you're not allowed to have water around Esme unless you're willing to share
big helper...
...or sneaky little thing?
whoa.
Esme started
sitting independently this month, as well as sitting herself up from a lying
down position. She technically started crawling one day into next month, but we’re
super excited about it so we’re putting it in this month’s blog! She spent a
lot of time (both during the day and in the middle of the night) rocking on her
hands and knees. Eventually, she figured out how to move her knees but not her
hands, and experimented with the bear crawl for a while. By her 6 month
birthday she settled on a normal crawl, moving both her hands and knees at the
same time – so neat to watch!
aaaaaaand she's off!
During our
trip to Canada last month Esme tried a little taste of banana and was so in
love with it that we thought we’d try some baby food. We thought rice cereal
was a little bland for baby Pollard so we started her on some sweet potatoes. Pureed food turned out to be less to her liking than sucking on a whole banana, but it's a work in progress, and we have hope that someday Esme will have an eclectic palate like her parents.
Esme’s
favorite toy this month – the nasal syringe (don’t worry, we don’t actually use
it for its intended purpose). She gets pretty antsy during diaper changes these
days and we give her whatever is within reach to distract her, so the snot sucker
became Esme’s new favorite chew toy.
And speaking
of diaper changes, we had a memorable one this month. Ryan changed Esme’s
diaper at the library a couple weeks ago and threw the dirty diaper in the bathroom
trashcan (like a normal person, he said). A strange man took the diaper out of
the trash and followed Ryan out of the bathroom telling him to take it with him
so the trash wouldn’t stink. Who does that?!? Ryan was so dumbfounded that he
didn’t think to tell the guy there was no poop in it. He did tell him he was “nuts,”
though.
Grandma
Trudie sent new toys (it was like Christmas in August, and mommy was more
excited than baby).
We stopped by the Newark airport to bid adieu to Grandpa Jerry and Rosie as they headed to Israel for a vacation ...they brought Esme a new favorite toy - Sally the camel.
Esme and Sally
Since the weather's been nice, daddy and mommy have been trying to get some outdoor exercise. The Rockefeller State Park Preserve is a beautiful place to walk nearby; Esme loves looking up at the trees and smiling at passers-by and their doggies. She's encountered many horses as well (some of them pulling old-timey carriages with actual Rockefellers inside!).
A few more firsts…
We started
teaching Esme how to wave bye-bye to daddy when he goes to work. We thought
she did it once, but it was probably a fluke J
She now understands
peekaboo and thinks that’s pretty funny.
We’ve heard her make a few real speech sounds so far, but most of her “talking” is still
coos, giggles, and playing with vowels.
Esme started riding in her stroller like a big girl.
...and sitting in her highchair
Happy fall everyone!
