Gwen's First Sentence!

Gwen was playing in the backyard while I was in the kitchen, and I went out to check on her. "Uh-oh Mama. Uh-oh. Kitty. Kitty throw up." Milton had hacked up a huge hairball and part of his lunch. I had no idea she even knew the concept of throw up. This picture is from our trip to the Zoo last month.

Big Girl Bed!

Gwen is sleeping through the night and napping in her big girl bed! The first night it took over THREE hours to get to sleep, but she then slept through the night. The second day she napped in her bed no problem, and slept all through the night again. When we went to bed we opened her door and left our bedroom door open so she could come and get us if she needed anything (she did wake in the morning in a little panicked the first morning). When she woke in the morning she didn't make a peep. I woke to her foot steps in our room and her standing right in front of me- which was very startling. She has been going to bed at her usual time (somewhere in the window of falling asleep between 9:15pm and 11pm), and has been waking at her usual time of between 7am and 8am. The third night she did wake up at 3:30am and finished the night with us...she went right to sleep, when usually we are up for at least an hour trying to calm her back down. We still sometimes do a stroller walk to calm her down, but she has been sleeping in her bed since Thursday night (she had been taking all her naps in her stroller for the last 6 months or so).

I checked out a book from the library, Raising Your Spirited Child, by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, and there is a very helpful chapter on sleep. Gwen seems to fit the description of spirited: lively, creative, keen, eager, full of energy and courage. Try putting that to sleep! Sheedy lists five characteristics that spirited children have more of: intensity, persistence, sensitivity, perceptiveness, adaptability. Gwen also has one of the bonus characteristics she talks about, ENERGY! This article has a good breadown of the books approach. It has taken us 20 months, but Gwen is now on a schedule (her schedule, nothing we imposed), but it is more or less the same every day. And it took us this long for her to consistently sleep through the night (one wake up once or twice a month is totally manageable!). Now, if she could just put herself to sleep.......

24 weeks check up; and 20 months update

I had my 20-24 week doctor's appointment yesterday, mainly just a check up to make sure everything is going well, and opportunity for doctor to make an order for the dreaded glucose test. This is a routine screening for Gestational Diabetes which I will go back for in the next few weeks (imagine drinking concentrated Mountain Dew, then fasting for an hour, then having your blood drawn...all very unpleasant). Little brother is doing well and growing right on schedule. He is super active (I think I felt him first around 16 weeks which is early) and Spencer felt him around 20 weeks, and saw him move a few weeks later. Gwen was so sweet the other morning and started rubbing my belly with both hands (I have quite a Buddha now)- and then she kissed it! I can't wait for her to feel little brother move. Since weaning she has been using her pacifier a little bit more, but we are trying to not make too much of a deal out of it, while trying to prevent any bad habits. She is talking up a storm and working on her colors- so far she seems to have grasped orange and purple. We are also working on baby sign language again. I had stopped practicing signs when she started talking, but am working on some 'concept' signs, like emotions and colors. It is amazing what she remembers from months ago! We went to the Zoo Saturday with our friends Kristen, Mark and little PJ (who we have been practicing our signs with) and Gwen signed a bunch of animals unprompted which was cool. She can't say her name, but can name almost everyone else. See video provided by Malia!