She's Almost Five Months!

This month has been pretty exciting so far. I've discovered that everything I thought I knew about Indiana based on her first few weeks of life was wildly inaccurate, which is pretty crazy cause the only advice I've ever consistently gotten is to trust my instincts because I'm her mom and I know her best. Not this mama. This mama is really bad at reading people. This, combined with my devastation upon learning that the tectonic plates I had been teaching my daughter about are just "theoretical", has shaken my beliefs in everything unrelated to the Bible. I can't trust my intuition or my childhood education!? And then it hit me - "what if everything we think we know about everything is wrong?" Pretty sure I hit the nail on the head with this epiphany. Then again, I could be wrong.

Last month I was sure that Indiana was not so happy a girl. That maybe, just maybe, she had taken after the serious grandparent in the family. Wrong! Last month I was on a mission to elicit smiles and tried everything in the book from peek-a-boo to smearing oatmeal in my hair while dancing to the Frozen soundtrack. This month? All I have to do is look at her and she grins. I'm beginning to think that maybe her eyesight just wasn't so great last month. How else could she resist all my hilarious shenanigans?

This month I discovered my favorite thing to date about my little Indie. She has inherited my overly emotional about music gene. I have always had a strong love for music. As a child I loved to sing. It started with Wee Sing, then Disney Movie Soundtracks, Phantom of the Opera, Madonna, and Mariah Carey. My parents put me in singing lessons and soon after I was performing in talent shows and plays - loving every moment I spent engaging with a melody. The only thing I couldn't sing was sad songs. The music and lyrics would touch me so deeply that I would start choking up .5 seconds into the first verse. I avoided those songs like the plague and managed to hide my weakness quite well. 20 years later that soft spot still exists. And now I know that my little Indiana has the same soft spot in her heart too.

 It all started when I stumbled across this video where a baby cries after hearing its mother sing a mournful song. I wondered if my little Indie would be similarly touched. I played her the video. She seemed unphased and I was slightly dissapointed. (Why can't you be cool like that baby!?) She was only 6 weeks old at the time so I figured maybe it was a little early. I forgot about it until a few weeks later when I found myself singing and folding laundry while Indiana stared at me from her walker. I had started to sing some of my old favorite opera pieces when I noticed that the delicate high notes of Pie Jesu made her chin quiver and her lips purse into a sad frown. Her sad little face pulled at my heart strings, but mostly I was kind of thrilled and ran to get my phone to try to record it. By the time I got back, however, Heidi was playing pic-a-boo with her and she was laughing hysterically and my crying baby video had turned into a sisters laughing hysterically video. 

Later that day, I fed Indie while the top 20 countdown played on TV. I was watching the hot girl from John Legend's "All of Me" blow bubbles under water when I noticed Indie had stopped sucking and was transfixed by the video. I sat her up and allowed her to enjoy it from the upright position and 20 seconds later she was sobbing. This time my phone was nearby and I managed to catch it on video:

She is my tiny soul mate. This past week I have had so much fun sharing with her my favorite songs. Its been thrilling to watch her take them in and experience them the same way that I do.

In other news, it has become blatantly obvious that Heidi is Indie's favorite person. Heidi is all over her, all the time and while I watch nervously - anticipating bumped heads and other injuries likely to occur when a four year old doesn't know how to walk, only bounce - Indie just soaks up all the love and attention and never gives her anything less than a charmed expression. I swear it seems Indiana has a special smile that she reserves only for her sister. I love watching them together. Every morning Heidi comes in and tells me when she hears Indiana talking/fussing in her room and begs me to let her climb in the crib. I can't turn her down, so I turn on the video monitor and spy on them while they think they're having alone time. Its so cute to hear Heidi reassure her "Don't cry Indie, I'm here. I'm your sister and I'm here for you! You can always count on me!" Then she bounces up and down in the crib and Indie laughs and then Heidi laughs because "Mommy! Indie likes it when I play with her! She's laughing!!" 

They are so adorable together and I am so happy that they have each other.

Indie still really isn't into tummy time. She definitely prefers lying on her back or standing in her bouncer or walker. She will tolerate tummy time, but unless we are right there talking to her the entire time, she starts whining after a few minutes, at which point Heidi will help her roll over and she will be all smiles again. I've seen Indie roll over by herself a handful of times, but she seems pretty content to just whine for us to move her instead. Which is fine by me. Heidi has enough bouncy energy for the both of them!

The Pediatrician gave me the green light to try solids a couple weeks ago, so I gave Indie a lick of a lollipop the other day while we waited for Austin in the pet store. And then I felt that proud feeling of being a second time parent where you are so much more relaxed and letting your 4 month old lick a lollipop to keep her from crying sounds like a great idea, instead of a potential green-dye-allergy-attack nightmare.  Later I tried to see if she wanted a taste of Pureed Carrots. She tongue thrusted it out of her mouth and I remembered why I gave up trying to feed solids to Heidi until she was about 8 months old. Think we're just gonna stick with lollipops for now.

I'm gonna do another post soon about what Heidi has been up to! Lots of new things in her life going on too!