Once Upon A Month
Posted By Jill on January 31, 2012
Josie is one month old now. I missed our 3-week and 4-week update but did take photos at 3 weeks.
Things around the house are becoming more routine, at least as much as they can be at this point. Over the last two weeks we have gotten through naptime struggles, mealtime struggles and colds.
Mac had a few days in a row the week before last when he didn’t take a nap. He would come out saying, “I can’t go to sleep,” or, “I can’t lay in my bed and close my eyes.” It was exhausting. The worst were the days he would be so restless it would wake Vivian, who seems to come out of her deep sleep after an hour then go back to sleep if not distracted (or entertained, as the case may be). Mac hadn’t been out of the house and was likely going stir crazy. It was both disturbing and entertaining to watch on the new wireless IP camera we installed in the kids’ room… Anyway, we seem to have moved past it now, thank goodness. He still comes out for water or to go to the bathroom at naptime and bedtime, which we allow. And either because of his cold or as an effect of Josie being with us, he also often asks one of us to lie down with him, which we usually oblige if it seems legitimate and is asked for with nice manners.
We had Mac’s preschool parent conferences the week before last also. He’s doing really well. The only thing marked down on his “report card” that he is still working on is sharing with others. We are told this is totally normal, and he just needs to be reminded to use his words to ask for toys rather than to just take them. We obviously see the same behavior at home, and we are all giving the same verbal cues to help him learn to use his manners. Other than that, he’s right on track with his learning, knows almost all the letters by sight, knows his colors, shapes and most numbers up to 20. He participates in class, interacts with his peers, listens when he’s supposed to, etc.
Vivian is interacting much more with sounds like talking and does have what we would now call words that she actually associates with the object: coincidentally, I would say “ball” is her first consistent word – same as Mac! She also seems to say “car” when she holds up a car. She is so smart. She is getting very good at completing puzzles and still loves to build with blocks and play with Mac’s trains.
Josie is still doing well. We’ve only had a couple of nights that weren’t very restful, otherwise she wakes only once a night to eat. Because of the trouble we had with Vivian taking a bottle, we started trying them the weekend before last when Jeremy was home. She did really well! She took a whole feeding from him twice and was also fed a little by the babysitter while we were gone. She took another one this past weekend while I was out. Whew, that means more freedom for Mommy!! There is not too much more to report with her except that she is growing. We are out of the newborn size diapers, but she’s swimming in size 1. She’s also getting stronger. As you can see from her photo above, she’s holding up her head when on her tummy – and we haven’t even done much tummy time to give her opportunities to practice! This is all going to go by way too fast.
There doesn’t seem to be any jealousy from Mac or Vivian towards Josie. They are actually quite indifferent toward her, which is understandable, given at this point she doesn’t do much but sleep! Mac is now becoming more interested in her and concerned when she’s crying. In the last few days he successfully gave her her nuk a few times (which she promptly spit out, but still…). The other day, he heard her cry and said, “what’s wrong, Josie?” Ugh, tugs at the heart strings… And then I was getting lunch for Mac and Vivian and left Josie sleeping downstairs in the swing. When Mac heard her crying, he said, “I forgot to turn the lights off for Josie so she can sleep!” And yesterday Mac was downstairs when I brought Josie into Jeremy’s office. Jeremy said Mac ran into his office, said, “Hi, Josie!” and ran back out. So I think he likes her… 
Just one more anecdote to close… Mac frequently says he “loves Daddy, Grandma and Nana.” Notice Mommy is not included. He will bring out this kind of talk at the funniest moments. Last week he came into our bedroom in the morning as usual. He always comes over to my side saying, “Mommy, Mommy.” Usually it’s followed by, “I need to go tinkles,” or asking for something. This time he came over to me and said, “I want to lay with Daddy.” But it was 5:00 a.m., and Jeremy had worked very late, so I wanted to let him sleep. I told Mac he could lay with me or go back to his bed. He said (and I’m not paraphrasing), “No, I don’t love you.” Thanks, Honey, and yes, you can still lay with me, because even though you don’t love me, I love you. Stinker.
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