy. When James is being sweet to her/pretty much anytime she sees him. Snuggles. Kisses. Being held. Books (especially Baby Sounds and Hair Love and pretty much anything with a cute baby or animal in it). Daddy wearing his glasses. Daddy's guitar.  People (she gets very excited to see people on video calls, through the storm door on porch visits, or when we were at the doctor). Babies, specifically. Smiling and laughing and playing (she especially loves being chased or if you pretend she's done something she shouldn't). Peek-a-boo. Still pretty much all forms of play, attention, and affection. Eating food (carbs and fruit are probably the current favorites). Anything she finds funny in the moment--she's such a ball of joy, honestly. She is happy most of the time and seems to truly find enjoyment out of most things. She's the best. 

Dislikes: James yelling at her/pushing her. Being taken from something (particularly a toy) she wants. Being told no (if you really mean it anyway). Being left alone in crib to sleep (hence her refusing to lay down for like a week. She has since come to a place of acceptance about it again). Getting wiped down after eating. Being kept still when she wants to go someplace (most notably when trying to change her diaper). 

Concerns: COVID as per usual. Just missing seeing the world and stuff. Also when she wouldn't lay down in her crib and just kept staying sitting, that was a bit concerning. Very relieved that phase has passed.

A Day in the Life: She and James get up for the day around 7:30ish (hopefully). We go downstairs and I nurse her, change her, then feed the two kids breakfast. We play, I change her again and then put her down for a nap around 10. She wakes up in the vicinity of 11 and then I nurse her and feed her lunch (James has usually just finished his when she wakes up so he either plays on his own or sits and draws or something while she eats). We play for a bit until like 1ish when I start getting James ready for his nap. Then we have a tiny bit of solo time with Rose usually before she goes down around 2. Both kids are usually up by 3 and then we play, I cook dinner, we eat, and then just a bit more play time before Rose's bedtime starts at 7! We read to her, say goodnight to things, do superhero rules, brush her 2 little teeth, lotion her up (winter=extra dry skin season in our house), change her, then I sing to her and nurse her. She now goes down fully awake but falls asleep pretty quickly (post the awful sleeping while sitting week). Then she sleeps all night (with various fits of crying that last like a minute max that randomly occur).

Rose-9 Months!

Date: November 20, 2020

Sleeping Pattern: Things are pretty steady in the sleep department. Rose doesn't have super long naps during the day (they're usually around an hour-if I'm lucky they're longer, if I'm less lucky they're shorter) but she sleeps for a long while at night (like 12.5 hours on average) and she's a generally happy lady so no complaints! (I knew this would happen-she went through something for a few days after I wrote this where her sleep got kind of crazy but I think we're back on track again.) She wakes around 7ish every morning and then is awake for 2.5 hours before her 1st nap and then she's awake for 3 hours after waking before her 2nd nap. Then she's up for 4 hours before we start her bedtime routine. She still usually stays pretty still while sleeping, not moving around or rolling around much. Just assumes her classic sleepy time pose of left hand in her hair and right thumb in her mouth when I put her down and then her arms may lay in other positions whilst asleep but periodically pop back into position lol. 

Eating Habits: Nursing has been fine still! She eats and then is done and it's never very long and all pretty chill. Solids have been consistently good too-she still hasn't disliked a single thing. Little girl has eaten spicy curry and loves it (when something spicy catches up to her she does eventually cry because it hurts but then I give her yogurt and she's cool). It's pretty awesome. She is now eating 3 times a day (breakfast, lunch-which is after her 1st nap, and dinner) and happily chomps away. She may have started signing more at one point but now that's unfortunately disappeared--I always try to model and ask "more" and "all done" and so far still having some issues on sorting out what she wants in that area. She always lights up when I ask if she wants a drink and give her the cup of water. She looooves water. 

Development & Firsts: On 10/24 Rose got her 1st tooth (bottom right incisor) and on 10/30 she got her 2nd (bottom left incisor)! Now she's got 2 cute little toothers in the bottom of her mouth. She also had her 1st Halloween (she was a Care Bear! We stayed home because of COVID but still dressed the kids up for fun). She's crawling really really well and started being able to crawl on all fours (as opposed to the army crawl) and is super fast! She's also pulling herself up to standing on things and frequently gets up on her feet from crawling (she just can't get her upper body off the ground unless she's holding something). She loves to crawl into my lap and then pull herself up to standing on me and then just bury her face in my shoulder (she loooves me!) And she sits up from laying/crawling. Annnd claps two toys together (and sometimes her hands). She also points, a lot. Big fan of pointing. And she'll sort of wave too (hold her hand up and open and close it. She does this to daddy a lot, or to me if he has her, or sometimes when we video call). I'm incredibly impressed by how good she is at making things fit together-she's always attempting the puzzles and shape fitting things that we have with much more dexterity than I would expect at her age and she can even put all the rings on the stacking cone (which kind of blew me away honestly). And I think that's all? Lots of separation anxiety if you want to count that as development-she is not a fan of not being without her mama. If she had her way I'd be holding her 90% of the time.

Mischief:  Rose is still a fan of going after things even (especially?) if you try to redirect her from it. One time there was a toy I had moved her away from (not good for chewing on and she of course chews everything) and while I was doing something else she crawled over to the toy. She then looked at me, very purposefully, and held up the toy and when I said, "Nooo," she like laughed at me. She's also always wanting what James has, even when he's yelling at her that she's not allowed (*sigh*). Most of the time, though, she just gets mad and yells at you or cries when you deny her something. Now that she has teeth, Rose has experimented with biting me during nursing a couple times (very tentatively like she's literally testing it out). When I gently say "Noo Rosie no biting" she looks crestfallen and sobs about being reprimanded. (James had a biting phase at this age and thought it was amusing when I said no. So here's a very clear difference between them lol). She's still made of more sweetness than mischief!

Cuteness: I cannot emphasize enough how adorable Rose is. She is the sweetest most affectionate good little baby that I can imagine. I love all her chunky baby rolls and her big beautiful eyes (of indeterminate color, I'm guessing they'll end up hazel?) and crazy long eyelashes and kissy little mouth (that's always drooling) and the cutest 2 little teeth that peek out when her mouth is open wide (which is a lot she is always giving big grins or yelling lol). And her super pretty long hair (whether it's down or in pigtails). She just adores me and wants me like all the time and man that makes my heart swell. She would be content to be held always pretty much. She'll just lay her head on me or snuggle up on my shoulder (or Michael's) and squeeze for a big hug/snuggle. She'll give big open mouthed kisses happily all day long-including to her sweet brother (he loves to hold her and she gets so excited and they'll give each other kisses. It melts you.) And now that she's mobile she does the cutest little happy "I'm coming to get you" crawl when she sees one of us and wants to come get us. Her face lights up and she speeds up her crawling-soooo precious. She'll also crawl into your lap (which we fully predicted would be the case) and now even uses you to stand herself up and then like forcibly hug/kiss you lol. She's actually pretty cool to just play with toys and crawl around most of the time-she doesn't really get into stuff she shouldn't much (including the Christmas tree!), she's pretty chill left to her own devices until she becomes demanding of wanting to be held/cuddled. One time she was playing near Michael while he worked (I was putting James down for his nap) and she just crawled from the living room to the front room, took one of the stacking rings for her cone-which she had been playing with in the living room-, and came back to her previous spot. Like just went on a little mission and didn't do anything untrustworthy. She's constantly talking and babbling-so many probable words are emerging and it's so cool to see the beginning of this 2 way communication. And I love her little voice. She calls for dada a lot and even has flapped her hand out demandingly while yelling "dadaaaaaa!!" (She loves her daddy too, he makes her smile and giggle so much.) She talks with her hands a looot (can't imagine why....we all talk with our hands lol) and especially likes to hold her hand out in almost a Shakespearean "alas poor Yurik" kind of way. Rose is also definitely recognizing the people that we video call with, she gets so excited to see them (she even tries to happy crawl to the phone :P) and also loves to look at pictures of them. On Halloween James was already in his (ninja turtle) costume when we went to get Rose from her nap and she did a double take when she saw him. Then she started pointing at him and like guffaw laughing. It was the most little sibling thing ever. She's getting more into books now and even took a book back off the shelf after I had put it back (and since then she's decided a fun new game is "take all the books off the shelf!"--luckily pretty much everything at her height level is kid friendly thanks to James lol). Clearly she is standing quite a bit and it's cute how excited she gets sometimes after successfully pulling herself up, she'll like wiggle and do a cry of victory. Rose also seems to be very interested in instruments, especially Michael's guitar. Like everything she does it seems like she's very experiential about it (like James is more cerebral and likes to figure things out in his head first and really understand how everything works)-like she's tactile and likes to test things in order to figure them out (like the stacking rings on the cone, puzzles, etc.) It's amazing to watch her learn and grow and just how full of love and wonder she is.

Nicknames: Rosie, Rosie Rose, Rosie Posy, Baby Rose, Miss Rosie, Baby girl, Pretty girl, Lady, Young Lady, Chunk/Chunk-a-munk, "The Chub/Chubby" (James calls her that), Koala Bear, Sweetling, Sweetie-girl, Sweetie pie, Cutie-girl, Honey girl, Honey bun, Little miss, Missy, Ma'am, Sweetness, Love, combinations of all of the above.

Talking: Always talking but absolutely with more intention and meaning. Like she's clearly saying words now (just not always clear on what the word is). Dada and bruhbah (brother) are very strong and distinct-she doesn't use mama a ton but she'll whip it out occasionally. She's definitely saying "yeah" (always a cute response to hear lol) and might also be saying done, baby, book, that/dat (when we put up Christmas decorations she just kept pointing at everything going "dat! dat! dat!"), and other things. Lots of babbling. She also might make the "vroom" sound for cars and the elephant sound (similar to raspberries but a bit different I think). She'll also do a big excited inhale when she's stoked about something.

Favorites: James, mommy, and daddy. Playing with, hugging, and kissing James (she'll give him big open mouth kisses and it's too sweet). Snuggles. Burying her head in your shoulder. Hugs. Kisses. Being held. Daddy wearing his glasses (she thinks it's funny). Daddy's guitar (listening to him play and also trying to play herself). Babies (she gets so excited when she sees pictures of her little cousin Mena). People (pictures and video calls especially, and most of all the grandparents and aunts and uncles and aforementioned cousin). Smiling and attention. Eating food (yogurt and applesauce have elicited particularly aggressive positive responses, amongst others). Playing peek-a-boo (especially with daddy). All forms of playing and attention and affection bring her joy. Toys (especially ones her brother likes and also the xylophone, and cone and stacking rings). Still anything with a face, especially elephants and, like I said, babies. Going where she wants and getting what she wants-the newfound independence of crawling. Baths. And yeah I mean a million things. She's so dang happy and loves all of us so much. It's the most precious.

Dislikes: Not being with mommy. Getting wiped down after eating. Being kept from being able to go crawl and be free if she so desires. Taking something away from her (or her away from the something) that she wants. Falling (starting to happen now that she's standing and she is not a fan of falling down. James never seemed phased so it's very different!) Being told no/reprimanded/stopped. 

Concerns: COVID as always. And just anytime she's crying in her crib. And no one enjoys the teething and separation anxiety stuff. But that's pretty much it. 

A Day in the Life: James wakes up around 7-7:30 (usually) and so does Rose. I get James then we go get Rose together (and she's always so excited to see big brother and he's so excited to see her). We all go downstairs and I get James situated then she nurses, I change her diaper, I give them breakfast, we play, and then down for a nap after being awake for two and a half hours. She usually sleeps about 1-1.5 hours then I nurse her, change her, give her lunch, we play, then we get James down for his nap around 1ish and she usually goes down after that (about 3ish hours after waking up). I get a bit of a break while they both sleep usually, but this nap is usually short for her because she needs to be awake by 3 so that her bedtime is no later than 7 (since James' is at 7:30). After she's awake I nurse her, change her, we might play for a smidge and then I generally get dinner ready and we all eat together. After that I maybe give her/James bath(s)-usually together now-or just play (maybe video call with someone). Bedtime starts 4 hours after she woke from her nap. Someone reads her a book, says goodnight to stuff around the house, then she says goodnight to James and goes upstairs. We read superhero rules, get her diaper changed and into her sleeper and sleepsack and then I nurse her and sing "Rosie". She usually falls asleep and I cuddle her before laying her down in her crib. Then she sleeps all night (Except for the weird days she wakes up and cries in the very early morning *sigh*)