And there she goes...

This morning, I figured Sasha could use a little change of scenery. She was very awake and active, so I took her down to the lobby of our apartment building and let her run amok. We have no yard for her to play in, no nearby park. Nothing but heavy traffic all around. So the lobby was all I had. It was fun! Sasha walked all around the lobby, investigated every painting, art piece, every furniture item, the carpeting, flooring, lights, mirrors, and all.
Then after about 30 min, I decided to let her walk back up to our apartment. I thought it would be too much for her, but she did it! She mostly stayed a step or two behind me and followed my lead, but she had a few bursts of energy where she sprinted past me.
She walked to the elevator, stood in the elevator as we went up. We got out of the elevator and started down the hallway. She got distracted by the laundry room along the way, so we detoured. She took about 15 laps around the laundry room, opened and closed every dryer, and was back off in the hallway. She walked the whole way from the laundry room to our apartment door. To my surprise, she did not try to walk into other apartments. She ignored the doors of apartments that were not ours. Once we got to our door, she walked up to it like she KNEW it was the right one.
I opened the front door of our apartment, and she walked in. And out. And in. And out. At least 7 or 8 times, she just kept walking in and out of the apartment. I could she was thinking, trying to reconcile the walk down the hallway with entering the familiar apartment, putting the two worlds together in her mind.

She now knows that beyond the front door, there is a world out there.

Little Walker

Sasha has been walking for the past few weeks now and I still can't get over it. With her petite size, she looks like a little walking baby. Her little excited steps make me happy every time I see her. She's now walking around the house in circles. I'll sit down on the living room floor and she'll walk up to me and give me a big hug. Then she'll walk away from me towards our front door. Just before she reaches the door, she'll turns around and excitedly walk back to me, giggling and squealing, and gives me another huge hug. She keeps doing this repeatedly...wander away from mom....run back to mom and hug me. I know that babies do this sort of wander then return orbiting behavior when they first start becoming mobile but it still is really fun to watch. I know eventually the distances she will travel from me will grow farther and farther until she one day stops returning back to me and asserts her independant self. Until then, I'm enjoying it.

Cassie and Sasha have been having fun together. It really makes me happy to see the two of them playing and having a good time. When Cassie goes to school, Sasha signs her sign language equivalent of "Cassie" (we use the sign for girl as the sign that represents cassie). She'll often give me this concerned look and signs "Cassie" and I have to show her Cassie's room and explain that Cassie is not home, she's at school but will be back. After she looks at Cassie's bed, she finally becomes convinced that Cassie isn't there and has me take her to Cassie's pictures on the hallway wall. After she looks at the pictures for a while, she points at them, signs "Cassie" a few more times, then she's ready to go play something else. "Cassie" is by far her most commonly used sign. She has been signing eat, drink, and sleep a lot more lately though.

One thing that has us worried lately is Sasha's appetite, or lack of. I do wish she would eat more real food. Instead she mostly relies on nursing. I haven't posted the results of her 12-month doctor visit, but the news was disappointing. She had not gained any height, and barely any weight in the last 3 months. So we've been experimenting with different foods lately to see what we can and can't get her to eat. So far, it looks like she'll eat most anything her dad feeds her, but if I try to feed her she doesn't want it. We believe that because I've been the mean one that had to try to feed her foods she didn't like, she's suspicious of anything I give her. But in my defense, someone had to learn that she didn't like broccoli and zucchini, hehe. I wouldn't have known that without trying! She seems to basically like foods that her dad likes...and that's not much. He's pretty picky too. She likes meats, beef jerky, coffee, doughnuts, and tea. Alas I am not going to feed her coffee and doughnuts. We bought her some caffeine free herbal fruit teas from a local tea shop and she seems to be okay with those but they stain her clothes and face. She is still refusing milk in any form.
Today she did eat well, I admit. She ate some salmon with rice in the morning, then for dinner she ate some spicy jambalaya. Good girl!

First Steps

Walking from Mom to Dad.

And walking from Dad to Mom.

She's still only walking very short distances but she thinks it's an incredibly fun game. Back and forth between Mom & Dad. Today, she started walking to objects. Like she just stood straight up and started walking to her Intellitable toy today, at least four feet away! So she's starting to understand she can walk to get to places. I think maybe by the end of the week, we'll have a real walker on our hands. Things should get interesting!
Meanwhile, Sasha has been in a great mood lately. She's been a real joy to be around and lots of fun to play with.

First Steps

Sasha baby took her first steps for her Daddy four different times yesterday!
Although each time she walked, she only walked maybe 2-4 steps each time but it's a start. I don't think she'll be sprinting down the street quite yet but you never know sometimes.
She had pulled herself up to a standing position by clinging to her dad. Once she was standing comfortably, she let go of him. My husband decided to take a step or two back away from her and she was standing on her own. Once she realized she was standing alone away from him, she took the two to four steps required to get back over to him and grabbed him. So I guess she just might be capable if given the proper motivation.