Maggie still has not taken a complete feed by bottle. I tried again this afternoon and she drank about 2 ounces, then lay in my arms staring up at me wide-eyed and turning her head into my chest while smacking her lips. She wouldn't take more from the bottle, but nursed for about 4 minutes before falling asleep. Two-ounces is progress, though. Eventually, I'll be able to leave her with someone for more than an hour at a time. I tried a standard stage-1 nipple at first, on the bottles I pump into. Maggie just let the milk that dripped out of it run down her chin, making no effort to suck or drink a drop. Now I'm trying the "breastflow" from First Years- it's a two-part nipple set-up that's supposed to require both sucking and squeezing to draw milk out. I might try to basic nipples again just to see if our "progress" is due to Maggie's age or the nipple we're using. I don't want to wean her; I just want someone else to be able to feed her once in a while.
Charlotte has developed a very entertaining imagination. When she wakes in the morning, she doesn't immediately call out for rescue from the confines of her crib ("Mommy/Daddy come!"). Instead, she plays with her babies and stuffed animals that spend each night with her. She tells them stories, sings songs, teaches them signs, and sometimes dances with them. She also says something every day that completely cracks me up. For example, she wanted to take off her shoes and socks, so I told her she could have bare feet in the house. She replied, "I don't have bear feet! I have Charlotte feet." She reminds us daily that there are no "octopusses" in our house, and no ghosts or frogs either. She insists I take pictures of her when she's playing nicely with Maggie (i.e. they lie together on the playmat, or in Maggie's crib... which Charlotte desperately wants to sleep in). She likes to hold her baby sister about once each day and has started insisting that I not only let go of Maggie, but put some distance between myself and the two of them. I don't know what she's plotting.
The terrible twos have arrived, but not in the way I expected. Charlotte doesn't throw tantrums, especially not in public. Instead, she whines and fusses when she doesn't get her way. The difference between real crying and the fake drama is so blatantly obvious that she peppers in commentary to try to convince me that it's legit- "I can't stop crying." "I need ____." "I don't like anything!" But somehow, when I remind her that I cannot understand what she's saying while fussing, she can instantly shift into normal calm speech. I simply ignore her when she's whining. She seems to get it, and the spells pass fairly quickly. If I do try to talk to her or reason with her when she's in the middle of a fit, it only gets worse. And once a fit ends, she lets me know by telling me, "I'm happy now, Mommy." The only time it really bothers me is when she wakes Maggie up, leaving me with two screaming girls to contend with. Fortunately, that's rare.
Most days, I am a very lucky Mommy and the two go down for simultaneous naps after lunch. I usually end up leaving Charlotte in front of the TV while I put Maggie down. Then, Charlotte insists "I'm not tired AT ALL," while I guide her toward her room for "quiet time." I consistently let her know that "quiet time" is for me, not just for her, and that she doesn't have to go to sleep if she's not sleepy. She is allowed to bring 2 board books to bed with her in the afternoon, and on some days she reads to herself and her bed-friends for two hours instead of sleeping. Usually, she's asleep within ten minutes. Charlotte's nap usually lasts around 2 hours, Maggie's 90 minutes, or more. I generally end up with nearly an hour of me time during which I eat lunch (sometimes breakfast, as I don't always have a chance to eat in the morning), wash dishes, and otherwise tidy up. Sometimes, I nap too.
Maggie isn't on a real schedule yet. I think Charlotte was by now, as this is about the time I returned to work (part time) after her arrival. A schedule is beginning to reveal itself, though... sort of. She wakes between 5 and 6:30, usually, eats and goes back to sleep about an hour later for 90 minutes or so. We run our errands or go to a local playground or class in the morning, so as soon as Maggie is fed again we usually hop in the car and go somewhere. It's generally 2 or 3 hours between feedings, and she nurses for 10-20 minutes. Maggie naps for a bit between each of her feedings with one exception- staying awake between meal numbers 2 and 3, with a little dozing in the car when we're out and about. The witching hour is a thing of the past now, but she gets a little gassy in the late afternoon, so gripe water has become her late afternoon snack Hmmm... that sounds kind of like a schedule to me. I guess we do have one.
Sleepy me... past bedtime. G'night, but here are a couple of photos because they're dang cute. Ignore the dates on the last two- I forgot to reset the time stamp on my camera after recharging the battery.
1 comment:
Your girls are so beautiful! XOX
I hear you about those tantrums, and how you can get them to settle down. I have my parents visiting right now... and everything is out for a toss... they are getting pampered like crazy, and tantrums are at a high, because they know they can get away with a lot of stuff!
Post a Comment