5 and 1/2 months

It is been quite a while since our last entry. Gia has changed quite a bit since then. She now is much more facile with her hands. You can now give a toy to her and she will grab it with one hand, feel it with the other, and then calmly put it in her mouth, over and over again! It is fun to watch her play and a nice relief that she is more content to play on her own. She has also started to play with the whole concept of moving. Sometimes when we go to feed her in the middle of the night, we see that she has turned 180 degrees! Fortunately, she is only rotating these days so we don't have baby proof the whole house (yet) but we know that is just around the corner.

Gia's stranger anxiety has continued to be an issue. With the exception of Nanna (Amy's mom), pretty much all attempts at babysitting have failed. In an effort to give Amy and I more time together and also time on our own, we decided to hire a nanny one-day a week. We figured that once Gia got used her, we would have a lot more freedom. While we loved Anna (the nanny), Gia wouldn't let Anna hold her for more than a minute before screaming her head off. As you can imagine, it is very disappointing to have a nanny that can't spend time with your child unless you are holding her! After a few visits, we discovered that Anna could take Gia on a long walk in the stroller as long as Gia didn't see Anna's face. As soon as Gia got hungry and Anna would go to feed her, the crying would start and pretty much not stop. This went on for 3-4 weeks with Anna coming for 2 half days a week. Finally, this week Gia was suddenly happy with Anna. She was with Anna for 4-5 hours just happily playing. We have no idea what changed but just hope it continues. I can't describe to you how happy Amy and I were. At last, we could imagine having a date without Gia in the other room or strapped to one of our chests (romantic, huh?). At last, we could have personal time without having to negotiate who would be with Gia. Folks, this could be a life changer.

We are also generally excited that Gia's stranger anxiety has lessened. We spent last week in the bay area visiting with Amy's family and our bay area friends. At times, we were with as many as 15 people at once and Gia was fine. She even let a number of people she had never met hold her for a while (which has been unheard of since she was 3 months). This bodes very well for our time next week visiting my family on the east coast.

I will leave you with one precious story about our little girl. One morning, we were all lying in bed together and I was playing with Gia. I lifted her over my face and said, "Ahhhhh." At that very moment, Gia threw up all over my face including in my mouth! Yuck! Well, I guess if nothing else, I can be proud of her aim...

Love,

Drew


P.S. Don't miss the Peek-a-Book movie above.