4 months!
Spencer is 4 months! The doc said we can start him on solid food if we want to. Noooooo! He's still a teensy weensy widdle baaaybeee!
Spencer is solid 75th percentiles. Not as big as Jack was, but he's also 3 weeks behind. Today I'm going to rearrange the bedroom furniture because he now weighs too much for his bassinet. And I need to go through his clothes because some of his onesies are now bursting. One sleepsack fit him just fine last week, but last night was too short. Sob.
I wasn't sure that Spencer noticed/cared much about toys. When I put the toy bar on the bouncer, he interacts with it, but I didn't know how much was purposeful and how much was random flailing. This morning he was sitting in his bouncer looking kind of half-asleep, and I said, "Hey Spencer, want some toys?" and picked up the toy bar. He got all excited! Just now he managed to get a ring off and is alternately flailing with it and chewing on it.
He is still a very jolly, calm baby. He is happiest when standing, and will drool-smile all over the place. He is much more cuddly than Jack was--Jack was a pinching, kicking, scratching monster at 4 months. Spencer has much better nursing manners. Even so, usually by morning I'm done baby-holding for a while.
Jack is steadily improving in the gentleness department. He has not smacked/headbutted Spencer in a while. We started another year of Preschool Family (basically a preschool co-op/parent education program). Jack is quite good at waiting turns and when a kid has a toy he wants, he tells me, "I want to trade." Still, if some other kid tries to snatch something, he may hit or try to bite their fingers. But he's not the only one, and there are a lot of parents around to mediate conflicts like that. So basically Jack is "Don't start none, won't be none."
Other recent Jack interests:
- Police/jail. He has a book where a little girl makes up a story that a thief stole her guinea pig, and the police catch him and take him to jail. So Jack wants to "talk about" police and "fiefs" and jail all the time. He will sometimes grab my clothes and try to take me to jail.
- Snow White. I've told him fairy tales a few times as a way to keep him entertained while I did something, like take a shower. He fixated on Snow White. So I showed him the Disney movie (in installments). Now he is obsessed with the Evil Witch. He finds her scary and fascinating. Yesterday I was still in bed, and he came in with a cube he had made from Magnatiles. He said, "Here is a heart in a box," and left the box on the bed and left the room. Gee, thanks, Mr. Creepy.
- He is still really into digging outside, but now instead of just digging, he has stories about it. He pours concrete and makes sidewalks, or is a fireman putting out fires with a hose. In the car yesterday he said, "I pretend our car is a firetruck. WEE NEW WEE NEW WEE NEW WEE NEW!"
The pretending thing has really taken off. Most of his play now is pretend, which I know because he narrates.
I have given up on trying to keep the yard neat. The dirt/sand pit keeps growing, but heck, it keeps Jack entertained for literally hours each day, so I'm ok with it.
Spencer is solid 75th percentiles. Not as big as Jack was, but he's also 3 weeks behind. Today I'm going to rearrange the bedroom furniture because he now weighs too much for his bassinet. And I need to go through his clothes because some of his onesies are now bursting. One sleepsack fit him just fine last week, but last night was too short. Sob.
I wasn't sure that Spencer noticed/cared much about toys. When I put the toy bar on the bouncer, he interacts with it, but I didn't know how much was purposeful and how much was random flailing. This morning he was sitting in his bouncer looking kind of half-asleep, and I said, "Hey Spencer, want some toys?" and picked up the toy bar. He got all excited! Just now he managed to get a ring off and is alternately flailing with it and chewing on it.
He is still a very jolly, calm baby. He is happiest when standing, and will drool-smile all over the place. He is much more cuddly than Jack was--Jack was a pinching, kicking, scratching monster at 4 months. Spencer has much better nursing manners. Even so, usually by morning I'm done baby-holding for a while.
Jack is steadily improving in the gentleness department. He has not smacked/headbutted Spencer in a while. We started another year of Preschool Family (basically a preschool co-op/parent education program). Jack is quite good at waiting turns and when a kid has a toy he wants, he tells me, "I want to trade." Still, if some other kid tries to snatch something, he may hit or try to bite their fingers. But he's not the only one, and there are a lot of parents around to mediate conflicts like that. So basically Jack is "Don't start none, won't be none."
Other recent Jack interests:
- Police/jail. He has a book where a little girl makes up a story that a thief stole her guinea pig, and the police catch him and take him to jail. So Jack wants to "talk about" police and "fiefs" and jail all the time. He will sometimes grab my clothes and try to take me to jail.
- Snow White. I've told him fairy tales a few times as a way to keep him entertained while I did something, like take a shower. He fixated on Snow White. So I showed him the Disney movie (in installments). Now he is obsessed with the Evil Witch. He finds her scary and fascinating. Yesterday I was still in bed, and he came in with a cube he had made from Magnatiles. He said, "Here is a heart in a box," and left the box on the bed and left the room. Gee, thanks, Mr. Creepy.
- He is still really into digging outside, but now instead of just digging, he has stories about it. He pours concrete and makes sidewalks, or is a fireman putting out fires with a hose. In the car yesterday he said, "I pretend our car is a firetruck. WEE NEW WEE NEW WEE NEW WEE NEW!"
The pretending thing has really taken off. Most of his play now is pretend, which I know because he narrates.
I have given up on trying to keep the yard neat. The dirt/sand pit keeps growing, but heck, it keeps Jack entertained for literally hours each day, so I'm ok with it.