She is a chunky monkey. She vocalizes way more than James ever did at this age. Her hands entertain her for a good long time - just holding them together in front of her, looking at them as she turns them this way & that. She holds her head up high when she's on her belly. And she's been putting weight on her legs since birth. I actually pulled out the Exersaucer for her yesterday, because I can't hold her upright long enough for her preferences!
She has done a pretty good job with sleeping - falling asleep on her own without much fuss at all. In fact, when she's tired and wants to sleep, she will fuss until I put her on her back. Then she just turns her head, closes her eyes and off she goes to dreamland! On occasion, she will need to cry for a minute or two before sleep overcomes her. But that is actually rare.
Although she falls asleep on her own pretty well, she doesn't nap super well during the day. Sometimes she only sleeps for 45 minutes at a stretch. But nighttime sleep has been pretty good for awhile now. She goes at least 6 hours between eating. And we've had a couple of nights where she's gone 7 or 9 hours!
For awhile, she would start her long sleep stretch at 6 or 6:30 p.m. and then awaken every three hours for the rest of the night. If I woke her up at 9:30 or 10 to eat, she'd still only go three hours after that. So I got in the habit of letting her sleep. But sometime in the past couple of weeks, she started stirring when I'd go to bed, so I tried feeding her. Wonder of wonders, she'd sleep 6 hours after that!
I have not been as good with giving her a bottle as I was with James. But eventually she has taken one when offered. It just seems to take time. I want to get better about giving her one a day since I could be hitting the point of no return!
She recently decided to put herself on 4-hour eating routine. And she is efficient. She usually only eats for 8 to 10 minutes now. James ate for 20 minutes total no matter what. So I couldn't figure out what was up when, after 3 hours, I'd try to feed her, and she'd start to cry after less than a minute. If I'd wait an hour, she'd eat for 3 to 4 minutes on one side then seem to be done. So I'd burp her and trade sides only to have her eat a max of 6 or 7 minutes (if that, sometimes). Finally someone suggested that she was just efficient and only needed to eat every 4 hours. Oh - right!
It hasn't hampered her growth at all... "little miss-miss" as James calls her, has gained weight just fine.
So without further ado, here are Madelene Kate's stats for 2- and 4-months:
Jan 22, 2010
weight - 11 lbs 5 oz (50-75th percentile)
height - 22 3/4 inches (50-75th percentile)
head circumference: 39 cm (50th percentile)
Mar 19, 2010
weight - 14 lbs, 5 oz (75th percentile)
height - 24 1/2 inches (50-75th percentile)
head circumference: 41 cm (50th percentile)
She is a darling little chub, if I do say so! She has a ready smile, and has begun to laugh. She's so easy going, only really crying when she needs to be changed. Otherwise, she fusses when tired, and squeals when she wants someone to talk to her.
I can hardly believe she is my girlie. What a wonderful gift from our gracious God's hand.
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