Bridget at Five Months

Whew, how time flies, even in these days of quarantine and "social distancing"! Somehow life with five kids, homeschooling, and constant house projects keeps us pretty busy regardless of the blank social calendar.

Bridget continues to be our happy, healthy baby--as long as she's held and with people! She'll tolerate floor play for about 5-10 minutes with some toys (and preferably a sibling nearby or interacting with her) if she's well-rested and well-fed. But after a short time, she begins fussing . . . and then screaming. All is right with the world again when Mama picks her up.

She finally tolerates the stoller if I take her for a morning walk!

Bridget is adept at rolling and can do a bit of scootching/army crawling, but she doesn't aim very well yet. Her coordination is improving but isn't great yet. She certainly loves to grab at anything within reach! It's hard to drink a glass of water while holding her now. When I pick peaches or apples with her on my hip, she grabs the leaves. Today I laid her on her back on a blanket in the yard while I did some gardening. She pretty promptly rolled over, pulled the blanket toward her, and grabbed some grass to taste.

Recently Jeremy set her up in Clara's old booster seat with some toys on the tray. She loves to grab and hit at the toys, making noise and seeing what she can catch to put in her mouth. We have to replace the animal toys several times a meal, but she's usually pretty pleasant and entertained, which allows us to eat in peace without a grabby, cranky baby on one of our laps! Evenings continue to be her hardest/crankiest time, like most babies, but she is so much happier than in the early days when she'd just wail for a long while. She usually wants/needs a little cat-nap for about 30 minutes around 6 p.m. or so, which is always hard for me to finagle, since I'm also making dinner, overseeing clean-up activities, etc. etc. So I forget, and then she falls asleep in Jer's arms or just gets really fussy. When I remember, the evening does go better for all of us!

Like my other kids, Bridget started waking again at night around four months old, though not consistently. Recently we've had a string of good nights and then some with a couple wake-ups. Last night was midnight and 4 a.m., and then she was up for the morning around 6:15. The nights she sleeps 8-5 or 8-6 are glorious!

Bridget was pulling down the flower wallhanging by her changing table every time I changed her, so that's put away for now. But she still likes to be changed and usually smiles when I get her on the pad. Then she grabs her toes and sucks on them until I pry her hands away to take the diaper off and clean her up. She laughs or smiles if I kiss her neck and tickle her chest, and generally she's just very happy to interact face-to-face with me. She does love those toes of hers, too, though.

When she wakes from night or nap, she often rolls herself over, sucks on her toes, and coos to herself for a bit before making more insistent noises to call my attention. I love hearing her happy squeals, raspberries, and other noises. She has recently started sniffing (usually while gumming her upper lip), doing a little funny bunny face, all scrunched up and smiley.

Clara and Bridget

She finds her siblings and their antics (usually exaggerated for her benefit) very interesting and often quite funny. I think she's laughed the most at Abby, but everyone vies to get a laugh out of her. Abby and Clara got her laughing by snorting at her the other day. But then Clara got a little too vigorous in her snorting and startled the poor baby, who ended up crying. Clara hasn't given up on what she thinks is this sure-fire way to make Bridget laugh, though. Clara also likes to pant and "beg" like a dog to get Bridget smiling and laughing. Most of Clara's interactions with Bridget disregard any personal space and tend to be loud and repetitive. But Clara also loves to hold her on her lap and is good about keeping her secure. "She is happy because she feels safe with me, Mama," Clara tells me. Bridget is getting quite hefty for Clara and looks large on her lap, but Clara will often patiently hold Bridget--even when the latter is crying--until I can relieve her.

Abby and Bridget

Abby delights in Bridget's smiley nature and chubby happiness. Whenever she holds Bridget, she keeps up a constant stream of conversation to draw my attention and affirmation to all of Bridget's cuteness. "Just look at this sweet baby, Mama! Don't you just love her? I do. Look at her smile at me, Mama! Our baby is just the best baby in all the world. Don't you think so, Mama? She just loves to look at me. She thinks I'm so funny! Bridget is just so sweet. Isn't she just the sweetest, Mama?" etc. Abby loves to wear her yellow, flowered, long-sleeved pajamas partly because they captivate Bridget. She stares at them and grabs at them, wanting to get any part of the material in her mouth.

Lydia and Bridget, back in April, when Lydia was first allowed to hold B standing up/walking (very exciting)

Lydia is a bit chagrined that Bridget has not laughed at her as much as at Abby. But she loves to hold her, too, and often encourages Bridget to cuddle on her shoulder as she sings her a lullaby. She is quick to offer to hold Bridget if I need to do something with both my hands. She and Abby both are eager to be helpful, though they get quickly fatigued if Bridget fusses and cries with them. Both twins want to change Bridget's diaper, pick out her clothes, dress her, etc., and I'm sure I'll have ready and willing helpers when it comes time to feed her real food, too!

Josiah and Bridget (in May)

Josiah loves to tempt Bridget to grab at him (hair, nose, mouth) or gnaw on him (shoulder, knuckle, knee) and sometimes repents of allowing her to touch his feet, put her hands in his mouth, etc.--mostly "accidentally." He keeps an eagle eye out for any sign of her spitting up and is quick with the burp cloth. Last week he did get well-doused, though! He was a good sport about it. He calls her "Pie-pie" and even got his friend Malachi calling her that last week when we stayed with Malachi's family for a few days (our AC broke and we needed emergency housing until it was fixed; our friends were so gracious to host us!). I think "Pie-pie" comes from "sweetie-pie" or some such term of endearment. Josiah likes to take Bridget to see the "baby in the mirror," and he tries various daring ways of holding her if he thinks he can get away with it.

All the kids love to be the first to greet Bridget when she wakes from a nap. The big kids clamor to pick her up and bring her to me. (Now that she's in a real crib and not the small co-sleeper, I don't feel comfortable with them reaching so far to pick her up and haul her out and over the railing. They're pretty disappointed with this.) They love to see her stop crying and start smiling when they enter. They exclaim over her rolling ability, how far she scootched during nap, how many patches of spit-up they see on the sheet . . . .

I remember my siblings' and my stampede to get Baby Rachel up from her nap--and it's fun to observe my own kids' similar competition to be the first in the baby's attentions. Bridget has been all of our delight during this quarantine time. I definitely recommend having a baby around if you must be cooped up at home most of the time! Even a high-maintenance baby like ours is such fun. I wouldn't trade her for the world.

Clara's Birthday

Clara turned two over two weeks ago now. "Are you my baby-love?" I ask her, and in true two-year-old fashion, she says, "No." She says "no" to lots of things these days: along with "mine!" and "me!," it's one of her favorite words.

She's definitely adding to her vocabulary, though. Today she said her first three-word sentence ("Done this side," in reference to nursing. Then, "Sich sides!" [switch sides] in the cutest-ever sing-song. Her bunny, nursing from her, switches sides on that cue, too.) I love how she says "oh" when I
inform her of something and "es" or "yah" in agreement (much less often than "no"!).

She still pantomimes and uses sounds to augment her verbal communication. For instance, she'll make sad faces and say, "Ow!" when pointing to an owie (usually an old scab), and then "eh? eh?" while pinching her fingers together--which means she wants a bandaid.

She still refers to many animals by their sounds: her sheep is "Baa," she barks when she sees a dog, etc. She loves to pretend to be a puppy (especially in company with Lydia). She crawls around and sticks her little tongue out to pant, and gets up on her knees with her hands curled in front to "beg."

Hardly anything escapes Clara. She's attuned to every privilege the big kids get and notices when she's deprived. They all got new water bottles to replace their worn-out, chewed-up, broken-handled ones the other day. "Me? Cup? Me? Me?" Clara asked. She's so proud to have joined the crew with Contigo water bottles, and her sisters encouraged her in choosing a color, too--so hers is the pink one. She just delights to drink out of it.

Clara has begun to really enjoy books in the last couple months. I try to spend time with just her mid-morning after we've done some schoolwork and before I send the three girls outdoors so I can do some one-on-one work with Josiah. We usually read through a stack of picture books: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish is her current favorite (she loves the "new fish," and says "Mama!" in her baby voice while pointing to it; she also thinks Ned and his bed are so funny). She also enjoys Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, Old Hat New Hat, Ten Apples Up on Top, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Harry the Dirty Dog, Goodnight Moon, Fox in Socks, and others of that ilk. She's starting to sit for some of the longer picture books the other kids choose--sometimes even a Beatrix Potter story. She's funny about picking who she wants to be (i.e., which animal/character), and often reminds me of which character she's picked on every new page. Sometimes she assigns everyone a character. Dada was both the owl and the bus driver in Amos McGee this morning: "Two Dada!" she said.

Abby and Lydia like to play with her, mother her, and boss her around. She doesn't put up with much bossing, though she loves to be included in their games. They find ways to manipulate her into doing what they want or to appease or distract her when she's ornery. Her sense of pretend play is certainly more sophisticated because of the example and instruction of her older sisters!

Clara is possessive with the fierceness of a fourth child: she knows which few things are hers, and she guards them. Her baby doll, phone-on-a-string, animal counters, board books, puppy coloring book, red cloak, and owl puzzle are precious to her, especially if a sibling wants to play with them, and most especially if the sibling takes them without asking. She screeches from across the yard if she sees someone so much as consider a ride in her coupe car or on her push-bike (hand-me-downs from the bigger ones though they may be!). She's not yet reconciled to sharing when friends come over, either.

But oh, Clara does enjoy a stolen session alone with the Lego or with Lydia's stuffed animals! She can entertain herself for a half-hour at a time if she finds these coveted toys left unsupervised.

When Clara's birthday was approaching, I felt the autumn itch to make a pie--but I gave Clara the choice of birthday dessert. She was very definite in choosing"cake." So we had apple cake, and I made butternut squash pasta (which the kids all love) for dinner.

Clara picked up on the big kids' excitement over her birthday. She had practiced saying "two" when asked her age and tries to hold up two fingers (unsuccessfully). We had a pre-birthday celebration before my mom left with some chocolate cake and presents from Grandma, so Clara knew "birthday" meant "presents."

I just love the progression here :)

Lydia and Abby were quite excited to purchase and wrap presents for Clara; Josiah was somewhat indifferent. But they all sang to her with gusto, demolished her birthday desserts, and had to be restrained from ripping open her gifts for her. They shoved each new present in her face the minute she unwrapped one.

But all in all, her second birthday was a success. "Now are you a big girl?" Abby and Lydia ask her. She nods, "Es," holds up her hand, and says, "Two!"

Clara Is the Cutiest

It's hard to believe our baby is 15 months old--or that she can get any cuter--but here she is, getting older and cuter by the day! Abby often likes to say, "Clara is the cutiest!" and I agree: we all love the littlest sister around here.

She trails her siblings all over the house and back yard and loves imitating them. One day I peeked around the corner to see all four of them in a knot, brandishing sticks and PVC pipes--and Clara wielded hers like the best of them.

A few weeks ago Clara figured out how to climb the ladder up the big fort. Boy, was she ever proud and pleased! Since then she's perfected her climbing skills and is sure-footed and fast in climbing the ladder. Usually she turns herself around up top and slides down the big slide feet-first, flying off the end with a big grin as she sits down hard in the sand.

In the last month Clara's attention span has expanded enough that she'll sit still for a full book reading, and sometimes even a few readings (usually the same book repeated). When I sit in one of our small arm chairs, she takes it as a cue to pick a book and clamber up on my lap, begging to be read to with her "Uh? uh? uh?" Her first favorites were I Am a Bunny and Baby Animals. Now that those two books have sort of hit the dust (after three other kids, they were pretty beat up to start with!), she currently prefers Goodnight Moon, The Mitten, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, as well as a dinky picture-and-number book that's devoid of story but has a page of doggies that is quite attractive to Clara.

Clara's newest word is "book," though she leaves off the "k" when she says it. She's not very verbal, though she is quite communicative! Her repertoire of words is short: "mama," "dada," "hi" (sounds more like "ah") and "book." She makes animals noises--mainly growling (for lions, tigers, bears, dogs, etc.), but some sniffing (for bunnies), high-pitched little noises for kitties, and a nasal attempt at hissing for snakes. She pretends sometimes to be a puppy or kitty, crawling on all fours and making little barks or meows.

She really likes the little mower and the red coupe car--though she can only propel the latter backwards

She has attempted to say other words and sounds, I think, but so far they're not consistent. She does some sign language: more, please, all done, eat, nurse. Sometimes the more sign is an all-purpose effort to beg/demand whatever she wants.

While she can't say much, Clara can certainly make plenty of noise! She screeches at her siblings when they bug her and yells in protest when something doesn't go her way. Her tantrums involve her whole body: crying, hollering, thrashing, whipping her head around, writhing on the floor. It's hard sometimes not to laugh at the burgeoning self-will. Clara has also started biting as a means of retaliation or coercion when the big kids block her way, take her seat, snatch her stuff, etc.

Protesting ill treatment

Although she's not the mellow baby she was, Clara is often sweet and tenderhearted. She seeks out anyone who is crying to lay her head against him or her in a "hug" and gives lots of loud kisses. When she hears wails from her siblings, she makes concerned and questioning noises. She loves to hug baby dolls and stuffed animals tight and give them kisses, and she often comes up to hug my legs or cuddles on my shoulder when I pick her up. I love it! She spontaneously kisses and "hugs" characters in books, too, especially when they're going to bed in the story.

Clara's teeth are coming in hard and fast. She has one bottom molar through and the other bulging in the gum and nearly through, and she's also gotten canines and her last incisor (after the canine next to it) recently. All the teething sometimes results in hard, tearful, clingy days; but these are not the norm for Clara, who is still quite a pleasant child normally.

I love her dimples!

We're transitioning Clara from two naps to one, which has been a bit difficult. I persisted in putting her down for two for awhile, but she'd often stay awake for the first or sleep for a short while and then resist the second. Probably a longer midday nap would be best, but it's so hard to get her down around noon with everything else we have going on--outings, schoolwork, meals, etc. So lately she's been going down between 1 and 2 p.m. and waking sometime between 3 and 5 p.m. She does become a bit emotionally fragile mid-morning, wanting to be held and nursed. So maybe I should still try to push the morning nap. I don't know! The other kids took two naps till about 18 months, albeit with some struggles. So Clara is the youngest to give up the morning nap.

Clara seems to be developing a substantial appetite, and I hope she's overcoming her pickiness. She no longer rejects scrambled eggs, so that's improvement! She wouldn't taste asparagus tonight, though, and still refuses avocado. She likes frozen mango pieces and flaked coconut, but not in her yogurt--no, sir! She prefers her yogurt plain, or perhaps with chia seeds, but definitely not with chunks of fruit. She picks the fruit out of Dutch baby pancake, too, oddly enough. But she does like most fruit (though not pear).

 
She'll eat green beans, sweet potato, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts but draws the line at bell peppers, peas, and corn. She still loves cheese, peanuts, peanut butter, and cashews. Her recent attempts at using a spoon have been messy but satisfactory--at least for her. She knows she's one of the "big kids" with that spoon in hand! Her hummus ended up all over her tray, face, bib, and hair yesterday, though.

That shock of straight hair in front is getting long and refusing to curl, despite her cute little curls in back. I think she might end up with hair more like Josiah's than the twins'. She pulls out hair bands and barrettes, so I'm not sure what I'll do with the long bits over her forehead . . . I'm hesitant to cut bangs.

 

Clara's delight in being included in her siblings' games is so fun to see. Abby encourages Clara to follow her around the house, crawling along the floor in some sort of pretend-animal/chase game involving much squealing and laughter. Josiah tickles her and elicits laughs or initiates a tag/chase/hide-and-seek game in which Clara is always [happily] "it." Lydia seems to have a bit more of an antagonistic relationship with Clara lately, but she does eagerly share her hoard of baby dolls and stuffed animals with Clara and sometimes plays nicely side-by-side with her as they build Duplo. Unfortunately Lydia has a propensity for disobeying Mama and taking matters in her own hands with Clara: she picks her up to haul her away from their games and possessions, sometimes sits on her or pushes her or drags at her leg, etc. (Abby does these things too, but to a lesser extent these days.)

I just love this toddler stage and am enjoying Clara so much. She certainly prefers Mama, but she's a happy girl who warms up pretty quickly to others. She's eager to welcome Daddy home each evening with hugs and kisses and raised arms, ready to be picked up and held. She plays happily in nursery at church, although the last couple weeks she's cried when I dropped her off. She's possessive of Mama and Daddy, protesting and pushing at anyone else on our laps or in our arms! If I try to sit on the couch and read to the older kids when she's awake, she asserts her rights to my lap and usually is "desperate" to nurse. She seeks kisses for bumps and owies and "sings" in a lilting, sing-song voice when we sing--or if she wants me to sing to her. She dances with a funny, rhythmic squatting to any music she hears. If I ask her if she wants a snack, she makes a bee-line for my chair and climbs right up to sit at the table (and hates when anyone else sits there!). She loves to be in the midst of the activity and grabs any chance to get into the big kids' stuff--markers, Lego, puzzles, etc. Though she spoons dirt and sand right into her mouth, she remarkably hasn't swallowed Lego or other small toys.

I love to see her interest in everything around her as she figures out her world here at home!