Chase busies himself with learning lots of new words. He talks constantly and his vocabulary is now more intelligible; he is speaking in sentences like "I read book", "Star song please" (meaning the Twinkle, Twinkle little star song) , or "I wanna play Titus & Siah" (his current bff's) or "Papi go in black car" or "Daddy at wreh-k (work)." He is starting to do things for himself: getting into his carseat, putting his dirty clothes in the laundry basket, asking to pray, helping with putting away silverware, washing and drying his hands, brushing his teeth, cleaning up his toys, etc. Still no potty training, but I'm okay with that. He is mimicking more words. I used to say that Chase was not a people-pleaser. He would never try to do things for a reaction from us or to hear praise. He would simply do them in his own timing. I joke with Brian that Chase gets this from him. I (sometimes to my detriment) am SUCH a people-pleaser! I remember trying to make my family laugh at a young age so I could get a reaction out of them.
I am pleased that Chase all the sudden seems interested in repeating words we are teaching him. Before it was like pulling teeth to get him to learn words. He would purposely refuse to say words we knew that he knew (like his own name and his sister's name). Funny sidenote: Brian tricked him the other day to say both his own name and his sister's name. He told them that the birdy on the book was named Chase and that the other bird was Sophie and of course Chase fell for it and said his name and his sister's for the first time!! But then when Brian said, "Hey Chase, what's your name?" Nothing. "Chase, can you say 'Chase'?" Silence (with a smile).
Now he is more curious and will point to things and repeat the word once we tell him. He also likes singing songs like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "My God is so Big" and "Hush Little Baby." Even though I HATE "Hush Little Baby." I guess it's not as morbid as "Rock-a-bye Baby," but seriously, the grammar and the rhyming in "Hush Little Baby" is h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e. Everytime Chase asks us to sing it, I cringe at the "looking glass" that "gets broke" and the unrhymed "broke" and "billy goat" and how it seems like the composer ran out of ideas so they decided to use an animal with a cart twice. I mean seriously people?! (Ok, that's enough of my rant. Brian always rolls his eyes at my disgust for the song. But part of me does not want Chase to learn bad English! That's the linguist in me I guess.)
Sophie is now 11 weeks and getting cuter by the minute. She gives me tons of smiles and has the cutest dimples. She is very responsive and seems to like female voices the most. She does this things where she smiles and rolls her head around as if to say "I'm SO cute. I know." As my mom says, she smiles with her eyes too. (Her eyes squint, her cheeks raise and her eyebrows arch as if she's delighted to exist!!) She even makes little coos that sound like she's saying "hi." Thus far, she seems much more of a people-pleaser like her mama. (At her age, Chase would crack a smile here and there but he was pretty cautious and more serious.)
Sophie's two month stats:
Height: 24 inches 89th percentile (skinny girl tall girl!)
Weight: 11 lb 3 oz 44th percentile
Head: 15 inches 19th percentile (Whew. I thought that when her head grew so much from birth to one month, she was gonna be a melonhead!! But alas, she is small-headed again. Or relatively speaking b/c to me she still looks like her head makes up the majority of her bodyweight.)
Something really sweet happened the other day. I was holding Sophie as she was dozing during a meeting and her eyes shot open when she heard her daddy's voice after many people had been speaking and praying. I wasn't even standing near Brian, but I think she noticed his voice! So sweet.
I have really enjoyed getting to know my little girl. She has this adorable way about her. I love just kissing on her and watching her cute expressions. I love snuggling with her and swaddling her. My favorite time is late at night when she is swaddled and just starting to fall asleep. I put her in bed with me while I read and I look up from time to time just to catch a glimpse of her sleeping peacefully. Her little chest rises and falls as she breathes. Her arms and legs are tucked in like a little papoose. Sometimes she sleeps with her mouth open and her little tongue curls up so that I can see the underside of her tongue. Other times I play with her cute lips and she'll stay asleep but purses them in response to my prodding. She's a pretty sound sleeper and for that I'm grateful!
I am pleased that Chase all the sudden seems interested in repeating words we are teaching him. Before it was like pulling teeth to get him to learn words. He would purposely refuse to say words we knew that he knew (like his own name and his sister's name). Funny sidenote: Brian tricked him the other day to say both his own name and his sister's name. He told them that the birdy on the book was named Chase and that the other bird was Sophie and of course Chase fell for it and said his name and his sister's for the first time!! But then when Brian said, "Hey Chase, what's your name?" Nothing. "Chase, can you say 'Chase'?" Silence (with a smile).
Now he is more curious and will point to things and repeat the word once we tell him. He also likes singing songs like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "My God is so Big" and "Hush Little Baby." Even though I HATE "Hush Little Baby." I guess it's not as morbid as "Rock-a-bye Baby," but seriously, the grammar and the rhyming in "Hush Little Baby" is h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e. Everytime Chase asks us to sing it, I cringe at the "looking glass" that "gets broke" and the unrhymed "broke" and "billy goat" and how it seems like the composer ran out of ideas so they decided to use an animal with a cart twice. I mean seriously people?! (Ok, that's enough of my rant. Brian always rolls his eyes at my disgust for the song. But part of me does not want Chase to learn bad English! That's the linguist in me I guess.)
Sophie is now 11 weeks and getting cuter by the minute. She gives me tons of smiles and has the cutest dimples. She is very responsive and seems to like female voices the most. She does this things where she smiles and rolls her head around as if to say "I'm SO cute. I know." As my mom says, she smiles with her eyes too. (Her eyes squint, her cheeks raise and her eyebrows arch as if she's delighted to exist!!) She even makes little coos that sound like she's saying "hi." Thus far, she seems much more of a people-pleaser like her mama. (At her age, Chase would crack a smile here and there but he was pretty cautious and more serious.)
Sophie's two month stats:
Height: 24 inches 89th percentile (skinny girl tall girl!)
Weight: 11 lb 3 oz 44th percentile
Head: 15 inches 19th percentile (Whew. I thought that when her head grew so much from birth to one month, she was gonna be a melonhead!! But alas, she is small-headed again. Or relatively speaking b/c to me she still looks like her head makes up the majority of her bodyweight.)
Something really sweet happened the other day. I was holding Sophie as she was dozing during a meeting and her eyes shot open when she heard her daddy's voice after many people had been speaking and praying. I wasn't even standing near Brian, but I think she noticed his voice! So sweet.
I have really enjoyed getting to know my little girl. She has this adorable way about her. I love just kissing on her and watching her cute expressions. I love snuggling with her and swaddling her. My favorite time is late at night when she is swaddled and just starting to fall asleep. I put her in bed with me while I read and I look up from time to time just to catch a glimpse of her sleeping peacefully. Her little chest rises and falls as she breathes. Her arms and legs are tucked in like a little papoose. Sometimes she sleeps with her mouth open and her little tongue curls up so that I can see the underside of her tongue. Other times I play with her cute lips and she'll stay asleep but purses them in response to my prodding. She's a pretty sound sleeper and for that I'm grateful!
Chase giving Sophie a hug in her carseat.Life with two is so many things. Exciting, dramatic, tough, exhausting, tender, meaningful, chaotic, unpredictable and yet predictable. I guess as humans we are all these things. We are in constant flux. So anytime you add another human to the mix you can expect more of all these elements of humanity. More joy, more pain, more blessing, more suffering, more opportunities to learn, more fits of boredom, more to adjust to, more to appreciate, more to sacrifice for, more to be blessed by. Babies are so simple and yet so profound. They operate on a perfect trust basis. Baby cries. Mom feeds baby. They don't resist being held for fear of being dropped. They don't question their authority (ok, at least under 9 months!). They don't have emotional baggage, or relational walls, or experience-based skepticism. They simply trust and receive. I have a lot to learn from them.
God bless my little babes in their sweet innocence. They are still sinful (no doubt!), but their hearts haven't been hardened in the same way. Lord, protect them from the hardening that makes us cynical, uncaring, selfish and disinterested. Keep their hearts tender toward You, towards their parents, and towards others.
"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Proverbs 4:23)
God bless my little babes in their sweet innocence. They are still sinful (no doubt!), but their hearts haven't been hardened in the same way. Lord, protect them from the hardening that makes us cynical, uncaring, selfish and disinterested. Keep their hearts tender toward You, towards their parents, and towards others.
"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Proverbs 4:23)
