Julia's Journal 2000

Julia’s Journal

A record of Julia’s adventures and milestones

2000 2001

Saturday, August 12

Julia has been smiling socially with increasing frequency the last two days. Many of you have already seen her little sleep grins , but she is now smiling in response to other people. It’s very gratifying when she offers you her bright eyes and toothless grin!

Sunday, August 13

Today, Julia rolled from front to back for the first time! We had placed her on her stomach on the gymini that her cousin Cheri gave her so she could practice crawling skills – apparently babies are not crawling as early now that they are put on their backs to sleep. Kelley turned her back, and when she looked back at Julia, Julia was lying face up! We had missed her first roll, but fortunately the DeederCam captured it . We placed her on her stomach again and she repeated the feat.

Thursday, August 24

Julia is making more social sounds now. At first, most of her sounds were guttural, scratchy noises, but increasingly now she coos and makes almost pre-words. Today, she laughed repeatedly while her Uncle Nick was playing with her. We caught the last laugh on video.

Wednesday, August 30

Julia weighs 10 pounds, 10 ounces today. People continuously point out how alert she is for her age. She is also very strong. She has been able to hold her head up for quite a while, although she is apt to let it loll over without warning. Also for some time she has been able to support her full weight with her legs – she could stand if only she had any balance! But of course she doesn’t so if you let her go she would collapse in a heap.

Wednesday, September 6

Julia had her 2-month visit at the pediatrician’s office today. She weighs 11 pounds, which is just about the 50th percentile for her age. They were very impressed with how strong she was and with her advanced ability of rolling over (although they had to take our word for it, since she didn’t seem to be in the mood during her visit.)

Monday, September 11

Julia’s Gramma and Grampa Weiss were taking care of her Saturday night while her mom and dad were at the fabulous wedding of their friends Stacy and Ed. Julia took a bottle of pumped milk and her determined grandparents finally got her to sleep around 11:30. When the wedding was over at 1:30 we put her in the car and took her back to the hotel, and she didn’t wake up during the whole transition. We left her on the floor asleep in her car seat. At 6:00 am Kelley woke up in a panic because Julia hadn’t made a peep all night. But she was just fine, sleeping soundly, and woke up about 15 minutes later. She had slept through the night! But of course she did not repeat the feat last night.

Friday, September 15

Julia’s sounds are really getting interesting these days. They sound happy and are very fun to listen to.

Sunday, October 1

Julia is exactly three months old today! She slept through the night again last night, under circumstances similar to the previous time. Our friends Ed and Jen had come over for dinner and Julia was having so much fun that she wouldn’t stay asleep. She was in a great mood, though. We finally got her to sleep in her stroller at 11 o’clock, and she didn’t wake up until 6 in the morning!

Wednesday, October 4

Julia weighs 12 pounds, 12 ounces. She’s now above the 50th percentile for her age, and people have stopped thinking that she’s a lot younger than she really is. The midwives at our mother-baby group love her pudgy thighs!

Thursday, October 5

All of a sudden today Julia is talking up a storm. Previously, she only made noises for a few minutes before she was going to get upset. Now, she burbles away when she’s happy too. We can’t imagine where these chatterbox tendencies came from!

Thursday, October 12

Julia came back tonight from six days visiting Spike and Annie in Atlanta. She had her first plane rides and did very well. People on the planes complimented her behavior. During the trip she continued to talk a lot, and in the last day or so the sounds are getting clearer and less wet-sounding . Annie noticed that in just six days she was making more eye contact with people, clearly trying to get our attention and smiling broadly to elicit good responses from us. She’s also improved in her attempts to grab things. At first she was just swiping at her toys and sometimes hitting them by accident, but now you can see the look of concentration on her face as she reaches for something with both hands – and sometimes gets it! Josh only stayed in Atlanta for the weekend, so when we returned, Julia was so happy to see her daddy she rewarded him by repeatedly rolling from back to side for the first time.

Monday, October 16

Saturday, Julia was pointing her tongue out in a very adorable way, but she stopped and hasn’t done it again since, so we couldn’t get it on film!

Friday, October 20

The ability to roll from back to side has made Julia unintentionally mobile. If she’s lying on the floor, she will roll, squirm, and roll back repeatedly , and can eventually end up 180 degrees from where she started. She’s also laughing a lot more these days, but often only finds something funny the first time, so you have to keep reaching into your bag of tricks for new ways to keep her amused. (She found the tickling you see in this video even more hilarious before we got the camera, but hasn’t found it to be as entertaining in subsequent attempts.) She’s also suffering her first cold, but is bearing up pretty well and is in surprisingly good spirits, although she sounds a bit snarky.

Sunday, November 5

Julia is now reaching for things with one hand, and her grasp is much more accurate than it was only three weeks ago. Today I saw her holding a toy in one hand and grabbing for something with the other!

Tuesday, November 14

Julia has begun reaching for things that aren’t necessarily within her grasp, or intended for her. She’s very interested in glasses when we’re drinking something, but she’s frustrated by anything she can’t get in her mouth in a satisfactory manner. She also has begun stroking my skin while nursing, and today I completely melted when she reached out and held my face, putting her palms on my cheeks.

Thursday, November 16

Although Julia rolled from front to back for the first time at six weeks, and was rolling back to side in October, she hadn’t rolled at all recently until today, when she started rolling three-quarters of the way from her back to her front, then back again. Click here for the full story.

Saturday, November 25

Julia babbled for the first time tonight, saying “ah-ma-ma-ma.” It’s the first step to first words, but for now she’s just putting syllables together; she doesn't yet associate “mama” with a person. She’s also been losing lots of hair recently; it’s now thinning on the sides and remains thick and at the nape of her neck and somewhat on top.

Thursday, November 30

Julia rolled completely from back to front for the first time today, but wouldn’t repeat the feat for posterity. Click here for the full story.

Monday, December 3

Julia has rolled twice more since Thursday: once on Friday and again today. She seems most interested in rolling during diaper changes – her increased freedom of movement must make it easier for her to turn over. Neither time would she repeat the roll with her diaper on.

Tuesday, December 4

Julia has been learning to sit and she is is improving markedly. Last Wednesday she sat unsupported for 15 seconds without falling over, she can sit longer every day. You have to stay close by since she will keel over without much warning, but it makes for entertaining video.

Wednesday, December 6

Julia is exploring the world and is ready to be able to move. On Sunday, she started lifting up her head and feet while lying on the floor, trying to sit up. Today, twice when lying on her side, she lifted her head and propped up on her arm so she could see what was going on around her. It appears that she's figured out that you need to be vertical if you want to be part of what's going on in the world, so she's making every effort to take part in that world as much as possible. She is increasingly interested in exploring her surroundings by touching different materials and mouthing them if possible.

Friday, December 8

She's finally got it down – last night, Julia rolled over repeatedly with her diaper off, and since then she has rolled multiple times fully clothed. Click here for the full story.

Sunday, December 10

Julia ate her first solid food today! We started her with rice cereal, although what was in her bowl was mostly breast milk. She wasn't always swallowing, but she definitely got some of it down, although she seemed to enjoy the experience more when she could hold the spoon herself.

Friday, December 15

Gramma and Grampa Weiss are in town for the weekend, and Julia’s cousin Cheri Lieberman came over for an early Hanukkah celebration, complete with Jerry’s famous latkes and homemade applesauce by Nancy. After dinner we lit the candles and sang songs , which Julia really enjoyed, as you can see by her excited arm waving. (Note: video is over a minute and a half long, so may be problematic over slow connections.)

Saturday, December 16

On Wednesday, Julia suddenly really learned to sit! She had been improving slowly, but on Wednesday we went to a trial music and movement class (we’ll be taking a class for real in February), and when I sat her down she sat for a very long time, only falling once. She can now sit unsupported indefinitely , even bending over to reach for toys then rising back up again, although she still does fall occasionally.

Sunday, December 24

Julia is getting her first tooth (look carefully – it’s the white spot just below the tip of her tongue)! Josh felt in her mouth tonight and, although it’s difficult to see, you can feel her lower left central incisor coming in – and it’s quite sharp!

Saturday, December 25

We’ve been in Atlanta for Christmas, and Julia has seen most of the relatives on the Curry/Quattlebaum side of the family. Here are some of her Christmas Day antics – dancing with her Mom and playing giddyap with Papa.