The Tenth Month

We finally saw the return of our smiley, happy baby in her tenth month. Sure, she still cries and gets frustrated, but she is slowly learning how to handle those emotions and I am getting better at recognizing them. It helps that her two front teeth have now come it - they were tough ones and seemed to really bother her a lot. As Kaitlin approaches her one year birthday I can see more and more toddler in her every day. She is becoming less of a baby and more of a toddler - and as cute and fun as it is, it makes me really sad too. She is becoming more and more independent and I know once she starts walking I'll be lucky if I can grab her for a few seconds for a quick cuddle. I'm really taking in these last few "baby" months and trying to enjoy every minute of it.

This truly is the golden age of babies. Kaitlin's personality continues to emerge and shine through a little more each day. She is starting to really laugh and come out of her shell, even when we are around other people. She loves to "talk", especially while eating or in the car - Brian says she sings along to the music on the radio. She shows true pleasure and displeasure from playing with a toy (or when a toy is taken away from her).

Her top two middle teeth have finally come in, and although it took a couple rough weeks of skipped naps/tons of drool/chewing on EVERYTHING, she is finally back to her normal self. That makes a total of SIX teeth as of today. And the road to walking continues. She is so much more confident on her feet now than she was a month ago. There is no piece of furniture that she can't cruise on and she easily moves from on piece to another. She crawls super fast too, zooming around the house to get to whatever she wants to play with. She's discovered that she can open cabinets and drawers, and could spend endless hours in the kitchen and pantry pulling things down and playing with them. No hand towel is safe from being pulled down and thrown around the room.

I love how calm and relaxed she looks in this picture - just chillin' at the grocery store!

Kaitlin is also starting to become one smart cookie. Long gone are the days when I could hide something from her so she wouldn't play/drool/chew on it. Now when I hide something from her (usually my iPhone or the remote) she goes right for it - whether I hide it behind my back or up on the chair - she knows where I put it and tries to get it. And you can't just shake another toy in front of her face and hope that it distracts her long enough for her to forget about it. Believe me, I've tried. She basically gives me a blank stare long enough to say, "Seriously mom? Is that the best you've got?" and then goes right back to trying to get whatever I've "hidden" from her.

Another exciting thing that has been developing over the last month is how much Kaitlin loves to play on the playground - and not just the swings. Sure, she still LOVES to swing and is still obsessed. But now that she can climb up stairs and stand easily and crawl like a crazy person she really enjoys going on the play set/jungle gym (what are they called these days?!) She crawls up the stairs, loves to "drive" with the wheel and even go down the slide! And I think most of all she loves all the other kids that are playing too. She is constantly observing them and watching what they are doing. You can see the little wheels in her head turning trying to figure out if she can do it to and how much she wants to play with them. I think its great for her to be around slightly older babies/toddlers to watch them walk and play, hopefully it encourages her to take those first steps. Although I'm sure as soon as she does I am going to regret saying that :)

I had to think pretty long and hard about what I've learned this month. While I am always learning more about being a parent, I feel like those monumental, big realizations and lessons have slowly tapered off and aren't popping up as often as they used to. Either that or my head is so full of nursery rhymes, diaper orders and nursery school applications that I just can't remember them. Alas, I managed to scrounge up a couple of nuggets of lessons learned this past month...

Sometimes, showers are overrated...

As you may or may not remember, one of the first lessons I learned after becoming a mom was that a nice, hot shower will make you feel human again. I still very strongly believe that. However, I used to need to take a shower to make me feel more like myself, and to give myself a break from the baby. But now...now that I have a better handle on things and we are in more of a routine and I am a lot less frazzled by being a mom (but still frazzled, let's be real here), I feel less of a need to take a shower every single day. And let's be honest - who has time for that $h*t?! Now that my business is starting to pick up and with tons of house projects that always seem to be lurking on my to-do list, sometimes I feel much better and much more sane NOT taking a shower. Sometimes I just don't want to waste one of the two breaks I get in a day (ie, nap time) taking a shower and getting dressed. Dude, embrace the yoga pants and a pony tail and get on with your day!

Routine, routine, routine

If you have read this blog for any length of time you probably know that naps are not Kaitlin's strong suit. Other than that, she's a really good baby. One thing that I have learned - particularly over the last month - is that routine matters. What's that old saying - you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink? With all the obstacles and growing pains that babies go through it is imperative to have a stable routine that they can depend on. Whether or not Kaitlin ends up taking her two naps a day, that's anyones guess. But the important thing is that I put her down for those naps at (roughly) the same time every day. She knows that we will have her solid breakfast an hour after she wakes up in the morning. If we haven't made it out of the house all morning she is crawling over to her stroller in the afternoon wanting to go outside and take one of our walks. Babies are smart and even if you don't think they remember certain things it's amazing what they will surprise you with. Also, when they are going through rough times of change - think teething, growth spurts, cognitive leaps - it's important for the rest of their life to stay stable. I am convinced that if you stick to your routine during these times of change (as much as you can, of course, and afterwards you might need to tweek your routine depending on what milestone has just passed) it helps them get through them faster and easier.

Watch Me Grow - Week Thirty Nine

Week thirty nine was a favorite of mine. You see, right before Kaitlin is going to go through a growth spurt she sleeps - a lot. This was one of those weeks. She continued her 12 hours sleep at night and added in some epic naps. She never fought me when going to sleep, she slept for one, two and almost three hours at a time. It was pure bliss. And just as I was getting used to having all the extra time on my hands and actually being productive...BAM! The epic naps end. And then, not only are the long naps done, many times naps in general are gone due to milestones and/or a growth spurt.

So, this week coming up will be interesting ;)

Week 39 also brought us a bad case of separation anxiety. Its been building for a little while now but this week was the worst so far. At least, I think it's separation anxiety. Kaitlin is generally a pretty happy girl - lots of smiles, babbling and laughing. But lately she has been more whiny, cries more often and is quiet - almost sullen sometimes. It used to be that if I left the room she would protest and whine a little. Then it turned into cries and yelling when I left the room. Now I don't even have to leave the room - even if I go behind the kitchen counter or am at the table when she is on the floor is enough to get her to start whining and crying. I definitely think some of the crying has to do with all the bumps and bruises she gotten from standing/cruising/trying to walk and I'm sure she feels pretty frustrated too. I think some of it also might be contributed to teething. Her top front middle teeth have been sitting right under the surface of her gums for weeks now. It almost looks like they have come in but they still haven't broke through. I can't imagine that's very comfortable for her.

I almost forgot the biggest and most exciting development this week! She learned how to climb up the stairs! Normally she isn't allowed by the stairs but we figured she might as well learn now since she is such a busy body. Well we hardly had to teach her anything. She scrambled up them faster that I would have ever guessed! It's been a great activity to help get some of her energy out and get her nice and tired for naps and bedtime. I am trying to teach her how to go down the stairs as well, but every time I get her down one step she climbs right back up it! She is so incredibly proud of herself when she finally gets to the top - she starts squealing and crawling all around laughing. It probably helps that we make a big deal out of it - clapping, cheering and such - and I love the little look on her face.

And last but not least during this last week Kaitlin celebrated her very first Valentine's Day! I'm pretty sure we spoil her with lots of love, hugs and kisses every day and Valentine's Day was no exception :)

Watch Me Grow - Twenty Six Weeks

Twenty six weeks...that's half of a year. How is it possible that Kaitlin is 6 months old already??

Week 26 was a big one - ladies and gentlemen we have a TOOTH! After four months of me thinking that she was teething she finally actually was! I felt her first tooth pop through on Friday afternoon and on Saturday I could see it poking out of her bottom gums. I thought something was going on midway through the week when she refused to take her afternoon nap. Now I know that I complain about her naps (or lack there of) a lot, but I can usually get her to take some sort of nap eventually. But for a couple of days she was just plain skipping her afternoon nap all together. That combined with chewing on EVERYTHING in sight and being a little bit more fussy than usual, I thought she might be getting a tooth since this time it's actually age appropriate for her to be teething. And wouldn't you know on Friday she actually was! I couldn't believe it. She's like a real baby now...and she's starting to grow up so fast!

I got to go to swim class with her and Brian on Saturday and finally understood what he meant about her not liking it. She really does not like it. Like, at all. Pretty much from the minute we got in the water with her she started crying and didn't stop for longer than a couple minutes at a time until we got out. Once we got home she was all smiles! The teacher said it's normal for babies her age not to like the water, but with time they usually start to like it. The biggest thing is for us to keep going so she gets used to it. I might start taking her during the week during open swim times to help get her used to it. I can sing all the same songs with her that we do in class so that they become even more familiar to her.

I feel like so much else happened this week that my tiny brain just can't remember - this is why I write everything down! ALSO! We started solid food this weekend! Technically we started it during week 27 but I probably won't be able to remember that by Saturday, so I'll fill you in now. It was hilarious. She seemed to LOVE it at first - lunging towards the spoon with oatmeal baby cereal on it, chomping away. She still had that blank stare that is her signature look, not really showing any emotion, but since she wasn't crying that pretty much means she loves it. And then she realized what was happening. She realized that the pretty green spoon wasn't being put in her mouth to ease her aching gums, no! There was a weird, tasteless mush on that spoon and it was being put in her mouth - gross!! Then she started making some funny faces and protesting. All in all I think it was a big success. We'll keep trying little by little and she'll get there.

Tiny brain just remembered one more thing that happened on Saturday (Saturday was a big day, in case you couldn't tell). We went out to brunch and Kaitlin sat in a high chair all by herself! I know that I am pretty much the only one who is excited about this but it was a big moment! We usually keep her in her carseat when we go out to eat, or let her sit on our laps while we wait for our food to come. Since she is getting so much better at sitting up on her own we put her in the high chair and let her hang out there for a while. We couldn't strap her in quite as tight as we do at home, but she did a great job sitting on her own. 

I'll be sharing some photos of her eating and other fun stuff in her Six Month post that I hope to get out in the next day or two. 

This is going to be another big week. Kaitlins first Thanksgiving, a visit from Grammie and Pop-pop, her 6 month doctors appointment (and more shots) and lots more fun stuff. Happy (early) Thanksgiving everyone!

Letting our baby cry it out...and a book review

It started innocently enough. The day we came back from our summer vacation Kaitlin woke up soon after being put down to sleep for the night. She woke up crying which was pretty unlike her. I ran up to her room to see what was the matter, soothed her for a few minutes and then went back downstairs. The next night it happened again. And again. The next night? Multiple wakings in a few short hours. It only got worse from there. I thought she might be going through a growth spurt as she was also waking up several times a night to eat, rather than the one time per night that she used to wake up. Fast forward six weeks later and this was no growth spurt. It routinely took us two to three hours to get her to finally fall asleep at night. We would start  by putting her to sleep around 6pm and she would finally be asleep for the night around 8pm or later. I would rock her to sleep, with the pacifier, and lay her down in bed when she was about 95% asleep. I thought this was letting her fall asleep on her own - after all she wasn't 100% asleep when I put her in her crib. But after five, ten, fifteen up to thirty minutes later she would wake up crying. I found it easier to run up the stairs and try and sooth her with the pacifier as quickly as possible rather than leave her to cry - sometimes if I caught it just right she would seamlessly go right back to sleep. But most of the time she wouldn't.

At this time she also started waking up 2-3 times per night to eat. Since she is a breastfed baby I know it is normal for them to still wake several times a night at her age to eat, and I am fine with that. The problem was each time she woke up she slept for shorter and shorter lengths of time after going back to sleep. And she didn't eat a full meal every time she got up. Sometimes she had a four course meal and sometimes she just had an appetizer. This led me to believe that she wasn't actually waking up every time because she was hungry - she was getting used to waking up and getting attention, so she continued to do it. She started waking up for the day at 4am and wanting to play. Not cool kid, not cool.

It also started effecting her naps. It always took me a while to get her down for a nap, but once she was asleep she would be down for 45-60 minutes, if not longer sometimes. But then she started waking up 10 minutes into her nap, crying, and I found myself bounding up the stairs just as I did at night to try and sooth her immediately. I knew this couldn't continue. It was getting worse and I knew I was contributing to the problem. But what could we I do? I thought she was too young to cry it out and truthfully I was scared. She has a set of lungs on her and she is incredibly stubborn. I was terrified that she was going to scream her head off for hours at a time and I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it.

Two weekends ago, after we finally got her to go to bed after a couple hours of this game we played, Brian and I were getting ready to go to sleep. It was about 10pm and I was looking forward to getting a few hours of sleep before she woke up. And then we heard it. She was awake and crying. We looked at each other with dread and wondered why on earth she was waking up at this hour. I knew that if I went in there to sooth her things were going to just get worse and worse. There was no need for her to wake before midnight for a feeding or to be changed. She was waking up out of habit and out of depending on us (ie, ME) to sooth her back to sleep. I just laid there in bed. I couldn't bring myself to go in her room. Brian looked at me and I said, "Don't go in there, she's just going to have to cry". I'm sure he did a little happy dance inside because he has been wanting to let her cry it out since day one.

So we sat there and let her cry. I turned the volume off on the video monitor and tried to ignore it the best I could. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Still crying. I could tell that it was her tired-why-am-I-not-asleep-anymore cry, not a cry meaning she needed help or was in pain. Fifteen minutes passed. And then...it went quiet. I quickly looked at the monitor to make sure she was OK and what did I see but our baby sound asleep. Sixteen minutes. That's how long it took for her to cry herself back to sleep. Once she was asleep she stayed that way until 2am, which was pretty late for her first night feeding (she had been waking up around midnight or 1am for her first feeding with the second one a few hours after).

Armed with this one small victory we decided to let her cry it out at bedtime the next night from the first time we laid her down to sleep. No more sprinting up the stairs for me. Once we put her down to sleep that was it. I had read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth several times before but didn't really pay attention to the cry it out information. I didn't want it to come to that. I wanted Kaitlin to have good sleep habits before it got to the point of having to let her scream her head off in order to fall asleep. I had always thought if I had to let her cry it out then I was failing as a mother. I was failing at giving my child the proper tools to let her fall asleep on her own. And to a degree I was right. I was failing at this one thing - running up the stairs to sooth her immediately and to give her the pacifier (which was becoming a nuisance because she would cry as soon as it fell out - the very reason I wanted to avoid using a pacifier in the first place) was teaching her the wrong way to fall asleep. My intentions were good but the results were bad. It turns out letting her cry it out was the proper tool that I was missing.

That second night we let her cry it out I had read all the information by Weissbluth about crying it out in his book. I felt prepared now that I had a plan, we were going to follow his "extinction" sleep plan, and I even felt good about having her cry it out. We had gotten to a bad place and in order to make sure it didn't get even worse we needed to act fast. Our pediatrician had advised that sleep habits are more solidly formed by month 6. We still had time to change Kaitlins (and my) bad habits before they became a more permanent - and hard to resolve - issue. Of course, I wasn't looking forward to the crying part, I was dreading it in fact, but I had to remind myself that letting her cry was teaching her how to fall asleep on her own. She was capable of getting to sleep on her own - she had done it before and at a much younger age when it is usually hard for babies to do so. I knew she had in it her, we just had to get her back to that place.

Not only did I want her to get a full night of restful, uninterrupted sleep, for her own good but I also wanted my nights back. After Kaitlin went to bed was the only time in the day that I had to myself. I wanted to spend it eating dinner with my husband and relaxing, or doing work or writing for this blog more than once a week. Selfishly I wanted more time for myself. When she was waking up several times over the course of two or three hours I was never fully able to relax until she hadn't made a sound for over an hour. I could never really relax, always checking the monitor to see if she was starting to wake up, checking to see if I had to get ready to run up there.  I am fully aware that I helped create the situation and that I was making it more stressful than it probably had to be. I was also aware that it now needed to stop.

Weissbluth offers three different sleep training methods - no cry, maybe cry and let cry. No Cry meant (duh) that you didn't let the baby cry at all when getting him to go to sleep. This usually involved a family bed and/or other methods to stop the baby from becoming upset and crying at bedtime. This was the solution that he least suggested, though he does offer some information about it. Maybe Cry basically uses the Ferber method of cry it out (gradually lengthening the time you let the baby cry before checking and consoling). He mentions that this method is "easier" in terms of not having to hear  your baby cry for long periods of time, but can be harder in the long run and take longer to get lasting results. Let Cry meant that you would let the baby cry as long as it took for him to fall asleep. Kiss the baby goodnight, shut the door and don't go back until morning (or, until they needed to eat during the middle of the night, of course). I knew in my heart of hearts that the Maybe Cry method would not work for us. Kaitlin was already depending on us too much to fall asleep. I knew that if we kept going in there to console her she would just get more and more worked up. So, we went with the Let Cry method.

That second night I was nervous but had to act confident that we were doing the right thing. If she could sense that I was unsure or nervous she would pick up on it right away and we would be off to a bad start - babies have that weird sense about them. So we gave her a bath, fed her a bottle and then laid her down to sleep for the night. She cried for nineteen minutes. Nineteen! That was all! Nineteen minutes was what I was scared of all this time. The next night she cried for eleven minutes, the following night she didn't cry at all. Sure, it still took her a little while to settle herself and she fussed here and there, but soon enough she was sleeping peacefully and it didn't involve any sprinting up the stairs. We were finally making progress.

*I would like to add that we had previously let her "cry it out" here and there. On multiple occasions, when I was too fed up to sprint up the stairs again, we would let her cry. And boy did she cry. I never let it go longer than 20-30 minutes, finally caving in and going up there to settle her. Why letting her cry it out suddenly seemed to work better I don't know. Maybe it was her age, maybe it was my confidence, maybe it was dumb luck. Whatever it was I am grateful it happened*

Unfortunately, just as we were making progress we had a few setbacks - two steps forward, one step back ay? Right after we got her to be able to settle herself and go to sleep fairly easily, my mom came to town for a visit (who wouldn't want to play with Grandma all the time??). Also around this time Kaitlin decided that she only wanted to nap for 30 minutes at a stretch during the day, if she even fell asleep at all. Sleep promotes sleep and trying to get an overtired baby to fall asleep easily at bedtime is no easy feat. On top of all that Kaitlin also figured out how to roll over in her swaddle, and was starting to escape the swaddle more easily. There were a myriad of issues cropping up around the same time and we faced a lot of challenges. One night while my mom was babysitting she cried for a solid half an hour before she fell asleep. The next night, after two failed attempts at napping without a swaddle (and going six hours without sleeping in the morning) she cried for a solid hour - and I mean she screamed her head off. It was torture. This was the nightmare that I was envisioning cry it out would be for us. After an hour I finally went up to her room, sleep training be damned. I couldn't stand it. As soon as I got up there I realized that she had a soiled diaper - something that makes her scream during the day as well. Once she was reswaddled and changed she fell asleep in a matter of seconds (no doubt because she was exhausted from all that crying). 

Since those two setbacks though we have steadily been making progress again. Over the last four nights it has taken Kaitlin about 15 minutes to settle herself to sleep. Sometimes she cries, sometimes she talks to herself and blows bubbles, sometimes she just wiggles around trying to get comfortable. She also wakes up less during the middle of the night - now only once or twice and just to eat - and is able to settle herself back to sleep then as well. Sometimes it takes her a half hour to get back to sleep, but I don't go back in there to help and she eventually puts herself down. 

Despite the hiccups over the weekend, I still strongly believe in the cry it out method because we have experienced its successes first hand. And we are only at the beginning of the training. I know there will be more hiccups along the way - teething, crawling/walking milestones, sickness and growth spurts are all bound to mess up our daughters sleep. And there will be times when she really does need attention and to be comforted in the middle of the night. But I finally feel like I have a solution that works - and will continue to work for us - as long as we follow it properly.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child was a great book and I fully recommend it. In the beginning I found it really wordy and scientific - there are dozens of examples regarding studies and facts and figures about sleep and children/babies. I found it hard to read when I first got it because I was looking for fast, quick information and I feel like you have to dig around a bit to get the info that you really need from this book. But the information is there - and there is lots of it. I find myself referencing different chapters as different situations or problems come up, and even rereading the whole book just for a refresher when I feel myself going off course. The book offers a lot of information for parents of colicky babies as well, which I have heard is very useful. And - even if the cry it out method didn't work for us - I would still recommend this book to all new parents simply because it offers a lot of in-depth information about how babies sleep and the science behind it, which is pretty fascinating. One of the first things I learned from this book is that, for babies, sleep promotes sleep. The more sleep a baby gets the more her/she will sleep. Is your baby overtired? Put them to bed early - sometimes as early as 5pm if needed - and they are bound to sleep longer. This was one of the first things I started doing with Kaitlin at around 8 weeks old when I first read this book. I moved her bedtime from around 8pm to 6pm. I was worried that she would be wide awake at 3am but wouldn't you know she still slept until her normal wake up time of 6-7am. That simple change added two hours (on average) to her daily sleep totals, which was huge. Weissbluth explains that different parts of a babies brain holds the information on how to sleep during naps and how to sleep at night, so you have to train each one differently. I could go on and on, but really you're better off hearing it from the man himself :)

As I write this tonight I am writing it in peace. Kaitlin put herself to sleep after about fifteen minutes of wiggling around. It has been quiet in our house since 7:15pm, I have a glass of wine in my hand and I feel confident again as a parent. I know that we did - and are doing - the right thing for our baby girl. And because of that we are all sleeping a bit better at night.

Now naps - that's still a whole other ballgame :)

Watch Me Grow - Seventeen Weeks

On Saturday Kaitlin turned seventeen weeks old, and week seventeen was a big one!

She's been a busy girl, last week she learned how to...

1. ROLL OVER!! WHOOHOO! After 9 weeks of trying she finally got there! Granted, she's only done it once, but I'll take it! She finally got enough momentum to get her whole body flipped from back to front. Her arm was still in the way but she didn't let it bother her this time, she pushed herself up with her one free arm and up she went! I, of course, was shouting and laughing and celebrating and she just looked at me like I was a crazy person (as she usually does). So, it's just happened the one time, but now we know she can do it!

2. Grab at the hanging toys on her play mat - this is also an exciting one, because it means that her hand-eye coordination is getting better. Previously, when she was laying on her play mat, she would bat at the hanging toys but not really connect with them and most of the time she just laid there and stared at them. Last week she started intentionally grabbing at the toys and even playing with them! One of them is a rattle and she grabbed ahold of it and was shaking it back and forth, staring at it intently. I did my little happy dance in the corner this time so she wouldn't look at me funny.

3. LAUGH - this might be the most exciting one of all, the one I have been waiting for! Kaitlin loves to look in the mirror and I show her her reflection a couple of times a day. I also talk to her while she's looking in the mirror, asking her who she sees (even though she has no idea that the person she is looking at is herself). This time I did it while making some really funny faces and voices and I got a giggle out of her! Most of the time when she is trying to express that she's happy she lets out a little screech with a smile. She time I managed to get a big smile and a little giggle - I instantly turned into a puddle on the ground. I got a couple of giggles out of her and then she was over it. I tried later that afternoon (and every day since then) to get more giggles out of her but so far she's been keeping quiet. I can't wait to hear more!

With all of these developments this week she has been sleeping a lot better at night, which I am thankful for. We are still having a hard time getting her to fall asleep at night, but once she is out she is asleep for 7-9 hours at a stretch. She has her FOUR MONTH check up this week (!!!!) and another round of shots. I can't wait to hear what the doctor has to say and I have about 9405894852098 questions for her, so it should be a good visit!

Watch Me Grow - Twelve Weeks

Can we say growth spurt?!

I want to go back on vacation. 

She was a rockstar during vacation. She slept well, she traveled well, she was charming and lovable. The week between 11 and 12 was rough - for everyone. I'm hoping she's going through a growth spurt and this is a temporary change. Her eating has been all off - sometimes she eats every two hours other times she goes four hours between meals (mostly due to sleeping). For the most part she has been waking up twice a night, which she hasn't done in at least a month. She is constantly trying to eat her hands and always has her hands up by her face, which further delays her naps and falling asleep at night. She wants to be held all the time, which is so not typical for her (before she used to cry if she was held too much, now she cries whenever you put her down). She hates being in the swing and has a new eye for watching tv - not good!

Basically as soon as I thought her figured out she up and changed everything. She's really unpredictable right now in almost every way - eating, sleeping, mood, etc.

Such is life with a newborn though, right? Just as you get a little cocky and think you have it all figured out your world turns upside down and you have to start from scratch :)

She is definitely getting bigger though. I can barely lay her down on my lap like I used to without her trying to roll off or pushing her legs against me and launching herself off. Her torso and head now fit where her whole body used to! 

She held a rattle for the first time this week for a couple minutes. She didn't really know what it was for or what it was doing but it caught her attention when it was making noise. I also put her in the jumperoo for the first time! Her little legs don't reach the floor yet (we put some books under her so her feet touch something) but I think she liked it! We have the Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo which is kind of a head trip for even Brian and I (seriously, could there BE more stuff on this thing?!) so I don't leave her in there for too long, but she really likes being straight up and able to stretch her legs. Are we going to have an early walker?!