Hello, Zelly Fans! Here's the update as written by Wendy:
Zelly is just over 10 mos old (b. 12-20-99) and has pretty much
"caught up" developmentally. She is a speed crawler, she can pull
herself up on anything (including a flat wall, but prefer's one of
mom's legs!), and she can cruise all the way across the living room,
going from table to couch to rocker to ottoman and back. She has also
mastered lowering herself from a standing position ("look mama, the
hydraulics go down too!"). We think she'll be walking by her birthday.
Zelly is very talkative! She mostly is doing the "mamamamama"
thing, but interweaves that with "monster baby" sounds and
miscellany other sounds, including raspberries. When she goes to bed
at night, she usually spends a few minutes telling Lamb-ee (her
favorite stuffed animal) all about her day. This "talking" has a
definite conversational cadence to it and Camey and I just get a kick
out of hearing it!
We started swimming lessons last week and she's having a blast. As
soon as we are in the pool, she starts splashing and kicking. She's a
natural! The other baby in the class was fairly hesitant, but after
watchin Zelly splash for a few minutes, he started doing it. Of
course, due to her very small stature, other parents and employees
have to wonder to our corner of the pool to see the "tiny baby" in the
pool. Zelly looks absolutely adorable in her tiny blue swimsuit...
especially after she's all wet and her eyes are just shining! (no, i'm
not biased
We went to the Swedish Special Care Nursury "graduates" party
on Oct. 22nd, where it was certified that Zell really is small! I was
amazed at all the preemie parents who commented on how small she is.
I think it's because of where she is developmentally. Having her
dressed in jeans, turtleneck and a sweater (see pic on web page) and
shoes (which sh'es almost worn out already), while other babies her
age were in jammies AND the fact that she was crawling and walking
(with help) seems to emphasize how small she is. The other crawling
babies seemed like the "right" size for crawling (at least 17lbs), but
many of them were 3-7 mos older than zelly.
Hmmm, what else is happening with us? We just finished redoing
our bathroom: new tile in the tub surround, shower plumbing fixed and
hole from sink plumbing work patched up. Then I painted it a yummy
creamy yellow! Wish we would have done this years ago!
We're not going trick or treating, but we'll probably drive around and
show off zelly in her lion costume to some friends. Her costume has a
sound box in the front that makes roaring sounds when you push it.
Zelly is very intrigued by the sound coming from her stomach!