More milestones

Elaine had her first-month checkup yesterday. (Derek brought her, since I am (always) at work, so this is hearsay, but I think we can believe him.) She was only about 25th percentile for height and weight - a proportional little peanut - and the doctor thought her development was right in line. Good news! We think she's pretty great, but doing things in a different order and timing from Meredith. Good to have input from someone who thinks of it as a sample larger than 2.

A snapshot of Elaine at one:

Elaine's favorite things:

• pulling up on EVERYTHING - the bed, Daddy's pant leg, even the dog.
• babbling constantly. She's rarely quiet. It's good we don't go to concerts or live in an apartment.
• including real words in her babbling: fish! dog! all done! ooh! (Pooh, as in Winnie the.) meow! (when she sees a picture fo a cat.) She's saying more than that, but that's all we have gleaned so far. Derek thinks maybe she's speaking French.
• finding and following her sister and the dog, around and around.
• grinning at you, hiding her face, then quickly looking back and grinning even wider. It's the cutest thing in the whole world. (And no, I'm not biased at all.)
• looking at books. Each new page is exciting. She loves both being read to and crawling over, knocking books off the shelf, and crowing with delight to sit and look at them by herself.

Elaine is working on:

• cruising. She hasn't quite got the idea that she can pull up and then move - we'll see when this happens!
• more teeth. She has the front four, plus significant bumps on her gums.
• feeding herself. She doesn't quite have the chewing part and is just not that interested. But she eats a wide variety of pureed foods.
• making herself understood.

-JRR

Traveling girl

I've been delaying a post in the hopes to get a couple of corresponding pictures and/or videos. But no luck thus far! They will have to come later.

Elaine has pulled out a few new tricks this week. First, kids her age like pulling things out of other things. So Elaine likes to pull books from the bookshelf, pull papers out of the printer, grab anything out of a drawer (she'll spend 10 minutes trying to get a drawer open for this purpose), and pulling toys out of a bin. In the last week, on several occasions, she has started to place items in containers. Very soon, I know, we'll have her cleaning up after herself!

Elaine also began clapping. It's a little on the later end developmentally for clapping. She's done other sophisticated stuff with her hands for a while (waving, pointing, wagging her finger, etc); but the clapping hands are brand new. She uses it to celebrate, to get attention, and I think as a modified sign for "more." When she wants more food she seems to clap. It appears she also used it to request being picked up.

Incidentally, Meredith has been practicing snapping her fingers. It's a difficult and frustrating task for a preschooler. Meredith is doing pretty well at it! She has the movement right and often makes a good "snap" noise with her right hand. I try to encourage her, in part, by telling her I don't snap very well with my left hand either. Every once in a while she practices winking too.

Lastly, Elaine is "traveling." She's been able to pull up on parents' hands and other things for a while now; though, she hasn't been all that excited by it. This week, she has pulled up on the bottom stair and a couple other objects, and "traveled" a few steps over, unassisted. Today, she did this a couple times, as a means to trying to figure out how to go up the stairs when a parent or the cat went up. It won't take her long to realize that walking (and climbing the stairs) are necessary for keeping up with her big sister.

Catching up to Elaine

Elaine is an active 10 month old. Not only does she continue to crawl quickly around the house as if she owns it, Elaine is learning new skills. She is pulling up on all sorts of things. Recently, she spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get her whole body up a step. She made excellent progress, bringing most of her body up, but eventually gave up. Elaine was trying to get to Meredith, who wisely surmised the way to get some space from her clingy little sister was to go half way up the stairs.

This morning, I entered Elaine's bedroom to see her standing up in her crib for the first time. I don't know how long she had been standing there. She's still learning on how to get down from a stand. This was the first time she pulled up all the way by herself. In the past weeks she often has grabbed our hands to pull up into a standing position. It's a whole new chapter here. I'm going to have to get the baby gate on the stairs pretty soon!

Elaine's two bottom teeth are sticking well into her mouth and the top ones are imminent. Yet, she still doesn't want to try to chew anything or feed herself. We give her cut up cheerios. But despite our demonstrations, she prefers to push them around and hold them instead of placing them in her mouth. Her favorite food continues to be yogurt.

On the verbal front, Elaine is starting to say "mama" more often than chance in reference to her mom. I swear that I thought I heard her say something like "bah!" to a ball a couple times last weekend, but it's hard to say for sure.

We got teeth!

January 16 will hereafter be known as the day Elaine got her first tooth. After months of slowly working on them, today her bottom, center right tooth popped through. She has a sharp edge to contend with now. It appears that the tooth's center partners on the left and top won't be that far behind. She'll be chewing before we know it!

aw-aw-aw-aw-aw

We're back to the old grindstone. This has been an up and down week. It's hard to go back to old routines after the holidays and traveling. Jen went back to work, Meredith back to school, and Elaine and I were just the two of us in the mornings. We're kind of tired, but at least healthier (so far) than we were last month.

Elaine has taken off this week. All of a sudden she is doing real crawling, instead of her "comando scooting." Elaine can pull up to standing position. She can stand with minimal balance support for a long time, even going one-handed already. She can kind-of do an assisted walk--but the walking thing is still a little bit in the future.

Elaine's favorite sounds she learned while we were in Florida. She takes her fist or back of her open hand and runs it over her mouth while she makes a long vowel sound. We hope to get one of these frequent incidents on video soon. She gets a kick out of it every time she does it.

Milestones: Sounds and Spelling

As previously reported here, Elaine is moving across the floor of our house. She has mastered the "commando scoot" and gets where she wants to go. Some milestones of the girls...

Elaine (8 1/2 months)

Likes to:

• Grab cords, ribbons, necklaces, the cat, and the computer mouse
• Grab mouths
• Look at pictures in board books
  
• Play peek-a-boo with mommy
• Say "dada" to daddy
• Say "pbbbthm" for mommy

Is learning to:

• Use a sippy cup (still a ways off)
• Wave hello/goodbye
  
• Eat more varieties of soft foods
• Turn pages in board books (often backwards)
  

Elaine has begun to play peek-a-boo with her mom. She will lift the blanket over her own head, and pull it back and wait for us to say "peek-a-boo!" She does this several times with the biggest grin. We also noticed today that she's definitely making a specific sound for her mom. It doesn't really sound like "mama," but one can imagine it as the result of an attempt on the 'M' sound. What is unmistakable is that it is used to refer to her mommy and nothing else.

Meredith (4 1/4 years)

Likes to:

• Draw and tell stories
• Listen to the Beach Boys on the iPod
• Watch "Super Why" on PBS
• Look at books about everything
• Talk to grandparents on the phone and via web-cam

Is learning to:

• Write and sound out words
• Keep dangerous "toys" from her little sister
• Get into the holiday spirit with songs and stories about Santa Claus
• Sort of tell time (a 5 and two zeros on the digital clock is five o'clock)

Meredith recently wanted to spell and write out the word "salmon." (We were putting together our grocery list.) I asked her to sound it out. She decided the first letter was 'S' and wrote that letter down after a few tries. She then, with minimal prompting from me, sounded out the rest of the word correctly with the aid from me telling her that an 'L' was hiding right after the 'A'. She initially thought the last letter was an 'M' but then agreed it must be an 'N.' The end result was the perfectly written word. Several hours later on the way to the store with her mom, she decided to spell the word aloud. The first time she reversed the 'L' and the 'M' but then corrected herself on her own.

This is just the beginning of writing and reading. It is exciting to see Meredith start to put her knowledge together. We'll have a bookworm on our hands before we know it. Even now, Meredith will secretly turn on her bedroom light to look at books. (Sometimes to draw too.)

Meredith is looking forward to Christmas, but it seems she's looking even more forward to seeing both sets of grandparents in the coming weeks. Tonight she told me Santa Claus brings toys to good boys and girls on Christmas Eve and that Santa knows if you are bad or good, but only on Christmas Eve because that is when he is in the sky and able to see you. When I questioned this, she was insistent that Santa can only keep tabs on us during this one day. She's four years old and already she knows better than her dad on every issue she deems.

First word?

Last Friday, Elaine may have said her first word. I'm not an objective witness, but it seemed like she called me "dada." Elaine has been making the "dada" verbalization for a while now as an all purpose sound. It has seemed like she has used it in the last few weeks more frequently in my presence and when trying to get my attention. (See the December 10th post for a sample of her verbalization in the second video.)

On Friday, I pick her up after she awakes from her nap. Elaine is drowsy, but looks up at me. She looks up and down my face with an expression of assessment and then blurts out, mater-of-factly, while looking me in the eyes: "Dada!"

Since then, she hasn't done anything quite as clear; it does seem like she is using that verbalization for me with some consistency. We'll see in the coming weeks, but I'm thinking we can call that her first word.

Let it snow

Last weekend we got our first real snow of the season. Originally, forecasting as much as a full foot of snow, we got about 5 inches in Minneapolis. Still, a good amount when it comes to driving, shoveling, and playing in. We had the good fortune in that the storm came on the weekend, i.e. not during rush hours. (Isn't it funny that there was a time it was called rush hour--without the plural, and that was an accurate description?)

We stayed close to home. During the early part of the snow storm, I ventured to the post office and neighborhood co-op, where I procured our sustainably-grown Christmas tree. Lights were strung up and ornaments placed. I'm happy that I did the outdoor lights the previous week.

Meredith got some good outdoor play in. She played with both Junior and Eleanor outside, shoveling, sledding, and generally goofing around. We went to the mid-sized hill at Matthews Park just a few blocks away. It didn't take Meredith long to get used to and enjoy the high speed downhill sledding. (This often cautious girl volunteered to go down a steep part by herself as soon as we got there.)

Elaine spent the weekend indoors and her movement has exploded. She is on the cusp of crawling. She rolls, she pivots. She lunges. She scoots. She even drags herself with her arms on occasion. She can push her body off the floor. Often, she can get several feet across the room with some effort. What I also find notable is her frustration level. Elaine has generally been a patient and content baby (minus the first few months of colic and acid reflux). But she is clearly getting impatient with her ability to move and get to things she finds interesting. It's as if a light bulb went off above her head and suddenly she realizes what's possible. She certainly has the drive to try to move around that she really didn't have a week ago. But there has been a surplus of whining and crying along the way.


Snow Pictures





Video: Elaine shows her stuff

Dressing up cats

"Herding cats" is a great, commonly-used metaphor, which is usually apt in its usage. A similar comparison can also be made with dressing babies. They are like dressing up a cat.

Elaine in her greater movement is the squirmiest thing ever! Getting her dressed these days or just changing her diaper is an exercise in speed and coordination. She rolls. She scoots. She lunges. This is from a girl who isn't even crawling yet. Try getting her changed in the dark when sleep deprived at 5:30 AM when her diaper has leaked out for the fifth day in a row adds to the challenge.

So, dressing her is like I imagine dressing a cat would be. I don't think I'll try to put a diaper on the cat to test this theory. As I've stated before in several different contexts, at least babies don't have claws and teeth of cats. Though, Elaine seems to make due with her nails. She recently scraped off a chunk of skin from Meredith's nose.

Apparently, my mom was able to successfully dress up her childhood cat, so maybe I should get some tips from her. The only thing I can think of is growing a couple additional pairs of arms.

Seriously, why do we have only two pairs of arms and hands when we have babies to raise? And how on earth do the poor souls with twins, triplets, etc handle it all with just two arms?

On another note, Elaine turns 8 months today. She's growing up. She's on the verge of crawling. Each day she pushes herself off the ground on all fours more and more. It's at that point she doesn't know what to do. She mainly rocks back and forth before throwing herself in some direction on to her tummy. She's been also rolling her tongue a lot and clucking her tongue. It may or may not be related to teething. We're still looking forward to that first tooth to break through.

Checkin' in with Elaine

So, what's that Elaine up to these days? She just passed the seven month mark last week and is a thriving, content baby. Her favorite activity is to sit on the floor and play with her toys. She also lunges and twists and turns on the floor to get at things too.

She's crawling towards crawling. She's been in the crawl mode and has scooted herself backwards a couple times. For the first time yesterday, Elaine lifted her body off the ground in the crawl position. In the past, her stomach on the ground has gotten in the way of forward movement. She has now figured out that problem.

Elaine is much more interactive and commutative. She'll try to get your attention and make eye contact and laugh at silly faces. In her room, there is a chime we sometimes ring to distract her. She LOVES it. Recently, we started noticing that she would stare at it, waiting for us to chime it. This week she also stared at it while giving a very specific grunt that I hadn't heard before. I eventually realized it was a command and I rang the chime. Elaine laughed and had an expression of the deepest satisfaction.

The other non-interesting development with implications for me, is that Elaine seems to have transitioned from a 3 to 2 nap day. My whole daily schedule it took weeks to establish is now out the window. Her new schedule isn't all that predictable yet either. Today she slept an uncharacteristic 3 hours in the morning, and maybe a total of 30 minutes over 3 occasions the rest of the day. At least she sleeps well at night. I feel incredibly fortunate every night when she goes to sleep at a reasonable and consistent time. She sleeps until she's hungry (between 4:00 and 6:30am). Usually if it's before 6 am she'll go back to sleep after eating 5 or so ounces. On a couple occasions the last few days, she didn't really go back to sleep and was up for the day at 4:30 am. Those were weary days.

Yogurt baby

Elaine is a growing girl. It seems like she just had several sleepy days. We wonder if she just went through a growth spurt. She certainly seems stronger and able to move around much better. She's on the verge of crawling. Most of the time Elaine can scoot a couple inches, or pivot, to reach the toy of the moment.

Today, Elaine had yogurt for the first time. She loved it! In the last couple of months she's had rice and oatmeal cereal, pureed veggies, and pureed pears and bananas. With a new food, usually the first day features more grimaces than actual eating. By day 3 on a food, she's eating well. Today, she took right to the yogurt, like it was the best food in the whole wide world.

Milestones at 4 yrs and 5 mos, respectively

Just a few updates of what the girls have been up to recently. Elaine recently turned 5 months. (She's growing up!) Meredith's 4th birthday is tomorrow.

Elaine's favorite things:

• Looking at books and playing with toys. She wriggles and vocalizes enthusiastically!
  
• "Talking" to mom, dad, and big sister, and occasionally giggling
  
• Grabbing whatever is within reach
  

Elaine is learning:

• She can roll from back to stomach one way but is still working on rolling back.
  
• She can sit upright without support for several minutes! - before she tumbles in some direction.
  
• Recognizing her name (we think) and recognize the hand sign for milk (she excitedly kicks her legs and starts leaning forward for the not-yet visible bottle).
  
• Eating more foods. So far she has had rice cereal, bananas, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and pears.

Meredith's favorite things:

• Playing with friends, including pretending, hide and seek, tag, and watching occasional movies. (Jr. is really into a 1980s Ninja Turtles movie now.)
  
• Rock and roll music on the iPod, including the Beach Boys, the White Stripes, and They Might Be Giants.
• Books of all sorts, including Paddington Bear and about dinosaurs.
  
• Helping to cook. She can crack eggs quite ably. Licking the bowl after brownies remains her favorite.
  
• Goofing off for her sister's benefit.

Meredith is learning:

• Spanish at pre-K (she is very excited by it each day).
• The importance of being gentle with her sister. Some days are better than others.
  
• About dinosaurs. They lived really, really, really, really long ago. Even longer ago than when anyone we know was little. Wow. Her favorite is Triceratops, I think on the theory that he eats plants but is still really fierce.
  

We measured Meredith today and she is about 39 3/4 inches, which is about average we think. She went through a spurt during the summer. My how these kids grow. We don't know Elaine's current weight, but she keeps on growing out of clothes and diapers.

Elaine milestones at 4 months

Just a few updates of what Elaine has been up to recently. She turned just four months on July 30th and is a growing girl.

Elaine's favorite things:

• Looking at: the ceiling fan which seems to hypnotize her
  
• Making a host of noises, including a "raspberry" sound with her lips
  
• Batting at toys and moving them around with her hands
  

Elaine is learning to:

• Almost roll (She can do 3/4 of a roll from back to stomach on a consistent basis. With a little help from her parents or sister, she can go all the way in both directions.
  
• Sit upright with support for more than a brief moment
• Clasp her hands together (She looks very contemplative.) And use both her hands in concert when manipulating toys.
• Eat semi-solids! Elaine has had a handful of helpings of rice cereal mush and one sampling of pureed pears. The majority of the food ends up outside her mouth (on face, hands, neck, bib, clothes, floor, parents), she is consuming some and learning how to take bites from the spoon. She loved the pears!
  

Elaine and Meredith Milestones

Here's a snapshot of what Elaine and Meredith are up to these days...

Elaine's favorite things (at 3 mos. old):

• Nursing, but not eating from a bottle
  
• Looking at: Everything! Especially faces, fans, pictures, stuffed animals
• Smiling and"talking": She coos and grunts and loves to get a response
  
• Watching her sister's antics

Elaine is learning to:

• Squirm and scoot (rotating a bit in her crib at night)
  
• Go to sleep in her crib by herself (with some protests), and waking up only once at night!
• Further vocalizations, including a couple proto-laughs
• Hit or grab with her hands - and she's learning to actually hit things

Meredith's favorite things (3 years and 9 mo old):

• Pretending to: play-act recent experiences; go on a rocket ship vacation, usually camping or the jungle; play "family" (usually she's an authority figure that tells others what to do)
  
• Making up songs for her sister - often they have both elements of songs she knows and newly-created, stream-of-consciousness elements
  
• Best friends Savannah, Eloise, and Clara at preschool
• Conversing about rock and roll songs with Daddy and listening to them on the iPod or YouTube (particularly the Beach Boys, the White Stripes, Queen, and They Might Be Giants).
• Talk to grandparents on phone, sometimes as a Skype video call
  

Meredith is learning to:

• Pump her legs on the swing (tricky: you have to do it more than twice to get results)
  
• Be gentle with her sister
• Plan ahead for the next day's events
• Peddle on the tag-along bike
  

Mer and Elaine's favorite things

Here's Part I in what I would like to make a periodic update, because I now know that often it's the non baby-book-milestones that are the ones you wish you could remember later, after the sleep deprivation.

Elaine's favorite things (at 5 weeks old):

• Nursing and snuggling with Mommy
• Looking at: the dark border on the quilt above her changing table; sunny windows with the blind closed
• Staring at the person holding her, and occasionally smiling

Elaine is learning to:

• Find someone talking to her who is not holding her
• Take, and keep, a pacifier when she wants one
• Coo

Meredith's favorite things (3 years and 8 mo old):

• Being pushed on the swings and playing in the sandbox with her neighbors before and after dinner
• Pretending to: be a princess; go on a rocket ship vacation; be a family of some certain kind of animal; play doctor
• Going to weekly "music class" with Mommy
• Best friend Maren at preschool: both playing with her and telling us what Maren does and likes
• Conversing about science topics with Daddy
• Listening to and talking about songs on the iPod
  

Meredith is learning to:

• Add and subtract numbers less than 10, using her fingers
• Get dressed and undressed completely by herself
• Take deep breaths when she's frustrated
• Associate letters and their sounds to start sounding out words

-JRR