Quick photo blast

We have a backlog of photos...I don't even think we've posted any yet from our Ohio/Michigan trip back in July. But here are a few recent ones.

We just got out the Exersaucer for Elizabeth and will be putting away her playmat, since she's crawling like a madwoman now. Both she and Ben think that climbing through the saucer part is just as much fun as its intended use.

More proof that Ben still thinks that store-bought toys are great, but the boxes they come in are just as good.

We had music time on a lazy Saturday morning when Ben & I were still in our pajamas and Elizabeth was stripped down to her diaper after her messy breakfast of baby food. Ben kept wanting to take the instruments back to the corner of the family room and "play in the background." This was a thinly disguised plan to hoard all of the instruments for himself! Elizabeth thinks the plastic drum mallet is even better as a teether.

Elizabeth as proximity sensor

The closer Ben gets, the more she laughs!

Elizabeth is six months old!

Okay, she's six-and-a-half months old by now, but close enough!

Her pediatrician's appointment went very well. The doctor saw outlines of her two top teeth but says it could still be weeks before they poke through. She continues to drool through several bibs a day, but she's been doing that for a few months.

Her stats were:
Length: 27 1/4" (90th percentile)
Weight: 16 lbs, 6 oz. (52nd percentile)
Head circumference: 43 cm (61st percentile)

At six-and-a-half months, Elizabeth:

• Can army crawl from one room to another
• Likes rocking back and forth on her hands and knees
  
• Will try to chew on shoelaces and backpack straps if we're not watching out
• Still loves watching every move her brother makes and laughs when he chatters to her in a very high-pitched voice
• Has tried rice cereal, sweet potatoes, green beans, and applesauce. Not quite sure on green beans yet but likes the rest. Sometimes she gets so excited, she rocks back and forth and it makes it tricky to get the next bite in her mouth instead of up her nose or on her cheek! 

•  Still likes chewing on the spoon just as much as actually getting food some days.

• Has been getting a lot of extra baths since starting solids!
•  Has not been napping as well during the day since we got back from our trip to Michigan and Ohio. She's been falling asleep around 8 or 9 p.m. instead.
• Likes chomping on all of her toys, including her new Sophie the Giraffe from Tony, Jen & cousin Gwen

• Loves to smile and laugh
• Is starting to get separation anxiety and has started crying when we leave the room, though she's still good at daycare drop-off
• Is getting steadier at sitting up
• Straightens her legs and sticks her bottom up in the air as if trying to figure out how to crawl the regular way
• Loves crinkly things like paper. Her favorite thing about the pediatrician's office was the paper on the exam table, which she had shredded and crumpled by the time we left.

Grandma Jerry's boss and his wife got Elizabeth this adorable sundress when she was born, so we brought it over last week for a little photo shoot.

But he was STILL HUNGRY!

Ben retelling Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar to his cousin Gwen on our recent trip to Michigan. He did a great job, though we might need to review certain details of metamorphosis with him!

Deep Thoughts with Benjamin

Some recent quotations from Ben:


Holds up 2 soccer balls: "Daddy, pick a soccer ball. (points) But don't pick this one."


When I got to his daycare class to pick him up yesterday, one of his friends must have said "mommy" when he saw me. But Ben didn't see me at first and irritatedly told him, "Daniel, I'm NOT your mommy!"


Ben has had kind of a rough adjustment back to school after being on vacation for a week and a half. He has been asking when we get to go back to Ohio and see Elli, Gideon & Evelyn and has been fussy about going to school in the morning. A conversation from earlier in the week:

Ben: I don't want to go to school! I want to stay home with you!
Em: I'm not staying home. I have to go to work, and Daddy's already at work so there would be no one to fix your meals or play with you.
Ben: Then I will go see Elli!
Em: Well, we would miss you because that's a long walk and you would be gone for a lot of days.
Ben: Well...then I would take the car.
Em: It's still a long drive and you don't know how to get to Elli's house.
Ben: Then I will use the GPS. And then I will get to Elli's house!

Elizabeth's baptism

Elizabeth Grace was baptized on June 2 at her great-grandmother's church, where many other family members have also been baptized over the years. My parents came in from Michigan and my grandmother sent her baptismal outfit, which was in pretty good shape for being about ninety years old! Dave's parents recently returned from a trip to the Benelux countries and brought back a pair of exquisite Belgian lace booties.

She immediately tried to grab the stole (?) and chew on it. She was also fascinated with the candle and tried to grab it several times!

With godparents Angela & Rob:

Not a great shot of Elizabeth, but a good view of the beautiful Belgian lace booties:

Elizabeth is five months old!

Elizabeth is a cheery, still mostly mellow five-month-old. She likes to babble, play with her feet, chew on things, watch her big brother's every move, and roll and inchworm like crazy. She's still figuring out rice cereal. She seems to enjoy riding in our wraps and Ergo carrier and will often fall asleep while being worn. Little is safe from her drool! She is getting better at sitting in a wobbly tripod for a short time if we position her that way and still prefers being on her tummy.

Ben saw that his Billy Butler Royals shirt was clean one morning, and after deciding to wear it, he grabbed Elizabeth's Royals shirt and brought it in to our room so she could match.

Hanging out with her super-soft bear blanket, which became another victim of the drool monster!

Enjoying Rocking Panda:

I still had our work parachute in my trunk after our bereavement camp, so I told Ben we could play with it this weekend. It was a big hit!

Ben occasionally requests to hold Elizabeth, though sometimes we suspect it's more of a bedtime stalling technique than actual desire to cuddle with his sister! He is generally very sweet with her, though, and she absolutely adores watching him!