Two days ago, my sister-in-law Jennifer got her induction into the motherhood club with the birth of Kirra. The whole thing catapulted me back to those early days with Thea (I've completely blocked out the early days with Liam, which is why I created this blog to help with retention!)
All I can say is how glad I am to be out of that phase. I have a friend who calls it the fourth trimester, and that's really true. These babies when they first come out are so vulnerable and so easily overwhelmed. One new mother I know wore her baby (who, I might add was a wee little thing) around in a sling for the first month or two pretty much all the time. It seemed to work really well for them both. I'm sure I tried that at some point, and it didn't work, but you'd think it would. All that baby really wants is to be snuggled right next to you with free access to the boob all the time.
This week, Thea has had so many firsts. She had her first solo expedition in the bathtub tonight and loved it, of course. I had a pang of sadness for a second, which is very unlike me. Bath-time has always been fun with her and I, she gets all calm and floaty. But it sure is easier to be out of the tub than in. She also drank from a regular cup for the first time. And she's eating "stars" by hand.
This thing with the stars is so huge. This puffy cereal-like starter finger-food was something we used with Liam, and they melt in your mouth, so they get practice early on with solid-like food, but don't choke if they get it wrong. But what got me about Thea and these stars isn't that she loves them, it was the determination with which she worked at getting them in her mouth. She attacked those stars with such focus and drive, it was almost scary. And she's getting it. That finger "pincher" coordination is really big stuff, and she's getting it by pure force of will. It was, I have to admit, a little scary to watch.
Thea still isn't crawling, but she's not staying put, either. I saw her pushing herself around by sliding on her face today. I'm telling you, the girl has drive. We had her six-month check-up the other day, and she was 18-plus pounds, 100th percentile for height and 90th for weight.
1 comment:
Hey Carey
So you've got a little snowplow girl too, eh? Gazelle, sweet small thing that she is, has just mastered running, including down paved hills at breakneck speed. Surprisingly, she has yet to have a really nasty spill.
As for percentiles, I think the little sisters have to grow big to keep up with their older bros. I haven't weighed Gazelle in a few months, but even if she has gained Nothing in five months, she would still be in the 95th percentile-- and she uses every pound of that substantial mass to try to keep up with Zephyr. She has mastered sitting unassisted on chairs, coming down stairs without using the rail, and has moved on to climbing onto shelves, there to casually saunter back and forth, which unsettled me the first couple times but I have quickly come to accept as something she can Do. So welcome, Thea, to the big girl club, and may your mama not be prone to heart failure... just because you sweet young girls weigh as much as most three-year-olds does not mean you are ready to sleep on the top bunk.
Post a Comment