Salma gets food by spoon

Zahra fed Salma her first spoon-fed food: rice cereal and breast milk. She seemed to like it.




Later, we had a visit from Laili, Mina and Nesa and uncles Reza and Ali M.

Rolling over... and back

Today, while in Modesto for Thanksgiving, Salma rolled over and back again all on her own. First time. She seemed quite pleased with her accomplishment and her new found empowerment.

She has also discovered yoga and accupressure :). She finds it quite relaxing to pull her feet to her head and chew on a special pressure point on her toe.





And now for another test of including video... For those who saw the prior test post that I removed sorry for the churn. Here's another test. This is a video of Salma at 2 months. I'll try to get something more recent ASAP.

This uses Vimeo

Playing at the beach in San Francisco

This morning we spent a fun couple of hours at Bakers Beach in San Francisco. It started sunny and cool but then warmed up nicely.






Warm enough for the nude sunbathers to come out. Gotta love CA.










This was Salma's first time at the ocean and the first time Zahra and I had been in quite a while.





It was great to get out and enjoy a fall morning.








So in the prior post, I was talking about how Salma was holding things more deliberately. Like her yellow thing for example...








Or even her bottle...







But of course, nothing tastes as good as thumb and bib...







And finally, today's guest star... visiting from LA... Marwa. As you can imagine, whe's welcome any time :)

November

It was the annual Rapt Halloween party, and the bunny family was in full attendance :)












Salma is starting to get finer motor control and I think she may starting to teeth. She would never take the pacifier, but now she really likes to chew and suck on the "yellow thing". And as you can see, she holds it herself and can bring it to her mouth.


Last night, Zahra went to a play so Salma and I were on our own. I gave her a bottle and she practically held it on her own and fed herself.



Last weekend we went to visit our friends Pascal and Judith and their daughter Alexia. (They've been featured on the blog before.) Pascal is a talented photographer. Thanks to Pascal for sharing...

Salma is 4 months old!

Salma turned four months old and little by little, she is transforming from infant to baby girl. In particular, she does "talk" quite a bit. Nothing word like yet, just those heart-melting cooing sounds. She has also firmly figured out her left thumb as you'll see...

Here Salma and Jaleh-joon enjoy a sunny autumn afternoon on the deck.


When she's not sunning on the deck, Salma likes to relax in her crib :)



See what I mean about the thumb?


It's been great to have Ali M around.


And once in a while 'pesar khaleh' Bahman comes to visit from L.A.


We had a few more visitors in October... Lisa and Dave....
and Nora and Angie.

We were also excited to have a surprise visit from Eliza (Lisa) Livingston who is a long time family friend and most recently was instrumental in getting Zahra (and me) through labor and afterwards. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share. In in my shameless desire to plug my friend's good work...Let me mention that Lisa runs a cute bed and breakfast on Vancouver Island if you're ever thinking of going that way. It's called Villa Marco Polo Inn. She has also written an book called Living with Colon Cancer: Beating the Odds
inspired by her own experience as both nurse and cancer survivor.

Salma goes to Toronto

In early October we made our first trip as a family to Toronto for Rosh Hashana.

My parents organized a wonderful open house on Sunday so many people got to meet Salma for the first time.



Aunty Toby made friends with Salma right away...





as did cousin Joanne.

She laughs and the O-MAYA secret

First of all... Welcome back Bella!!!!
Bella has been away for months and this is the first time she and Salma have met. We're very excited to have her back and to have her in Salma's life. Salma doesn't know it yet, but she will come to know how lucky she is.









Now on to the rest of the show :)

Salma has just started to laugh and it's wonderful to watch. Mostly the laugh is silent, but then occasionally she actually lets out the beginnings of a real honest to goodness giggle.

But ok, it's not all fun and games. We're having a little bit of sleep issues. I really can't complain, but during the day she doesn't sleep so by the time the evening comes she's tired and a little cranky. And yet, she still doesn't want to fall asleep.
We've discovered the secret though. It's Afro-Latin Hip Hop!

Our friend Steve plays bass in a fantastic band O-MAYA. Even if Salma is screaming all I have to do is put on the their CD, and she quiets down. And then we start dancing. By the end of the second song...she's out. Works like a charm.

And the music is excellent! I highly recommend the CD.

Salma has a lot to say

Zahra had a little conversation with Salma... listen in :)

Friends etc.

Sriram and Renate came to visit last week.



Sri took some nice pictures of Zahra and Salma.



And here's a picture of Salma's new crib. Many thanks to Buby and Zaida.

Nine weeks

Not because she's mine... but isn't she cute? It's been a few weeks since my last post. She smiles a lot now, particular when she's getting her diaper changed and definitely not when she's in the car seat.
She hates the car seat.



Salma likes her tushy bare;
She likes to have no diaper there.
She also seems to like to pee
So we change her diaper constantly.
All she needs to do is call :)
But she'd rather there be no need at all.
Cuz Salma likes her tushy bare
And really wants no diaper there.

It seems we have a little routine on weekday mornings. Zahra will feed her and then I'll take Salma for a walk in the Bjorn. It's been a little chilly in the mornings so we've been dressing Salma up with the cardigan and a hat. She is very curious on our walks, leaning back and taking everything in... for a few blocks that is...At which point the coziness of the Bjorn wears her out and she drops into a deep sleep.

She's started to be able to entertain herself for longer periods of time, which is great. She'll sit for a while in the bouncy chair and you don't even have to bounce it any more. And her motor control has been improving. She can now reach out and grab the toys on the bouncy chair.

There have also been a few other changes. Salma has a new crib with a very fascinating mobile. She finds the zebra particularly interesting.

We've also started to use cloth diapers. It's an experiment of sorts. We know the case for environmental benefit is not clear cut, but it somehow feels better to be "reusing" rather than giving in to the convenience of disposability. Of course, it also gives us an opportunity to buy Froggy diaper covers.

Apparently, Buby Marlene is over the frog thing, but I bet she'll still think this is cute.

When she's not relaxing under the mobile or playing in her jimni, Salma likes to work out on her tummy surf board to get some safe tummy time in.

Check out that concentration.




Before Nersi left for Iran, he had a party at his place and Salma enjoyed herself very much. She found herself a very comfy spot in the living room. No matter what kind of activity or loud music is going on. She has sleep to do.


Today, Kerem and Natalya came to visit. Kerem braved the challenge of calming Salma during evening witching hours. He was most definitely up for the task with Salma melting in his arms.


On a previous evening, Simona chose to use "assisted method" and so is now the latest addition to the bouncy ball hall of fame.



Finally, here are a few more family pictures for you to enjoy.