James is growing quickly. He measured 21 inches long and weighed 9 pounds, 5 ounces at his one month checkup--both in the 25th percentile. He's outgrown his newborn sized clothes and diapers. He has had a bit of a rough start with some reflux issues that make him pretty unhappy. We're still working to find the best combination of medicine and diet changes for me to help his tummy feel better. As of the last week, he is finally having some periods of time when he is awake and happy. He looks at the dangling toys on the activity mat and the fish mobile on his swing. He's eating every two to three hours, but we have gotten some long stretches of sleep from him the past few nights (3 hours is long at this point).
Claire just loves to learn and explore everything. She shows particular interest in tunnels and buckles (snapping them together but thankfully not unsnapping yet!). We got her a dollhouse as a big sister present, and she just loves to play with it. She reenacts the scenarios we've shown her such as having the dolls eat supper, take a nap, and look through the windows. She's starting to create her own little stories with the dolls too. Claire also enjoys coloring, working puzzles, listening to music, playing with her duplos (she's finally able to put them together by herself), and reading books.
She is talking so much! One long sentence she formed while playing alone with her dollhouse was "Baby Girl take a nap too." Many people comment on how clearly she speaks and how nice it is that she says "yes" instead of "yeah." She's started to request her independence by saying "by yourself," and she declares things to be "breakable." She watches someone's mouth closely to learn new words.
Both children had their first stage performances this past month--James as Baby Jesus and Claire with her Bible study class. James received rave reviews such as "We thought it was a baby doll!" Claire was a bit sheepish when the kids came to sing for the adults and sat in her teacher's lap the whole time, but she is the second youngest in the group and it was her first week back since James' birth, so she did pretty well.
Claire has had her four canine teeth come through this fall. They didn't seem to give her much trouble and brought her total number of teeth up to 16. Claire sleeps from 8:00 pm to 8:00 am most days and naps from 2:00 to 3:30 or 4:00. She is wearing size 4 diapers and outgrowing her size 24 month clothes.
Though tired and busy, we are enjoying the Christmas season and starting some family traditions of our own such as seeing a nearby Christmas lights display synchronized to music. Last year, Claire watched the lights a little. This year she squealed and made exclamations such as "lights!" "music!" "fast!" "yay!" James did not enjoy the show this year. We also attended the Candy Cane Breakfast at church where Claire devoured a plate of pancakes.
Candy Cane Breakfast at Church 12-10-11
No comments:
Post a Comment