Ice Cream
Miranda had her first ice cream today (and if Grandpop weren't in England, she would have had it long, long before now, but I'm somewhat more conservative with what I let babies eat).
She was surprised at first, probably by the cold. Made a funny little face, and then wanted a bit more and as we went on she got more and more excited by the whole thing.
Zoë, meanwhile, was eating a small ice cream cone of her own. By the time she got to the cone, Miranda had finished the ice cream in the cup, and the baby started to eyeball the big sister's cone... I asked Zoë if we could share with Miranda, and Zoë seemed willing to do that, so I let Miranda have a bite and gave the cone back to Zoë. In just a little while, Miranda wanted a bit more, so I broke off a piece to give to her.
Then, while I was talking to Andrew on my mobile to confirm our afternoon meeting time and place, Miranda reached over and just took the cone away from Zoë! Zoë was pretty much finished with it (hey, she ate all the ice cream, and that's the good part), and Miranda happily munched the rest of the cone all by herself.
So I guess Miranda had her first ice cream cone today. Of course, she ate the ice cream from a spoon out of a dish, and the cone was stolen from her sister, but what the heck. An ice cream cone is an ice cream cone.
Stand up, stand up...
Miranda's now in the habit of standing up ALL the time. Every chance she gets. If there's not a belt on her to keep her in the seat, up she goes.
Last night she decided that the bath seat was a good place to stand up, and nothing I did would persuade her to sit down, so we took the seat out of the tub. She's certainly big enough to sit up by herself, but the bottom of the tub is a bit slippery (since Zoë insists on sitting on the mat). We may look into getting a second bath mat so Miranda won't slip and slide. She went under the water a couple of times (and I wouldn't have put in as much water if I'd realized she was going to get out of the bath seat).
She does seem to understand what "sit down" means, though. She was standing up and sitting down in her high chair (well, really, it's Zoë's old booster seat, but it's got a tray and everything, it's just that the belt is something Miranda can wiggle out of). When she'd sit down I'd tell her she was a good girl, and she thought that was fun, so up and down she went. It was, actually, the first time she'd figured out how to sit back down (she had to scoot her feet out in front of her, it's pretty cute to watch).
So far, though, she's only fallen once, and that was when she was leaning sideways out of her chair. I saw her lean and immediately reached for her but she was out and on the floor on her back before I could catch her. The good thing is she seems to learn quickly (certainly quicker than stubborn Zoë ever did!) and she hasn't stood up and leaned sideways since!
Da?
Miranda's starting to talk. She's been babbling for a while, but she's starting to apply sounds in ways that are the beginning of language. Yesterday, we were having a lie down (all of us girls have colds) and she heard her Daddy come into the house. She sat up and looked around and said, "Da?" and then said it again. When he came into the bedroom she looked right at him and said, "Da!"
As for the cold, I let her sleep with us last night because she isn't well and it's nice and warm in our bed, and I just didn't want to argue with her about sleeping in her own bed. She was restless, though, and crawled all over the bed for a while before she settled down. She finally ended up lying near the foot of the bed, between Andrew's and my legs, like a puppy. She slept there all night and only stirred in the early morning when she woke up wanting a feed.
Sleeping and Immunizations
Well, I got her to sleep in her own bed for a few hours last night. She went to sleep in our bed and I woke up in the middle of the night and moved her. She woke up and complained about it, so I brought her back into our bed and she had a bit of milk and went back to sleep. I fell asleep, as well, but about half an hour later I woke enough to move her, and that time she stayed in her bed. It was very pleasant to have only two people in the bed for a change, I can tell you!
Hopefully, a few more tries and she'll be used to the idea of sleeping in her own bed the majority of the time.
Today, she went to the doctor for her immunizations. She had to get three needle sticks, poor kid, now that they've included another vaccine in the routine. The doctor used some sort of topical anaesthetic and she didn't seem to mind that much. She didn't even make a peep for the first shot, and only a little complaint on the second. By the time he got to the third one she was making a fuss, but I think it was probably more from being held still for so long. She seems to have taken the whole experience in stride, although she's been a bit clingy today. Not that this is unusual, though. She's very much Mama's baby and likes to be held constantly, and if I were willing, she'd be happy to sit on my lap basically all the time.
Sleeping Arrangements
Miranda used to be okay being put into her own bed when she fell asleep. She'd wake slightly, see where she was, and go back to sleep. This was when she was sleeping in the basket bed, which she's now outgrown.
She's still in our room, and we have the cradle set up by my side of the bed on the floor (it's not hanging on the stand). She hates it. She wants to sleep with us, and won't sleep in her own bed. I don't mind her falling asleep in our bed, but she falls asleep, I go to move her, and she wakes up and goes ballistic.
And I don't mind having her in our bed sometimes, but it's a pretty small bed and she's getting big and strong and tends to kick and squirm a lot, so it's not that comfortable. I think we'd all be a lot happier if she'd just sleep in her own bed and let us sleep in ours. It's not like I'm banishing her to some far side of the house or anything. Her bed is snuggled up right next to ours.
So I guess we'll have to work on convincing her to sleep in her bed. For all that she's terribly cute and very sweet and charming, when she digs in her heels, she's astoundingly stubborn...
A Standup Kinda Girl
My goodness, it's been a long time since I put an update here! Mostly, Miranda's just going along nicely and not doing anything particularly remarkable other than being her usual sweet and cute self.
She is standing up a lot now. In her high chair (if we don't put the belt on her), when crawling around on the floor, in the cot, you name it. If she can get in a position to do it, she stands up and then looks very pleased with herself.
She's not actually crawling in the usual sense, but still scoots around all over the place. I suspect she'll try walking pretty soon. She's stood by herself very briefly a few times now. Taking a step can't be too far off...
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