Movement

Up to this point I have been a little worried about Coco's ability to hold her head up, and her general desire to move and groove. Just this week I have noticed tremendous improvement. Not only is she holding her head up high during tummy time, but she has found her feet, and is super close to rolling over. She, like Isaac is always practicing rolling on one side. For Isaac it was his right, for Coco her left. You can see in her eyes a new confidence in her abilities, and a sweet tender fire brewing in her gut. I predict within a week we will have a roller, and with this the end of her beloved counter time. As with Isaac, with each achievement comes new limitations and boundaries. Regardless each of these milestones no matter how little, are no less amazing the second time around.

Defiance + Negotiations

At Coco's four month appointment, the first question Dr. Shulman asked was, how is Isaac? When I rolled my eyes and said, holy cow he is a handful, he responded with... 3 1/2 is the hardest age. They are defiant, and everything is about a negotiation. He is spot on.
It seems like most days are a constant string of negotiations with the young sir. Getting dressed has been a battle every day, transitions from one activity to another, meal time, nap time, using the bathroom, bath time... all are a power struggle and an opportunity for him to be defiant and difficult. We have started giving him choices, which have helped him to feel empowered and therefor eliminate the need for him to defy. Other than that there are very few tactics I have found that work.
Some of the highlights of his new behavior:
-throwing an apple from the backseat (hard) at the windshield because he was finished with it.
- not wanting to go anywhere we are going
- chasing and hitting cats
- waving his hands in our face, and hitting out of frustration
- climbing all over me while nursing
We know this is a normal developmental stage but I for one look forward to it passing. ASAP. Please.

Four Months Later...

Our little cocobean finally hit four months old. The past four weeks has been amazingly fun. Dare I say she is the dream baby? She is smiley and cooing, sleeping well, starting to grab for things, interacting, and very much along for the ride. She is generous with her wild older brother, patient with her parents, and sweet with those she doesn't know. It is a complete 180 from where she started, and a very welcome and surprising change. i want to be around her all the time. I am excited when she wakes up, and I just think she is a super cool little person.
At her four month check up she weighed 10 lbs 6 oz (3%) and was 23 1/4" long (15%). Yes she is petite, but she packs a punch. I was a little concerned about her neck control, and Shulman did agree that it was on the lower end of where she should be for her age, but he didn't think it was anything to be concerned about. He thought over time it would get better, and was only indicative of her possibly crawling or walking later. All else was superb, and he agreed, she is super duper cute. She got her four month vaccines, urg, and we spent the remainder of the day at home training our new nanny Tina.
It seems too good to be true at this point. We all adore our new Marry Poppins, and are hoping that the fit works for all parties involves, and is a long term one. For now I am enjoying the feeling of trusting someone else with my kids, and starting to wrap my head around getting back into work. Hopefully after this next week of training I will feel ready.