First Snow

Today Karston saw his first snow! We had a quick snow, over in fifteen minutes, last weekend while he was napping, but he didn't see it because he was asleep. Karston was more interested in the sleet that fell before the snow because it made a neat sound. Since we had warm 70°F weather yesterday, our daffodills, miniature daffodills, and yellow crocuses bloomed. So while Karston didn't care about the snow, I think the flowers did. (Of course we didn't have any snow accumulation! Not with the ground warmed up from yesterday's weather.) The blooms are touching the ground now, and I think I'll pick them when it's warmer. It's rough to blossom one day, and have it snow the very next day!

Baby

2.5

Sunday Karston turned 32 weeks old. Today I read that the rule of thumb is to be 2.5 times birth weight at 32 weeks of age, which would be 16.25 pounds for Karston. A few days ago he weighed in at 16.5 pounds fully dressed. He weighed 16.1 pounds this evening, but that was after we learned another lesson: even if Karston wants it, we might not want to feed him all 2.5 oz of prunes! He ate all that last night as part of his dinner, and the prunes started working after breakfast. In fact, the next five diapers were poopy, and he was fussy all day. So I'm going to guess he was 16.25 pounds at some point today, and say he matched that rule of thumb.

Baby

Seven Months

Karston is such a little person now! I think he passed from Infant to Baby this past month, just as he passed from Newborn to Infant when he was about two weeks old. In particular, his hands look like scaled-down adult hands now, not just the thumbs. He eats real food, albeit baby food from a soft spoon. He likes cereal and sweet potatoes. He'll eat peas and prunes, and maybe applesauce if Daddy coaxes him. He's no longer interested in bottles, and he'll only nurse at night. He watches us eat with great interest, but he hasn't reached for silverware yet so we haven't reached the messy independence of self-feeding. He laughs more, and he loves his routines for bath, nap, and bed times. He's down to two naps a day. He'll stop fussing and start smiling in the evening when we start his bed time routine, and he'll even put a lot of energy and laughter into playing before the final bundle off to bed. He's getting better at gripping what he wants, building hand-eye coordination. His favorite toys light up where he pushes them, not somewhere else, and music is also good (usually calms the fussing baby). He does love to stand on the counter and stomp his feet. Stomping is the best, and standing (with just a little help) is still great. Today he just started to sit on his own, too. No new teeth, though.

He's also such a little boy. He hoots on walks especially if you're not talking enough because, well, a boy has to announce himself loudly, and he's announcing that he's king of the path. He grins wildly when he shakes his head side to side vigorously, especially on a teething ring but sometimes just to shake his head. Our cat Linus, an older tuxedo cat, is very patient and lets Karston twist his ears just to sit in on family play time. However, Linus usually runs away when Karston starts stomping, which he does when he gets really happy about play time. Our dog Emma, an active terrier mix, thinks he's wonderful for licking although we try to dodge that. They both look worried when he cries, but usually stand close to him and look like they want to help.

Karston has just cracked 16 pounds, which means that he's above the 10th percentile for weight now, and that he can start wearing size 3 diapers.

Since he's only nursing at night, I pump during the day. It's easier to schedule pumping than baby feeding, so while it's not glamorous or comfortable, it's predictable. We think the breast feeding is paying off because he hasn't been sick even though Daddy's had two colds and Mommy one. We feel lucky about that!