the great diaper challenge

It took me half an hour to change Ellie's diaper this morning. How, you ask? First, as mentioned before, she can't sit still, so convincing her to lay on her back is a daunting task. I'll let her play with just about anything so I can take care of business. She loses interest in things pretty quickly, but a few past favorites have been her nasal spray, diaper cream, pig-duck toy, and bag of wipes. The current favorite is the clean diaper. Really, I think she's trying to figure out how to open it up and put it on by herself, she's just such a helper. Even with all those tricks, this morning was beyond beyond. I know I stopped and just sat for a few minutes, but I can't remember if I laughed or cried at the absurdity. Girl! You're seven months old! Slow your roll!

I put her down on the carpet (because the changing table is entirely too small and too high). She rolled over to her belly. I pulled her back. Repeated multiple times. Removed clothing and diaper. She rolled over to her belly. She peed on the rug (while singing, of course). I figured I might as well give her some diaper off time to see what she had in mind since the worst had already happened. She wiggled herself right over to Daddy's guitar to play with the strings. I finished wiping, applied dipe cream, then picked her up to reposition her on her back. She squirted out a poop! Luckily, she aimed for the diaper waiting for her, but still! Begin the whole process again. I put the diaper on her while she was squirming on her belly.

We've had lots of fun diaper off times this week. Last night, while she was walking around the house in nothing but her socks before bathtime, she peed on the hallway floor, on me, and again on the bathroom floor. The last shot included a stinky little squirt on the corner of the bathmat. (We needed a new one anyways!) The logic of "she just peed, so we should be good for a while," apparently doesn't apply.

things that are awesome

Alternative Title: sorry i never make time to blog, but let me update you on the awesomeness of our almost seven month old beauty.

• I know you want to ask if she's crawling, everyone does, but no--she's not crawling, she just thinks that she can walk. And she can. With the help of a well-balanced adult's sturdy pointer fingers. She finds them every chance she can. If she can't find a pair of willing fingers, she might try for some nearby furniture or other object, or she might just cry like a little baby. I'm experiencing my first "but mom, why can't I...?"
• She's decided that she wants to nurse sitting up. That's fine for bottles, but makes nursing from me a little more interesting. Plus, her increasing quest for independence makes her think that she can feed herself. (Again, works for the bottles, but makes nursing from me a little more interesting.)
  


• How many times have you seen a toddler running around, playing game after game, bouncing off the walls, and thought: I wish I could bottle that energy. ? Do you think we're in trouble if she's already inspiring those thoughts at this age? I tell you, the girl doesn't stop. We broke down and bought her one of those walk around things (super coops or tot wheels) and I think she'd be happy to stay in it forever. Crashing around our small house, maneuvering her way from the front door to the back door and back again (we think she is looking for more house... this can't be it, can it?), trying to improve her sprints down the hallway track; she's a wild woman. We have a few tricks to get some quiet time including guitar sing-alongs (really, she sings along!), reading her forever favorite book, Peek-a-Zoo, and... I think that's it. Sheesh, even diaper changes are a struggle.


• She's interacting more and more with her environment. This means fun-ness like banging things together, miming on the front window (she's stuck in a box!), and pushing buttons on toys as well as less fun things like trying to pull picture frames off of walls, and trying to figure out how to open drawers. She pretty much wants everything she can see, and especially wants anything that she sees that she's not supposed to have.

• She's got this super-cute, razor-sharp tooth that has inspired all kinds of fun play with drooling, sticking out her tongue, and blowing raspberries. She also squeals, shrieks and maaaaaaas like any great cheerleader, or... farm animal.
  

• She's having a harder and harder time sleeping well through the night. We had adjusted (as much as you can) to waking up every 3 hours to feed her, but now she seems to be waking up earlier and earlier after each feeding. I'm pretty sure she's not hungry, but feeding her is the easiest way to get us all back to snuggly-sleepyland as soon as possible. If she wakes up and refuses to melt back into sleep while we're still awake, she's usually privy to late night parties (activities have included dressing up like a Sugar Baby, walking laps around the coffee table, dancing with the stars, and pooping---and yes, the behaviorist in me knows this is pretty much the worst thing we can do if we want to teach her to sleep... that, and the feeding on demand, sleeping in our bed...eek, don't tell!) We're contemplating (and procrastinating about) sleep-training recommended by our pediatrician, and pretty much every baby book/resource/parent you talk to. We'll let you know if we get the courage to do it, and let you know how it goes. You might be able to guess how it's going by the depth and darkness of the bags under my eyes and the level of non-responsiveness from David.

• So is having a 7 month old all awesome-ness? Absolutely. It is beyond cool to see the new things she's experimenting with everyday and to see a little more of what our future will be like with a growing Ellie C.
  

Sweet dreams!