I'm not going to lie, folks. We love our daughter enough to fill infinite oceans to continual overflowing, but parenthood is not all sunshine & skipping through the park, and, I know, you are shocked to hear this. All this confessed to say that we've been struggling the past many weeks to get Vianne to sleep, whether it be for a nap or during the night, and I confess this now because this was probably our worst week yet. Vianne is a strong-willed señorita who has thoughts & feelings all her own...and what she thinks & feels about sleeping is that she does not like it, and especially not when it is not her idea to do so.
And before you ask, "Have you tried...?", the answer is YES. We've tried it all, every trick in the book(s), every recommendation from friends and family, every idea our sleep-deprived brains can muster, and we still are running on sleep fumes most of the time.
Even still, the weekend seemed to bring some breakthroughs in techniques (we've had to let her cry it out more than we like to) and a renewed hope. We don't (yet?) have the Healthy Sleep Habits; however,we do have the Happy Child. Amazingly, sleep or no sleep, she is always delighted beyond comprehension when morning comes; she greets every day with smiles and squeals of glee - and, 99% of the time, remains a very happy camper throughout the day.
And so, we forge ahead, with cuteness as our saving grace.
Aside from sleep challenges, this week included Halloween, a new food, lots of play time, and many more advances in crawling development.
With her puppy from Granma & Grandpa
This is from when she pulled her puppy onto her belly and then rolled over and it stayed on her back...
...and a few minutes later, it was still on her back as she made her way across the playmat.
I like to call this next one, with a nod to Lord of the Rings, "Pea Beard". Vianne loved trying peas this week!
Saturday morning cartoons with Daddy, namely Schoolhouse Rock!
"Daddy, you're the best!" :::heart melting:::
Figuring out what these knees do...
The crawling developments, of course, are best demonstrated by video...so, I present, Vianne's Crawling Development, in four parts...
Can it be?! Seven months already! Seven months of tireless cuteness! And, yes, folks, I know, I know, I dressed her in PINK for this photo shoot, but I've long since come to terms with the fact that it's one of her best colors. The adorable dress was a gift from very kind neighbors at our last residence.
I can't look at this next one without cracking up! Miss Stink Face!
This week Vianne graduated from flipper to roller! In addition to rolling, she's developed a long-form pushup tactic and discovered her knees (and is starting that pre-crawl rock-her-bum-back-and-forth-on-all-fours move), and all this means that this girl gets to where she wants to go.
She's also amusing herself (and us) with a new range of consonant/vowel combinations; at times, a "da da da", "ga ga ga", "ya ya ya" sound on rotation, and at other times, a blend of noises that sounds like an Eastern European tongue.
We tried out two new foods this week, apples (she didn't seem to love them) and oatmeal (which she couldn't get enough of).
On Thursday, I got her dressed & realized that, in her hoodie, jeans, & sneakers, she looked like a mini-teenager. This is hard to take as a Mama, but I made the best of it by snapping a bunch of photos. You will see she added a lot of smug & "Come on, Mom!" expressions to complete the look.
Playing with her book from Granma & Grandpa (she loves this toy - it lights up & talks/sings to her!)
On Saturday, we went to our friend Gracelyn's 1st birthday costume party! Vianne was one of three ladybugs. Sweet Gracelyn - the birthday girl - is to the right with her mama Jill.
It was a gorgeous day for an outside party - something you could never do in Oregon for a late October birthday!!
One of the funniest things, in my opinion, that Vianne does these days is that every time she gets buckled into her car seat, she pats the buckle with her hand. It makes me laugh because it reminds me of that beautiful subtlety of genius humor in Toy Story, when Buzz Lightyear climbs into the Pizza Planet truck and fastens his seat belt, then gives it a little pat.
Often I hear her doing it from the back seat while we're driving, too, and it cracks me up every time. So I got a little video of it :-).
We also enjoyed this moment, when her belly whacking turned into a move towards percussion. Looks like someone is practicing to be the tambourine player in Mama's worship band!
