Walking

We decided that we could officially say that Rosa is walking as of last Thursday. She had been taking a step or two or three then squatting or falling down for a week or two, but last Thursday she walked across our living room (a small space, but more than 3 Rosa steps!), and I decided this was the day. She does better if she's carrying something (being distracted helps), and still crawls about half the time, but if she's standing and decides she needs to move, she usually does it in a two-legged fashion now. She's such a big girl!

Here's a few other recent photos. I love catching her in evening sunlight. I guess it must have been a warm evening.

Rosa and Daddy playing the piano
This is actually what the piano is most often used for.

Rosa's favorite toy.
Poor Judd... so long-suffering!

My girl loves cheese

or Adventures in Finger Foods

Occasionally I have the opportunity to see other moms feedings their babies baby food. They make it look so easy. Feeding Rosa continues to require creativity and endurance. Pretty much as soon as she is put in her high chair, she starts squirming and writhing until I give her something to keep her hands and mind busy. Not just a toy, but something she has to "work on," like putting a lid on and off of a jar or taking a scoop in and out of the 1/4 cup measure. We had a tough lunch today (more on that below in the Adventures in Finger Foods section), and then for dinner I gave her a bottle with a lid and a jar with a lid. She spent the whole meal testing over and over to see which lid fit on which container. She pretty much always got it right, but had to keep doing it over and over. It was the easiest meal I've fed her in days. No refusals, no spitting, no throwing!

Her need to be busy with her hands and mind keeps making me think she needs to be the one feeding herself - this would solve the problem, right? She would be keeping busy picking up all the little pieces of food, and this would keep her calm and happy. So we've been making forays into finger food. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Last week she happily ate 1/3 to 1/2 a banana in little pieces, and this week all she wants to do is create banana mush by squeezing all the pieces to a pulp. The front 1/3 of her hair was bathed in banana mush at lunch today. She's super unpredictable at what and how much she will be willing to eat.

But I can always count on her eating cheese. American, cottage cheese (she loves cottage cheese), and grated cheddar so far have never been rejected. Only smoked gouda has been deemed unacceptable so far (ok - not a surprise probably!). My girl loves cheese. Now if I could only get her to eat the little pieces of soft fruits and vegetables I so painstakingly cut up. Oh well, I guess we'll keep going with the purees for a while...

East Coast buddies

This week we were lucky enough to have visits from two East Coast friends! My friend Alison from high school was out on Tuesday from New York with her son Angelo, who is 16 months old and such a sweet, gentle boy. He's learning some words now and pointing at everything, saying its name, always with a questioning little voice. I didn't get any pictures of this, but he also sniffs things (probably his version of a kiss!) as a sign of affection. He kept sniffing Rosa's stuffed animal bunny, then holding it in front of my nose. So Cute. Angelo also loved getting to pet Judd the cat, and did fake crying whenever Judd left the room.


Then on Thursday my friend Paul from college was out from Philadelphia with his wife Tara and their daughter Anika, who is 15 months, and also a cute sweet girl! She was enamored with Rosa's piano and played it so delicately (quite a contrast to Rosa's bangy style!). Anika also delighted in seeing Judd the cat slink his way around the room. Seeing both Angelo and Anika, who clearly have some basic understanding of langauge now, made me see what a difference a couple months can make. I'm so excited for some real communication to begin with Rosa - I can't wait to be able to start to get some insight into what's going on in her little mind! Here's Anika and Rosa:


Paul made it his mission to teach Rosa how to hold up one finger when asked "How old are you, Rosa?" Rosa didn't quite get it during their 1 hour visit, so I suggested Paul come back for her one-year birthday to do the job for her.


We also had a visit from our friends Cynthis and Juni this week, who came over from Oakland to visit. Here's Juni and Rosa at the swings in Dolores Park.


And here's Miss Rosa in the spinny tea-cups at the Eureka Valley Rec Center. She really got herself spinning, completely by accident I think!


And finally, another cute box picture. Rosa sure loves boxes.

Playgrounds R Us

Clap Clap Clap!


Life has been pretty good lately. Sure - there are still disappointing meals (although I'm much better about not making them battles), and Rosa is getting more and more feisty, especially when she doesn't want to stay in her high chair (this kind of scares me because we are nowhere near the terrible twos yet!). But over all, days are generally pretty enjoyable now. We're in a pretty good routine as far as meals and naps go, and she's able to play independently for bits of time now, so I can actually do cooking and other tasks I need to do more easily. And she seems to be having fun more of the time - complete with giggles, screeches, silly faces, and lots of clapping now.

We spend a lot of time at playgrounds these days, so here are some pictures from three playground trips over the last couple weeks:

First, on Memorial Day weekend, we wanted to do something more than just go to our neighborhood playground. I said - how about a trip to the zoo? So we got a zipcar and were on our way. Well, apparently, everyone in San Francisco said - how about a trip to the zoo? There was no parking and the line to buy tickets was huge. So we went to a big, newly renovated playground in Golden Gate Park, and Rosa ate it up! She crawled through tunnels and up stairs, swung on swings, and slid down slides all by herself.

And we finally caught the clapping on video!

Then the next day we decided to stay local and went to Dolores Park. We met up with third graders Melissa and Christina who adopted Rosa for the afternoon.

Luckily Mommy and Daddy still got to play with Rosa too!

And finally, during the week we went to our usual hangout, the playground behind Mission Pool. Here's Miss Rosa showing off her ever-increasing standing abilities.

I couldn't resist posting this picture of Rosa eating cottage cheese.

And last but not least, we celebrated Rosa's 11-month birthday with cupcakes. Next month (for the big One Year Birthday) she'll get to actually eat her own cupcake!

After all this activity, Rosa is zonkered!