Tea's Five Months Old Today

Can you believe it? It feels like her life is just flying right by me! I guess this is what happens as a fam grows.

I've been trying to share how awesome she is, bit by bit. But I figure since it's her birthday anniversary it'd be a good time to update you once more on her progress.

Tea has been reaching for my food and AVIDLY watching her sisters and parents eat since she was AT LEAST 2 months old. I'm sure there are some who would say I'm cruel for not letting her have what she wanted, but I didn't. I have, for a couple of weeks, given her teeny tiny tastes of things. She LOVES it!! I've been increasing tastings (heehee) and she has actually started to vocally fuss for food when she sees me eating ANYthing.

So, what has she tried? LOTS! I'll give you a list that doesn't include everything simply because I can't remember everything:
rice (like 2 or 3 grains at a time) with flavorings (like oyster sauce, YUM!)
pumpkin pudding (less than a whole teaspoon when it's all said and done)
broccoli (a couple of the tiny little flower bits in oyster sauce)
ice cream (see amount of pumpkin)
squash (very squishy and about the size of a run down eraser with the total being about a teaspoon)
potato (see squash)
chocolate frosting (same amount as pudding)
tomato (about the same amount as squash)
tomato sauce (spaghetti topping, about as much as pudding)
carrot (see amount of squash)

And all that food has been spread over the last month with about half of it tried and tasted in the last week or so. She LOVES it. You can just see her little brain thinking, "Oh! I'm SUCH a big girl! I'm doing something just like Ria!" Tea has EYES for her Ria (and Daddy)! Just like Kat. Have I told you about how Kat will run to greet Ria when she and Daddy have been out somewhere? Yep. She'll run right PAST Jess and run to hug Ria yelling, "Ria, Ria's home!" the whole way!!! ^_^ What a sweet scene for this Mama to witness.

Tea is sitting up strong and tall. I'll put her in the stroller I use in the house and then move it without warning her and she'll still sit up straight! I sit her on the floor, though she does NOT like it when she falls on the cold tile (I think it bruises her pride cause it doesn't leave a mark).

She's balancing well on all fours! Her best time has been about 3 minutes! Okay, so that may not sound terribly impressive, but she weighs SEVENTEEN POUNDS! So, cut the chunker a break, will ya! ^_^

Did I mention she weighs 17 pounds? For some perspective, Ria weighed 18 pounds at 1 year old. Kat currently weighs 27 pounds and Ria is a "whopping" 37 pounds (my petite princess)!! Amazing, right?

This little one LOVES paper! She'll sit and play and suck on paper indefinitely. I think the longest has been about 45 minutes so far. This is SO much like Ria, it's uncanny! But Ria was in love with paper at about 6 months. Tea started with her love affair at about 3 months!!!!!! Seriously. She hasn't successfully ripped paper on her own, but she loves to watch as we rip it. (Have you seen to YouTube of the baby laughing over papering ripping? What a riot!)

Tea continues to be a sweet and happy baby. She does let me know if I've not attended her for too long, but she entertains herself delightfully for quite long groupings of minutes. She's a doll! Both yesterday and today she laughed! And what a JOY to hear!!!! Yesterday Ria was doing something to entertain her and Tea just started giggling! Today I did something to distract her from fussing at me and she started giggling. What a PLEASURE!

I think it was Monday that I finally tried out my plan for future exercise walking (without my planned, hoped, and wished for triple jogger! *sigh*). Kat is happy to assist as the BIG sister and give Tea toys to play with in the trailer (my babyjogger double convertible stroller). Ria is walk/running next to me as I walk. It's working quite well thus far except that Ria has been complaining about her legs and feet being sore. *sigh* We really are out of shape! Tonight when I complimented her on her walk (she didn't run much today), she was glowing and said, "We really are getting stronger, Mom!"

Prior to this nite nite exchange, as we were getting ready to go on our third walk for the week today, Ria said to me, quite out of nowhere, "You know, Jesus is very happy about the choices you're making. It's really good that you're trying to get strong so you can have lots more babies!" I smiled and said, "Oh, is that right? And how many more babies do you think we'll have?" She thought and then replied, "Just lots more." Me, "Well, what kind of number is lots?" Ria, "I think you need to have 8 babies." Funny. This is a REALLY common number from her. hmmm....

I think I've mentioned this before, but since it's a Tea post, it's worth restating. This baby is a focused one! She'll sit and work with the same thing for ages! It's not play with her. I mean, I think there are babies that play with things, but Tea will FOCUS and specifically TRY to do something and not stop until it happens or she gets just too darn frustrated. Frustration usually sets in quickly when she's tired. As long as she's well rested, though, it'll take a good 15-20 minutes of working on something for her to get frustrated. Amazing, right? This is very similar to Ria. Kat was much more willing to sit back and watch (and still is). Tea does observe more than Ria did... probably partially because she has more TO observe! ^_^

Tea is not walking and she's not talking yet. That's a big joke with my Ward Family. "So, is she walking yet?" After she was born and her weight was announced (10 pounds 4 ounces), someone in Sunday school asked Jessie if the baby came out walking and talking - since she was already a toddler. ! ? (ahwell) They love her.

But I'm sure she will officially crawl soon (more than the scooting thing she does already) and walking will not take long tafterward. I'm sure this is partially because I look forward to her walking days! She'll become playmate, not just watcher, at that point! And, OH, how I can see that she WANTS to be in the midst of things!

A blessing and a joy
our Theresa Diane!