Who Knew?

I used to babysit quite a lot as a teenager.  And I distinctly remember thinking... "How can parents think it is fun to take a kid to a park and watch them swing and go down the slide?  It is not fun.  It is boring.  I only do it because someone's paying me to."  (Ha!  I bet all you parents I used to babysit for in high school are really glad you left your children in such loving, capable hands, aren't you?)

I remember feeling that way... and yet I now see exactly how that is possible for a parent!  Elsa is not nearly old enough to swing or go down a slide, but if I am entertained by the fact that she has just learned how to reach out and touch my face when she looks at me, how much more entertained will I be watching her learn to climb up a ladder all by herself and giggle with delight as she sails down the slide?

As it is, I will literally perform the same silly dance or facial expression over and over and over, as many times as she will react by showing me that angelic smile.  I'm smitten.

Of course, that isn't to say I am immune to boredom.  There are times during the day where I wonder, "What  am I supposed to DO with her?"  We get lots of cuddle time, play time, tummy time, feeding time, you name it.  But there are also those times where we've got 25 minutes til I know she's going to be begging me for a nap... it's not long enough to go for a walk or an errand, and we've spent the last 45 minutes playing on the floor and we're pretty sick of just making faces at each other and shaking the rattle.  Is it so terrible to turn on the Food Network and let your baby watch the pretty bright colors on screen with you til naptime?  (I really am curious to hear what other mommies say about this.  I realize that in light of the recent tragic killings at Sandy Hook Elementary, a mom hardly feels any right to talk about "boredom" with her young children.  Please understand, I am by no means complaining about said boredom.  There are too many mommies out there today who only wish they could regain those moments of "boredom" they'll never get back with their children.  So please don't mistake my meaning.)  I am simply asking for practical words of experience for how other mommies handle minutes and even hours in the day where you and the kiddos are pretty much just sitting and staring at one another.  Particularly mommies of young babies.  Elsa doesn't much care to be read to yet.  She can't sit up or crawl.  My options are tummy time, rattle, bath, make faces.... yep that about does it.  And I LOVE these things, don't get me wrong.  But are there things to do that I just haven't thought of yet?  Please share :)

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Anyway, that was actually a bit of a tangent.  I originally intended to post about some of Elsa's recent milestones and share a few pictures.

1) I'm delighted that for about a week now, girl has been SLEEPING!  I won't bother with facts and figures on here because Heaven knows that wreaked havoc on my own psyche to hear other moms talking in detail about their kids sleeping through the night.  I'll just say that although I worked hard at following the Babywise feeding and sleeping schedule with Elsa, I saw minimal improvement in her nighttime sleeping for her first 4 months of life (much longer than the books says is average.)  I kept at it anyway, since it made for a nice predictable day.  And then one day, through no action or change on my part... she slept all night.  And she's done it ever since.  I take no credit for it.  I think she just wasn't ready yet.  So while I can't be "proud" I can definitely be "ecstatic"... and that I am!  We've also started leaving one arm out of her swaddle recently.  We still LOVE to swaddle because it's like an instant message to her brain that it is sleep time.  But now that she's got better control and can find her fingers and suck on them, it's nice for her to have that option if she does wake in the night.  We think she looks so hilarious with one arm out like this!  We're always using the video monitor to spy on her.

2) Elsa is quickly learning that her hands are a great source of entertainment.  She loves to suck her fingers.  So much in fact that she often tries to get her whole fist into her mouth, but can't.  YET.  But she is her mother's daughter, so I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

3) Our FAVORITE new thing she does is reach out to us and touch our faces.  (Favorite along with smiling, giggling, big open-mouth kisses, babbling... really it's all our favorite.)  But this is especially sweet because we like to assign meaning to it.  So what if she'll reach for anything you put in front of her?  If she reaches for one of our faces, we fully believe it's because she just loves us so darn much.

4) And have I showed you her smile yet?  Because it is just TOO MUCH!

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God has been so good to us.  We thank him every day for the precious gifts of our marriage and our daughter.