Magrilless

I captured this video of Mags while we were at a birthday party last weekend; she didn’t know I was there. It was a costume party where the host provided the costumes. Maggie was so enamored of the ladybug wings and antennae (the tutu was hers of course) that they let her keep them. So we’ve had a ladybug occasionally living in our house.

Maggie continues to be on a Number 5 robot kick. She’s not interested in the movie he comes from (Short Circuit), which is kind of good since it is quite inappropriate for her age (lots of guns and foul language). But, boy, has she glommed onto the character. The other day he was making mischief like you wouldn’t believe: he was climbing on her desk; he was on the ceiling fans; he was tracking dirty footprints all over the house after Maggie had just finished cleaning them up; he kept getting out of timeout no matter where she put him. He’s a bit of a trouble-maker, this Number 5. He also takes things out of her drawers and strews them across the house (gee, I wonder who actually did that). But unless she’s blaming him for something she actually did, Maggie absolutely knows he’s an imaginary friend. The other day I made up a story for her about Number 5 flying to Never Never Land (he can fly, by the way) to visit Tinker Bell. And while he napped in her room she drew a picture for him to take back to the Mainland and give his best friend, Maggie. When we got to school I suggested that she draw a picture for Tinker Bell so Number 5 could take it to her next time he felt like a good fly. She looked at me and said “It’s not real, Mom.” And when a neighbor at a block party gave her a cracker to share with Number 5, Mags told her “He’s just pretend” and gave the cracker back. Well, okay then; good to know.

She continues to be adjusting really well to big sisterhood. We’ve had a couple of days where when Tessa cries, Maggie imitates the noise and yells for her pacifier too. Or I’m nursing the babe and Maggie goes on a spree throughout the house throwing everything she can reach on the floor and laughing hysterically. Those are fun moments. We did have a discussion yesterday about how if she wants me to pay attention to her, the way to get that isn’t to be naughty; she should say “I want a hug, Mommy.” But then she asks to hold Tessa and tickles her face with her braids. Or runs into the kitchen where I am and tells me Tess is crying — “Help her Mommy!” — even if she’s in the bassinet right there next to me. Or exclaims “Tessa’s so cute!” So all in all, I think she’s getting along great with this new dynamic.

Oh, things are good. The pinkeye has disappeared thanks to her round of antibiotics. Her baby acne is clearing up a bit so she looks less splotchy. She’s still sleeping like a champ at night; we’re routinely getting 6 or 7 hours with only one interruption. A couple days even had both girls napping at the same time! She’s started to find her fist or her thumb (if it’s available) to chew on when her pacifier isn’t in her mouth. In the morning especially Tessa likes to talk to us. What a sweet little voice! And the smiles continue; I think she’d like to laugh if she knew how. But the furrowed brow is definitely still present quite often. She’s gotten a little bit more needy, wanting to be picked up and held almost all the time instead of laying in her bassinet or on the boppy. It makes dinner preparation a little trickier (especially when knives are involved; ever cut carrots with only one hand available? — it’s hard!), and projects with Maggie have to be well-planned too. But who are we kidding? This kid is mellow, easy-going, and precious. And good-sized too, of course. We’re about to graduate out of all the newborn size clothes and move into 0-3 monthers. Here’s hoping all these good things continue! It’s sure easy to love this little girl.

It sounds like such a good idea to parents. “If you don’t like what we’re having for dinner, just take scout’s bites.” Generally that’s one bite for each year of age. Logical; fair; respectful. So last night at dinner when Maggie was less than thrilled with her broccoli, we told her she just needed two more bites to fulfill scout’s requirements.

The problem is Maggie is much more headstrong than the average scout. And so when she made herself gag on it and threw up her entire dinner at the table, we started to think we might need a different strategy.

Well, you can’t be a 6-week-old with a big sister in preschool and avoid getting some illness for long. (6 weeks!? I think about how interminable that period of time seemed when I was pregnant. Now that Tessa’s here, it’s gone by in a flash. Can she really be 6 weeks old already?) Nothing serious or upsetting or, really, noticeable. Somehow she got pinkeye in her left eye. It hasn’t bothered her or crusted over so she can’t open her eye or even turned pink. But we noticed her eye was more watery than the other and the tears were a little creamy. So to the doctor we went and, lo and behold, we’re putting antibiotic drops in her eyes three times a day. We’ve almost completed her regimen and her eyes are completely normal; in fact they were within a day of starting drops. First sickness: check.

One of the upshots of going to the doctor is that we got to weigh Tess in between regularly scheduled check-ups. She’s at 10 lbs, 4 oz. (By the way, when Maggie was two weeks older than Tess is, she still didn’t weigh as much as Tessa did at birth. Monster baby!) Which is a good amount of weight gain. This reassures us that she can indeed go as long between feedings as she has been at night. This kid is an awesome sleeper! We’re in bed by 9:30 most nights, eating between 1 and 2, then asleep again (either on me or a combo of in her bassinet and then on me) by 2:30 until the alarm at 6:30. That’s almost 8 hours! Did you hear that? 8 hours! During the day she’s still eating pretty much every 3 hours, so apparently that’s enough to rocket her weight up.

And we think we’ve gotten our first couple of smiles out of her. They seem real, and come after some sort of parental antic like eskimo kisses or surprise squeezes. They are of course radiant and beautiful and make our hearts light. Especially from this kiddo, who more often than not has that crease going between her brows. I guess she can take a joke after all!

Tessa’s doing great. She’s still a good eater; our bathroom scale has her above 10 lbs now. Although it seems like she’s spitting up entire meals sometimes, it doesn’t seem to be doing her any harm. We’re trying to be zen about the whole thing, changing clothes and burp rags as needed and often and not being too grossed out about the big ones. Yesterday we were on a walk and met a neighbor who had yet to see Tessa. I opened up my jacket where she was snuggled in against me and saw that she had spit-up all over her face and my shirt. The neighbor made some generic remark about “beautiful baby” and so forth and we continued on. Way to make a first impression, Tess. Gross. And on the other end of things, she’s gotten herself on a kind of funny poop schedule. She’s off for a day, and then the next day every diaper is poopy. On one day, off the next, on, off. We’ll try to schedule your babysitting for an off day.

Sleeping is getting better too. We’ve even had two nights with 6 hour stretches. She still will only sleep a couple of hours by herself in her bassinet, then wakes up. But on my chest she’ll sleep another one or two and be happy about it. Bill asked me “Can you really sleep with her on you like that?” because he certainly cannot. And is it the best and deepest sleep of my life? No. But it’s certainly more sleep than if she were crying in the bassinet next to me.

Tessa has had her first parties now. She did not mind the noise or the jostling or the attention. At our block party she was awake and alert the whole time and was happy as a clam sitting on our Navy-neighbor’s lap while he talked to her. Guess we have another party animal on our hands! Will this one be an extrovert too, heaven help us?