8 Month Checkup

Sienna had her 8 month checkup today and she weighed in at exactly 20 pounds (80th percentile) and is just over 23 inches long (90th percentile). Dr. Blanco said she's continuing to grow beautifully and we chatted a bit about what she's eating and what she should not eat until she's a year old due to prevention of future allergies (dairy, egg whites, wheat at 9 months, etc).

Sienna has started to love tummy time - finally! She crawled backwards for the first time yesterday, so it will be just a matter of time before she's cruising around forward. She's still a huge fan of her walker and loves playing peek-a-boo with the curtains and being tickled.

Another new development is she likes to play with stuffed animals and she loves the ones that talk to her or, the bear in the photo from the Broder family that laughs - so cute! Cori Frieler gave her an angel and when you squeeze it, it says a bedtime prayer. She gets a huge smile on her face when she hears it and starts to bite the angels face out of excitement!

I fed her beets today, although I didn't ask Dr. Blanco about those, so I Googled it and it said they were safe between 8 and 10 months. She loved them! Another thing that she has in common with her Grammy. They are extremely messy and she managed to get them all over her face and most everything else. If you know me, you know I don't like messes, so I was wiping things up with wet wipes as I was feeding her...I'm going to have to get over a bit of my cleanliness!

Other than that, all is pretty normal down here in Guatemala. We had three earthquakes on Saturday that registered a 4.5, 4.9 and 4.7, but Sienna didn't even flinch. She's constantly in motion and apparently doesn't notice when the Earth is, as well!

It's Semana Santa this week, so we're heading up to Lake Atitlan to stay in the village of San Marcos with my friend Danna and her daughter Becky and then checking out the Easter processions in Antigua - it should be a zoo there, but good fun!

The video below is of Sienna after discovering that she can bounce in her walker. It was hilarious because she'd bounce and then look at me with these bug eyes - cracked me up! I was trying to feed her cereal and guisquil, a thorny and starchy potato-like vegetable that I eat raw in salads, but should have cooked before pureeing it for Sienna. She didn't much like it and I cooked the rest of the batch that I had prepared earlier that day for her next meal.