Rozzlesaurus

Okay, enough political chicanery for a bit. Here's an update on everyone's favourite girl (well, MY favourite girl, anyway!):

• We have a new creature in the house. Used to be, Ramona was the only animal prowling around making animal noises. Now, though, we have a smallish, pudgy 'raptor: The Rozzlesaurus. Early on in her life, Roslyn would sort of *squeak* a high-pitched sound, but now she has given way to a really lovely, gutteral meat-eater noise. It starts in the back of her throat, mouth closed, and builds until she's growling & shrieking at the same time. It would be unnerving, if it wasn't so damn cute.

• Still no prowling on her part, but Roz is rolling over like a pro. New and recent parents will obviously know about babies' declining roll-over skills: since the whole "back to sleep" campaign made us put our kids to sleep on their backs, the NEED to roll over has really dropped off. Kids would roll over from their tummies in order to see the world, but kids ALREADY on their backs don't generally show a desire to roll away from it. This is the whole idea behind giving your baby lots of "tummy time" to strengthen neck & core muscles. It took Roz awhile to roll, but now she's just a rollin' fool. She sometimes seems frustrated by her lack of mobility beyond this, but we're trying to show her how to maneuver herself into a "get-around" position.


• We're tapering off our first cold with her. Miss Tessmacher brought it home at the beginning of my Spring Break, I acquired it at the end of my break, and then shared it with Roz. Hey, it's IMPORTANT to teach sharing, right? I actually really feel lucky in the colds department: she didn't get her first one until she was 8 months old, so I feel pretty well ahead of the curve. It wasn't a bad one, either: mostly a (clear-running) snotty nose & cough. She handled it like a real trooper: you could see her frustration about the stuffiness & coughing, but otherwise she still tried to play, smile, etc. She DID sleep a lot more while she was sick, and for the most part slept well. Again: we're lucky. She doesn't like the nasal suction thingy (affectionately known around our house as the "Snot Squeeze") at first sight, but seems to grok that it helps her breathe better.

• I wouldn't have guessed babies would get cabin fever, but it seems like part of Roz's recent frustration with life in general has been caused by not being able to get outdoors. We kept her out of daycare the week she was the sickest, and a recent return to winter here has kept us from taking her for walks outside. Tess & I are also really busy lately (when aren't we?!?), so trips to places we might take her have been curtailed as well. We FINALLY got her out to do a little shopping last Saturday, and she LOVED it! We definitely have an outdoorsy baby; she loves being out in the breeze & sunshine. I'm excited for spring to finally get here - not just by the calendar, which only tells cruel lies - so that daily walks & yard-play can begin in earnest.


• Self-feeding is her new thing. I had bought covered ice-cube trays to store large quantities of puréed food for Roz, and that worked great...right up until we started in with the Cheerios (in our house, technically they're "Purely-Os"). Now that she has figured out how to pincer-grasp a small bite of food, she can hardly stand to have us spoon-feed her. We've gone to small chunks of most fruits & veggies, as well as poached chicken breast, toast, and egg yolk (scrambled lightly, so she can pick up a wad of it to eat). It's pretty fun!


All in all, I still maintain that we have the World's Best Baby. She's awesome, and things that seem overwhelming and disastrous at work become distant and manageable once we get home to her sweet, smiling face. With egg yolk all over it.