Letters to Dannica: Babbling, Grabbing, and Scooching (Month 5)

Dear Dannica,

You’ve been spending the last month enjoying your daddy's company as he takes paternity leave to tend to you. A lot of your day is spent sleeping and getting bottle-fed.

The holidays came upon us, and you had fun attending your brother’s Christmas party at his daycare, just a little taste of what you have in store since you will soon go to the same daycare with him.

We went to lunches and dinners on both sides of the family for the holidays. You are very well behaved and for the most part, just observing and taking everything in.

 We experiment more with solid foods.

So far, you are liking the sweet purees such as sweet potatoes and squash. You are indecisive about applesauce and peas, but you hate sour peaches, making the biggest shocked Grinch face when you sample them. It took you a while to warm up to oatmeal cereal mixed with breastmilk, but some days you want extra helpings.

Your appetite for breastmilk has tapered off and even waned this month, and you take less that you used to, around 3-4 ounces per feeding, and more spaced out throughout the day.

You’ve taken to babbling a lot recently, namely saying “Babababa” when you want your daddy, “Emmmm” (Am in Vietnamese) when you want to be picked up, and “Bububu” (Bu in Vietnamese) when you want to suckle. You don’t always say the words with intent, but you are clearly starting to try to communicate your wants with us.

In the morning when you wake up, you are most fascinated with Luc, especially when he still lies sleeping, stalling to wake up for school. You call out to him, try to grab his face, or bat at him with your hands to try and wake him.

You are getting quite good at grabbing objects within your reach and often bring them to your mouth to taste and explore. Your favorite toys are the green O-ball that I use to help you grab and entice you to reach for and roll over; your teething giraffe; and Luc’s stuffed monkey, Jo-Jo.

You also love your bouncer. On days when you are in a good mood, you could stand in there and play with the activity centers for a long time. You’re quite proud of yourself when you press a single button and are rewarded with a cute jingle, thinking that you had successfully played all the notes to the song.

You’d often hold up your hand to examine, opening and closing your fingers to study the moving mechanisms. You can sit for short periods unpropped and unassisted, and you’d often lift your head and look around for us when you wake up from a nap.

You are starting to army-crawl by scooching, but you travel in reverse, which greatly amuses Mommy. I’d put you in the center of your floor mat, and you’d end up under one of our dining room chairs, looking around your new surroundings and peeking out like a little mouse.

 You have a very round face and a sweet, infectious smile that you are learning how to use to get your way (namely, to be picked up, as you are happiest when being held).