We’ve seen a number of similarities between Josie and her uncle Javi at times. For instance we’ve been told that Javi was an exceedingly active child and walked early. Josie is already practicing walking across the room after a cat with us just holding her hands. She also likes to just let go of our hands, despite the fact that she can’t actually stand up by herself for more than a few seconds. She also heedlessly walks off of steps, counters, and tables without noticing the edge. While I do believe Javi has mastered the idea of edges and drop-offs, he still seems to be a bit accident prone. See a video of Josie lunging off the edge of things at my dad’s blog.

On a more positive note, Josie also greatly enjoys music, from banging her cups together or on a pot, to ‘helping’ her daddy play the guitar. Uncle Javi is actually a professional in this area, so we’ll happily watch her pick up his talent!

Well here’s a title I wasn’t looking forward to writing, but Josie has unfortunately come down with her first ear infection. The previous colds didn’t seem to clear out fast enough and so she has an infection in her right ear and can’t hear anything. It was diagnosed on Thursday and hopefully she’s feeling better now but her sleep is still awful. That’s actually how we figured out there was a problem in the first place as she didn’t have a fever, but she suddenly refused to be put down in her crib at night and insisted on staying in bed with us. She was also waking up more often at night. During the day she was fine which was annoyingly perplexing, thankfully the doc has a device that unequivocally tests the ear drum’s ability to vibrate (no vibration = infection) and didn’t rely on outward symptoms. She is not a fan of the ammoxicillan, neither am I since I have to force it into her now. In theory by now she should have relief and she slept well on Saturday night, but last night was a wreck for no clear reason that sleeping in our bed didn’t even help.

Yesterday Josie turned 5 months old! We* had double chocolate coconut cake to celebrate! (* we does not include Josie) The lit candle was a real highlight for her.  At this point Josie is showing off more and more of her personality each day. She is very stubborn when she wants something, but has typical baby concentration abilities and can be distracted away from certain things. She loves people and animals and is very social. Stacking cups and triangular checkerboard blocks are still her favorite toys. Books are mainly for eating currently. I have taken to making up new stories to go along with the pictures as I’m a little bored of the same ones again and again.

Physically she’s very strong! She can sit up now for long periods of time by herself without toppling over, although we have to sit her up. If you give her your hands and hold them steady, she can usually pull herself up to a standing position which pleases her greatly. Now she also likes to walk while you hold her hands and she can make it across the room (often to a cat). She seems like she might sort-of get the idea of being gentle with the kitties, but they are very patient as she tries to grab them.

We’re looking forward to her hitting the big 6 month mark so we can start the doctor-approved solid foods. I’m sure there will be lots of fun pictures of that next month. She sits with us for meals and has her own spoon, bowl, and cup which generally keeps her occupied but she’s dying to get in on the eating action. I gave her a bowl last week with a little water in it and she perfectly picked it up and poured it all into her mouth. Then she made a face of ‘eww what is that!’ and dribbled it all out. I will continue to work on her cup drinking skills this month.

Sadly (for me) she’s still awake twice a night (at least) although she seems to be moving her bedtime and wake-up time earlier. She wakes up precisely when the teething relief stuff wears off. Nothing is really consistent in that arena though but continued change. She sleeps on her stomach sometimes now of her own accord. She is still teething like the dickens, with the drool and the fussiness, and little white dots are appearing all over her gums hinting at what is to come but no real teeth have made their appearance!

I think I want some consistency to these monthly posts so let’s cover a few short basic questions:

• Size/weight: 9 month size, around 14 lbs 4 oz, don’t know height at the moment.
• Favorite food: breastmilk
• Favorite toy: stacking cups
• Favorite activity: standing, watching her parents dance like fools
• Sleeping: wakes up twice a night, 9:30 bedtime, 6-8am wakeup
• New skill: sitting upright, pushing on you when you hold her to signal she wants to face forward
• Teeth: small dots in gums, none yet
• Vocalizations: dinosaur-like growls, real laughs, raspberries

Yes, we have cats. Lots of them. And we named our daughter Josie. Yup, we were definitely aware of the 1970s cartoon, Josie and the Pussycats. And, no we didn’t name her after that cartoon. We liked the name Josie. But of course we were aware of the cartoon. So maybe our subconscious minds have a sense of humor. I don’t think it’s the worst namesake to have though. The show’s original theme song is pretty good. But cartoon network’s remake of it is awesome. My favorite part is the 80s metal part!

(lyrics)

We spent a month with the EllaRoo Mei Tei until I went back to this months Babywearer’s meeting. This month they actually had just bought a Beco Butteryfly and so I snapped it up very quickly so we’d have some real time to try it out. The reviews on it are mixed.

• Josie seems to really like it as she keeps falling asleep in it, especially when I have her on my back.
• Jordi likes it pretty well and appreciates it’s easy back carry, but thinks it has a lot of buckles and adjustments (which it does).
• I am not very enthusiastic about it, except that Josie likes it and the ease of the back carry (you just put it on like a backpack). I kept her on my back for two hours while she slept the other day without much wear and tear. I had her on the front for two hours while she slept and I worked at the store, and that was a little rough on me.

All in all, I am rather glad I didn’t buy it. They just came out with a new model of the carrier which has longer straps that might fit me better, now it costs even more though! We will continue to use it over this month to see how we like it and how we continue to use it. My wrap is more attractive now that we have some cooler days as it keeps me warmer, but it’s still rather stretchy. I’m interested in trying a Mei Tai that has buckles instead of straps so that they don’t drag on the ground when the baby isn’t in it such as this one. It has the same general shape, but fewer things to fiddle with. I also ordered another easy carrier called a Duo but that one came much too big (it’s a custom size) so it was sent back to get remade. Here are some photos of Josie in the Beco, we’re so enamored with the back carry that all the photos were done that way.

We have a great park down the street from our house (and many others within walking distance). Josie now likes the bucket swings and we’re in them almost every day. Her favorite game is to try to kiss you at the top of each swing. She also enjoys the great vantage point it gives her to watch the other kids running around.

One of Josie’s favorite toys currently is her set of plastic stacking cups. She likes to hold them, eat them, and knock down stacks that I build with them. These pictures are from about two weeks ago, and the outfit she is wearing is no longer remotely big. She’s been growing like crazy lately!

Josie has learned now that we adults put our mouths on things like glasses and water bottles for some unknown reason. She likes to do it to despite not getting anything to drink actually. These photos show a common sequence of events as I try to hydrate myself.

Josie has been working on some major new tricks lately. Now with a back pillow support she can sit up for a couple of minutes and she can sit completely unsupported for a little while too! It has opened up a whole new world of play for her and dramatically reduced her frustration level.

Early this morning she surprised herself and me as well. I put her down on her back on the mat while I washed my hands post-diaper change and when I turn back towards her, she’s grunting and laying on her stomach. She seemed very confused and it really woke her up (4am boo!) but a little more nursing and she settled back down. She also did a great job sleeping for 5 hours straight last night which was great, it’s been more like 3 hours at a time lately.

Last weekend we also went into town to the feast of Saint Anthony in the north end. It is a big street fair with music and tons of vendors and is an excuse for the normal restaurants to jack up their prices even higher. Our friends Craig and Alyssa live down there and they graciously hosted us for the afternoon as we popped in and out of the heat and crowds. We walked around and found probably the only non-Italian food (although I don’t suppose fried dough is Italian either) and ate cachapas and plantains. Later we had yummy aronchini (rice balls with spinach and cheese) and canollis.

It was also out first attempt at a stroller-less outing. We had one baby carrier, and one diaper bag, and we did it all on the subway and bus by handing her and the bag back and forth and using the carrier. It was very successful actually and I did not envy those people trying to push strollers through the mobbed streets of the north end. It almost felt like before we had Josie because we weren’t lugging huge amounts of paraphernalia with us!