Morning Smile For Mommy: March 2014

Now that I'm four months into being a mother of two, I feel like I'm only beginning to get the hang of it. How has it been? Amazing! Going from 1 to 2 is slightly easier than going from 0 to 1. For one thing, life is more of the same. What has made the transition easier is knowing what to expect with an infant since Makayla was an infant not long ago. Also, I feel physically better this time around which helps so so much. The main challenge has been learning how to juggle two young children with differing needs. I think the most difficult part of it all is the constant unsettling feeling of not being able give each child the attention he/she needs and deserves. So this time around, I have not been shy to ask for help from my parents and in-laws. This has made a world of difference!

Luke & Makayla

Makayla has been super sweet to her baby brother. From day 1, she has claimed Luke as her baby. Even after 4 months, she'll still walk into a room and as soon as she spots him, she'll light up and run to him to hug and kiss (or suck) him and exclaim "He's soooo cute!" Although she tends to ignore us especially when she's watching tv or playing on the iphone, she will on occasion look up to give Luke a kiss. She often asks to "carry him" so we prop him up against her or between her legs and she gets so excited and proceeds to suck on his cheeks or head. She also caresses his cheeks and says "Chubby cheeks!" Makayla has also been a great helper.. well as good a helper as one can be at 2 years old. If I need her to get me diapers or wipes, she will.

As much as M loves her baby brother, she definitely has her moments. If she's feeling really needy and I'm holding Luke, she'll ask me to put him in the swing, crib or hand him over to Daddy. Also, though she is fairly independent, during times when she's acting up I just pick her up and find that she immediately calms down.

During the first and second months of Luke's life our family was hit by this year's rough flu season and unfortunately, M fell victim to a couple of colds/flus. To make a long story short, sick toddler + toddler adjusting to new baby + "terrible" two-year-old = one very cranky toddler. Thankfully once M felt better, got better sleep, and got used to Mommy holding Luke, she snapped back into the sweet girl she is.

Night times were also pretty difficult in the beginning. M would for some reason start waking up in the middle of the night. We had to try to keep her quiet so the baby could stay asleep but when the baby started crying we had to make sure he didn't wake M up. Also, since M only wants Mommy at night time, and Luke needs me to feed him, it became impossible to manage when the 2 were awake at the same time.

Luke is also adjusting to big sister M. He is getting used to the smothering he gets from M. He used to cry out a bit but now he just makes a face or even smiles. Raissa's mom told me that once, Luke was sitting in his baby chair crying a bit, and by the time she went to pick him up, big sister had already managed to calm him down. I know it'll be just a matter of time before they start playing together. My hope is for them to be the best of friends.

Luke Update (4.5 months old)

Like a typical second child, Baby Luke has gotten the short end of the stick in many ways.. so out of fairness to Luke, his update will go first :)

Although there isn't too much to report at this point, there are aspects of newborns that are so wonderful and memorable. For one thing, everything is so simple and innocent- they just eat, sleep, and "play"... and cry. Other things that I love about newborns- their sweet milk smell, the way they focus on certain objects (fans, light), their tiny hands and feet, the way they concentrate so hard before they let out huge poop, the noises they make when they eat and sleep, the way they root on anybody, the way they stretch their arms immediately when you pick them up while they're sleeping. And since most things they do are unintentional, they can get away with a lot while looking cute and smiley-- the poop explosions, the poop in the bathtub, the spit up that happens immediately after baby's been changed into new clothes. In fact, sometimes I think Luke knows exactly when he's caused a lot of clean up because immediately after his poop, he'll look up at me and flash the happiest smile. It's the smile that immediately takes away all the frustration I may be feeling at the moment.

Physical & Motor Development

Although Luke was pretty average in size at birth (7 lbs, 8 oz.), his weight has increased so quickly! During his 2 month well check, he had already exceeded his birth weight at around 17 lbs! And at his 4 month well check, he weighed in at 20 lbs. He's approx. 40% in height among boys the same age. Like Makayla, he's got amazing rolls that attracts much attention. Different from Makayla, though, people tend to comment on how "solid" he is rather than how "chubby" he is. I'm not sure what makes him more solid than Makayla but hey, it sounds more masculine so I'm sure Luke will appreciate the compliment when he gets older.

Also very similar to Makayla, Luke has a habit of rolling his head from left to right when he's about to fall asleep, resulting in a pretty awesome bald spot on the back of his head, and long patches of hair on the sides.

Luke does spit up a bit, but not nearly as much as M did.

From very early on, Luke has been able to track objects or people, has been pretty alert and has been making great eye contact. Like many babies, including M, he used to furrow his brows a lot-- I hear it's his way of trying to focus on objects. In the hospital, we immediately noticed that he was a super easy baby.. he didn't cry a lot, didn't require much holding and was fairly easy to put to sleep. Probably the most difficult part was getting him to feed properly. This issue has obviously been resolved :)

Luke seems pretty strong- he has been able to support his head from the beginning and is able to raise his head and chest when lying on his stomach. He can push down on his legs when his feet are placed on a firm surface. He doesn't seem to enjoy laying down-- when we put him in the swing, he tries to sit up, and Raissa has reported that Luke likes doing sit-ups in the baby rocking chair.

He is doing a great job of using his hands. One day he started raising his hand to study it and a few days later, he started batting at his toys (I noticed Makayla doing this as well). He loves sucking on his fists and grabbing objects in order to bring them to his mouth. He is also able to bring his hands together.

Raissa and her mom witnessed Luke rolling over from back to front but only once.

About a month ago, Luke caught RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) which is pretty serious in young infants since their nasal passages aren't fully developed. We had to use a nebulizer on him for breathing treatments to alleviate his symptoms.

Sleep

During the first month Luke slept A LOT, likely due to having a little bit of jaundice. However, it was difficult for him to sustain sleep when he wasn't being held. Nowadays he sleeps at least a 10 hour stretch at night but wakes up at least 2 times during the night. While Makayla was a more fussy baby during the day, she was already sleeping through the night at this point.

Socio-Emotional Development

Luke started smiling at around 6 weeks of age, then moved onto short laughs, and then as posted on the prior post, moved onto the adorable belly laughs. He doesn't belly laugh too often though. Instead, he screams when he gets super happy or excited.

He is also super talkative. He coos A LOT and it is so sweet to hear!

We are also beginning to see a little bit of his personality emerge. It was clear at this age that M was going to be an extremely happy, outgoing and playful child. Her giggles were intense and uninhibited and frequent. Luke is also very happy but he smiles a lot more than he laughs and though he "talks" a lot, you hear it in the form of soft cooing. I think he will be a much more happy quiet child, a bit like Eric I suppose.

Overall, Luke has been a very easy infant. M was actually relatively easy as well, but Luke can actually make it through a day without crying. You can also set him down for awhile without him getting whiny or needy. What a blessing!

Makayla Update (30 months old)

How did my baby girl start speaking like a normal person? She's really carrying on a conversation quite well with back and forth long, grammatically correct, coherent sentences. This is also coinciding with her pretend play with her toys.

My (not-so) baby girl eats, sleeps, and dreams fairy tales. When she's playing, she chooses to play with either her Disney Princesses or her Minnie Mouse. When she's eating, she's watching a Disney movie or Mickey Mouse clubhouse episode. She is so attentive when watching movies or reading books it has been so great for her language development. When she's playing, you hear parts of movies or books being incorporated into her speech. I've heard her say "Each year on her birthday, Rapunzel sees the floating lanterns in the sky."

More than just memorizing ideas, she is really showing a growth in critical thinking. For example, this is a conversation I had with Makayla one day..

M (while watching Tangled): Mama, I want to go see the lanterns too!

Me: Sorry, I don't know where we can go to see the lanterns.
M: Maybe we can ask Rapunzel!

One day, Eric took M to the bookstore where she saw some Thomas trains she wanted to buy. When Eric told M he couldn't buy them for her, she told him that he could buy them for Mommy :) What a thoughtful child she is! HAHA!

Makayla completely understands how to use pronouns I and YOU now, along with many other pronouns. Interestingly, she's making one consistent error, substituting "my" for "I" when asking questions. For example, she will ask "Can my sit down?" instead of "Can I sit down?" Interestingly, she will say the sentence "I am sitting" correctly. This is a common linguistic error that toddlers make. I've also noticed other instances where she shows that she is playing around with and even showing an understanding for sentence structure. When M says "Minnie Mouse is stand uping" it is spoken in error but nevertheless shows an understanding of present participle being used in a sentence. M gets out of the shower every day and says "My hands are pruny" but one day she said "My pruny hands" instead, demonstrating an understanding that the placement of adjectives can be manipulated in a sentence.

A few months ago, Makayla started asking for permission ALL THE TIME. "Mommy, can my eat this?" "Mommy, can my put on my shoes?" "Mommy, can I run away?" "Mommy, can my have a lollipop?" I LOVE IT!!!!!!

As mentioned before, princesses have taken over the Chang household! Not only does she sing princess songs a lot, but she also chooses clothing that remind her of certain princesses. For some reason she has a particular fondness for Rapunzel so many times she'll ask to wear purple clothes and then she'll say her name is Princess Makayla Rapunzel Kristen Chang." When it comes to pretend play, M spends the majority of her playtime playing with her Disney princess figurines. Now that she's read some princess books and seen some princess movies, she is quite familiar with the storylines. She's attracted to some themes and loves reacting those scenes in her pretend play- Cinderella running away, Cinderella losing her glass slipper, Flynn climbing up Rapunzel's hair, Rapunzel seeing the floating lanterns.

M can identify boys vs. girls.

One thing that can be frustrating about this age is that children aren't completely rational and extremely fickle. Just the other day we gave her noodles for dinner because she had requested it the night before. She didn't want the noodles because she wanted soup. After heating up some soup for her, she didn't want it anymore. Another example, she'll choose an outfit to wear after her shower, then she choose another 5 outfits until I finally get tired and distract her with a book.

M has been much less clingy. Although she still prefers me most of the time, we are able to check her into church on Sundays without her crying. Also she is much closer with Eric than before.

We decided to start potty training M a few weeks ago. We rolled up the rug, put up the baby gate and confined M to the non-carpeted areas in the house. We stayed home for 2 days just working on getting M to use the potty. Epic fail. M managed to poop or pee in her hello kitty panties EVERY SINGLE TIME. So frustrating! One time I even asked her "Makayla, why did you get Hello Kitty wet?" and she responded "Because I need to wear a diaper." Just a few days ago, however, she started asking us to change her diaper after every poo and pee diaper. We may have to give the potty training another attempt in the near future.

Some fun things that have been spoken by M:

"I'm a princess in my castle"

"That's so cool!"

"That's so silly!"

"That's so sweet!"

"Oh boy!"

Makayla sneezes. "Don't worry, it was me, I was sneezing".

Raissa: "Miss M, let's not touch baby's face, we don't want to get him sick." M: "But I want to drink his face!"

Raissa, Luke and M are playing hide and seek. M hides and then yells "Here I am!"

Me: "Makayla time to take a shower" M: "Actually, I go play!"

Me: "What's your name?" M: "Princess Makayla Kristen Chang!"

Obsessions: