So different, yet so the same

I was reading some old posts from this blog the other night – from when Rosemary was about the same age as Eleanor is now. You can take a look, here.

And it struck me how a lot of things were actually quite similar at that time. For example, I had a busy work period where I decided it would be much better to be a stay-at-home mum (SAHM), rather than a work-at-home mum (WAHM), just like I did recently. Rosemary was spending large chunks of time under her gym, which is something I recalled her not doing for more than about 10 minutes at a time. Rosemary was getting good at sitting up (with help), shuffling on her back on her play mat/changing mat, being all chattery (though with different noises, interestingly).

And then there are the differences… If you look at the photos, there’s one huge difference, in that Eleanor has tonnes of hair. Their noises were different. Rosemary was apparently sleeping through a lot at that point. Not sure when she stopped doing that, because my memories of her sleeping habits are all about being woken up in the night loads! Eleanor is not sleeping through yet, but she goes to sleep pretty well and much earlier. Rosemary’s bedtime was generally between 9 and 10pm, whereas Eleanor’s is generally between 7 and 8. Rosemary was almost entirely fed to sleep. Eleanor is able more and more to put herself to sleep in her cot, with the help of her thumb and her Taggie. Rosemary needed a lot of attention, whereas Eleanor is quite happy to sit/lie quietly and look around at the world. Not that she doesn’t love a chat or play, of course!

And, of course, it goes without saying that they are both the cutest girls in the whole world and quite obviously absolute geniuses.

Ballet shoes

We are now fully paid-up members of the middle classes. Yeah, I know, we were already, but…

Ballet! Rosemary now goes to ballet classes on a Saturday morning.

And here she is, showing off her new ballet clothes.

She loves it and, it seems she can even manage to sit still for long enough to listen to the teacher and follow the instructions.

More Eleanor

She's once, twice, 99 a lady

Rosemary is gradually getting the idea of quantifying the world around her. She's using '99' as an adjective in place of very, or completely. 'Are you tired?' 'I'm 99 tired'. (No idea where this has come from, maybe someone said '99% certain'.) But more interestingly, she's using a few others which she's picking as the situation warrants - if she's not hungry, she might say 'Ummm, I'm only 3 hungry'. And today she said she enjoyed something '494949 [four nine four nine four nine]'. Which I guess is a lot. But is it more or less than enjoying something 100?

3 months (and a bit)

Age ~ 3 months, 8 days

Weight ~ Not sure; about a stone

Length ~ No ídea !

Feeding ~ 100% Mummy Milk, roughly every 3 hours, for about 10-15 minutes, with occassional hour to hour and a half marathons, especially in the early evening

Favourite toys - Turtle, big 'spider' on the baby gym, which she spins round for ages; also likes her parrot; and has recently been really enjoying books (well, how could she not in this family?)

Milestone from past month ~ First laughs, rolled over, though not done so a lot, really trying to move when on tummy, will probably be crawling quite early

What size clothes ~ All 3-6 month, since she was about 2 months, may need to get out the 6-9 months box next month

What size nappies ~ Size 4, whatever's on special offer

Language development: Blowing bubbles, which is apparently an essential step in learning to talk. Squeals, makes gurgling kind of talking sounds. 'Chats' - i.e. listens to someone talking then responds.

Physical development: Can hold self up on arms when on tummy for a bit. Pushing forwards with feet when on tummy and can actually move herself forward a bit. Sitting up with only a littke aid. Very strong legs; can weight-bear on them for a bit and 'stand' when being held lightly.

Social, emotional and intellectual development: Presumably all happening in the background, but no specific milestones, except for laughing.