Impressive Appetite

Zoey's has a very healthy appetite. We took her back to Beef O' Brady's (her favorite restaurant). She went to big brother's school Fall Festival and fell asleep on the way to the restaurant afterward.

The waitress was like "awww, what a cute baby!" which woke her up. Well, I guess it is good she woke up, otherwise she would have missed her favorite mashed potatoes. She ate almost the entire bowl, which was very impressive. We were really surprised that she was able to eat an entire bowl.

I was positive she was full (or uncomfortably full), and should be good for a few hours. When we got home, we decided Michael needed to eat something healthy, as he had a lot of candy at the Fall Festival, and only had french fries at the restaurant. So we got him a bowl of rice/soup/salmon.

Zoey saw his bowl and crawled over and began kicking up a fuss. So we gave her a little bit. And a little more. I was astounded that she could still eat anything after such a large (and filling) meal. Mashed potatoes really fills up the tummy, yet she still wanted more.

She had a lot of rice, soup, salmon bits, and pretty much went to sleep after that.

Strong-willed child

As a father, it has been amazing to see the changes in my baby over the past month. I am literally watching her personality and her awareness of her surroundings develop right before my eyes.

She's crawling now. She will also stay in a standing position, holding onto our red sofa in the living room as support, for quite a long time. She will "cruise" along the sofa (child development term for when a infant or toddler uses furniture or fixed objects to help them get around).

Zoey is stubborn about having her way. She isn't yet able to articulate what "her way" is yet, but if we put her in her walker or high chair (or really anything that restricts her from being able to try and move about freely), she gets upset. She will make a MMMMMM crying sound, and kick both her feet out rapidly.

Most times, the way to make her happy is to help her into a standing position and stand back and let her try to get around.

Sometimes her big brother will take a toy out of her hand that she's playing with. That doesn't seem to upset her too much. However, when he takes her food, or when they are sharing food (we take turns giving them spoonfuls of food), she will reach out and push on his face with her little paw, or grab for his hair.

Michael will lecture her. He will say "Zoey, please stop that," or "Zoey, my turn". It's almost funny (and somewhat ironic) when he looks at us with frustration that Zoey isn't listening to him when he's trying to be reasonable. Because as a Dad THAT is the exact same thing I deal with when I feel like Michael's not listening to me when I'm trying to be reasonable.

Zoey is definitely able to stand up for herself when she chooses. It's funny, she has her priorities. Doesn't care when big brother just grabs a toy out of her hand. However, she'll go to battle with him about food.

First Restaurant Experience

Zoey had her first eating experience at a restaurant today! I guess she has been to restaurants in the past, but only as an observer (sitting in the stroller watching everyone else eat).

We went to Beef O' Brady's today, and she sat in a high chair and had mashed potatoes.

Zoey has been eating solid foods lately. She gets Puffs Cereal, a few pieces of rice (we are very careful to give her a little, not too much), applesauce (lovingly handmade by Grandma or Daddy), Gerber Rice Cereal, soup, and now mashed potatoes. And all in one day!!!

Now that she's realized how enjoyable eating is, she is very persistent in getting her share of food. She crawls now. When we were feeding her and Michael from the same bowl of rice, she would get a little nibble (few pieces of rice), then we would give Michael a big spoonful. After she got her turn and Michael was taking a bite, she would crawl up to me, put herself between me and Michael, with her eyes wide open like little saucers and smack her lips (basically saying FEED ME!!!).

Michael often says to her "It's MY turn Zoey." Truth be told, when he says it, he's usually right.

Foodie

Zoey is a foodie, just like her older brother Michael.

We've started giving her the Gerber Puffs cereal, which are appropriate for crawling babies.

We put them in the tray of her high chair. She literally stuffs 2 or 3 of them at a time into her mouth. We put about 10 of them on the high chair tray and she goes through them extremely quickly.

Last night, I had a bowl of grapes for myself. I was eating them as I held her. Zoey made a grab for one, and started to try and stuff it in her mouth before I yanked it away from her hand (choking hazard).

She gave me the most heartbreaking forlorn expression in her eyes as she watched me eat.

She's got 2 teeth coming in (bottom front two). I think getting teeth and learning how to eat real food is going to be the greatest treat for her.

First tooth

Zoey's getting her first tooth! Lower front tooth, the left (from her perspective) one. She also has the right one starting to peek through the gum.

She's handling it surprisingly well. She does try to put anything and everything in her mouth, but she's not too fussy. Also, she doesn't drool as much as big brother did when he had teeth coming in.

She still smiles and coos a lot, and is generally happy. However, she hates going to the doctor. Trips to the doctor absolutely ruin her day.

Zoey had an ear infection, doctor gave us 10 day course of antibiotics. She wrapped it up 2 days ago, I took her to the doctor yesterday, and she screamed and cried. Poor little thing! As soon as the doctor came into the room she started crying inconsolably.

Sick

Zoey got sick for the first time yesterday. She was running a fever, around 100F. We gave her infant Tylenol for the first time.

Other than Humphrey's Teething Tablets that dissolve in water, this is really the first medicine Zoey's taken.

The first dose she seemed to enjoy (guess it's cherry flavored). Unfortunately the second time it was harder to get her to take it.

First Ice Cream Experience

We were at an outlet mall today and Zoey had her first Ice Cream experience. I took Grandma and Michael to a Hershey's Ice Cream shop while Mommy was shopping. I messaged Mommy to let her know we were across from her clothing store at the ice cream shop. As soon as I hit send, just a second later Mommy was standing in front of me asking for her ice cream (she really likes ice cream).

Ice Cream > Clothes shopping.

We got a strawberry cone and a cup of vanilla, and Mommy, Grandma, and Michael were eating. I can't eat ice cream due to food allergies. 😢However, I decided to let Zoey try some ice cream.

She loved it! She was wide-eyed and smiling the whole time. I took a break from feeding her ice cream to help her wipe her mouth and she started to screech (demanding more ice cream). I think she had a wonderful experience. Michael didn't like ice cream when he first tried it, he puckered up his face and shook his head since it was soo cold. Zoey didn't have any such reaction, I could see the look in her eyes said "this is GREAT!"

First word

Zoey's been saying "ba ba ba" lately, her first word! I'm so happy, that's Chinese for "Daddy"!

I've started feeding her Gerber Puffs cereal snack. It's for infants to learn fine motor skills and learn how to start eating solids. I tried a few of course before I let her have any and they pretty much dissolve in the mouth immediately (no choking hazard).

Zoey doesn't have any teeth yet. I'm a bit surprised. I'm not going to worry about it, but her big brother did start getting teeth at 6 months. In the meantime, she's perfectly happy to "gum" away at the Gerber Puffs cereal. At least she's learning chewing motion with the jaw, even though she doesn't have any teeth yet.

It's funny, she really does like to eat. After I put a few of the Gerber Puffs cereal in her mouth, when I held out one piece for her to see if she could pick it up with her fingers, she made a 2 armed hugging grab motion to try to get it and pitched forward.

She does stare enviously at all the grownups and her big brother whenever we're eating anything.

Favorite lullaby ... 12 days of Christmas

12 Days of Christmas. For some reason that puts her to sleep faster than anything else I sing to her.

So I tend to sing that to her more than any other song, which I think reinforces it as a comforting song. I always end the song (the first day of Christmas) with ...

♪and a baby in a tummy♪

(instead of a partridge in a pear tree)

I just got Zoey to fall asleep singing that to her. We made it through the 6th day of Christmas and she was fast asleep.

Note: I am aware that it's July. However, I pretty much sing Christmas carols to the kids year-round as lullabies.

Specific missing parental skill

There is this very specific parental skill that I seem to be missing:

The ability to transfer a sleeping baby from my arms to the bed without waking up baby.

This is a very important skill that I have watched Mommy and Grandma do. However, does not seem to work for me. This morning, Zoey woke up around 5 AM. I held her and sung 12 days of Christmas until she fell asleep. However, 10 minutes after I put her down, she was awake.

Same thing just happened this evening. I rocked her to sleep in my arms, then tried to put her down in bed. She fussed immediately, so I held her until she fell asleep and then handed her off to Grandma and asked Grandma to put her in bed.

Don't know what it is. When I put the baby down, my arm is still underneath. When I try to get my arm out of cradling her neck, it wakes her up. Always happened with big brother when he was a baby as well.

It's not a good feeling, working hard to get a baby to fall asleep, and finally being ready to put them down in bed, only to have them crying a minute later.

Super hearing abilities

When Zoey first came home from the hospital, she could sleep through anything. For example, big brother came through the bedroom when she was asleep and sat fairly close to her bassinet and banged on pots and pans. Did not wake her up. He would crank the electronic keyboard to maximum volume and bang on the keys and put on the sample songs. Did not wake her up. Occasionally he would do something loud enough to get her to stir, but then go back to sleep.

During Christmastime, when family came over, we turned on the bedroom lights and everyone took a peek at baby. She did not even blink. She slept completely through Christmas, with everyone oohing and ahhing at the precious little thing.

I had figured that she was an amazingly sound sleeper. It was great. When she took a nap (which was constant, she pretty much slept 20 hours a day in the beginning), we would just go about our business. Turn on lights, vacuum the house, play games, it did not matter. Nothing would wake her up.

I'll admit there was a time or two when I was worried about her hearing.

Over the past few months, however, she's developed this super Spiderman spider-sense like hearing ability. If I even clear my throat in the room when she's asleep, she'll stir, and cry for a second or two (and sometimes that will be enough to wake her up). I feel like I'm walking on eggshells when she's asleep, and I practically have a panic attack if she's asleep in our bed in the middle of the day for a nap and Michael opens the door to go in the room. She can practically sense when someone comes into the bedroom, and she'll stir.

First swimming experience

Zoey had her first trip to the pool a few days ago. She seemed to like the water.

She's starting to develop her personality. For the most part, she has a happy personality (smiles and laughs a lot), but she can get REALLY cranky. I was trying to put her to bed this evening and had a tantrum.

Sounds strange, but I'm actually glad to see that she has a temper.

While she was having her tantrum, I was actually happy/relieved. A few minutes later, she fell fast asleep.

I've always been stubborn, temperamental, and strong-willed. Michael is as well. I think it's important not to be too nice and to stand up for one's self. I'm glad to see Zoey make noise when she's not happy about something.

3 pairs of shoes

So I came home from work a few days ago to discover that Zoey is now the proud owner of 3 pairs of new shoes. Even though she does not walk yet. I walked into the living room and Mommy was trying pairs of baby shoes on Zoey.

At least, as the baby of the family, she's not getting less attention or very many hand-me-downs. I know it's difficult for the 2nd child, getting all of the hand-me-downs. However, Zoey's doing quite well on that front ... think Mommy is vicariously living the childhood she always wanted and buying Zoey all sorts of cute baby girl outfits, clothes, shoes.

Zoey and Michael share a closet for their clothes, and despite being younger, she has managed to take up more than half of the closet space with her clothes. Quite impressive.

I actually counted the sections, Zoey's on the left, Michael's on the right. I counted each section and they were evenly split, except for the middle section. That ended up being all Zoey's clothes, so it's essentially a 60-40 split of closet space for clothes (in her favor).

I'll have to explain to big brother ... you share a closet with a girl, get used to it. You'll grow up and have a wife someday and it will be the same, so you might as well get accustomed to it at an early age.

Development

Zoey is growing and developing well. She can say "ah goo ..." and screeches every now and again when excited. She can sit up, and when I put my fingers out, she will grip them and with a little gentle encouragement, she will try to pull herself to a standing position using my fingers as leverage.

She can reach the ground when standing in her baby walker ... however, just with the tips of her toes, so it will be a long time before she can take advantage of the walker to move around.

Mommy and I were talking this evening and she commented, "Zoey sleeps really well when it's quiet and nobody disturbs her ..." Alas, there's no peace for a younger sibling with a rambunctious big brother who is transitioning from the Terrible Twos to the Terrible Threes. He is a very good big brother to her, though, incredibly loving and affectionate. Kisses her all the time, holds her hand, and even tries to engage her in conversation, asks her what's wrong when she cries and tells her everything is okay. He is even a big advocate of including her in activities ... I offered to read him a book this evening and he insisted that I read to Zoey as well (who was being fed by Mommy and was busy).

He just gets excitable and doesn't realize that a sleeping baby needs her quiet.

Day of Milestones

Zoey had her first train ride today. We went to the outdoor mall and she rode around in the train with Daddy and Michael.

She also ate solid food for the first time this evening. We got her the Gerber Rice Cereal for infants.

She LOVED it! She ate a bowl, and was all wide-eyed smiles the entire time. When she was finished (realized that the spoonfuls of rice cereal were no longer coming, she began crying. So we got her another bowl. She was happy while she was eating, but cried again when the spoonfuls stopped.

Big brother got a little bit upset when he saw her eating food that he wanted to eat. He threw a tantrum and was yelling about not letting Zoey eat all of it.

We gave him a couple spoons from her bowl and he was better. He's always so good with her, always kisses her on the forehead (and even holds her little hand and kisses her hand, what a gentleman!) I had always figured that the both of them are going to get along splendidly, and the only time I'm anticipating conflict is around food. The both of them LOVE TO EAT.

It's funny, I brought Zoey to my workplace one time and our company's CEO got to see her. His first comment upon seeing her was a very insightful and accurate, "Wow, your kids really like to eat!" Zoey has grown very well and she is a strong, healthy baby (who just loves to eat). Much like her big brother.

Crying whenever I hold her

Zoey has been crying whenever I hold her.

She screams and gets hysterical until I hand her back to Mommy (then she calms down).

It started after I took her to get an ultrasound of her hip done (pediatrician was concerned about hip dysplasia). The doctor checking the ultrasound said she was fine and 100% normal (thank goodness!!!) Of course, Zoey did not care for the whole ultrasound of her hip experience, and cried the whole time. I was looking at her and trying to comfort and soothe her while the doctor was doing the ultrasound.

I think she may have blamed ME for the whole experience, as she 1) doesn't understand that it's important to see the doctor to make sure she's healthy and 2) couldn't see the doctor, but saw Daddy. *sigh* even though I'm a grown-up and responsible father, and a rational adult it still hurts, really hurts when baby cries when I hold her, and stops crying when Mommy holds her.

Zoey's gotten better today, and let me hold her for a while and sing to her without crying.

We have to take her to see another doctor at the end of this week. I'm debating on whether I should try to comfort her, let Mommy do that, or just let her be upset at the pediatrician and stay out of her line of sight. I figure no kid likes going to the doctor, and at such a young age, it's a miserable experience for them, and they'll be upset at whoever they think is to blame.

Meltdown

Poor little thing had a meltdown this evening. I had held her and sung all sorts of songs ... 12 Days of Christmas, Winter Wonderland, Silent Night, and she was fast asleep. Went and put her in bed with Mommy, and came out to the computer to do some work. About half an hour later, heard her screaming at the top of her lungs. We couldn't figure out if she was tired or hungry. Tried to feed her but she was just really upset and screaming and crying.

She fell asleep pretty shortly thereafter. Must have been sleepy. When I just went and checked on her, I heard her snoring.

First Haircut

Zoey got her first haircut today. Okay, well, she pretty much had all of her hair shaved off. Mommy said Zoey's been losing hair, which is normal for babies, and if we shave her hair off, it will grow back better and stronger when she is older. Apparently this is part of asian culture, I've had friends and colleagues from India and Vietnam tell me the same thing.

Mommy and grandparents did this when I was out today with Michael. My wife has asked me several times about shaving Zoey's hair, and I have playfully said that Zoey does not want her hair shaved (a few nights ago, I told Zoey "nod your head if you want your hair shaved, blow saliva bubbles if you do not want a haircut.")

I guess it's fine, except poor little daughter is now bald. We've been putting her little pink had on her head so she doesn't get cold.

Big brother has been really sweet. He gently pulled back her cap, told Zoey that her hair is very nice, kissed her on the head, and gently put the hat back in place.

Immunization

Zoey had her immunization shots today. It was not a good day. She was beside herself this evening when she woke up from her nap.

Sleeping Beauty

I love burping and holding my little baby after she's finished eating. I try to hold her for at least half an hour after she's done eating (and after she burped) before putting her down in her bassinet.

I figured this will help her digest her food and be less likely to have heartburn or acid reflux. She's so adorable, she goes into a deep sleep with a little snore, and puts her ear against my chest. I think it's comforting for her to be held closely and to hear a heartbeat, probably like when she was in Mommy's tummy.

Trip to the Mall

We managed to get Zoey and the family out to the outdoor mall a couple of days ago. The weather was wonderful, cool, but not cold. Absolutely perfect. Zoey slept really, really well during the entire trip. We put her in her stroller and pushed her around the mall, and she slept the whole time. Don't know if she even opened her eyes once.

They were taking down the Christmas Tree. Michael loved the Christmas Tree. Zoey's a bit too small, but I'm sure she will also love it when she gets older.

Eating

Zoey's a great eater! She's eating on a very frequent basis!

I called the pediatrician and he said it's pretty much impossible to overfeed a baby her age, so feed her whenever she wants to eat. :-) Really proud of her!