A Surprising Thing About Food

E and I both love food. We spend a good portion of our money and a great deal of our time on good food. We are always looking for new recipes and new flavours to try. When Ena turned 6 months old and began eating solid foods I thought it would be easy to feed her in this way. I knew it would be messy. I knew there would be foods she wouldn't like. But because I had expected those things I prepared for them. What I hadn't anticipated was how much I would want to give her food that I enjoyed. That I would want to offer her salty foods, spicy foods, sweet foods. Every time I eat something I enjoy I want to offer her some, too. I find it surprisingly difficult to remember that these foods are not good for her. That really, a few bland vegetables and fruit are the best for now. I also find it hard to only introduce one food at a time. Sometimes we make food that would be good for her to eat, full of vegetables and lentils, but nearly all of our food has more than one ingredient. I find myself looking for bland foods that we will enjoy but can also share with Ena. There are not many.

I fear that I am going to be just the kind of parent I thought critically of before I had a child. The parent who indulges the child. Over-protects them. Shelters them too much. Hinders their independence by always doing for the child. Ugh. All things in life are so complicated. Will anything ever feel easy again?

That tongue thing

Along with the cold, Ena has developed a new tongue position. She likes to hold the tip of her tongue on her upper lip. We've been speculating that it's because she can taste her snot that way. What do you think?

Ena has a cold

The past seven days have held a number of firsts for Ena. Her first apples. Her first broccoli (which she did not like - we will keep trying). Her first unassisted sitting. Her first roll from back to tummy. And, her first cold. E and I both got sick after he went to Kitimat for the drama zones. Gone for four days, none of us got much sleep. E was busy monitoring his students, trying to make sure that they didn't do any of the stupid things we all do when we are teenagers. I was busy trying to get Ena to sleep. She was busy trying to keep from sleeping. We were all so run down it was really just a matter of time before we became ill.
Ena has been the last of our lot to get the cold. E and I are almost runny nose free but Ena is still suffering. This past weekend she had a couple of terrible nights, whimpering and waking regularly. We finally decided to give her some children's tylenol and it did seem to help. Because she can't breathe through her nose properly she has been drooling like crazy. We have to keep putting fresh bibs on her to keep her dry. She's also been a bit grumpy and who can blame her? I hope that she gets over it soon. For all our sakes.

Ena can sit on her own!

Ena has been doing the 'tripod' while sitting up for a little while now. She has been great at sitting unsupported (with our arms by the ready to catch her, of course) on our laps for the last two weeks. While on the ground she has still been unsteady, able to support herself for short periods of time by creating a tripod with her legs and one arm. Last night I propped her up between my legs on her play mat thinking that she would still need to be held up but she surprised us both by sitting just fine without my help. She still falls over now and then, sometimes catching herself with her arm and sometimes not, but she can truly sit on her own. Another big milestone for our Ena!

Updating the favourite five

When I started the blog Ena's favourite five things were: eating, having her mouth wiped, listening to the guitar, Danny Boy, and hand sucking.

A lot has changed since then. Hand sucking is still pretty popular with her, as is the guitar, but having her mouth wiped has gone out of favour. She likes songs with hand actions over Danny Boy and really enjoys watching the video of Liam Clancy singing Broad Majestic Shannon (on youtube).

Check out her new favourite five on the sidebar.

6 months old!

Today Ena is 6 months old. I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone. When Ena was born E and I were so overwhelmed we could hardly function. It took all of our energy just to do the basics - feed her, change her, feed ourselves. Parenthood is still overwhelming but instead of feeling as though I am drowning I now feel like I am keeping a steady pace while treading water.

Ena's personality is emerging more and more. Although she is a complete delight to us, with a wonderful sense of humour and a smile she is quick to share, it also (I hate to say) seems as though she has little patience and a short attention span. She knows how to communicate her dislikes (generally with grunting) and she expects a lot of attention from us. It will be interesting to see just what kind of a little girl she becomes.

When we put her in a sitting position she can (mostly) sit up on her own now. She is very good at rolling from side to side but she hasn't rolled from her back to her front yet. I can see that she is capable of doing it, but she seems completely uninterested in making it happen. She still is not that keen on being on her tummy. She will tolerate it for short periods (up to 10 minutes at a time) but then gets fussy and needs to move to her back. When she is on her tummy she will often kick her legs like she wants to crawl but she hasn't managed to figure out just how to move herself. Most of her movement is in circles as she rolls from side to side while on her back.

Ena likes to chew on anything she can. Board books are a particular favourite but we don't allow her to indulge in this often. She has a good arm, she can throw her soothers quite far. She still seems to be favouring her left hand but we will have to see how that develops. She loves her feet. She loves to touch things, to feel different fabrics and textures. She still loves the guitar. She really likes it when we sing and she enjoys listening to music (especially if it's a music video). She has taken a real interest in our computers. She likes to eat, especially bananas. She is fascinated by our cups and stares intently at me when I drink a glass of water.

She still doesn't like to nap and lately she has been waking every three hours throughout the night. At first we put it down to teething but now I think it has become something more. We haven't figured out what we want to do about it. At night we are so exhausted we just take the easiest route to a return to sleep - nurse her. I think this may be making things worse. Whatever we decide, we can't go on this way for much longer. I can't imagine letting her cry it out but we have to try something else.

Sunday Walking

We've started to use Ena's stroller more often. I hadn't realized just how heavy she has become and how awkward it was getting taking her for a walk in the wrap. A couple of weeks ago I took her out for a walk using the wrap and I ended up with terrible shoulder pain and a bad headache. During the walk Ena had been trying to push herself up higher with her feet so that she could see more. I think all that wriggling and her increased weight was the problem for my shoulders. Since then E and I have been taking her out in the stroller. I put her in a big fluffy winter suit (another item from Joanna!) to keep warm and she just kind of gets into a meditative state. She doesn't make any noise, just looks around with her big eyes.

I am slowly learning how to use the stroller. Not having been around many babies before I don't really know the tricks for getting on and off sidewalks, through doors and past or around obstacles. I am acquiring so many new skills as a mother! (ha, ha) On Sunday we all went for our first walk together since Christmas holidays ended. E has been so busy with work lately - rehearsing the festival show with his students, preparing report cards, planning for the new semester of classes...we haven't had a chance to get out together. It was a beautiful day on Sunday though and hard to pass up. E managed (for the first time since he's been teaching!) to get his report cards done before the weekend ended (by staying up till four in the morning on Saturday, mind you) so we all went out for a lovely stroll. As you can see by the photo, the tide was really high and I'm sure some buildings in Cow Bay had a little flooding.