Eli Update

Eli is 5 and a half months and we haven't updated in a while.  Actually, not much was happening with Eli since her 4 month check up until recently.  She had gradually been able to do tummy time longer and grabbed her feet, but things changed so slowly we didn't notice anything big.  She rolled over from back to tummy once about 3 weeks ago, then no more rolling.  Her super cuteness and smiles continue to charm everyone.

Less than a week ago, she suddenly rolled over from her back to her stomach several times in one day.  Then a couple of days later, she started sitting unassisted for a few seconds at a time, started grabbing things with her hands and also started making new noises ("dada," for example).  After two days of practice, she can now sit unassisted for a few minutes at a time and can bring toys to her mouth. She seems to have had a cognitive leap in less than a week.

Showing Tia Lauri she can sit

Unfortunately, her advances have coincided (or maybe are the cause of) a particularly bad week of sleep.  She started waking up at around 3 AM and staying up for a couple of hours.  Jorge and I have been so exhausted that I decided it was time to start sleep training.  I'd wanted to wait until she was 6 months old, but this past week was so bad I couldn't wait any more.  Last night was the first night of gradual extinction (modified "Cry It Out", or CIO).  She cried for 1 hour and 3 minutes before falling asleep. Tonight was night two and she cried for 39 minutes, so there was a definite improvement.  Let's see how it goes tomorrow.