Thursday, November 17, 2011

Darwin is 3 Months

Darwin has been growing so well over the last few weeks mainly because he has been eating so much that I can barely keep up. At his last appointment at the Wit Gele Kruis on October 31, 2011 he weighed in at 12.4 lbs. He has been surprising us so much with his development these days.

For the first time he started talking, of course in his own way, but with the use of vowels and consonants! We were so impressed with him and I even got it on video. I try to have random conversations with him regularly and I have also began to casually teach him signs for mama, dada, eat, milk and finished. He seems to really pay attention well especially since he likes to observe my hand gestures. Just something fun to do to pass the time.

He has also been putting a lot of weight on his legs and just loves to be held in the standing position. Looks like we will have an early walker so it seems. We still swaddle him as he has a strong startle reflex and also likes to grab his face with his hands. I let his legs move freely, however, for proper pelvic and leg muscle development.

He normally loves baths, ever since he was a newborn, but lately he has been screaming I think due to his burning a$$hole.. he has been pooing a lot lately which could be the culprit, I use Penatan cream which his grandpa David gave him since he once used the same brand on Peter.

He still doesn't nap much in the day but I can usually get him down for a couple of 30 to 45 minute naps and lie with him and get him to sleep for an hour. Or he'll just sleep on me while I'm watching a show or working on the computer. He sleeps quite well at night, normally 7ish-7ish with two feedings in between (one at 12ish and the other at 4ish)... so he's fairly predictable at night. I get on average about 6.5 hours of sleep since I go to bed around 9-10pm and am awake for about 1.5-2 hours at night... not too bad.

In his first month he slept in his bassinet but as he got older and bigger he became more fussy and likes to sleep in his bouncy chair, courtesy of my friend Beth. I've put him in his crib numerous times and he has slept well but soon noticed that he was spitting up. I realized that he needs to sleep on an incline to minimize reflux so once we have the air conditioner installed in his room, which should be happening in a day or two, I will prop up the mattress and let him sleep in his room again.

He's getting so big these days. I've started to reminisce about when he was a newborn. I have been gazing at pictures and videos of him at just a few weeks old and it just gets me emotional. I love him so much..