Solids and sitting up

Ten days shy of the six month mark Miriam has embarked on the world of solid foods. The decision came when she nearly ate a hot apple pie at McDonald’s this afternoon—we had a celebratory treat with the girls after Andrew returned from school and announced that he had successfully turned in his thesis and Miriam almost stole my dessert. She has just been so anxious about eating and so frustrated about us never letting her get into whatever was on our plates.

So tonight at dinner I gave in. And I almost cried.

Every time my baby meets a milestone a small part of me dies. It’s fun to watch our girls grow up but I hate knowing that I will never reclaim yesterday. I’ll never have newborn snuggles with Miriam ever again and that basically breaks my heart. Andrew assures me I had the same reaction when we decided to start feeding Rachel and I got over it.

I also reacted similarly when we moved Miriam from our bed to her bassinet (January 26). Her bassinet sits flush with my side of the bed…and to tell the truth she usually ends up in our bed by the morning…but it still broke my heart. I’m not sure how I’ll ever move her out of our room. I’ll probably cry for days.

Anyway, Miriam tried a few spoonfuls of rice cereal tonight. She was mainly interested in gaining control of the spoon but also seemed to enjoy the fact that she was eating. After a few bites she was content to sit in her chair, play with her spoon, and watch everyone else finish their dinners.

Miriam has also recently become the queen of sitting up, or, as Rachel would say, “sipping up.”

Last Thursday evening Andrew had a little training session with Meme and she went from either sandwiching or falling backwards to sitting up using her arms as supports. The next day she spent a goodly portion of sacrament meeting sitting on the floor.

Now she’s a regular pro and sits confidently without using her arms for balance. She still falls over occasionally but for the most part she’s awesome at it. I particularly enjoy the freedom this allows me in the shower—have you ever tried to shampoo your hair while holding a baby? Not easy. Now I just giver her a rubber duck to chomp on and she happily sits there and splashes in puddles.

I sound pretty proud of her, I’m sure. And I am. But inside I am weeping.