General Updates
I'm loving the girls so much at their current ages that I've been wanting to put together a post with some of their characteristics so I can "freeze time" a little. I ended up spending several days writing this, because there were just so many things worth including and remembering. So, this may be long-winded and boring for you, but I think it will provide some good nostalgia for me later on. Here goes...
I just have to give N a blog shout-out for being such a peach this week. This girl is always creating or pretending, and when she's not craving attention, she can pretty much endlessly entertain herself with all the little stories and games she makes up. This week she's been really good at it while I've been tending to L or just resting during these exhausted days of early pregnancy. Here are some of the games and activities she's been interested in:
* She has a renewed interest in playing "Baby Doll" lately. I'm not sure if this is because we've told her about the baby in Mama's belly, or because she got a new baby doll, bottle and stroller at L's birthday party. Lately she brings Baby Doll everywhere, and spends a lot of time feeding, rocking, putting to sleep, and even holding Baby Doll's hands and helping her learn to walk. She is also very protective of Baby Doll should L ever take her and handle her a little too roughly. I have a lot of confidence that she will be a helpful and loving older sister, as she already is, when new baby arrives.
* She loves singing, as always, and dancing. All I have to do is break into the "Do the Monkey" song from the Wiggles, and she entertains us with a dance. The other night M's friend Sean paid us a visit, and the two guys took N outside to play while I was putting L to bed. When I looked out the window after L went to sleep M was playing "Feliz Navidad" (one of N's favorite songs) on Sean's guitar, and N was doing an elaborate dance.
* She still loves drawing, coloring, painting, or any kind of craft. She could do any of these things all day long.
* She loves to look at books and be read to. She really loves books in which you have to find things, like the I Spy books and Hidden Pictures in her High Five magazine (it's like Christmas when a new one of those appears in our mailbox). Other favorites include Berenstain Bears, the Arthur books, Richard Scarry, Curious George, and other random favorites from the library.
* Her favorite TV shows (which we get on video from the library, since we don't have cable) include Berenstain Bears, Blues Clues, Arthur, Sesame Street or any Disney Princess movie. Her number one favorite, however, is the Wiggles-- they pretty much win over any other choice these days.
* Apparently, N loves swimming! We visited a friend's pool the other day, and I expected N to be a little skittish in the water like she was during our trip to Florida, but she was like a different child. She was dunking under water and laughing about it (as opposed to crying like usual), and really really wanted to swim by herself (without Daddy holding her). Her current water wings are only good up to 30 pounds, and obviously she's heavier than that now because she sinks as soon as we let her go. We'll need to get her some new ones, because L seemed to love the water too, and I can envision a lot of fun swimming this summer with our two little fish!
N has reached a stage in her life where lots of things are very scary to her. This makes perfect sense to me, not only because I was terrified of everything as a child, but also because she is so imaginative during the day... it makes sense that the pretending wouldn't stop at night. At least 3-4 times a week, I'll hear the midnight cracking of her bedroom door opening, the padding of little feet down the hallway, and the tiny voice whispering, "Mama, I'm scared." She's usually very good about getting back in her own bed after some reassuring chats and a hug from a stuffed animal. But sometimes, after a particularly terrifying dream, she can't be convinced to return to her room and ends up spending the night in our bed. She has acquired the verbal skills to tell me about some of these dreams and, believe me-- they're pretty terrifying! She has described giant butterflies coming out of L's crib and grabbing her with big pinchers, and once there was a balloon that chased her and then crushed her. We try to talk a lot with her about the distinction between dreams and reality, and I think she sort of gets it. But when so much of her day is spent pretending (and to her the things that she pretends are very real!) it's a difficult point to explain.
N will be three years old in one short month. Although it's hard to believe she's growing up so fast, she's been such a big girl lately that I've been thinking of her as my "three-year-old" for a few months now. We love her so and are so proud of her many accomplishments!
There is so much to say about L right now I hardly know where to begin, and I'm sure to leave something out. She's the one in our family who has undergone the most change since my last official update, but she also is still in that "baby" stage of learning a new skill seemingly every day.
*She is an avid walker and climber. She is so comfortable walking now that she would rather walk than be carried to wherever we are going. (She's still pretty patient about riding in the stroller, thank goodness.) She squirms to get down from my arms when we are walking to the car or to the mailbox. It seems like a pretty big distance for somebody who is still toddling, but she has an amazing amount of stamina and determination.
*She is fearless. I wondered if I had selective memory, but several other family members have confirmed that N was definitely more cautious at this age. L likes to walk at breakneck speed, especially when we're on pavement or some other hard surface, and pretty much refuses to hold Mama's hand while she's doing so. She also delights in doing things that make me nervous-- such as standing on chairs or climbing up on the couch and walking the length of it. She always gives me a grin while she is doing these things-- probably because she knows it is a surefire way to get my attention. She loves climbing stairs and as soon as the safety gate is taken down she will make a beeline for them. Especially since I've been pregnant, a full day of chasing her completely wears me out. The good news is that she is a pretty tough cookie... it takes a really hard fall to make her cry. Most of the time she just gets up without so much as a whimper, and resumes whatever dangerous activity she was doing.
*L also loves singing and listening to music. She can now sing "E I E I OH!" and chimes in whenever we sing Old MacDonald. Other favorite songs are "If You're Happy and you Know It," "Happy Birthday," "Open Shut Them," and Patty Cake.
*She also loves being read to, and her favorites are the typical baby books... "Goodnight Moon," "Brown Bear Brown Bear," "Goodnight Gorilla," and "Barnyard Dance."
*Her little vocabulary is rapidly increasing. Her current words are Mama, Dada, N, hi, bye-bye, night-night, hooray, baby, bear, ball, please (pronounced "meh" with the sign for please), and no. She is trying very hard to communicate with us, and jabbers constantly. Sometimes she'll say the same babbling sentence five or six times, with increasing intensity each time, and look at me like I'm crazy not to understand what she's saying. You can tell that she has a lot of things on her mind to say, but she just doesn't know how to say them yet.
*She has started playing little games. She will hand over every toy in the room and say "Here ya go" each time until you have a lap full of toys. She will also walk around with a bag or briefcase in her hand (like Daddy) and give everyone hugs and kisses like she's leaving for work.
*I can tell that L is desperate to learn the ways of the "big girl"-- she's constantly watching N and really wants to participate in whatever she's doing. Unfortunately, at this stage, that usually involves a lot of grabbing. Sharing has become a really constant battle, especially since N knows the rules and tries to follow them, but L is just too little to understand quite yet. We have to do a lot of explaining to N that L will get better at sharing as she gets older. For the most part, N is pretty patient.
The N Report:
* She has a renewed interest in playing "Baby Doll" lately. I'm not sure if this is because we've told her about the baby in Mama's belly, or because she got a new baby doll, bottle and stroller at L's birthday party. Lately she brings Baby Doll everywhere, and spends a lot of time feeding, rocking, putting to sleep, and even holding Baby Doll's hands and helping her learn to walk. She is also very protective of Baby Doll should L ever take her and handle her a little too roughly. I have a lot of confidence that she will be a helpful and loving older sister, as she already is, when new baby arrives.
* She loves singing, as always, and dancing. All I have to do is break into the "Do the Monkey" song from the Wiggles, and she entertains us with a dance. The other night M's friend Sean paid us a visit, and the two guys took N outside to play while I was putting L to bed. When I looked out the window after L went to sleep M was playing "Feliz Navidad" (one of N's favorite songs) on Sean's guitar, and N was doing an elaborate dance.
* She still loves drawing, coloring, painting, or any kind of craft. She could do any of these things all day long.
* She loves to look at books and be read to. She really loves books in which you have to find things, like the I Spy books and Hidden Pictures in her High Five magazine (it's like Christmas when a new one of those appears in our mailbox). Other favorites include Berenstain Bears, the Arthur books, Richard Scarry, Curious George, and other random favorites from the library.
* Her favorite TV shows (which we get on video from the library, since we don't have cable) include Berenstain Bears, Blues Clues, Arthur, Sesame Street or any Disney Princess movie. Her number one favorite, however, is the Wiggles-- they pretty much win over any other choice these days.
* Apparently, N loves swimming! We visited a friend's pool the other day, and I expected N to be a little skittish in the water like she was during our trip to Florida, but she was like a different child. She was dunking under water and laughing about it (as opposed to crying like usual), and really really wanted to swim by herself (without Daddy holding her). Her current water wings are only good up to 30 pounds, and obviously she's heavier than that now because she sinks as soon as we let her go. We'll need to get her some new ones, because L seemed to love the water too, and I can envision a lot of fun swimming this summer with our two little fish!
N has reached a stage in her life where lots of things are very scary to her. This makes perfect sense to me, not only because I was terrified of everything as a child, but also because she is so imaginative during the day... it makes sense that the pretending wouldn't stop at night. At least 3-4 times a week, I'll hear the midnight cracking of her bedroom door opening, the padding of little feet down the hallway, and the tiny voice whispering, "Mama, I'm scared." She's usually very good about getting back in her own bed after some reassuring chats and a hug from a stuffed animal. But sometimes, after a particularly terrifying dream, she can't be convinced to return to her room and ends up spending the night in our bed. She has acquired the verbal skills to tell me about some of these dreams and, believe me-- they're pretty terrifying! She has described giant butterflies coming out of L's crib and grabbing her with big pinchers, and once there was a balloon that chased her and then crushed her. We try to talk a lot with her about the distinction between dreams and reality, and I think she sort of gets it. But when so much of her day is spent pretending (and to her the things that she pretends are very real!) it's a difficult point to explain.
N will be three years old in one short month. Although it's hard to believe she's growing up so fast, she's been such a big girl lately that I've been thinking of her as my "three-year-old" for a few months now. We love her so and are so proud of her many accomplishments!
The L Update
*She is an avid walker and climber. She is so comfortable walking now that she would rather walk than be carried to wherever we are going. (She's still pretty patient about riding in the stroller, thank goodness.) She squirms to get down from my arms when we are walking to the car or to the mailbox. It seems like a pretty big distance for somebody who is still toddling, but she has an amazing amount of stamina and determination.
*She is fearless. I wondered if I had selective memory, but several other family members have confirmed that N was definitely more cautious at this age. L likes to walk at breakneck speed, especially when we're on pavement or some other hard surface, and pretty much refuses to hold Mama's hand while she's doing so. She also delights in doing things that make me nervous-- such as standing on chairs or climbing up on the couch and walking the length of it. She always gives me a grin while she is doing these things-- probably because she knows it is a surefire way to get my attention. She loves climbing stairs and as soon as the safety gate is taken down she will make a beeline for them. Especially since I've been pregnant, a full day of chasing her completely wears me out. The good news is that she is a pretty tough cookie... it takes a really hard fall to make her cry. Most of the time she just gets up without so much as a whimper, and resumes whatever dangerous activity she was doing.
*L also loves singing and listening to music. She can now sing "E I E I OH!" and chimes in whenever we sing Old MacDonald. Other favorite songs are "If You're Happy and you Know It," "Happy Birthday," "Open Shut Them," and Patty Cake.
*She also loves being read to, and her favorites are the typical baby books... "Goodnight Moon," "Brown Bear Brown Bear," "Goodnight Gorilla," and "Barnyard Dance."
*Her little vocabulary is rapidly increasing. Her current words are Mama, Dada, N, hi, bye-bye, night-night, hooray, baby, bear, ball, please (pronounced "meh" with the sign for please), and no. She is trying very hard to communicate with us, and jabbers constantly. Sometimes she'll say the same babbling sentence five or six times, with increasing intensity each time, and look at me like I'm crazy not to understand what she's saying. You can tell that she has a lot of things on her mind to say, but she just doesn't know how to say them yet.
*She has started playing little games. She will hand over every toy in the room and say "Here ya go" each time until you have a lap full of toys. She will also walk around with a bag or briefcase in her hand (like Daddy) and give everyone hugs and kisses like she's leaving for work.
*I can tell that L is desperate to learn the ways of the "big girl"-- she's constantly watching N and really wants to participate in whatever she's doing. Unfortunately, at this stage, that usually involves a lot of grabbing. Sharing has become a really constant battle, especially since N knows the rules and tries to follow them, but L is just too little to understand quite yet. We have to do a lot of explaining to N that L will get better at sharing as she gets older. For the most part, N is pretty patient.
The Baby 3 Chronicle
Of course there's not too much to say yet about this little one, but I did want to include one little fun fact: at barely 13 weeks of pregnancy, I'm already feeling this baby move. Strong much? I didn't feel L moving until about 17 weeks-- with N it was almost 20. I'll be interested to see if he/she stays as active. That would make for some pretty powerful midnight kicks in the back for M during those 8th and 9th months.
I'm also trying to come up with a good blog nickname for this baby... when we found out L was a girl, we nicknamed her "Lil' Sis" (which actually flowed nicely into the name we chose for her!) Of course, we won't be finding out the gender of this baby until my 18-20 week ultrasound. Any ideas in the meantime?
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