Fortunately for all, we survived the crazy hot weekend and the weather here in Concord has returned to the pleasant mid-80s. We only found out yesterday at 7, when Kennedy was having a tough time going to sleep and we figured it may be due to the fact that it was still 87 degrees in our house, that our air conditioner does not work. Hopefully it’s a small part or issue that is relatively inexpensive to fix! Also this weekend, Kennedy started pulling up to stand. She pulls up on people, using their clothes, and on the upside down laundry basket. Fortunately, the corners on the laundry basket are softer and rounder than the coffee table, which makes this mommy happy!She is  still working on the crawling, but it is sometimes a hard sell to convince Kennedy to play on her tummy when all she really wants is to stand and cruise!

…almost. It seems like Kennedy is getting mighty close to crawling. She scoots forward and backward on her tummy, has resumed rolling and often gets up on her hands and feet (bear crawl position) before pushing forward onto her tummy. She will “flop” from sitting onto her tummy, but not yet the more graceful transition from sitting to hands and knees. All this moving around makes it seem like crawling might be coming, but I’ve been saying that all the drool and chewing on everything means her teeth are coming for 3 months, and so far she hasn’t gotten any!! We have also embarked on a finger food journey…tiny pieces of rice cake, banana and boiled zucchini. It is very amusing to watch because in the event that a tiny food nugget actually makes it to her mouth, she makes a terrible face of disgust, then starts a chewing motion. Ms. Kennedy continues to be very fascinated and calm in the outdoors, and loves swinging in her tree swing in the back yard. It is so fun listening to her babble (ma-ma-ma is still her favorite), watching her “read” a book and observing her problem solve as she plays. I’m looking forward to the return of warm weather though so that I don’t have to keep putting her socks back on after she pulls them off. There are an awful lot of socks without mates floating around our house! We will be sure to update the blog when she is officially crawling, whether it’s tomorrow or in 3 months!

We have had a busy and fun couple of weeks around here. Visiting with family and friends, time with grandparents and hanging out at home. Here are a few pictures from Kennedy’s first Easter egg hunt and one from when she started sitting! Kennedy is now sitting well on her own, and scoots around on her tummy (backwards), just a few feet at a time; she loves standing and jumping, especially on our front bench where she can watch the neighbors cat, the trees and the cars going by. Her giggle is infectious and she is so curious…she wants to grab plates, phones, noses and just about anything she can reach!

Kennedy has been changing so much lately, each day that passes seems like it brings out a new little facet of her personality or a fun new talent. She is eating solid food once or twice each day. We started with rice cereal, but have moved onto pureed vegetables. She’s not a big fan of peas yet, but we’ll keep trying! She is also rolling from her back onto her side, then staying in sidelying to play. One little push and she’ll end up all the way on her tummy! She’s not quite rolling from her tummy to her back (she did once, but seems that it was a fluke!), her lats are a little tight, so she can’t quite get her arms enough overhead so that they are out of her way. She does get close though. From her tummy, she will also inchworm up with her legs so that her booty is in the air, which slowly moves her around. Usually, she just rotates in a circle, but sometimes she will move forward a bit! It’s been so fun watching her discover the new things that she is capable of. She also continues to practice her language, which right now is usually “ma ma ma ma mam”…she knows how to get me out of bed at 3 am! She has many other sound combinations too, but I am partial to the “mama” . Also, she is manipulating toys better, can grasp them and choose which part she wants to chew on, then, of course, it goes directly to the mouth. We’re watching for any teeth poking through, because it seems like her signs of teething are getting more intense.

Our sweet little monkey has not been sleeping very well at night the past couple of weeks, but I’d have to say that her best trick lately was when she slept from 11pm to 6:30am last night! Just when I thought I would never get more than 3-4 hours of consecutive sleep again!

We’ll post pics of Kennedy eating solids soon!