I have baby books for the girls, but I'm not super diligent about updating them. But I figure if I'm good about it here and I can go back and transfer the information.
I can't believe how fast the time is passing this time around. B is already 5 months. She is a pretty easy baby. She's more needy than K was during the hours where she's not eating or sleeping. She plays on her own in her exersaucer or on her mat but she has a small window where she can be left alone to play. She would rather play with mommy or daddy. She's a superstar during all the things she has to do: eat, sleep, bathe, travel (carseat, stroller, shopping, etc). She has two naps: a short morning nap and a long afternoon nap. She goes to bed between 6:30-7pm and for all her sleeping she's been really good about being put in her bed awake and falling asleep on her own: a skill K learned with much more effort because she was the first and there was so much time to hold her. Teaching B this skill from birth was necessary since there's a toddler running around that needs to be taken care of. And I'm feeling much more human since B only wakes up once during the night now around 4am to feed. I'm hoping in a month or two when she's on even more solids that we can wean her off that feeding.
B loves to eat- she loves nursing, she loves bottles, she loves solid food. There's nothing she's tried that she's refused so far. She's tried bananas, apples, sweet potato, carrot, rice cereal, and blueberries. Her FAVOURITE time of day is bath time. As soon as she layed down in the tub her feet start kicking. She has a huge smile the whole time and splashes for as long as we let her. She's never cried during bath time (well that's not true- once K dropped something on her head, but that doesn't count), not even her first bath. She's always loved water. I didn't think it was possible to have a child who loved the water more than K, but I do.
She is so alert and happy to look around and observe. She loves her dad- they have been able to bond lately. She was such a momma's girl from birth and loved nursing so she didn't have a whole lot of use for other people (except K- after 3 weeks, she LOVED her sister). But now that she's getting to a playful age she is noticing her other adult family members, especially her dad, and loves to play with him. She's very ticklish and shares her laugh quite easily.
With K there was nothing to do but wait for her to get to a fun age. Being home alone with a baby month after month can make a person want to fast forward a tad. But this time I'm able to enjoy B being a baby and not feel like I want to fast forward to the more exciting stuff. And in fact I'm hoping for it to slow down. With K, in a matter of 10 weeks she learned to stand, crawl and walk. It was a whirlwind. I hope B takes it much slower.
K has adjusted to having a baby around. She's much more patient about the times I need to take care of B. Although at times she pretends to be a baby so she can steal the attention. Often at dinner time she pretends she can't eat unless we spoon feed her like her sister. She also wants to be cradled occasionally and pretends to get boo-boos way more than she actually does.
In big girl milestones though, K has had a significant one (significant for her). She no longer has her soother or blankie. But it's meant that naptime has gone away for the most part. She is learning how to have quiet time for 1.5-2 hours in her room on her own. She's been really good about her sleeping lately (maybe from the lack of nap). She goes down around 6:30-7 and gets up at 6:30-7 with many nights not calling out at all.
She now has the attention span to sit through an entire movie or stay still to have several books read to her. Her favourite movies right now are Jungle Book and Horton Hears A Who. Her favourite shows are still Super Why and Sesame Street. But she now also enjoys Dora quite a bit (she calls her Dot). Her favourite books are the Critter books and anything with animals.
Her speaking is slowly coming along. I'm not sure why she's choosing to be so difficult about it. I know it's a choice, too, because on the days when she forgets to put up her guard and just parrots us like most kids do, she speaks just fine. But most days, she has her guard up and won't repeat back or try new words. She does it on her own schedule and chooses which words she wants to say. She'll ask when she wants to know how to say something and then that word will be added to her vocabulary. I'm not sure what that's about. When we come to a word she doesn't want to try she says "do" or "that" instead. This past week, though, she's been very interested (for her speed) at trying new words. For example, for two mornings in a row she held up her purse and asked what it was called. I told her purse. She attempted (once per morning) to say purse. By the third morning she held it up and said "purse!". And now it's established in her vocabulary and I can ask her at any time to say purse and she'll say it. But if I asked before that third morning she would just say "that". Unless she thinks it's time to say the word, it's not. And it takes even longer for her vocab words to be considered words she'll say in front of other people. But now that we know her rules, we just try to go with them. She's not as far behind as she was previously so we're not too stressed about it. There's no use arguing with her either- she's so stubborn. I've tried signing with her but I found out she has the same rules for signing as she does for speaking. She won't try it till she decides it's time. It's funny- she is so reserved with her words but she was willing to brave climbing a ladder at one year old. Funny girl.
She still loves shoes. Oh my goodness, the shoes! We've had to take away her princess high heeled play shoes. They make too much noise and downstairs complains. So for Christmas we're going to get her some fun slippers. She doesn't discriminate- she just wants things to put on her feet. She loves to play pretend now. She loves to play with her baby and pretend to take care of her- feed her, change her, wash her, rock her, etc. She loves to colour. She loves to ride her bike. She loves the playground and running outside. She loves to play hide and seek with mommy and daddy. She loves to visit her grandparents and aunts. We see my family quite often so there's no more adjustment period when we see them. She still has a small adjustment time when we see Cole's family but she loves to see them, too. It just takes her a minute. She's reached the age where she can play with other kids now- not just near them. She loves to try to make new friends at the park. She loves nursery at church. She loves building/nestling blocks/boxes and puzzles. She loves to pretend to cook and make meals like mommy.
 |
| see the centerpiece...? |
