3-month update

As we knew it would, time has started going more quickly. I feel like I just wrote Nicholas' 2-month update, and here he is a big 3-month old already. He hasn't changed as much in this past month as in the previous 2 and looking back at his 2-month update, it still pretty accurately describes him. But here are a few things that are new this month:

• We won't have official stats this month (no doctor's visit--yay!), but according to our scale Nicholas now weighs in at over 15 pounds! He is getting so heavy in his carseat that I'm contemplating beginning to leave it in the car when he is awake and carry him up and down the stairs without it.
• He "talks" much more frequently and more expressively than he did a month ago. He obviously can't form words at all, but sometimes based on his tones and inflections it seems like he is having a real conversation with you. I wonder if he has thoughts he is trying to express or just playing with making sounds.
• He has learned to grab things, rather than just bat at them with closed fists. He sometimes still has trouble getting the fine motor skills involved just right, but is generally getting pretty adept at it.
• He has reached the age where he wants to put everything in his mouth. I think this is why he worked so hard to learn to grab his toys--because then he can pull them to his mouth. He also tries to jam his entire fist into his mouth to chew on it. Just in the past couple days he has started realizing that if he unclenches his fist he can actually get fingers in. Unfortunately, he hasn't yet figured out that the thumb will work better than other fingers and so sometimes gags himself by sticking his index and middle fingers too far back.
• He now basically has complete control of his head and can sit up with support. And since he loves so much to be able to see what is going on, sitting up against a soft chair or one of the chair-pillows is his new favorite position. We also discovered that in this position it is much easier for him to play independently since he can actually see and reach toys (an impossibility on his back unless on his playmat).
• He desperately wants to be able to move. When he wants to go somewhere he kicks his little legs so vigorously that he would be sprinting if he had the ability to stand up.
• He seems to have forgotten how to do some things he knew how to do a couple months ago, like rolling over and scooting forward on his tummy. Since at the time it was waaaay early for those skills and they are things he is just supposed to be figuring out in the next month or so, I'm assuming that those early incidences were some sort of fluke or reflex or something and that he'll learn them for real soon.

Things are about to get pretty crazy here as the schoolyear starts. Although we've been working for the past two months, the introduction of workshops, seminars, and meetings both eliminates our flexibility of timing and dramatically cuts into our work time. Looking at my schedule for the next couple weeks, I'm not sure how I'm going to get these chapters revised unless I start working during Nicholas' first nighttime sleep shift. Now that he is sleeping more, I guess it is about time I stop going to bed when he does, right? Just when we started to feel like we had things under control, there is something new to adapt to. I guess that is the definition of parenting, though, right?

This picture is from a few days ago, but it can serve as his 3-month photo:

From Louisville-Cincinnati Trip, Aug. 2009