11, 2 and 4, 11, 2 and

For the past 2 nights, Tori has awoken at those times. Luckily for her Mama and I, the 4 am waking didn't come this morning.



It seems to be mostly teething since she doesn't eat more than 2 ounces each time she's been waking up. Once she doses back off to sleep, she stops eating and is ready for her bed. This week, she hasn't been fussing much when she is put in her bed, but on occasion she still kicks her legs. I guess she has too much to do, even in her sleep.



The top teeth seem like they are close to breaking through. Once they do, I hope her sleeping improves and her eating returns to normal. Right now, she is just chomping on the spoon because it feels good. The food is secondary. When she isn't teething, she eats like a horse and sleeps, well, better than she does now. Let's hope that routine returns soon.

Growed up!

Last night Tori sat up by herself for the first time. She was playing with a toy while pushing herself up on from her side. She then concentrated on the toy and pulled the rest of herself up with her torso. The rest of the night she spent trying to crawl, but it looked more like crawling with straight legs and toppling over backwards from a sitting position. She gets around quite well now, even though it she isn't crawling yet. She can go from 1 side of the room to the other in a matter of seconds. Being stationary doesn't work well when there are too many interesting things to play with!

Just Some Tori

I Can Crawl...Almost

Inching her way to more mobile freedom, Tori made a couple of forays into full on crawling last night.



She would move a leg, hesitate, then move a hand and if she was lucky she'd repeat it. Falling was a common occurrence as she lost her balance while moving. She also moved backward and forward, though they weren't the direction she wanted to go.



Mostly she was frustrated and she let us know. I got about a minute of her trying to crawl on video and it is accompanied by her howling of frustration.



I would guess that by the end of the March, she is a crawling machine. She is also nearing sitting up as well. She got quite high up while pushing up from her side, but didn't get to a sitting position by herself. I think she's realized that she can do these things if she wants. It'll be only a matter of time and we'll have 1 less baby to carry around.

Da Teef!

Tori seems to be teething again. She did well this weekend while her cousin Tyler and family visited. Sunday night came and the fun didn't stop. She was up at 11 and again at 4. Monday night was a repeat, except she didn't want to go back to bed at 11 pm. She cried it out until about 12:30. We made attempts to get her to settle down or take a bottle, both in vain. The good thing is that she woke up happy at 4 am and went back to sleep until it was time to get up at 6. Too bad her parents weren't as happy as she was this morning.

Likeness

When Ollie was born they said he looked like me. When Tori was born they said she looked like me. After looking at baby pictures of myself, I have to agree that Tori looks like me. At least she looks like the baby version of myself.



Me - Circa 1973


Deer caught in headlights - 2006


There are some similarities. The cheeks, nose, chin line and giant forehead. I also seem some of Tresa in her too.

Big Girl

Tori has slept through the night twice this week. They weren't consecutive nights, but they were all night. She woke up happy, just like she does when she doesn't sleep through the night.




She has also out grown her exersaucer. She hasn't gotten too big for it, she would rather be mobile. That is going back in the attic and the walker is coming down.




We also found that she shares a love with her brother. Having her face covered by a blanket. We put it on her, pulled it off, like peek-a-boo and she loved it. Some day, she'll be too old for simple games like that. I hope it isn't too soon.

Mess Maker

The mess maker has been in full effect lately, especially when she has been eating. I believe this was sweet potatoes. Then there is her snack cookie...all over her face.



The larger version of the Cookie Monster and Sweet Potatoes have more detail if you want to see them.

Closer

Inching up to almost sitting and then falling. Moving one leg forward, then an arm and losing balance. Tori is getting closer to crawling and sitting every day. She just doesn't quite have the hang of either just yet. She'll get there when she is ready, but I think it'll be in the next couple of weeks for sitting and maybe March before she really crawls.

She also has to contend with her top teeth coming in. They look like they are halfway through the top gum, but her bottom teeth aren't all the way up yet. She still makes it difficult to see them because she always has her tongue covering them our sticking our of her mouth. She's a funny little girl. It'll be interesting to hear what she has to say when she can talk. If she's anything like her brother, we'll be entertained for ages.

Scoot, Scoot, Fall

Last night was the closest Tori has come to being mobile. She got up on all 4's and wanted a toy out of her reach. After rocking back and forth a few times, she scooted both legs forward at the same time and inched her back end forward. She did it again and made it closer to the toy, but she didn't move her arms so she went face first into the carpet. She didn't seem to mind and she was able to reach the toy. To get any where she want to go, she rolls and rolls and rolls all over the room. It won't be long before she figures out how to crawl and that she can get somewhere faster by crawling!

The Word

Tori has started babbling like crazy. Instead of her yelling, she is starting to form syllables. She'll repeat mamamamamamamamama and occasionally a dadada. The new development is much better than listening to her yelling. She seems to like to babble and the yelling seems to be fading away. She seems to be trying to do a lot of new things all at once, sitting, getting to a sitting position, crawling and talking. Then you throw in new teeth and you have a handful. She'll get it all down, it'll just take time.

Close

Tori is sitting up better than she has in the past. She almost sat up by herself the other night. She was pushing herself up from the side before her bath. Her strength gave out in her arms and she conked her head on the door frame to the bathroom. So, not only was it not a successful sit up, it was a painful failure as well. When we put her in the sitting position, she can sit like that for a long time by herself, but still falls occasionally.



She seems to be getting more teeth now as well. She seems to be getting 2 more on top. She is still getting used to the bottom ones. Since they've popped through, she is eating her baby food a lot better.

She is sleeping better as well. She didn't wake until 4:30 this morning, so we may be nearing the beginning of sleeping through the night. We found out this weekend, that like her brother, we can lay her in bed and after 30 minutes of crying, she'll take a long nap! If we have to, we'll do the same with her, but so far she is still falling asleep with a bottle at night and not fighting it as much as her brother still does to this day.

Hey!

Hey? Who are You?

Who Me?

What? I didn't do it!

A Little Patty Cake with Grandma

Not One, Two

The little girl in the pretty dress has not 1 tooth but 2 teeth. They must've pushed through at nearly the same time. They are making their way to their final destination. It is also probably why she seemed to have a worse time than her brother did on her first tooth. I would think 2 teeth coming through would be worse than just one. She seems to be back to normal though. She still needs to learn to sleep through the night.