Three Months

Young man, you are three months old. I had completely forgotten how much three month olds totally ROCK until we somehow blinked a few too many times and found ourselves here at the three month mark. You are happy happy happy and oh so very happy to smile and coo at us whenever we've got a moment to devote to you and actually look you in the eye. Poor second child! As a condolence, though, you think Sofie is absolutely fascinating and you're only too pleased to grin away at her crazy antics. She's equally enthralled with you and reminds us often that you're her brother.

You are starting to enjoy the typical baby games, like So Big and Pat-a-Cake, and the not so typical ones, like practicing your jab on your sister, clapping and dancing around the living room with mom. You're still a huge fan of your toys, especially the bears above your changing table and Mr. Monkey. In fact, I think you talk to them almost as much as you talk to us. You've figured out that you have control over your hands, albeit very jerky control, and sometimes I find you practicing intently, holding your little fist steadily right in front of a bear's face. You are showing preference for your left hand (cool!) and have figured out how to bring both hands together, mainly for the purpose of slobbering all over them. You are still pretty interested in your thumb when you can manage to pop it into your mouth.

You are getting stronger every day and starting to enjoy tummy time for longer periods of time, especially if there's something interesting to look at. When you're on your back you crane your neck around and pull your body up onto your side. I imagine it won't be much longer before you accidentally flop yourself over.

This month I buzzed off your fuzzy little grandpa hairs, and while it was technically your first haircut there are no pictures because Daddy was oddly attached to them and refused to participate! I did, of course, pack away your peach fuzz for memory's sake. I think you look quite handsome without them, and while we're on the topic of looks, don't tell your sister, but I think you're much cuter than she was at your age!

Van Van, lately I've been working on finding a job, and since I'm hoping to be hired somewhere relatively soon we've been trying to get you familiar with a bottle. Despite our early successes you are now absolutely REFUSING that stinkin' thing. If you're in a good mood you'll patiently use your tongue to shove it out of your mouth over and over again until we grow tired of trying and leave you alone. If you're anxious to eat you just scream bloody murder. It's causing me a fair amount of anxiety, imagining how awful it might be to leave you for so long without your comfort, but it's also helping me take the rejection inherent in trying to find work in stride. How can I let anything upset me when someone like you, with your big smiley eyes, wants nothing more than to spend all your moments with me :)

For Grandma Debbie

Translation:

Mama: Ok, where is Grandma Debbie?

Sofie: Where is Grandma Debbie?

M: Yeah, where is she?

S: Uhhhhh, Ca, ca ca, ca ca, Colorado?

M: Yeah. How did she get there?

S: ...

M: How did she get to Colorado?

S: Up the airplane!

M: That's right! Did we take her to the airport?

S: Grandma, Grammie, Grandma Debbie's all gone up the airplane.

M: Yeah. She flew to Colorado. Did she fly to Colorado to see Lillian and Clayton?

S: Yeah.

M: Do you miss her?

S: Yeah.

M: Wish she would come visit soon?

S: Yeah.

M: Say, "I love you Grandma Debbie."

S: I love you!

M: Bye bye.

S: Bye bye.

How Sofie Learns

Here's Sofie's version of, "Why?"

What a crack-up!

Trick or Treat

Just wait 'til you see what we're cooking up for next year :)

Two Months

My roly poly little man, two days ago you became a two month old. Almost two weeks ago I had you in to see the pediatrician because you had spit-up quite forcefully a few times and she suggested that perhaps you were maybe overeating just a bit since you were not quite two months old yet and closing in on 14 pounds already...oy! And I thought your sister, who was nearly 12 pounds at two months old, was a chunker :)

***I must be honest and report that the rest of this post, on October 8th, consisted merely of little notes to myself and only now, on October 20th, am I finding the time to return to fill in the details!***

You started smiling a few weeks ago and that has made you much more fun to hang out with. When you're particularly happy your little nose scrunches up and wrinkles form between your eyes. You draw in your breath and squeak like some folks do after a particularly hearty bout of laughter. You like to interact with your toys, grinning, batting, and jabbering at them, especially the monkey on the mirror that reflects your face into the rear-view mirror of our van. It's always a treat to click your car seat into place and watch you greet your little friend!

One day Sofie and I were sitting on the couch goofing around and laughing about something and you were nestled in my lap. I glanced down and noticed that you were smiling away as if you were in on our little jokes, and just like that my whole perspective changed. I had been caring for you and Sofie as separate little 'ploys, juggling each of your needs throughout the day and paddling my boat between your islands trying my best to give each of you undivided attention. All of the sudden we were a team. Shortly after that incident I was alone in the evening with the two of you for the first time and trying to put Sofie down for bed. Her bedtime routine still includes nursing, and you were fussing and wanting to nurse too. I didn't want to leave one or the other of you to cry so I reluctantly decided that I was going to try some true tandem nursing. I was worried that Sofie was going to be upset about it or that you would be a ball of squirminess, unable to get comfortable within your sister's space, but instead the two of you seemed to think it was great fun. You were so focused on Sofie and she just giggled away at you and held your little hand in hers. It just reinforced the sense that we are together now, a family, and I stopped frantically paddling and docked my boat. We've been learning to live together on the mainland ever since.

***And now, embarrassingly, it is October 27th and in less than two weeks you will be three months old. How busy you've kept me! I hope to be much more punctual in the months to come...***

You've been hard at work on getting your thumb in your mouth and I often find you busily slobbering all over your hand in your futile attempts. Somehow, your hand becomes possessed by the intensity of your quest and it clenches tightly into a fist right around your little thumb. You're not a bit disheartened by it's uncooperative nature and go right on jamming your fist into your mouth and sucking away. You love to stand up and when I make the mistake of trying to sit you down on my lap for a chat you lean your little body forward and flex your legs until I get the right idea. Your little legs are so strong, it's as if you'll be walking in no time!

It's strange to me how different it already feels to be raising a little boy. I'm already torn up by the thought that someday, maybe, you'll love some other woman more than you love me. But for now, my little Moose, I'm the one who cares for you, soothes you, makes your eyes light up. For now, and for many moons to come, I am the one. There is no fortune more great.

Buds

Two Years

Punky Bru you turned two over a month ago and, dear God, you've been acting TWO for a few months now. These months since your brother was born have possibly been the most exasperating of my life, trying so hard to outwit you on such a small amount of sleep. I'm learning, slowly and reluctantly, to let go of my tendency towards structure and I consider it a pretty good day when there has been some sort of bathing, eating, and sleeping and not too much screaming :)

You are speaking pretty fluently in long sentences. A good majority of your sentences begin with a whiny, "I want..." or, "I wanna..." and lately you're throwing in a whole lot of, "No mom! My turn!" You crack me up regularly with the things you come up with, the tone you use and your assortment of facial expressions, especially the squinty-eyed inquisitive face and the brow-furrowed grimace you shoot my way now and then as if to say, "Mom, what the heck were you thinking?" I can't imagine where you picked that one up :)

You're pretty good at counting and can count from one to ten on a good day, but more often you recite, "One, two, five, six, seven, eight!" You know the A,B,C song quite well, but can only identify letters O and B on sight. I've been trying to work with you on shapes and colors too, but you get quite frustrated with both concepts, so most days we don't end up spending too much time on them.

Your motor skills are coming along nicely. You're becoming a much faster waddly little runner and both of your feet come up off the ground when you jump these days. You enjoy kicking balls around in the yard and I think you're really going to like soccer someday. You're not as interested in throwing and we're working on the whole catching thing too, since most of the time your hands come together a moment after the ball has dropped to the ground. You like to draw circles, you complete puzzles with speed, you enjoy peeling stickers off their backing and decorating the house with them, and you love to fold clothes. You're actually better at folding clothes than some adults I know!

You're quite a girly girl and you absolutely love your baby dolls and insist on bringing at least one with you every place we go. You love trying on shoes and picking out your outfit for the day. You've requested that I put hot rollers in your hair, ask for spray after I give you a hairdo, and you like to sneak into my make-up bag and know exactly how to apply each different part.

You're interested in the potty and all other bathroom behaviors and regularly take your pants and diaper off and run around all willy nilly. You like to "go potty" and will sit, wipe, and wash your hands, but you've never actually made a deposit. We haven't formally begun training because you are notoriously awful at reporting dirty diapers, preferring instead to wear them until they hang to your knees and deny their obvious need to be changed. I have intentions of working on some sort of formal, consistent training this winter when we are cloistered in the house most days. Until then, you're content to pretend.

You're great at pretending. You like making "hamburgers" out of old peanut butter and jelly containers I've rinsed and set out on a shelf for you, or having tea parties with the set the Vance's sent for your birthday. You regularly push your stroller or your shopping cart towards the door as you bid us goodbye. When I ask where you're going you choose from your repertoire of destinations, "I'm goin' uh (Target, the mall, the library, the hospital, Nana's house)."

Sofie-Sof you are working so hard on becoming independent and you've been a little ball of frustrated energy much of the time lately. Most days I'm so overwhelmingly relieved when bedtime rolls around and the house, for the most part, regains a sense of peace again. But Daddy and I start giggling over the funny things you've said and done all day almost immediately after you're tucked in tight and in next to no time we're missing the chaos, the sticky urchin grin, and determined defiance. We are, and always will be, completely enamored with you, our wonderful, terrible, two year old girl.