Posted by lynn on 23 Jul 2010 | Tagged as: nalani
Right on queue at three months, Nalani rolled from belly to back for the first time the other day. And then she did it a few more times, right in a row, just for kicks. I got several rolls on video but when I set her on her belly that evening to show off for Daddy and Melina, she just looked up at them, smiled, then put her head down as if to say “Sorry, I’m too tired to perform.”
Posted by lynn on 18 Jul 2010 | Tagged as: nalani
This afternoon we made chocolate chip cookies for Joey’s birthday. Joey set Nalani on the counter to watch and said, “Are you the boss?” She started busting up. Her laughs are a little hard to hear over her brother and sister’s goading, but they’re definitely full-body bursts of happiness.
Posted by lynn on 14 Jul 2010 | Tagged as: nalani
When Melina heard Nalani had her three-month birthday today, she wanted to give her a present to open and cake with candles to blow out. (She would do the opening and blowing out, of course, being the three-YEAR-old!) We didn’t celebrate in such grand style, but have been celebrating the small moments for the past week or two, when our baby girl seemed to fully wake up to the world.
She now smiles incessantly when watching someone else’s face (it’s her favorite passtime) and loves to talk to us, make razzing sounds, and blow bubbles. Just today under her play gym she seemed to notice for the first time that she could bat at something with her own fists. I don’t think she gets the intention yet, but it was fun to watch her notice cause-and-effect right before her eyes.
Nalani has had full neck control for a week or two now, and she’s started rolling to her side from either her belly or her back – but hasn’t made it all the way over in either direction quite yet. She’s started rejecting mama’s sling and even facing inward in the Baby Bjorn unless she’s ready for a nap. She loves facing outward, though, and has started taking in the rustling leaves and passing world as we go on daily walks with her stroller.
She sleeps “through the night” consistently by the technical definition of five straight hours. But sometimes those hours are from 7:30pm to 12:30am. More often she’ll sleep til 2am, and sometimes all the way til 4 or 5am without waking. Looking forward to that becoming the norm.
My favorite Nalani development of the last month is her absolute insistence on telling us when she’s ready for jammies, swaddle, milk, and bed each night. She literally requests bedtime with her squawks around 7pm, so consistently we have to laugh. While I hate to compare, it’s a sharp contrast to Melina, who eases into each night (or more recently, fights bedtime til she’s good and wound down). I don’t think we’re going to be able to push Nalani with evenings out and about the way we’ve been able to push Melina. But on the plus side I’m guessing we’ll know exactly what she needs, and when.
Posted by lynn on 04 Jul 2010 | Tagged as: family, kai, melina, nalani
Last month we had another family photo shoot, this one to highlight our newest family member. By the end Kai made it very clear that he wouldn’t be interested in doing another shoot anytime in the near future, but he and Melina were both good enough sports to get some great shots.
For her part, Nalani went through a fairly normal infant cycle during the two hours Myron was with us. She started off a little fussy, hot, and hungry, then after I nursed her she fell asleep. By the end she was wide awake and all smiles. You can see the progression in the photos.
Of course we’re now three weeks out from the photo shoot and Nalani has woken up more completely to the world. She has full neck control and long spurts of awake time. Her favorite activity is to look at people’s faces, and we like to think she prefers mama and dada’s.
Kai has discovered the joy of reading with the “Captain Underpants” series and the Berkeley public library’s summer reading challenge. Whatever it takes to get him reading, I’ll take it! Melina is getting ready to move to the transition room at preschool, where potty-trained 3-year-olds get ready for a wee bit more learning structure.
She’s also starting to get a stronger grasp of her family structure, taking it at face value that sometimes Kai’s with us and sometimes he’s with Jen. The other day she got super excited when she found out “all our family” was going to be together after school. Then she said “But Jen won’t have all of her family.” True… but we’re still a complete family in our own way even when Kai’s not with us. Strange concept to take in for an adult let alone a three-year-old, but it’s important to feel complete no matter who’s physically in what house on any given night.
Posted by lynn on 29 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: family, melina, nalani
Melina got to play hooky from preschool again today, this time to visit Children’s Fairyland with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Stacie, and cousins Lucas and Noah. “No daddies except for Grandpa” she reminded me on the way out the door. Everyone had a blast except for possibly Nalani, who would have been more content lying on a blanket and staring at people’s faces all morning. Sorry, little girl!
Posted by lynn on 27 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: friends, melina, travel
Long before Nalani was born, our friends the Yamadas gave us a couple free passes to the SF Zoo. They expired at the end of June but with at least eight months to spare we figured we had plenty of time. As human nature usually dictates, we waited until the last minute to finally trek over the bridge and to the coastal, wind-blown corner of my favorite city.
Melina’s highlights from our visit included two ant eaters as big as her and a polar bear – neither of which we have at the Oakland Zoo – and the flamingos, probably because they’re pink. I always love to see penguins, also something we don’t have in Oakland.
Nalani slept through most of the outing. One day soon she’ll start to enjoy zoo visits, too!
Posted by lynn on 18 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: melina
This month’s theme at Melina’s preschool is transportation, which seems all too appropriate given how much biking we’ve been doing. Mina got her first two-wheeler for her third birthday. It has no pedals and no training wheels, which is supposed to help her learn to balance. Look at the video to see how well she’s doing after just one week!
I’ve also started to pick her up from school one day a week on my bike, just like I did last summer. When I ask if she remembers she says, “I’m sorry Mama, I don’t remember.” No matter, it’s fun exercise for mama and fresh air for the little girl as we journey across town.
Posted by lynn on 14 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: nalani
This month is all about smiles… and more sleeping, eating, and spitting up like a fountain. Nalani’s favorite time to give big grins is on the changing table, probably because the distance to our own smiles is perfect for her to take them in. She’s also started to make little conversational cooing sounds. Daddy claims she said “I love you” (as in “i-la” followed by “ooo”) and Kai swears she said his name. I believe that one, since she makes the “i” sound quite a bit.
I recently re-read that the technical definition of “sleeping through the night” is five hours. In that case, Nalani has been sleeping through the night consistently since five or six weeks old. Of course those hours – which are often up to six or seven – typically fall from around 8 or 9pm til 2 or 3am, and then she wakes up to eat every two hours til the sun comes up.
But she did sleep nine (yes, nine!) hours straight once, the night after Melina’s bday party. And at two months she’s definitely settled into a routine where she goes to bed not long after the other kids and wakes up for some active time around 7 or 8am, just like Melina. Fingers crossed we don’t have another super early bird like Kai, since the rest of us like to sleep in.
Posted by lynn on 08 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: family, friends, melina
We celebrated Melina’s third birthday with a Pink Party in the Park. The night before the big event I asked which of her pink dresses she was going to wear, and she paused briefly before saying, “I think I’ll wear orange.” In the end she chose dark pink – as opposed to what she calls “real pink” or light pink. Her friends and their parents also didn’t disappoint, wearing everything from salmon pink to deep maroon and red.
We ended up with a large crowd and spectacular weather. Melina was a little confused when friends from different parts of her life started to show up. She’s not used to having school friends and playgroup friends and neighborhood friends – not to mention her cousins – all in one spot.
Big hits of the day included the train in the playground, pink cream cheese for bagels and pink and red fruit, a yummy banana cake in the shape of a flower, and of course a pink flower pinata! It took 15 kids and at least five adults taking multiple turns over 20 minutes (and some slits I made in the cardboard the night before), but the pinata finally cracked while still hanging from the tree. Kai was proud to deliver the final blow.
Cousins and grandparents joined us back at the house after the big event, and by the time everyone left Mina was 100% wired and 110% tired. We were able to get her to bed by 7pm, which is unheard of these days. But not before one final attempt on her part to have another cupcake, in the Melina version of uber-polite: “Can may I have a cupcake please?”
Posted by lynn on 08 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: melina
Less than a year ago Melina refused to ride a merry-go-round much less a real pony. That all changed this spring. She adores a ride of any kind, and was thrilled when she saw “little horsies” at Kai’s school’s annual spring fair.
Because the ponies might frighten, the kids weren’t even strapped in and I walked along side her. Mina was all smiles for the over five minute ride, and kept saying “this pony’s really bumpy!”