Wow, has it really been nearly two weeks since I had a real entry? Nothing to really blame it on — it's not even 過労死 this time ... I'm in a rare quieter moment at work; I've just been wiped out.
So what's the best way to run down the past two weeks? Gerunds.
Smelling ... I had a good little cooking jag over the past two weeks: spaghetti squash with asparagus and ricotta, asparagus–mushroom pizza, a chickpea stew with sweet onions (from Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure), potatoes and olives (from The Greek Vegetarian), artichokes, and a few other dishes.
When I was making the spaghetti squash and asparagus dish, I ran out to pick some rosemary from the plants Evelin put into one of the beds. When I got back inside, Quinn was fussing. I put a little bit of rosemary under her nose and she quieted up immediately. I hadn't realized rosemary has a calming effect, but it really did work for a moment or two with her.
Weighting ... Thinking of Quinn, she had her two-month appointment last Thursday: She was 12 pounds, 4 ounces; 23 inches long; and head circumference 15.5 inches. We figure she's gaining at least more than an ounce a day at this rate. This kid is solid.
While on the subject of Quinn, she's rolled from stomach to back three times when angry during tummy time.
She's still a pretty good sleeper: She has trouble getting to sleep, particularly in the afternoon/evening, but she will sleep from about 7:30 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. without a peep.
We're also trying to give her a bottle once a day to get her used to the thing for when Evelin goes back to work. I am a bit worried about my first afternoon alone with the two of them.
Crying ... Actually, last Tuesday, I did have a few hours alone with the girls and it went about as poorly as I could imagine. Evelin had a post-natal checkup with the midwives and both of the girls were napping when it was time for her to leave. Of course, Celeste awoke about 10 minutes after she left and Quinn woke up about 5 minutes after that.
It was okay for a little while, but then I figured that Quinn was hungry and I gave her a bottle. It worked about as well as when I tried it with Celeste for the first time. There were tears and much back and forth trying to figure out what would make her happy. Celeste was obviously stressed out — by the crying, by me being unable to stop the crying, by my being frazzled about what to try next, ... — and was running back and forth making suggestions. "Boppy!" "Swing!" "No-No!" MILK. "Diap!"
She actually was a really big help — getting things like the Boppy and the BabyBjörn for me — but the only thing that really helped was when Evelin finally got home. Since then, we've given her a few more bottles, mostly with little initial success, but she did okay yesterday. (Tonight, not so good, however.)
Singing ... Celeste is pretty demanding, popping up with new words and requests daily. She really enjoys singing (or at least being sung to) and she will often tell me to "Sing, Da-da!"
A few nights ago, she had a middle-of-the-night wakeup. I went in a calmed her and took her out of the crib to sit quietly for a little while. As soon as we sat down, she said, loudly, "Sing, Da-da!" I told her "No, it's night; time for sleeping." She sat there quietly for a while, but after about 5 minutes there was this fairly quiet, and slightly plaintive, "Sing, Da-da." It was really cute, but dinnae work.
Thinking of signing, I've been using "Cemetry Gates" as a lullaby for a long time with her. When we drove to North Carolina, I put together a few mix CDs for the drive, including one with "Cemetry Gates." When the song started, I kept an eye on the mirror to see if Celeste noticed: At first she was going on with whatever she was doing, but when Moz got to "If you must write prose/poems ..." she looked up and pointed at the radio and smiled. Now whenever I sing the song, she starts saying "Car CD! Car CD!"
Forgetting ... I'm sure I'm forgetting more than a few cute/interesting/stupid/blogworthy things but that's all I have at the moment ...
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