She Had Two Babies; One Was Six Months, One Was Three

. . . in the spring of 2012 . . .

Now that I have the theme song from Dawson's Creek in your head, let me continue to say: Claire is six months old!! And Kate is three, so the song thing works out well. Let me share a few milestones. .

Claire

My sweet Clairey-Bear is half a year old! It really does go faster the second time. She's still "tawny-scrawny," eating all the time but staying petite. She weighs about 13 pounds, wears size 3-6 month clothing, and a size 1 diaper. (I just ordered some size 2s, so she'll move up in a couple days.) She sleeps more or less through the night—about 8 pm to 4:30 am, so that's more than eight hours at a time, even though it makes me get up at an odd time when I can't get a full REM cycle in again before my alarm goes off at 5:30. At 4 and 5 months, she was waking up at 2 am again, but has gone back to her 8+ hours now.

Claire has been eating solids for about a month, and seems to like them. She enjoys sitting in her high chair while I cook, and playing with her toys. She's getting more and more into toys, being fascinated by them and reaching for them on her tray or on the floor. She's not exactly creeping yet, but she can propel herself forward a little bit to grab a toy that is just out of reach. She spins in a circle very well, moving with her arms and legs up while balancing on her tummy. She can go a full 360-degrees in no time! I don't know if she's trying to go forward and that's just what happens, but she doesn't seem frustrated about it, so I guess she's having fun!

Claire has a sweet personality, getting more and more content to sit in her bouncer and watch Kate or examine her toys. It used to be she would not tolerate being put down at all. She had to be held or carried in the sling, but in the last couple months, she is branching out in her entertainments. She laughs when Kate is being silly or when we're playing peek-a-boo. She's getting a little more hair and no longer claws up her own forehead when she cries. Her nails are still very hard to keep short and filed—she's often clawing up my breast, especially with her left hand. 

Kate

Kate is 3 and a quarter, and I usually wouldn't give milestones at this point, but since it's part of the title of this post. . .

Kate still loves her sister quite aggressively, often squeezing her hand or whole body so tight that Claire squawks and we have to say "gentle, Kate!" which makes Kate very upset. She doesn't like being scolded at all. We're kind of back to the rough age-2 1/2 stage, when Kate gets belligerent at any scolding. Say one word to her and she withdraws, grunts at you, and says, "Don't talk to me!" It's very frustrating.

Kate is wild and crazy still, obsessed with gymnastics right now. We go to her gymnastics class every Thursday evening, and she begs to watch gymnastics videos on YouTube every day. She prefers videos of "the little kids" but knows Nastia Liukin by name. We're looking forward to the Olympics this summer.

Kate enjoys school each day and church twice each Sunday, at home there like a true PK. She is starting to try writing her letters and recognizes her and Claire's names when written. She's potty trained during the day and we tried going to "big girl panties" at night, but after four nights dry, she relapsed the following four nights and we determined she may just not be ready to go all night.

Kate enjoys playing on her swingset outside and playing Memory inside. We play 3-4 games of Memory at bedtime every night. She still loves matching things, especially colors, and generally wants to match with Claire's outfit each day (or mine, if that's not possible).

Lounging in Mommy and Daddy's room while we get ready in the morning,
Kate playing with her camera, and Claire enjoying some tummy time.

I feel like the luckiest mommy in the world, having two sweet girls. Happy half-year, Claire!