time flies

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It's worth noting, I wrote this a month before I had a chance to post this. Is there any hope for me to blog on a regular basis again? Well, I'm still trying!
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Joy is now 6 months old and Cole is 3 1/2 years old. How did that happen? There are times when I look down at her smiling face, and I think I have Cole in my arms again. Joy, like her brother, is a happy, bubbly baby with an irresistible smile and a giggle so cute it’s infectious. She loves to pull my hair, to nap on Daddy, and to watch her brother. Joy’s starting to sit up on her own and desperately wants to crawl so before long she’ll be trying to keep up with Cole too.

At 5 months, Joy tried rice cereal, and now she’s eating 2 meals a day. In the beginning, she would “talk” her food off the spoon, making noises as she gobbled it up. Now that she’s gotten more coordinated, she waits until after each bite to make her happy sounds for her favorite foods. So far she’s had rice cereal, baby oatmeal, applesauce, bananas, and sweet potatoes. She prefers her applesauce mixed with her oatmeal, but beyond that she’s not too particular. Tomorrow, we’ll try something green for the first time—peas.

Despite starting solids, Joy still nurses about every 2 1/2 hours during the day. It can be exhausting, but it’s also a welcome break from my work which is far more tiring these days. She wakes once or twice at night for a diaper change and to nurse, but other than that she’s sleeping very well. During the day Joy only naps for a long stretch if she is being held which hasn’t been a problem because we’ve been able to coordinate a long nap for Joy with a nap for Cole…and sometimes a nap for either Tony or me too.

She is rolling around very well and is far more graceful than her brother was at this stage. Cole used to roll over with a thud even on our old living room floor which was carpeted with a plush area rug on top. Then again, Cole had a much larger noggin which made him top-heavy.

At her 6 month check-up, Joy was 13 lbs. 13 1/2 oz. (X%) and 25 inches long (X%). Cole was 14 lbs at 2 months old, so she is still a tiny thing to me. When we are out people regularly comment on how small she is, but the funny thing is that she fits perfectly in 6-9 month clothing.

Joy’s eyes are still blue, although a bit darker than they used to be. I never thought for a moment that I would have a blue-eyed child because Tony and I both have dark brown eyes. Cole had surprised us too with his light/medium brown hair, but it is getting a bit darker as he gets older.

Joy’s hair is getting thicker, but it is too thin to really get a sense of the color. I have a small hair clip I bought months ago, and for fun I put it on her hair sometimes while I’m changing her diaper. In the beginning, her hair barely made it through the clip. Her hair is considerably longer now, but not quite ready for a clip. I’m not a fan of the baby girl headbands because I think they look goofy and uncomfortable, but that could be a whole blog entry on its own.

Cole’s imagination and energy have exploded recently which is both comical and frustrating. When he watches too much TV, his excess energy gets him into trouble and his attention span is reduced to mere minutes. But with the TV off, we can play games, draw pictures on a big pad on the floor, make up songs for Joy and tell stories for hours. Cole loves to play outside and we’re both anxiously awaiting the real arrival of spring and warmer weather so we can do some projects outside (we had snow on Saturday!). The trouble has been when I’m working a lot there’s not much time to do fun things together and then he watches more TV than he should. I’m trying to come up with a better working schedule because it’s important for the well-being of our whole household.

Cole finally embraced potty training about a month ago which was when he decided that he was ready. We had first introduced the potty over a year ago, and while he was excited at first, his interest quickly faded. My mom had made him a little container of “potty pops” which was a jar of Dum-Dums that he could have as a reward each time he used the potty. About 3 months ago, he started going poop on the potty some of the time, but he always had started to go in his diaper first. He’s a smart kid and his interest in the potty was mostly a con to get a lollipop. I told him if we could “get all the poop in the potty” we would go out for a fun dinner and ice cream. “Get all the poop in the potty” quickly became a little song/chant around the house. Now if I can just come up with a song about peeing in the potty maybe we can graduate to the big boy underpants that are washed and ready in his dresser drawer.

I’ve heard it said that your children are the most fascinating people you will ever know, and I couldn’t agree more strongly with that statement. Cole and Joy surprise me every day, and I wish I could spend more of my time just playing with them. Honestly, if it means less sleep for me in order to have my days with the kids, it’s worth it. I love to see what interests them and the ways in which they are similar and different too. Their similarities allow me to remember Cole as a baby and their differences remind me that Joy has a lot to teach me too.

Cole has started picking up a lot of slang lately, and he uses most of it correctly. While I was helping him with the potty the other day he said, “You’re fired!”, and I said, “Oh no, are you going to get a new mommy?”. Cole replied, “No, you’re fired, so now you don’t have to work and you can be with me all the time.” I hugged him and thanked him for saying one of the nicest things I’ve ever heard at a time when I really needed to hear it.