Makena loves...

I wrote an update when Makena was 4.5 months old about the things she loves, and I want to keep a record of her favorite things as the months go by! So here it is, a list of things that our 8.5 month old baby girl loves! (Note that some are the same favorites from when she was a "baby!")

Her sippy cup. Or really any cup!
But actually more than the cup, she loves the water inside it! Makena will drink water all day long. She loves using her own cup, but also loves taking sips from real cups. If I get myself a drink of water she automatically assumes it's for her and pants and squeals happily in anticipation. And it works, because I usually will give her a sip or two! (Babies are SO good at training adults!!) If I have a cup of juice or iced tea or something, and won't give her a drink, she gets quite annoyed with me and will whine and try to grab for my cup until I get it out of her sight or distract her.

Donte. And pictures of cats!
She lights up when Donte walks by and meows. She loves to stand in front of him (he's usually sitting up on the chair) and try to grab him. And he is SO GOOD with her. He just turns his head and inches away, but tolerates her pulling his hair and hitting him until a few minutes go by and he finally decides he's had enough. The whole time we're praising him for being such a good boy and trying to get Makena to "be gentle!" But nevertheless she ends up with a fistful of cat hair. Poor guy!

Laughing.
Makena loves to laugh. She cracks herself up! She'll be crawling around and just going "Ha...ha...ha!" It's really adorable. :) I'm so happy that she's such a happy smiley laughing baby!!

Her Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Farm.
I had wanted to buy it for her since I was pregnant! I talked about it all the time, and kept waiting for the price to drop. Then for my birthday I received it as a gift. :) Yay! And it's one of her favorite toys, she literally plays with it every single day. She can turn the light switch on and off, swing the door open and closed, pick the veggies, push the light on, flip the pages in the photo album, turn the pig's belly, and stand up and touch the chicken! I can't wait to see her learn how to feed the cow, turn the radio dial, slide the window back and forth, and drop the eggs down the chute. There is so much fun in this one toy!!!!

Pulling all the movies and books down. Or taking anything OUT from anywhere.
We've finally barricaded off her access to the bookshelf, but I'm sure eventually she'll make it over there again! She can't handle seeing something full when she wants it to be empty. A bin full of toys? Every toy must be out. A container of blocks? Each block needs to be out. A shelf of linens? A laundry basket? The diaper bag? A container of wipes? All are emptied in seconds if she gets her hands on them!

Standing.
She started by pulling up and then tentatively letting go with one hand... and soon the second hand followed and she's quickly grab on again......but now she will stand up all alone for a really long time, and even bend her legs and bounce up and down excitedly. When she gets worried about falling she just plops down. I keep trying to encourage her to take a step towards me, but she reaches her hands without moving her feet, and then sits down and decides that crawling is so easy. She's been creeping along the furniture more often, and gaining her confidence in her footwork. I can't believe she'll be walking soon!!

Her toothbrush. It's a simple little silicone toothbrush from Whole Foods. My mom bought her one, and then we lost it (we think it fell into the bathroom trash can by accident) and I just finally got her another one. We love the "bristles" and the guard piece so she can't gag herself (which, unfortunately Makena has just discovered how to do with her fingers and keeps making herself gag!!) and she loves to brush her teeth. Well, she loves to chomp on it like a teething toy, and I let her do just that after I give her 2 bottom teeth a good scrub.
My cell phone and the leather case. Need I say more? I suppose all babies love that which Mommy is always playing with!
Banging/pinching/pulling/grabbing. Ah, the not so fun stuff. Ever since she was inside my belly, Makena has been a mover! She likes to bang her hands on things, pull hair, and pinch our skin. Especially when trying to fall asleep. She will pinch and squeeze and rub her hand up and down my arm while I nurse her. She loves to pinch the skin of my elbow. And when Pam or I rock her to sleep she wiggles and grabs and pulls and pinches until she finally settles down and falls asleep. It's exhausting!! And it HURTS! She's pinched us both so hard that she's given us bruises, and she's even cut us when her nails have gotten too long. Sheesh!

Feeding herself. And eating in general! Here she's enjoying quinoa, beans, and sauce.

Spinach potato onion patties, black beans and cheddar cheese, and peaches coated in crushed cheerios.Scrambled eggs, potatoes, and toast.
Spoon feeding her purees can be challenging, unless she has something else she can feed herself. But she's even gotten better with eating purees, I think because her appetite is really growing these days. She loves eating, and it's a fun challenge for me to find new foods for her. I enjoy knowing she's eating good healthy food, prepared with love. :)

Baths. She still really loves taking baths, and will crawl into the bathroom and go straight to the tub if given the chance! We got her a little bath seat, and it's great that she can sit by herself now while we sit in front of her and splash and play. She also loves her new squirt and snap toys, and the aquarium storage bag that is suction cupped to the wall.
Driving the car.
She doesn't get too many opportunities to play in the drivers seat, but if I nurse her in the car she knows afterward she'll get a chance to "drive."

Her I'll See You In The Morning book. We read this every night before bed. Usually we read 2-3 books, but this one is always last and it's always her favorite. She loves it!

And, of course, Elmo. Specifically, Elmo's World. Just the title song alone is enough to get her to whip her head towards the TV! If she's fussy or it's a challenging diaper change or we need to quickly distract her, simply singing "La la la la, la la la la, Elmo's World!" is enough to buy us a few precious seconds. I've even noticed that asking "Where's Elmo?!" will sometimes work. lol.
Blowing raspberries on any exposed skin. If you hold Makena and she notices your shoulder skin, she'll put her mouth on it and give a huge raspberry. Kinda. Hers are more of the "wide open mouth hilarious fart sound" variety. Today she even pulled up Pam's shirt and did it on her stomach. She also likes knees and arms. lol.

Sharing her food with me. Recently she's started to hold out her food towards me, and I take a pretend bite (or a real one) and she gets a huge kick out of that. She will even do it with toys, put them up to my mouth, but as soon as I bite them she grabs it back and quickly puts it in her own mouth. It's the thought that counts!

Naked Time! I think most babies like being naked. When Makena fights a diaper change and we're just sitting around at home, I'll let her go sans diaper whenever possible for a little while. I was about to write that a little pee on the carpet wouldn't be a big deal, and then I remembered the time when she started to poop. lol. But honestly, Donte makes a much bigger mess when pukes up a hairball. (One time, Donte pooped in my lap. But this isn't really the place to write about that.) Anyway, nakedness. It's nice to get back to your humble beginnings every now and then! And isn't a naked baby one of the cutest things?! They are so...perfect. Rolls and all!
Up next, an update about sleep!