Parker at 2 months

Parker turned 2 months old on July 26th! She's 25 inches tall and 15.5 pounds -- off the charts for both height and weight. I found it interesting that the doctor and nurse both reassured me that this was no indication that she was going to have weight issues as a child. We're not worried about it. In fact the extra bulk will help her hold her own against Miles.

Parker gets up once at night to eat. It's not quite as great as it sounds because she still usually wakes up around 1 or 2 and needs to be lulled back to sleep in my arms. But she is ok with going back to sleep until 4 so soon she'll figure it out and just wait until 4 to wake up to begin with.

Parker still prefers being held to anything else, including her crib, bouncy seat, and swint. Baby gear continues to fascinate Miles. He's mastered buckling the baby car seat, bouncy seat, and his high chair. (We're being careful not to teach him how to unbuckle.) He kneels in front of the bouncy seat, switches on the vibrating button and says "Vvvvvveeeee" for vibrate, which is what he learned from his phonics video. He likes to sit in them even though he's not supposed to, and will reluctantly climb out when caught. I suppose they're just too tempting since they're so close to the ground. Plus the swing has lights across the top, and Miles will climb in and put his face right up to them and watch as they flash. We think this may mean he's going to be a raver when he gets older, or whatever the equivalent will be for his generation.

Speaking of things that start with V, we've successfully lessened the attachment Miles had to the vacuum cleaner. It's now back in the laundry room except on cleaning days. Miles likes to go say Hi to the vacuum - he stands in front of it and waves, then points to the handle, hose, cord, light, wheels and filter - and for a while I was letting him but we really shouldn't because there's all sorts of cleaning products in the laundry room.

Parker is just beginning to find her thumb on her own, which is very exciting since it means that she will be able to put herself back to sleep by sucking on her thumb soon. I think her sleep is already improving a little bit. The plan is to sleep train at 3 months, which is a little early but she's so big that she should be able to handle it. We're trying to establish her bedtime ritual but we're not very consistent... yet another example of how we're either more lax or unable to do everything for her that we did with Miles. Going to the doctor's office today and getting official, medical confirmation that she's doing well relieved some of my guilt at least.

Other developments - Parker smiles a lot and shows off her dimple, can lift her head up 45 degrees when on her stomach although she doesn't get nearly as much tummy time as she should since you can't leave her unprotected on the floor for too long with Miles around. He's mostly very affectionate with her, and part of his bedtime routine now is to say "nite-nite" to "kar-kar" by putting his head on her shoulder. He likes to touch her hair, pat her tummy, and tickle her toes by squeezing them. I may be projecting my own feelings onto her, but it seems like she gets a little nervous when he approaches, like Oh boy, what's he going to do to me now... Yesterday though he was very sweet. I put her on her stomach, and Miles fetched toys for her to look at and gently patted her head.