Growing Like a...Pumpkin

My how time flies when you're Raising Pumpkin. I honestly feel like each and every day - between the time I drop her off at school and the time I pick her up - she has grown and changed so much. In the last week or so we have had lots of developments in Pumpkin-land.

First, and most happily, I can report that we have finally found out the source of her sleepless nights and persistent cough - a double ear infection on top of sinus infection. The reason I say "most happily" when referring to my poor Pumpkin being sick is that she has beens sick for TWO MONTHS. We've been giving her breathing treatments (which she has hated) twice every day and were finally told that we have basically been beating our heads against a wall. I'm glad that she is finally on the RIGHT meds and that we can quit torturing her with the darn nebulizer.

In less dramatic, but equally if not more exciting news, Pumpkin has perfected the roll. Where she once despised "tummy time," I can now scarcely keep her on her back for one second before she is rolling over and trying her darndest to crawl. She hasn't quite gotten to the stage of mobility, but she certainly turns like a sundial on her belly and manages to squirm-a-worm her way off her blanket with the greatest of ease.

The last week or so has also seen an exciting increase in vocabulary. In addition to her various renditions of the sound "aaahhh," Miss Pumpkin has added the indiscriminate use of the word "dada" to her repertoire. Unfortunately for Aaron she has yet to equate the phrase with his fatherhood, but it's cute and fun just the same (and included here for your listening pleasure).

Pumpkin is also super close to sitting on her own. While she cannot get into the sitting position by herself, once there, she can mostly stay. Occasionally she forgets that she is doing it on her own and a thrilling visit from the dog or the realization of the heaviness of her own head will cause her to go tumbling over, but it is definitely the next skill I think she will have mastered.

And finally, in the never-ending dining saga, we have realized that it is the act of eating (i.e., spoon to mouth) that Pumpkin hates and not the food itself. If I put a jar of basically any type of baby food in a bottle with a wide nipple, she gobbles it down. While I know all the motherhood-nazis on the internet advise against feeding her from a bottle because she will then never learn to associate food with spoons and bottles with drinks, I just simply don't care. I'm glad she is learning to like tastes other than Enfamil Gentlease and I am certain that once she learns to love them (and gets a wee bit older) she will be reaching for the spoon (or at least letting it in her mouth) with no problem. And worse case scenario, I will just have to find some really big bottles with really wide nipples and slip her hamburgers in there when she is older.