Growth

I put Liam on the scale yesterday and he is over 26 lbs now. I think that is about 2 lbs since his last appointment a couple of months ago. In my last post I mentioned some troubling new issues which have continued this week. Basically, Liam has been crying in situations that he was happy with before. The gym class he goes to has a 5 minute separation period where parents go off to one side and the kids play. Liam has always been absorbed in playing and never cared (or noticed?) that I am not near him. In the last 2 weeks however, he has been frightened and has come looking for me crying. I just started working out at gym that has child care and each time we have gone, Liam has become hysterical and clings to me so that I have to pull him off and leave the room quickly. He settles down after a while as long as one of the care givers holds him the entire time I am gone. The minute he sees me when I come back, the hysterics start all over again. Another brand new source of stress for him is the bath. He has loved his bath since he was about 6 months old, running to get in and never wanting to get out. But, the last 2 weeks he has tried to run away from me when I come to get him in it and is hysterical for the duration. I cannot even distract him with his bath toys! He has also cried a couple of times when Daddy left for work this week which is a new thing. I realize he is going through some separation anxiety phase (I dont get the bath thing though.) and maybe it is another way he is dealing with sharing us with his brother, or maybe its a normal phase that happens at this age. Anyone have any thoughts?

One possibilty is that Liam is making developmental leaps in other areas. And he really is! Other than mamma and dadda, we have been waiting for him to say other words. It is possible that he has been all along and that we just didn't know what he was saying but last week he started saying a few words. (or we finally recognized them as words) The first was A-Boo = balloon. Then we were playing open and shut with his legs and he said Ah Dut. He had been saying mamma for quite a while but we think now that some of the time he has been saying "meeh meeh" meaning more, more. This week he said Ba Ba and did the sign for baby. And just this morning Gigg told me he said yes.

Liam has also started to connect things he sees in his books to things around him. For instance he points to a window in his book and then to the window in our living room. He was doing this with the Christmas tree a few months back but he is doing it more and more. He also recgonizes Barack Obama, the Patriots and the Red Sox on tv. I get the Patriots and the Red Sox since he has seen them alot and heard Daddy and Mommy cheering but I'm not sure about the Barack Obama thing. It's not like we jump up and down yelling "Go Obama!"

It's your birthday

Today is Luke's 2 month birthday and he is all smiles...

Liam seems to be getting used to having baby Luke in his life and has been much better behaved at home this week. Separation anxiety has been an issue though and he is not coping well with situations that he was perfectly ok with previously. Maybe this is a normal phase kids go through at this age or maybe it does have something to do with the baby. It could also be a growth spurt. He seems overtired and even fell asleep over his dinner recently. Whatever it is, hopefully it will pass soon.

It's February!

It's hard to believe that Luke is already 7 weeks old and Liam is 17 months! We have Luke's 2 month appointment next week and I'm pretty sure he has gained at least 2-3 lbs and grown several inches. Just this past week he stopped looking so newborny - his face has really filled out and he doesn't look so fragile anymore. We saw a 4 week old at Liam's gym class yesterday that looked tiny next to Luke and they were the same size at birth! Developmentally, Luke is doing awesome. He is gaining good neck control, has super strong legs and can push himself to standing when he is held upright. He just started smiling and he coos, gurggles and squeals in delight when he is on his back on the playmat, batting at the hanging animals with his hands.

Liam's adjustment period to the new baby has gone something like this: The first week or two he took not much notice of his little brother at all. The second few weeks he kissed his little brother alot but began realizing that baby was taking some attention away from him. The next few weeks he still kissed his brother alot but when mama was feeding or holding Luke, Liam would try to get attention by either having a meltdown or doing something he knew he wasn't supposed to do. He figured mama wouldn't be able to get up fast enough to stop him, but she always did! The last few days have been better. Liam has had fewer behavioral issues and last night, for the first time, he actually seemed to enjoy his baby brother by dancing for him and imitating his squealing noises. It may be too early to tell but maybe a corner has been turned.

Meanwhile, Liam loves to imitate his parents talking on the phone....