Rowan is nearly eight-months old!

Very sorry for the delay in posting! I have lots of photos to make you love me again...

Rowan has a new red ball that she likes playing with. She looks vaguely like a circus seal when she balances it on her belly.





Rowan, though not exactly crawling yet, is very active on the ground. She sort of creeps, pulling herself about and turning and stretching and rolling.







Yesterday, we had a bit of silly fun with a purple cabbage leaf while I was making dinner. Rowan kept wanting to grab what I was working on, so we popped it on her head. Nigel and I laughed our asses off over our little Cabbage Queen.

Our punky, purple-haired baby (otherwise known as the Cabbage Queen!)

Here, have some cabbage!

Nigel's a cutie! And the baby isn't bad, either.

Eating habits of the small and wriggly
Rowan is now enjoying Baby Mum-Mums, which are essentially rice cracker things that dissolve super-quickly. The first couple of times I gave them to her, she repeatedly held them out to me as though to share. I munched the slightly soggy mum-mum and thanked her for sharing. She was thrilled. Now, she just keeps them all for herself. Greedy little monkey.

Rowan demolishing a Baby Mum-Mum

We sometimes let Rowan have little pieces of soft fruit (banana, pear, mango, cantaloupe), which she really seems to like. However, she had a bit of gastro unhappiness the last couple of days, so I've laid off the fruit chunks for now.

As of her last doctor's appointment, Rowan has the green-light to try meat (chicken, beef or lamb, but not pork or fish) and other protein sources (lentils, chickpeas, but not eggs). I haven't tried her with any of these foods yet. I'm not sure why I'm hesitating. I might try mincing up some cooked chicken today to see how she likes that. I'm a bit concerned that she might not be getting enough iron in her diet, especially since she isn't much for eating cereal and doesn't drink much formula.

Rowan likes to drink from grown-up glasses way more than sippy-cups or bottles. She doesn't seem to mind that there is water all over her front. I guess she is used to being moist because of all the drooling. We will need to get a plastic cup or two, since she sometimes clicks her new little tooth tip on the glass. Usually we just use the sippy cup without the top.

Teething
Rowan now has a third of one front bottom tooth and the other front bottom tooth has broken the skin. Needless to say, she is chompy. And there is drool, oh my. I've been trying to take a photo of the teeth, but Rowan is not cooperative on this front.

Jumping bean
Rowan likes her exer-saucer more now that she has realized that she can JUMP.

The exer-saucer is pretty much like an old-school walker except that it has no wheels. The dangly cloth seat part rotates 360 degrees, there is a tray all the way around, and attached toys. It is also sort of spring loaded to make jumping much more exciting.

Rowan also likes to make jumping motions if you are holding her in a standing position. But only if she is very excited, which you can incite by jumping up and down yourself. This makes for very silly mommy-and-daddy antics.

Wet and splashy pool fun
Yesterday, Nigel's mom and dad came for a visit and because the pool had warmed up so much, we decided to bring Rowan into the pool with us. At first, it was just her feet, but she was so excited that we decided she could go full out. Lots of splashing and glee. We need to get her a little baby flotation device so I feel more secure bringing her into the pool with me when I'm by myself. Rowan chased me around the pool (with daddy's assistance, of course) and smacked me around when she caught me. This is her usual ritual when she catches me. That and munching me or pulling my hair.