February Milestones

It's been a busy month in terms of milestones, but really, what month isn't? Kids just grow up so quickly, and they are always learning something totally new. A month in a baby or toddler's life must be like what, a year in an adult's life when it comes to learning and novel experiences? In any case, it's amazing.

Gabriel and Ariana had their 2 year pediatrician check-up. Both kids are growing well. Gabe is 30.5 lbs. and 34 inches (80th and 40th percentiles respectively). Ariana is 28.7 lbs. and 33.5 inches (75th and 50th percentiles respectively). I'm starting to vaccinate the kiddos again. Isabella hasn't gotten any shots so far (I'm going to get a couple next month & start on a revised schedule), and Gabe & Ari got their first set in a while. I stopped vaccinating the twins at 9 months old just to be cautious, but they've since turned two, and with preschool coming up and a lifetime of globe-trotting ahead of them, it's high time we got them caught up.

Gabriel has lots of new stuff in his repertoire this month. In his language development, he has an expressive vocabulary of between 500 and 1,000 words. He knows words that I have no idea how he learned, like "igloo" and "volleyball", referring to the correct objects of course. He has begun speaking in 3 word sentences, the first of which I remember was "Baby eat banana," (as I was feeding Isabella a banana). And of all the many wonderful vocab words Gabe is picking up, of course his favorite has to be "Nooooooooo!". Typical two year old.
Gabe is now learning how to count to twenty. He knows all the numbers, but he sometimes skips a couple in his impatience. Gabe has been able to read a couple sightwords like "cat", "Gabe", and "hi", which he picked up from the Your Baby Can Read DVD series. Speaking of DVDs, Gabe's new favorite is Disney Cars. He is obsessed with this movie. It is cute but difficult at the same time. For example, whenever anyone mentions a street near us called 'McQueen', Gabe gets really hyper, thinking that we are talking about Lightning McQueen (duh!), his personal hero (next to Daddy of course).

Gabe got a potty from Grandma for one of his birthday presents. He has begun to sit on it at his request. He hasn't actually done anything while sitting on it. I haven't been the best encourager in this department. I am just not ready to do the every 30-minute thing yet. We'll get there before preschool, and that's all that matters. After all, isn't early potty training supposed to be for my convenience?

Gabe did his first complete sumersault all by himself this month. :)

My personal favorite of Gabe's milestones this month is the singing. Gabe has been singing songs with tune and tempo and lyrics. It's literally music to my ears. Of course, he's no Andrea Bocelli, but it's just the cutest thing ever! He likes to request the songs we sing, "Sing song. Black sheep." His favorite songs are 'Skiddamarink', 'If You're Happy & You Know it', and 'Head Shoulders Knees & Toes'. He has to sing 'Apples & Bananas' every time we eat one of those fruits.

Ariana has been excelling this month in gross motor, and so many people have been mentioning how strong she's gotten. Amongst her achievements are bench sitting for short periods, pulling from a tall kneel from a sitting kneel using the ottoman, pulling to stand from bench sitting with help, and stepping while standing with assistance. For all of these new skills, Ariana still requires a lot of assistance, but this is the first time we've ever seen her attempt these feats at all. For many people, this might seem like not such a big deal. But for our family, it is! We are so proud of Ariana and how she is just so determined to grow and progress. She is such a bright light, and nothing will stop her from shining.What is probably Ariana's biggest accomplishment this month is pivoting on her tummy. What I mean by this is, while Ariana is laying on her tummy, she can essentially belly crawl in a circular direction (both to the left & right) to position herself facing whichever way she chooses. I've mentioned in previous posts that Ariana has been working on this. She has finally mastered it, and she moves around in circles like this really quickly. Now, if she could just move foward -- she would be overjoyed.

Also new this month, Ari has been trying to do the hand gestures to certain songs -- in particular, 'If you're happy & you know it'. She does the clapping, stomping, and says hooray ("aaaay") while raising her left arm. She anticipates the appropriate times in the songs to do the gestures, and it is so sweet. In some ways, she's just like any other two year old.

Ari has been practicing using a fork and spoon this month. She's getting really good at it. I still have to stab things for her with the fork, but she scoops pretty well with the spoon, and she can get the food in her mouth. Her eating has improved (for the moment) because of the novelty of getting to use utensils and a plate at meals. I need to mention that Ariana has been getting all her liquids from the sippy cup (no bottles) for at least three months, but I forgot to tell about it back then.

And what's not new for Isabella this month? Isabella is rolling from tummy to back and back to tummy in both directions and has been since the beginning of the month. She loves to grab at her toys and mouth whatever she can get her one strong little hand on, including her feet. When Isabella is on her tummy, she sometimes pulls her knees under her as though she's thinking about moving somewhere. Bella's favorite activity is definitely not sitting or laying around though -- it's bouncing. The girl loves to bounce! She will bounce in her jumperoo for a seriously looong time, happy all the while. I thought that four months might be a little early for that, but Bella can't get enough.

Speaking of early, I had no intentions of starting Isabella on baby food yet. Her pediatrician said that she's in no hurry to see Bella eat solids, because she seems to be growing fabulously on breastmilk alone. But Bella had other plans. Since she turned 4 months, Isabella seemed to be somewhat anxious during family mealtimes. Her gaze fixated on my fork, visually tracking it back and forth from plate to mouth. She was very aware that we are eating, to say the least. So I offered her some baby oatmeal with breastmilk, thinking that she would reject it (like the twins did the first 100 times I tried), and that would be the end of that experiment. Well, that's just one more way that Bella and the twins are not so alike. Let's just say that it was love at first bite. Isabella is a pleasure to feed! This baby gets so excited in anticipation of the spoon, opening her mouth in a little kissy face O-shape -- adorable. This month, she's had baby oatmeal, baby peas, baby squash, and real banana, and she's loved it all. We're not on a regular schedule yet, but she typically gets one solids meal a day. And just in time for baby food, Isabella has begun razzing -- spitty bubbles galore.

Socially, Isabella has been babbling consonants. My personal favorite is "mamama". She does this now in addition to her squeals and coos. She has a tummy time mirror, and she thinks that her reflection is just hilarious. She "pops up" to surprise herself in the mirror and cracks up laughing every time. Likewise, she has started to love playing peek-a-boo. Gauranteed chuckles.

This month, Isabella has started demanding nursing prior to taking naps. One more reason she'll be attached to my side until she's a toddler. But, strange thing is, I don't mind a bit.