March 23, 2012
I have been remiss in publishing to my blog. My apologies to the persistent souls who check in here weekly only to find you've read everything already. I would promise to get better and be more consistent, but I've said something like that before, and we can all see how well that worked.
Esme's been eating a lot more lately. She's progressed to many different foods, and though she may make a face when she gets the first bite of a new item, I don't think she's really turned anything down. It seems texture is a larger deciding factor for her than taste. When we steamed some vegetables (apparently not long enough) and sent it through the food processor, some things came out slightly chunky or stringy (like carrots and asparagus). We've played more and are getting better. Hopefully we'll have it all figured out before we start pulling more than kale, onions, and mint out of the garden.
On to the check up.
First of all, Esme was much more interactive with her surroundings on this visit. She found the paper on the exam table to be particularly interesting. One wonders if the doctors and nurses keep some kind of record (even if only mentally) of how much paper their patients rip and chew and if there are any messages contained therein. (Sounds like the kind of study that one might read, then wonder who funds this stuff.) She gave both the doctor and nurse several of her award-winning smiles, and was much more cooperative on the scale this time. Last time she wouldn't stop moving, so the numbers kept going up and down making the nurse's job harder.
But as several of you predicted, Esme has started dropping in her percentages. She's only in the 80th percentile for height now (down from off-the-chart, literally, at four months). She remained around the 80th percentile in weight, so she's an evenly proportioned baby now. And I must say, the girl is solid. Sturdy, even. And once again, the doctor said, and I quote, "She's perfect." Now maybe he says that to all the parents, but it still makes a father's heart swell to hear it.
Going back a little further in time, we took Esme to a nearby park that has basket swings for the little ones for her first ride in a swing in early March. It was certainly fun for Tina and I, and Esme seemed to enjoy it also, at least most of the time. Tina has taken her back there several times since then, and I have accompanied her a few times. The odd thing to me was that three other parents I know mentioned that same week that their babies had their first ride on a swing. Maybe it was the unseasonably warm temperatures, or maybe it was just a swing-y week.
Esme constantly astounds me at the amount of food she can eat. Everyone tells me that she gets all of what she needs from 16 to 20 ounces of formula a day, but she consumes much more than that, and eats huge portions of baby food as well. And it doesn't seem to matter whether she's just finished a bottle, or just about to down one, she still eats several ounces of food at a sitting. She's also taken to water. She does primarily drink out of a space age sippy cup, but Tina has found that the girl really likes to drink out of a glass also, though she needs a lot of help (and a towel afterwards).
Esme also really enjoys playing with her food. Well, playing with her play food, to be precise. She has a set of wooden food toys that include 'foods' from the four food groups. You can see her snacking on a piece of toast in this picture.
She likes hanging out in the back yard, too, especially while dad is trying to get yard and gardening work done. 
And her stroller makes a pretty good shopping cart, as you can see!
