observe

These two weeks since L was born, I have been reminded of the importance to observe carefully. Not only did I enjoy the reminder during our world-wide church General Conference to "first observe, then serve" but as a parent I know I need to observe my wee ones more. 

My little lady is new to this world and family, and we are just getting to know each other. I did not observe her closely enough in the beginning. There were many distractions. But this morning I have tuned in to her and our lives are better because of that choice. Peace has returned and I appreciate her uniqueness more. 

Observations about the guy right now:

• Since L's birth, he has adopted a little stuffed bear that never interested him before. He has invited this bear to dine with us, pray with us, nap with him, ride in his bike basket, and give kisses. I like that he has found a positive way to cope with mom's distractions on the baby. He adopted a baby of his own! He will be  a tender daddy one day. 
• He loves music, especially the harmony that Grandma's voice has added to singing time in our home. He notices the pleasant difference from my dimensionless melody. 
• When picking out his shoes, he always picks his Doc Martin's. He must like the way they feel. I only choose them for church, so he started it. And he wore them today with his sweat pants. :) 
• He has gotten louder and more rambunctious lately. Nothing out of the norm, just acting more like a 2 year old boy. Lots of energy and loud voices.
• Trains are the coolest things in the world to this little man.
• He is talking so much that I have lost track of all the new words he learns every day. He is a talking machine, repeats everything we say, and is getting better with pronunciation. 
• He was obsessed with jumping last week. Everywhere he went he wanted to jump there. Although he is not strong enough to jump yet, he follows our lead when we encourage him to strengthen his quads, with the express purpose that he will be able to jump by himself. 

Observations about the lady right now:

• She is a sensitive diva. Her surroundings have to be just right for her to fall asleep on her own.
• She is sensitive to noise, light, and heat and sweats quite a bit.
• She doesn't like lots of people in her face at once. 
• She has a small sleep window before she is very overstimulated and unable to calm down on her own.
• She likes being snuggled, but what newborn doesn't?!?
• She likes hanging out naked, probably because of the cool air on her skin.
• She loves skin on skin time, but dislikes tummy time.
• She loves her pacifier, but mostly when she is already tired and it is a challenge to focus on it. But she does love to suck on it; more than I expected. 
• At her appointment yesterday she weighed 7 lbs, 13 oz - almost a full pound past her birth weight! Her head circumference increased an inch and she is a quarter inch taller. You go girl!