Willa Types

Willa has this to say on a Friday night.

"n bbkkkkkkk v vgc c .//ncf vxxx5 ."

Mini foodie

No pictures today, those are usually Daddy posts. Thought I'd give you an update on Willa and her newest tricks. We have a little foodie here with quite the palate. I never had some of these foods until well into adulthood!

The biggest thing we've noticed has been her eating habits. She's no longer content to eat her soft baby food from a spoon - she wants what we have. We've started chopping small bits of food for her and she eats like a champ! We went out to a Cuban restaurant Saturday night and she was disinterested in her jars of food so we gave her yucca (root vegetable) and avocado. She loved them! Since then, avocado has been on our menu every night. We eat it in salads and she gets bits. Then when her avocado is gone, she stares at our salads until we give up some of our chunks. I think between what she had and what she was able to pilfer from me and Markus, she had half of an avocado. Smart girl, huh?

She's also eaten chunks of cereal, tofu, squash and parsnips. Pasta is on the menu later this week. Last night, she was staring at our fish and then at us - she needs more teeth first, though! She has started to try to pick up the food bites herself, but since she hasn't mastered the pincer grasp yet (she's close, though), the cheerios get stuck in the palm of her hand. We still feed her from our fingers, but I suspect in a few more days she'll have it down pat. It's been nice to start having family dinners with everyone at the table, and for the most part, eating the same food. I told Markus we might be on the soft/bland diet for a little while so that we can all eat the same food (if it's not on our plates, Willa isn't real interested in it).

She's doing much better with tummy time. Still no crawling, but she continues to get stronger. When she's on the hardwood floor, she can turn herself all around so mobility isn't far away. Waving is another new trick, and once she starts, she can go on for a few minutes. Lots of times, she just looks outside at the courtyard and waves, so I think she's starting to understand the idea of "bye-bye".

Before Markus yells at me for bad blog etiquette (meaning a post that's too long), I will call it a post here. If I think of any other interesting things, I'll make another post. Suffice it to say we're having a bunch of fun between mealtime, tummy time, and trips to the playground and swings. How could life be better?

McNaughton Vale of Atholl - 2000 World Pipe Band Championship Medly

Just listen and you will understand.

The Cheerios

Willa in the Chair

Willa loves that swing!

Tonight we caught a few minutes of fading daylight at Seger Park. I was just about to capture some of the deep violet sky when *poof* it disappeared! Oh well, at least little baby had her swing. Listen for grunts and giggles of joy.

Just hanging out

Milkie

Catching up on music

It's been a while and honestly I haven't been too excited about anything out there. I am of course a fan of the Freemasons and this rendering of Kelly Rowland's "Work" makes the song an instant dance classic.



Personally, I don't need to see the stock Work video overlayed to enjoy the song (which is what the clip above does. Check this one out for a full seamless mix. You'll hear what I mean. Trust me.



I don't usually comment on Hollywood gossip. That's right - I like to leave that to experts like Gawker.com, Perez Hilton, and Fox News. Just this once, I'm going to break from that and just say that the world lost a great actor in Heath Ledger. He's well known for his role in Brokeback Mountain - which I too thought was great. However, I'm a fan from way back. Call me corny, but I loved the just barely covering his accent macho guy he played in 10 Things I Hate About You (with Julia Stiles - and I love her in the Borne's).

Anyway, I'm going to kill two birds with one stone by linking to a Heath Ledger tribute to the music of One Republic's Stop and Stare. Somehow this video is a little bit more meaningful.



Here's my standard Foo Fighters link. Probably my alltime fave of theirs.



And one more FOO for YOU!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXlF6waTUKE

Milestone : Wilhelmina and her Bottle

OK foks. I'd say this is a pretty big one. We sometimes throw the "milestone" term around a little casually, but I assure you this time it's for real!! Tonight, as I was feeding babygirl, she got a little frisky and started grabbing for the bottle. One hand, then two hands... and just like that she clenched the bottle tightly between her two hands and basically wrenched it out of my grasp. At first she played with it, biting on the nipple and testing out her range of motion. But, within about 2-3 minutes she was taking 5-10 second drinks on her own. Early on she would let the bottle sag a little too much and suck air, but she quickly figured out how to correct that and you'll see in the photos she had an excellent tilt going. So stunned was I that I just watched for a bit. Then, I quickly grabbed the video camera and snapped a few still images as well as a few minutes of video.

By the way, I had this whole video set to an awesome Sigur Ros track. But, after three upload attempts which resulted in failure due to "content restriction" I just gave up and stripped it out. I guess Google have a room full of servers that do nothing but check to see if you ripped someone off and didn't pay the artist or the RIAA. It's a good thing there aren't many feature length films with Willa drinking from a bottle or I would have had even more issues...

Saturday

Seger Playground: My First Swing

Willa Gallery Update

Some additional photos have been added to the Willa gallery. Enjoy.

http://picasaweb.google.com/markusweidner/Willa?authkey=rmy7XTAIImg

playpen!!

Today's a birthday day!

Happy birthday to Daddy/Markus! Everyone wish him a happy day - he's even taking a half-day to celebrate. This will be the best birthday ever because there's a baby Willa to help us celebrate.

And now you should look below for the post with Willa updates and pictures. :-)

Big changes afoot!

This is Christie posting under Markus' name; all the photos are in his account, and since that's what all you blog readers want that's what I'll give you! But first, some words.

Willa has become the best sleeper ever, like her mother. She has slept for 11.5-12 hours every night since last Monday when we transitioned her to her crib and own bedroom. Naptimes are still a minor struggle, but since we're so well rested it doesn't even matter much. She's become even more delightful and enjoyable!

Her second tooth has popped up and you can now see them both (I caught them in a picture which you can see below). As you'll probably also notice, her hair keeps growing and growing. We've noticed some light blond hair coming in, too, so we're wondering if she'll change to blond or just have blond highlights.

Aside from the sleep, the other exciting milestone has been standing. Markus and I are both convinced that the little stinker is never going to crawl, she'll go right to walking. She really doesn't like tummy time, as everyone knows, and as soon as you lay her down she rolls over (now that she mastered that). She's definitely better at holding her head and chest up, so she's making progress in the neck/trunk/core strength area, but she really likes to stand. We opened her Pack and Play again and are teaching her how to hold on to the edges. She lets go and falls down, but she's getting smarter about it. So, she can't pull herself up (to sitting or standing) but once we put her in those positions, she can hold her own. It's very exciting!

Enjoy the pictures.

2/3/08 - Dani and Pop-Pop came down to visit for Markus' birthday. Willa was in her warm fleece outfit, looking like a little snow bunny.


2/5/08 - Standing by herself in the Pack and Play, and oh so proud. Check out the tooth picture, I think it's in the middle of the slideshow.