I have seen such a change in Stella in the last few weeks. She seems much more comfortable with her body and knowing where she is in space. She moves with purpose and finds things she drops quickly and easily. She is also rolling all over the place to find toys or to explore the area. I took her to Washington DC last weekend for my brother's graduation and it was so fun to watch her roll around the hotel room and explore everything. She often would rather roll around on the floor than be held. I am a little bummed that she is still not sitting up. I think she is capable, but just not interested. I remember that's how it was for a long time with rolling, so I trust she will sit when she is ready, although I am also trying everything I can think of to encourage her and help her feel secure while sitting. She does great in her high chair, so I think her security has to do with knowing where she is in space.
Stella is babbling quite a bit now. Often she has the pacifier in while she talks, which is amusing. Some of the sounds she makes regularly are: gaga, goy, ahh, and oooo. Still no b, d, or m sounds. It's fun to babble back and forth with her, and I love how she tries to sing along when music is playing.
Progress has slowed down with Stella's conformers. Her right socket was growing much faster than the left, so we stopped changing the conformer in the right and we are trying to get the left side to catch up. While the like the style of conformer we are using, the process seems to be taking a long time. The good news is I don't have to go to the Ocularist as often - we are currently going every 3 weeks. It is so obvious to me how odd Stella looks, and yet I continue to be amazed at how many people don't seem to notice, or give us odd looks. The most common comment I get is along the lines of, "Ohh, what a darling baby. Aww. She's sleepy." It doesn't bother me, and I'm glad I don't have to answer questions from strangers all the time. I am completely happy to talk openly about Stella and willing to answer any questions from people I know, I just think it would get old if I tried to explain things to every person I meet at the grocery store.
Stella has 4 bottom teeth now and 1 on the top, with more coming soon. She hasn't been too cranky while teething, although we have had our moments (mostly in the middle of the night.) She chews on everything, especially her fingers, wrist and fabrics, but will not accept any teethers. She is doing okay with food - we have good days and bad days. It's so much easier and cleaner to breastfeed, that some days I don't even offer her food. I would like to get better about exposing her to more foods.
Some of Stella's favorite things to do are: roll around on the floor, chew on things, play with her feet, swing, play bouncing games while Sebastian & I sing, have Michael swing her through the air, play in her exersaucer, go for walks outside (in the stroller or the sling), explore the textures of different toys, baths, listen to Sebastian talk/sing to her.
A note about the pictures. I feel so bad - I had hardly any photos of Stella from the last month. I must remember to take more pictures!!! It's also difficult to get decent photos. I was so impressed with the work the professionals did a few weeks ago. I couldn't resist including the picture of Stella in her first Strawberry Shortcake outfit. I had been looking for Strawberry Shortcake things and couldn't find any - this outfit (and 1 other) is thanks to Michael's mom :-)
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