29 Weeks

When I picked Madeline up from daycare on Monday afternoon, her teacher exclaimed, "I can't believe how big she's getting!"  

It's true.  Madeline suddenly seems much bigger, much older, much less baby-like.  

She wants to do everything herself these days.  I have to wrestle the spoon and bottle away from her when I feed her.  I'd let her do it herself, but she hasn't quite figured out how to get the food in her mouth yet.  When she's done eating, I let her play with her plate and spoon.  Eric doesn't like it much because it's a very messy game, and Madeline ends up with food all over the place, but she enjoys it.  Nine times out of ten the spoon ends up in her mouth the right way now.  I'm impressed with her spoon-holding skills.  

We gave her Mum Mum crackers for the first time this week.  She loves being able to eat them without any help from me.  In fact, I tried to hold one for her after she dropped it several times, but she growled at me with frustration until I put it back on her mat and let her pick it up herself.  

Growling is a big thing with Madeline these days.  She sounds like a racecar revving its engine.  I think this is a learned behavior from watching her Mumma growl every day when she misplaces her cellphone for the millionth time.  I need to cool it with the mini temper tantrums if I want Madeline to do the same.  She just gets frustrated so easily.  

At the same time, Madeline continues to be a jolly, happy baby.  Eric said he finds it strange that she can be so stubborn and yet so easy-going at the same time.  It sounds like an impossible mix, but it's true.  

Perhaps her greatest new achievement is her ability to "stand up."  We have to support her around her waist, but she's getting better at supporting her own weight.  She LOVES this.  She laughs and laughs, and gets a look of amazement on her face.  She's so proud of her new skills!   

As for rolling over, I've given up worrying about that.  For a while she seemed behind in several areas, and so I worried.  Now, she's absolutely fine in every area except for rolling over.  I think she's just going to skip that skill and go right to crawling.  When she sits, she already leans forward onto her arms as if she's trying to figure out how to crawl away. 

We also bought Madeline a big-girl car seat this weekend.  Her infant seat is starting to get pretty tight.  We're going to put her new seat in Eric's car and continue to use her old one in my car until she really can't squeeze into it any longer.  

In spite of all this big-girl behavior, Madeline is still my sweet little baby.  On Sunday afternoon she fell asleep in my arms for the first time in a long time.  She would not let me put her down.  So I rocked her, and finally sat down with her nestled up in my lap for a cozy afternoon snooze.  She loves her Mumma, and I love her.