Thursday, October 8, 2009

5 Months (Yesterday)

Oh my goodness! Elsie turned 5 months old yesterday! I can't believe the time has passed so quickly--it's already October, people!

In the past month, Eli has started reaching for objects, grasping them, and putting them in her mouth to chew on--including her pacifier; and she's rolling over more confidently both ways, front-to-back and back-to-front. She's tracking objects for a long way, and pushing up and holding her head up like a pro--no screaming about tummy time. And have I mentioned before that she's a drool faucet? This month she also started sleeping through the night--not consistently, but several times. I'll take eight hours of sleep when I can get it!

My predictions for month six--Elsie will get up on all fours and at least rock back and forth, if not take off at a crawl. Okay, that's not really a prediciton. One of my college friends has a baby who is almost exactly 4 weeks older than Elsie and I stalk her blog trying to figure out what comes next. Elsie is hot on her heels.

She's still exploring the world. I'm amazed at how much difference a couple of days makes. Eli told me the other day that the best sound on the planet is Elsie's laugh. He said that before we had a baby, he never would have suspected that a baby laugh could be so adorable. Elsie has a sense of humor, or at least comedic timing. Here's how it goes:

Me: Ah-goo!
Elsie: [giggle and smile]
Me: Ah-goo!
Elsie: [giggle and smile]
Me: Ah-goo!
Elsie: [giggle and smile]
Me: Ah-MOO!
Elsie: [guffaw, giggle maniacally, and big smile]

Anyway, J asked for me to come up with a nickname for Elsie to call her when she starts talking. I don't know how I feel about that. When I'm talking to Elsie, I call her "Miss J---" (which is the standard at church for what young'uns call elders not related to them) and when Jh refers to herself in her notes, she calls herself JJ. Either of those is fine with me. Any other name would be wandering into surrogate grandparent territory, and Elsie already has six grandparents (2 of which are GREAT!). Also, while J is as old as my grandmother (a little younger, but not by much), she is Elsie's caretaker, not her relative. Is that too harsh? I don't mean to be, it's just that I get easily annoyed for no reason. Perhaps a little jealous that I can't spend as much time with Elsie? Maybe...

Something for me to think about (or not).

Cheers.

3 comments:

Colleen said...

Miss Judy or JJ both sound fine (Miss J...haha like on ANTM). They don't sound like grandparent names, and if Elsie and J continue to spend time together, Elsie can decide on her own if she's a grandmother type. I had a g-ma figure when I was young and I called her Mrs. Catozella (her name, I wasn't allowed to call adults by their first names), and she was like a g-ma to me b/c of our relationship, not what I called her. Plus, all my grandparents lived far away. :)

"In the past month, Eli has started reaching for objects, grasping them, and putting them in her mouth to chew on--including her pacifier;"

Did you mean to put Els? I don't know if I ever told you how cute I think her name is. And I never even THOUGHT about the milk cow when I heard it. I did meet the cow at the fair last weekend though, and she was REEEEAL cute, just like your baby! Ok, long comment, have a great weekend!

Motorcycle grandma said...

I think Miss Judy is appropriate and respectful. I think it helps teach little ones respect. I agree about the g'ma thing . . . being one myself, I don't want my buckaroo calling anyone g'ma except those of us that are his grandmas. He may find a nickname for us or a way to differientiate between us (seeing myself being grandma vrrrrrooom vrrrrrooom :-)

Tgiguy said...

Does Judy have related grandchildren? If Elsie Jane is her only one, I can understand her wanting to be called by a special name. Think of what sounds babies make first and use the sounds to refer to Judy. I did not get the impression that Judy wanted to be called grandma but if Miss Judy is not going to work, perhaps another inane baby sound would catch on: Honey, Poppy, JuJu, for example...Mom