Growing Boy!!

On Friday we took Gregory in for his two-week check-up. The basics are that from a birth weight of 7 lbs., 11 oz., and a last check (eight days previously) of 7 lbs., 12 oz., Gregory is now 8 lbs., 9 oz. I knew he wanted to eat a lot! This puts him in the 90th percentile for weight. Trust us, we have no idea what to make of a child in the 90th percentile - that was never the case with Judith!

But more impressively, he's gone from 19 1/2 inches at birth to 21 inches now - 75th percentile! Again, I'm not sure what to do with rapid growth - I think though that it may be one of the many, many ways in which this child in unique in our lives!

Aside from growing faster than a weed, Gregory is doing great. He has taken to having some sleep periods of 4-5 hours. They would be wonderful if they occurred at night. Alas, they now occur during the day, and he's quite alert at night! The first two times these longer sleeps occurred, Robert was quite concerned. They were at night, and he kept waking me to see if I should be waking Gregory to feed him. I told him I thought our little boy was doing a great job eating and that we had no worries, but Robert is good at worrying about such things (like a great Dad would be!). But after this appointment, he also trusts that Gregory is getting plenty to eat.

Really, what is most surprising is how little Gregory cries. He certainly cries when he's hungry, and when he's getting a diaper change, when he's waking up, and when he's tired, and when the A/C goes on (he doesn't like the cold air or the sound). But he spends the majority of his awake time alert and content, looking about at everything. So far, he is a very, very easy going child! Yeah!!!

And of course, we are getting ready for Judith's third birthday tomorrow. Poor Judith has had a tough week. Aunt Katie and Alex came out to visit for four days, and Judith became attached to both of them - particularly to Aunt Katie who would be up and playing with her at 5:30/6:00 in the morning without complaint! Aunt Katie also let Judith comb her hair several times a day (an activity Judith cannot get enough of). And with Alex here, Judith was allowed to eat her meals sitting in the high chair (it is usually in storage, and Judith sits in her booster seat). This was a real treat for a child who is suddenly obsessed with being a baby!

Once Aunt Katie and Alex left, Judith's return to "routine" has been a very bumpy road. After three days of taking away more and more of her toys and privileges and she continued to hit Daddy (and occasionally Mommy, but mostly Daddy) again and again and again, we hit the point this morning where I actually told her we were not going to celebrate her birthday tomorrow. That was it - if she couldn't listen and stop hitting there would be no party, no presents, and worst of all, no cake. Not only that, but I wouldn't make cup cakes for her to celebrate her birthday at "Busy Bees" on Monday either! So there!

Yes - I lost my temper. Less than 2 1/2 total hours of sleep for the night, piled on top of several nights of no more than 3 to 4 hours total sleep, will begin to do that to you. Sleep when the baby sleeps only works when both children sleep at the same time, AND the phone stops ringing. It's not a regular event. Oh well.

So, by about 11 this morning I decided that I really had gone too far. We all got dressed and went to the Central Park for the Kite Festival. Judith actually had a great time running around, and playing in a bouncy train that was for kids under four years of age (I won't let her in the big bouncy houses for kids of all ages - too many stories of smaller children breaking bones as larger children bounce on them in those things - and my daughter is the definition of small!).

After forty-five minutes we then walked home. The fresh air and sunshine did us all a world of good. Judith actually ate her lunch without complaint and took her nap without screaming in protest (a HUGE improvement). So this evening we told her we will still celebrate her birthday tomorrow. This is probably for the best as one of the families coming over canceled other plans they had in order to attend! But we really wanted to the attitude to get A LOT better. We'll see if it continues tomorrow - it did continue all evening here.

Of course we're torn between knowing that she's just feeling a bit displaced and out of favor and in need of attention with a two-week old in the house, and knowing that there are certain behaviors (especially hitting) that simply cannot be tolerated. We had tried several times this week to have special Judith time and Judith outings that were all about her, but they just didn't go well. In particular, on Friday after the doctor we were going to Costco for lunch because it's Judith's favorite place to eat lunch. She was really good at the doctor's office, and we had told her up front that if she was good, we'd take her to Costco.

Unfortunately, when we arrived and Robert got her out of the car, as I'm unstrapping Gregory, she runs away from Robert in the parking lot. That's of course not OK at any time because it is so dangerous. Robert quickly caught her and scooped her up, and told her that he would carry her since she didn't hold his hand. That caused Judith to basically turn around and clock Robert in the chin with her fist. Now, the running away in the parking lot is bad enough (but was just resulting in her being carried), but to deck your father is just not OK, ever. So that was it. She went back in the car, I strapped Gregory back in, and we went home. Then the rest of the day she was mad that she lost out on Costco, and nothing for the whole day was good enough because she wanted Costco. But she had already lost her doll, and already had timeouts, and already been warned. Oh well. On Monday she will start back to Busy Bees a few days a week, Robert will return to work, and hopefully the return to a bit of routine will be good for her (until Aunt Karen and Uncle John arrive to visit next weekend! :-) ).

So now I'm going to run to straighten things out for our company tomorrow. We actually didn't make it to church tonight (I had trouble getting Gregory and Robert up from their naps! :-) ), so we have to do that in the morning as well, before folks come over around 12. If you are family, and are planning to call Judith for her birthday, please do not do so between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific Time. That time frame will comprise our last hour of getting ready, the time when people are here, and then Judith's nap (which will be MUCH needed at that point). Thank you! We appreciate your consideration. If you do happen to call during that period, please do not be offended if we let the phone go to voice mail. We trust you'll understand.

Oh - and yes - we do have a lot of pictures from the past week, but we haven't had a chance to "do anything" with them yet, so please be patient. Thanks!