Three months

Another month's gone by in a blink, and our teenie-tiny newborn has been replaced with an infant.  A solid, opinionated, smiley, talkative gem of an infant.  Maggie is certainly growing, but I can't tell you how big she is because we don't have a working scale in the house.  I'd guess around 15 pounds, and maybe 25 inches tall.  She fills up 6-month sized clothing now.  That's as far as the bulk of the gift-clothing went, 6 months, so if she continues to lengthen and expand at this rate, I'll be shopping for 9-month summer clothes before Fall sets in.  Charlotte wore 6-month clothes until she was 8 or 9 months old, well after we turned on the heat for the season.

This month, Maggie found her voice.  She loves to talk, especially while lying on the changing table.  She gets a sly look on her face- slightly serious, but with a hint of a smile- and then blurts out a string of syllables punctuated with waving arms and kicking feet.  She loves conversations and stops babbling to listen for a response before launching into her next soliloquy.

Maggie loves bathtime, especially when I prop her up so she can see herself in the mirror.  She has serious cradle cap, which I've been advised to treat with olive oil and a gentle baby hair brush.  I let Charlotte's go untreated and she still has a bit remaining that I'm now "treating" with my hydrating conditioner (seems to help).  Maggie's is so bad that I can't imagine doing nothing about it for two years while we wait for it to simply go away on its own.  If you've had any success treating cradle cap, let me know your secret, please.  The Mustela stuff doesn't seem to have done a thing.  I haven't done the olive oil yet... so greasy, I don't want to stain her sheets.

Maggie seems to be back to sleeping through the night again... for the last 4 nights.  In fact, she slept for a full 11 hours (that's not a typo- ELEVEN) each of the last 2 nights.  Way to go, Maggie!

We've successfully given two complete feeds by bottle.  Each was about 4 ounces, after which maybe a quarter-ounce remained in the bottle.  I'll try a little more milk in the next one to see if she takes 4 ounces, or leaves the same amount behind.  The standard, narrow nipples seem to work better for her, but she sometimes gets her mouth around the entire nipple base so I'm trying to steer her toward something wider.  I may try something other than the breastflow ones since those seem a bit too stiff for Maggie's liking.

Riding in a baby carrier is now a form of torture.  When we go for a walk, Maggie prefers to ride in a stroller, either in her car seat on our sit-n-stand or in the reclined (but not flat) seat of the Cortina.  She has decent head control, so I may try facing her forward in the Bjorn soon.  Perhaps she just wants to see something other than the front of my shirt.

Maggie has a blankie/lovie that she already seems somewhat attached to.  Charlotte never developed such an attachment so I don't know if this is real or too early to stick.  If it continues for another week or so, I'll pick up a duplicate or two and start rotating them.  She likes to snuggle it to her cheek and chew on the corners, so it gets pretty slobbery.  She can't hold or hug the blankie at night because of the swaddle, so I've managed to wash it at night without any problem.

I swaddle Maggie at night.  She wriggles her arms out of the velcro'd wraps, but the Miracle Blanket works very well.  Some evenings, when I catch her at exactly the right time, she gives me the biggest grin while I'm wrapping her up, so I believe she likes being swaddled.  To distinguish between night and day, I just put mittens on her  for naps, so she can't scratch herself, and let her stretch her arms and legs.

So far, Maggie has shown no interest in trying to roll over.  I'm not very good at imposing tummy time on her, although I do try to get some in at least every-other day.  She doesn't immediately complain, but only lasts about 5 minutes before letting me know she's not a fan.  When lying on her back on the play mat, she does bat at dangling toys.  She grabs toys on her bouncy seat and swing too.

I'll add more to this when I think of other developments this month.  I'll add pictures too.