First Ice Cream Experience

We were at an outlet mall today and Zoey had her first Ice Cream experience. I took Grandma and Michael to a Hershey's Ice Cream shop while Mommy was shopping. I messaged Mommy to let her know we were across from her clothing store at the ice cream shop. As soon as I hit send, just a second later Mommy was standing in front of me asking for her ice cream (she really likes ice cream).

Ice Cream > Clothes shopping.

We got a strawberry cone and a cup of vanilla, and Mommy, Grandma, and Michael were eating. I can't eat ice cream due to food allergies. 😢However, I decided to let Zoey try some ice cream.

She loved it! She was wide-eyed and smiling the whole time. I took a break from feeding her ice cream to help her wipe her mouth and she started to screech (demanding more ice cream). I think she had a wonderful experience. Michael didn't like ice cream when he first tried it, he puckered up his face and shook his head since it was soo cold. Zoey didn't have any such reaction, I could see the look in her eyes said "this is GREAT!"

First word

Zoey's been saying "ba ba ba" lately, her first word! I'm so happy, that's Chinese for "Daddy"!

I've started feeding her Gerber Puffs cereal snack. It's for infants to learn fine motor skills and learn how to start eating solids. I tried a few of course before I let her have any and they pretty much dissolve in the mouth immediately (no choking hazard).

Zoey doesn't have any teeth yet. I'm a bit surprised. I'm not going to worry about it, but her big brother did start getting teeth at 6 months. In the meantime, she's perfectly happy to "gum" away at the Gerber Puffs cereal. At least she's learning chewing motion with the jaw, even though she doesn't have any teeth yet.

It's funny, she really does like to eat. After I put a few of the Gerber Puffs cereal in her mouth, when I held out one piece for her to see if she could pick it up with her fingers, she made a 2 armed hugging grab motion to try to get it and pitched forward.

She does stare enviously at all the grownups and her big brother whenever we're eating anything.

Favorite lullaby ... 12 days of Christmas

12 Days of Christmas. For some reason that puts her to sleep faster than anything else I sing to her.

So I tend to sing that to her more than any other song, which I think reinforces it as a comforting song. I always end the song (the first day of Christmas) with ...

♪and a baby in a tummy♪

(instead of a partridge in a pear tree)

I just got Zoey to fall asleep singing that to her. We made it through the 6th day of Christmas and she was fast asleep.

Note: I am aware that it's July. However, I pretty much sing Christmas carols to the kids year-round as lullabies.

Specific missing parental skill

There is this very specific parental skill that I seem to be missing:

The ability to transfer a sleeping baby from my arms to the bed without waking up baby.

This is a very important skill that I have watched Mommy and Grandma do. However, does not seem to work for me. This morning, Zoey woke up around 5 AM. I held her and sung 12 days of Christmas until she fell asleep. However, 10 minutes after I put her down, she was awake.

Same thing just happened this evening. I rocked her to sleep in my arms, then tried to put her down in bed. She fussed immediately, so I held her until she fell asleep and then handed her off to Grandma and asked Grandma to put her in bed.

Don't know what it is. When I put the baby down, my arm is still underneath. When I try to get my arm out of cradling her neck, it wakes her up. Always happened with big brother when he was a baby as well.

It's not a good feeling, working hard to get a baby to fall asleep, and finally being ready to put them down in bed, only to have them crying a minute later.

Super hearing abilities

When Zoey first came home from the hospital, she could sleep through anything. For example, big brother came through the bedroom when she was asleep and sat fairly close to her bassinet and banged on pots and pans. Did not wake her up. He would crank the electronic keyboard to maximum volume and bang on the keys and put on the sample songs. Did not wake her up. Occasionally he would do something loud enough to get her to stir, but then go back to sleep.

During Christmastime, when family came over, we turned on the bedroom lights and everyone took a peek at baby. She did not even blink. She slept completely through Christmas, with everyone oohing and ahhing at the precious little thing.

I had figured that she was an amazingly sound sleeper. It was great. When she took a nap (which was constant, she pretty much slept 20 hours a day in the beginning), we would just go about our business. Turn on lights, vacuum the house, play games, it did not matter. Nothing would wake her up.

I'll admit there was a time or two when I was worried about her hearing.

Over the past few months, however, she's developed this super Spiderman spider-sense like hearing ability. If I even clear my throat in the room when she's asleep, she'll stir, and cry for a second or two (and sometimes that will be enough to wake her up). I feel like I'm walking on eggshells when she's asleep, and I practically have a panic attack if she's asleep in our bed in the middle of the day for a nap and Michael opens the door to go in the room. She can practically sense when someone comes into the bedroom, and she'll stir.

First swimming experience

Zoey had her first trip to the pool a few days ago. She seemed to like the water.

She's starting to develop her personality. For the most part, she has a happy personality (smiles and laughs a lot), but she can get REALLY cranky. I was trying to put her to bed this evening and had a tantrum.

Sounds strange, but I'm actually glad to see that she has a temper.

While she was having her tantrum, I was actually happy/relieved. A few minutes later, she fell fast asleep.

I've always been stubborn, temperamental, and strong-willed. Michael is as well. I think it's important not to be too nice and to stand up for one's self. I'm glad to see Zoey make noise when she's not happy about something.

3 pairs of shoes

So I came home from work a few days ago to discover that Zoey is now the proud owner of 3 pairs of new shoes. Even though she does not walk yet. I walked into the living room and Mommy was trying pairs of baby shoes on Zoey.

At least, as the baby of the family, she's not getting less attention or very many hand-me-downs. I know it's difficult for the 2nd child, getting all of the hand-me-downs. However, Zoey's doing quite well on that front ... think Mommy is vicariously living the childhood she always wanted and buying Zoey all sorts of cute baby girl outfits, clothes, shoes.

Zoey and Michael share a closet for their clothes, and despite being younger, she has managed to take up more than half of the closet space with her clothes. Quite impressive.

I actually counted the sections, Zoey's on the left, Michael's on the right. I counted each section and they were evenly split, except for the middle section. That ended up being all Zoey's clothes, so it's essentially a 60-40 split of closet space for clothes (in her favor).

I'll have to explain to big brother ... you share a closet with a girl, get used to it. You'll grow up and have a wife someday and it will be the same, so you might as well get accustomed to it at an early age.

Development

Zoey is growing and developing well. She can say "ah goo ..." and screeches every now and again when excited. She can sit up, and when I put my fingers out, she will grip them and with a little gentle encouragement, she will try to pull herself to a standing position using my fingers as leverage.

She can reach the ground when standing in her baby walker ... however, just with the tips of her toes, so it will be a long time before she can take advantage of the walker to move around.

Mommy and I were talking this evening and she commented, "Zoey sleeps really well when it's quiet and nobody disturbs her ..." Alas, there's no peace for a younger sibling with a rambunctious big brother who is transitioning from the Terrible Twos to the Terrible Threes. He is a very good big brother to her, though, incredibly loving and affectionate. Kisses her all the time, holds her hand, and even tries to engage her in conversation, asks her what's wrong when she cries and tells her everything is okay. He is even a big advocate of including her in activities ... I offered to read him a book this evening and he insisted that I read to Zoey as well (who was being fed by Mommy and was busy).

He just gets excitable and doesn't realize that a sleeping baby needs her quiet.

Day of Milestones

Zoey had her first train ride today. We went to the outdoor mall and she rode around in the train with Daddy and Michael.

She also ate solid food for the first time this evening. We got her the Gerber Rice Cereal for infants.

She LOVED it! She ate a bowl, and was all wide-eyed smiles the entire time. When she was finished (realized that the spoonfuls of rice cereal were no longer coming, she began crying. So we got her another bowl. She was happy while she was eating, but cried again when the spoonfuls stopped.

Big brother got a little bit upset when he saw her eating food that he wanted to eat. He threw a tantrum and was yelling about not letting Zoey eat all of it.

We gave him a couple spoons from her bowl and he was better. He's always so good with her, always kisses her on the forehead (and even holds her little hand and kisses her hand, what a gentleman!) I had always figured that the both of them are going to get along splendidly, and the only time I'm anticipating conflict is around food. The both of them LOVE TO EAT.

It's funny, I brought Zoey to my workplace one time and our company's CEO got to see her. His first comment upon seeing her was a very insightful and accurate, "Wow, your kids really like to eat!" Zoey has grown very well and she is a strong, healthy baby (who just loves to eat). Much like her big brother.

Crying whenever I hold her

Zoey has been crying whenever I hold her.

She screams and gets hysterical until I hand her back to Mommy (then she calms down).

It started after I took her to get an ultrasound of her hip done (pediatrician was concerned about hip dysplasia). The doctor checking the ultrasound said she was fine and 100% normal (thank goodness!!!) Of course, Zoey did not care for the whole ultrasound of her hip experience, and cried the whole time. I was looking at her and trying to comfort and soothe her while the doctor was doing the ultrasound.

I think she may have blamed ME for the whole experience, as she 1) doesn't understand that it's important to see the doctor to make sure she's healthy and 2) couldn't see the doctor, but saw Daddy. *sigh* even though I'm a grown-up and responsible father, and a rational adult it still hurts, really hurts when baby cries when I hold her, and stops crying when Mommy holds her.

Zoey's gotten better today, and let me hold her for a while and sing to her without crying.

We have to take her to see another doctor at the end of this week. I'm debating on whether I should try to comfort her, let Mommy do that, or just let her be upset at the pediatrician and stay out of her line of sight. I figure no kid likes going to the doctor, and at such a young age, it's a miserable experience for them, and they'll be upset at whoever they think is to blame.

Meltdown

Poor little thing had a meltdown this evening. I had held her and sung all sorts of songs ... 12 Days of Christmas, Winter Wonderland, Silent Night, and she was fast asleep. Went and put her in bed with Mommy, and came out to the computer to do some work. About half an hour later, heard her screaming at the top of her lungs. We couldn't figure out if she was tired or hungry. Tried to feed her but she was just really upset and screaming and crying.

She fell asleep pretty shortly thereafter. Must have been sleepy. When I just went and checked on her, I heard her snoring.