Wednesday, June 26, 2013

James is reaching for his toes, drools and bites

2 days ago James started grabbing his feet for the first time.  He looks very focused and serious when he examines his feet and hands.  And his teeth are coming through so he wants to gnaw often, mostly on his fists, but also on my chin or finger.  And just today when I picked him up from the carseat, he drooled a mouthful of spit that literally poured down both of my legs that I needed a paper towel to dry it all off.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

James's 18 lbs of chunkiness; end of school year

James weighs double his birth weight as of today, 18 lbs.  Yet, when a person holds him, he grabs around his or her shoulders/arms with his arms so tightly and stays close, so his weight doesn't put that much strain on the person.  Plus, if feels so cuddly to hold him like that, like a little koala.
Over the last few days he's been a bit crankier than usual.  His nose has been very stuffy and I've had to rinse it with salt water a few times, and I'm also suspecting that his teeth are moving up through the gums and it's now starting to hurt him.  He'd start fidgeting and crying out of the blue.  Even nursing wouldn't calm him down, in fact, it might even irritate him more.
His naps are shorter too.  When I take him to work in the mornings, he only gives me half an hour to an hour of work before he wakes up in the stroller, and that's it, I might as well immediately pack up and go home.

Sonja and Michael's last day of school was last Wednesday, and Nikolas's was today.
We stocked up on activity books to keep them busy, especially a lot of new ones for Nikolas.   He has been writing a lot and reading longer books.  He can easily write a page or two, without help.  His latest favorite books is Where the Sidewalk Ends (poems), and I've introduced him to Asterix comics, which he liked too.
He is now way past the books like 'I Spy', Dr Seuss, etc.
Addition and subtraction up to a hundred and even beyond for simple numbers is a breeze for him.  He understands the idea of multiplication, and now we are ready to work on analogies, logical sequences and such.  It should be a fun summer.  He's been into drawing too.  Lately I've noticed his drawings of houses with two stories, with stairs that he drew in the middle, and he's been expressing his wish to move into a 2-story house where his room would be upstairs.  I wish.  We are seriously running out of space here.

Sonja and Michael are doing simple addition and subtraction through 5, and some logical sequencing, comparisons, counting, etc.  They also like to draw and paint.  Sonja is still obsessed with dressing into her gazillion dresses.  Michael is as easy-going and relaxed about everything, as usual.  Very few things can  throw him out of his giggly and happy mood.