First Experiences

We had a good weekend filled with many first time experiences for Claudia. On Saturday we visited my friend Heidi and her 2-month old daughter Alli and they have a big friendly dog named Cabo, so Claudia met her first dog and loved him. She liked to pet and poke him and didn't mind getting licked. Then, that evening, she ate her first food! We've tried a few things, but she always spits them out, so this time we tried mashed potatoes from our own dinner and used a finger instead of a spoon and she took right to it. The swimming pool at our condo will be closing down soon because summer is ending, so I thought I'd give her one more opportunity to try the pool and surprisingly she liked it. I swam around with her in the water up to her chest. I didn't think she would like it, so I wasn't very prepared and just had her in a regular diaper and a onesie, but it all worked out.

Claudia is 5 months old today. She is working hard on trying to sit up unassisted. She loves the Bumbo, especially at daycare because then she can sit next to the bucket of toys and pull them all out. She is putting everything in her mouth these days and loves to slobber and suck her stuffed animals. Her favorite one is her lion and she gets to play with him every day on her ride to and from daycare. We are working on sleep, but it's still our weak point. We decided that she is old enough to "cry it out." We moved her crib into the nook off our living room and if she wakes up in the middle of the night because she wants to play, we quickly soothe her, and then just let her cry if she won't go back down. The first time we did it she cried for 20 minutes, but ever since then, it's about 5 minutes, so I think it's working. Unfortunately, she still wakes up once a night to eat, and then often a couple more times to try and interact with us. On a positive note, she does really well at going down at night and usually her bedtime is 8:30pm. She doesn't need a swaddle or binkie anymore at night, but sometimes I use them for naps.

First food, mashed potatoes!


Happy to play in her crib with a stuffed animal.


Always opening her mouth these days.


Holding her lion while in her carseat. She usually falls asleep on the way home in the afternoon.