The other morning Kiwi woke up from a nap and I startled when I looked at her.
“You got bigger!” I exclaimed.
I swear she grew in the 45 minutes she was asleep. She has changed so much in the five months since she was born.
Yet some things have stayed the same. Kiwi entered the world talking—not crying—and she is even more of a chatterbox these days. She squeaks, coos, gurgles and squeals all day (and, ahem, night) long. She clearly has a lot to say!
Kiwi is rolling over both ways, trying to sit up on her own and laughing up a storm. She has become remarkably intentional in her explorations of the world. She reaches out her hand to bat at a toy or the Christmas tree, and she turns over or contorts her body to get a better look at what Big Sister Peeper is doing.
The two girls are interacting more. One day while Peeper was sitting on the potty, she yelled “ha!” for some reason. Kiwi giggled, so Peeper did it again—and again—and again, eliciting bigger belly laughs each time. And the other morning, Peeper saw me tickling Kiwi by nibbling her cheeks, tummy and armpits, so she copied me. “Nom nom nom!” she said as she gummed her little sister’s side.
At the same time, I haven’t wished for time to stop or even slow down. The last five months have been among the most challenging of my life. Kiwi is napping much better and starting to sleep more at night, but the ongoing lack of rest has been brutal on me. And my transition to mom of two has been less than graceful. So I smile when I look back on newborn pictures of Kiwi, but I don’t want to transport myself back to those days.
Plus, why stop time when every day brings something new? Kiwi is changing by the minute, or at least by the nap.
Oh, man. Those first few months! There was no being prepared for them, and I am glad that they are now a memory.
I still don’t feel graceful at parenting two, but I feel much, much more grounded than I did those first six months!
Congrats for all you’ve done and learned to date, and good luck (and love) for the learning ahead!
Thank you Deb! Glad I’m not the only one stumbling through these months!
Oh, what a cutie! I remember those days when I’d look at one of my kids in the morning and it seemed like there was a totally different (and older!) child. Enjoy these days!
They must be lightning fast growth spurts!
Oh my gosh what a sweetheart! That first photo is so precious but all of them are absolutely adorable and sweet!
Thanks Marlynn! I think so too but I’m a little biased.
Lovely photos as always. I’m just impressed that you can string coherent sentences together these days. 🙂
Haha! On my good days, anyway. 😉
Oh my! So adorable! I love the picture on the beach with the red hat.