Three Months

Oh my baby girl, three months sounds like such a long time, though it went by in a flash. I feel like I've known you all my life, and yet you change almost imperceptibly every day. One day last week you woke up and started to experiment with your voice, making all kinds of interesting coos and gurgles that you never made before.. Yesterday you rolled over for the first time! (You haven't done it since, but it has definitely helped me put you on your tummy more often!)

You are getting so good at holding your head up. You get upset when people who don't know you that well try to hold you lying down with your head in the crook of their elbow like a tiny baby. You're a big girl now and want to be treated like it! You're not what I'd call consistent with it; your neck isn't quite strong enough to keep your head from bobbing, and sometimes you let go of it altogether, scaring us if we're not ready. (You lunged forward last week when you were sitting on your daddy's lap at the dinner table, and though he caught you just before you face planted into the wood, it still hurt your neck and you were pretty upset about it.)

You're also learning how to arch your back, planting your feet and pushing your bottom up. You do it in your play gym and get all cattywompus with your toys dangling in your face. You do it on the changing table, and you do it in your car seat. (Usually in that case it's when I'm trying to get you out, which is a nice help!)

Breastfeeding is going fantastically well, except for a sometimes lazy latch, which is more my fault than yours. You gave me two good blisters on one side, which are starting to heal up but are still painful, especially when you fidget at the breast and slurp my nipple between your gums. Ow.

Napping, on the other hand, is going fantastically unwell. Almost nonexistent. You are a great cat-napper: you fall asleep after eating, and will stay asleep anywhere from five to twenty minutes. If I try to transfer you to your Mamaroo or your crib, you are wide awake in a flash. (In fact, you are "napping" right now, which the monitor shows as being wiggly and making small talk. I'm hoping you'll tire yourself out and shut your eyes, but it doesn't really seem to work that way.) Things may change next week when you can't sleep in as long as you want - up at 6 instead of 9 (or later!). In other news, it's amusing to me that I can spend all day watching you play, and then when you take a nap all I want to do is watch you on the monitor. (I wish I could have a monitor on you all day at daycare! But then I'd never get any work done.)

Grabbing is another new skill you're honing. I realized these past few days that I've reached the permanent ponytail portion of mommyhood: you are strong when you get a hold of my hair! You are also starting to pull whatever you grab towards your mouth. And that tongue of yours is always exploring: the mat during tummy time, shoulders, knuckles, other people's chests, hair, toys, and mama's lips when she kisses you!

You still love being naked. I bet when you're a toddler we'll have a hard time keeping clothes on you. You can be in a terrible mood and 99% of the time that I take you up to your changing table and start to unsnap your onesie, you start smiling. It's pretty cute. I usually zerbert your tummy and give you some kisses while we're there. You also like it when I dab the drool off your chin, as long as it's dainty and accompanied by a high-pitched "bee-doot doot doot!" You're starting to like baths more too, splashing around a lot. It's just no fun at the end when you're cold and I'm trying to dress you in your jammies while you're lying on the countertop.

In general, you're such a happy baby. You look serious a lot of the time, I think because you're just drinking in all the world around you. But you almost never cry from ennui, you're almost always trying to tell us something and I'm glad of that.

Happy three months, my darling. I love you so much I can barely stand it.