Life with Lydia

Lydia loves eating, and she always eats “con gusto”. She thoroughly enjoys the whole experience: the raspberries with a full mouth, the spoon assists, the cereal smearing, the eating itself, the anticipation of the next bite, asking for more, and following it all up with some water. And, of course, she ends up covered in cereal by the end of the meal (sometimes we and everything around her are covered, too). Bath time now happens immediately after dinner (for obvious reasons). Daddy helps with the feedings, too. (Notice the excess of cereal on the bottom half of the face).

My mom and family (Aunt Theresa, Grandma, and tia Elvia) came by last Saturday and this Saturday on the way up to and back from the North Carolina mountains. This Saturday we took advantage of their visit to have a quick Birthday celebration for my mom. Everybody enjoyed the visits, and we hope they come back by on their next trip.

We’ve started baby proofing the house since Lydia’s quickly moving towards self-mobility. She still is just a roller and a sitter, but we’re not far from the real deal. So, it’s best to be ready for real independent forward progression.

The first thing we’re taking care of is the electrical proofing. Living in an older home, we have fewer sockets in each room, thus, more extension cords and electrical spaghetti. Once we figured out how to tidy up each of our electrical nightmares, the next step was buying the right cords, covers, and strips. We thought the buying part would be easy since we’re not the first to want to proof a house. Boy were we wrong. First we tried Home Depot… Strike one. Nothing. No locking outlets (unless you want real big industrial recepticals). Next we tried Ace Hardware… Strike two. More selection, nice sales guy, but still not what we wanted. Then we went to Office Depot… Strike three. Had a few surge protectors that were adequate, but not much and too expensive.

Our last try was Target… we finally struck gold! Boy, they had just what we needed/wanted and more… all kinds of locking extension cords and strips. Finally, we had the right products, and we felt validated. We weren’t crazy, these things DID exist. We’ve learned, next time try Target FIRST.

We’ve started installing the improved system. Wish us luck, and we’ll let you know how it turns out!

Grandma Becky visited last week. We did all kinds of fun things: shopping, house projects (like finishing Lydia’s closet and beginning baby proofing… yay!), playing, and more. We look forward to her next visit.

We’ve had quite a week full of firsts.

The big first was eating her first solid meal. And, looking at Lydia eat her second meal, you’d think she’s been doing this for months. Our little gourmand was a pro from the first bite. The grandmas are both relieved the day finally came, and we’re all excited about the many tasty adventures she has in front of her.

Lydia mastered the art of sitting (well, close enough). Now that she can sit, play time is much more interesting to her and lasts double what it used to. Plus she got a bunch of new big girl toys this week that have all kinds of things for her to discover.

Banging and dropping is new, too. She’s learned that hitting a hard thing against another hard thing makes a great noise. And even more fun is dropping toys. The endless picking up of toys has begun!

She’s also much more observant all of a sudden. You can see her looking at details and studying objects even more closely than before.

Drinking water is another first this week. The funny thing is, she much prefers and asks for a cup. She doesn’t really like the sippy cup. Her favorite glass is the one we’re drinking out of (imagine that). So, she usually gets to drink out of the small version of the same (capri dot blue glass from our depression glass collection). I’m not surprised at her preference, Paul and I both love those glasses, too.

Since this week was full of so many fun firsts, what must be in store for us next week?

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As predicted we have a good little eater. Lydia had her first solid food two nights ago, and she’s already a pro. She took to it immediately. She instinctively knew to open up for the incoming spoon. (Maybe it’s the months of self study that got her ready.) She’s also mastered the assist, pulling the spoon to her mouth herself. Lydia loved her first big girl meal (rice cereal), and I’m sure we have many more successful meals in front of us.

This week we had a great visit with Aunt Sylvia. Lydia loved her. It’s been a few months since Sylvia’s been able to visit, but Lydia seemed to know who she was immediately. We had great fun shopping at H&M (an adrenaline rush!), nice morning walks, and all kinds of fun play time. We look forward to her next visit.

Did I mention we went to H&M this week?! Oh how exciting. Something I’ve been waiting for a long time. Even though they opened up a few months ago, we’d not been able to go until this week. It’s really only been until recently that going places is easily doable. Well, we finally made the trek.

We discovered the wonders of H&M 10 years ago when we lived in Germany, and it became my favorite store immediately. So, it’s great to see it finally make it to Atlanta.

Well, it was just as great as I remember. I found some nice shirts, and Lydia was amused by all the color, lights, and fabric. I know we’ll be making another trip soon.

Boy, what a week we’ve had. Lots of firsts. And Lydia sitting by herself is one of them. She’ll tumble a bit here and there, but she’s learned to balance well and keep upright. A whole new world of fun and toys has opened for her. I’m sure this makes her very excited.

Lydia finally has a seat at the dinner table… she’s been promoted to the adult table, and she loves it.

Also, she tried water for the first time, and loves it, too. She likes it best from a cup. We’re so proud.