Saturday, October 17, 2009

A Little Lad and a Little Lady Grow Up

I have been meaning to post for more than a month already but life has held an abundance of "busy" in recent weeks. Since my last post my Little Lady turned three and my baby boy is now a bouncing four and a half months. I thought it was time to give a bit of an update on their growth if for no other reason than that if I don't write it hear I will probably forget these times the way I forget so much already and as I watch my baby's grow from little bundles to tiny people...I want so badly to remember every precious moment.

First my Little Lad:
At his four months appointment we were blown away by this boy. You would never know that he was a baby who we could hardly get to eat and wouldn't grow. He was completely off the charts for height, measuring about the height of our average ten month old! His weight was also above average, although still lean for his height, at just under 17 pounds. The doctor said that she would let us keep him in his infant carrier til his six month appointment, even though he is technically to tall, but that by his next appointment he would need to go into a bigger car seat and she suspects that by nine months he will need to be forward facing because he is so tall it would actually be less safe for him to be rear facing even though he won't be a year! He is wearing nine month sleepers and 6-12 month clothing and my best friend calls him her "squishy" because he is SUPER cuddly and has the chubbiest little cheeks! He is a smiler. With Little Lady we had to coax every smile out but with him he just sits around grinning half the time and it only takes a tiny bit of attention to get him all out giggling. He thinks his sister is especially hilarious. She could just be sitting there eating her lunch and he'll be practically rolling with laughter watching her. Speaking of rolling he rolls from tummy to back and ALMOST from back to tumm and can turn himself in circles when lying on his back by doing this strange rocking/rolling thing. He can sit up on his own for over a minute once we've got him stable enough but as soon as he gets excited...which happens often...he tips himself over. He also started cereal this last week. The doctor had told me to start him at his last appointment already because he is so big and was already showing all signs of readiness...but I couldn't bring myself to do it until after this Thanksgiving weekend when I saw how upset and frustrated he was whenever we ate and how he was grabbing at our plates and cups for food! He is enjoying the cereal quite a bit. As for his health, as you can tell he is doing much better, but he is still rattly much of the time. I find that frustrating but I calm myself with the fact that the doctor seems to believe that this is just his normal and he will outgrow it and that it's not of concern. The truth is that it doesn't seem to affect him...but it makes me a very nervous mommy anyway. Lately it has seemed a little worse but I think it may be because he is teething. He has an ABUNDANCE of drool which is actually more like a water fountain springing forth from his mouth and he is constantly soaked. I think the extra saliva is making him more rumbly because it just sits there since he hasn't figured out how to swallow it down or clear his throat properly yet. Hopefully it doesn't last much longer so my nerves stop being so frayed!

Little Lady:
She is a handful and a half lately. I have to say that although she is becoming a beautiful little girl and is so grown up sometimes...I really do miss my toddler. Oh the whining, the whys, and the temper of a three year old! Sometimes I just want to scream right along with her. At the same time she is turning into such a sweetheart. She can be the biggest help with her brother. Getting him toys, reading him books, bringing me things, throwing out diapers. She helps me clean and cook and do pretty much anything. She is always the first to notice when her brother wears a new outfit or I've had my hair cut or have painted my nails and she is always complimentary. She can also be very sweet and considerate. Recently when I was home alone with the kids early in the morning I started falling asleep nursing. I must have drifted off because suddenly I opened my eyes and there she was beside me on the couch quietly reading her books. When she noticed me looking at her she said, "It's ok. Go back to sleep mommy." She is incredibly creative and loves her crafts, reading, and colouring. She also loves to play all sorts of imaginary games and could spend hours outside inventing things for herself. Sometimes she is a little too inventive. Yesterday I was nursing her brother when she decided she wanted to paint. I asked her to wait and she made no complaint. However, when I checked on her several minutes later she had taken out all her paint supplies, found an ice cube tray, pulled a chair up to the sink, filled the tray with water, and began her painting project. Also I am incredibly worried she is going to cut off her hair. She loves to play "spa" and will do pretend waxes, massages, and hair do's on me or her dolls. I have told her multiple times that she can't really cut hair but she has an obsession with scissors and it seems no matter where I hide them she finds them. So far she hasn't caused any huge disasters but I'm definitely afraid that one day I might not catch her in time.....
The days of getting up in the night for bathroom breaks or night mares have sadly begun. Her latest fear is funnily...tractors! I am so not a farm girl so I find it a little amusing that my daughter has an actual FEAR of tractors and I really do feel for her. But although I have a dislike for most farm animals and machinery I have no idea where she got an actual FEAR from! The other night she woke up from a nightmare and was terrified that tractors were going to get into the house. It took us forever to convince her that we live nowhere near a farm and even if we did tractors don't just randomly drive through walls...and also that they cannot open doors. She talked about it all day and had a really hard time falling asleep even after we reassured her that there were no tractors near by and that we had securely locked all doors. She even put it in her prayers "Jesus please keep the tractors locked in the barn with the cows."
I wish I could remember or write down all the things she comes up with but I would have to be writing a couple times a day. Another thing recently though was last Sunday at church when she saw one of the new baby's who is about her brother's age.
"Mommy is that baby's name Jaren?" She asked.
"Yes that's right!" I said
"Why is that his name?" All conversations now involve at LEAST one why question.
"Because that's what his mommy and daddy wanted to name him. What did your mommy and daddy name you?"
"They decided to name me SWEETHEART!"
And she hasn't forgotten yet that she wants to marry an athlete. Recently she was asking me when she could go wedding dress shopping and we were having a whole discussion on marriage when I told her that before she got married she would have to find her prince charming. To which she replied that she had already FOUND her prince charming. He was on her cereal box. The skater...remember mommy?

Well that's a little look into the lives of a Little Lad and a Little Lady who are far to quickly becoming not so little!

5 comments:

Ben Dueck said...

Your latest post made me laugh out-loud! I was so glad to read something recent, because I'd been wondering how you all were doing! I'm very glad to hear that your little guy is doing so much better. Wish we could have seen you guys at Thanksgiving!

Ben Dueck said...

And Ben didn't write that, but it only shows his name! But I'm sure he'd love to see you guys, too!

Selah said...

Has she watched the movie cars? there is a scary tractor in that movie..
Thats too cute.. my poor little city girl!! :o)

Chelsa said...

great to hear an update on your little man and not little girl anymore!!

Steph said...

I love this post Carissa, I also had to laugh outloud as I read her fear of tractors. I do feel for her but it is also quite humerous.