Month-by-Month: March

Lukas rolls!
On March 8, Lukas did his first documented back-to-front roll. He followed that with a few more tricks, such as front-to-back rolling, chewing on his own arm like it's a corncob, and working out of a swaddle in ten seconds or less. Mobility can't be far behind ... Also, we tried the Bumbo near the end of March, and it went OK -- he didn't fight it, and it did help him develop head/neck control, but it wasn't nearly the miracle baby item that it was for Annika. He would just lean forward and chew on it with all his might, instead of using it as a base from which to observe the world like she did. Oh well!

Four-month checkup
Aside from the shots (to which he reacted as if he'd been betrayed, poor kid), the four-month checkup went smashingly. He's now 25 inches long -- keeping that 60th percentile for height thing going.

Cousin B.'s 11th birthday party
R and Annika went to this one by themselves -- it was at a kids' party venue with bouncy houses and the like, so not really the scene for a baby -- but she absolutely loved it. She palled around with Cousin A. and a friend of hers most of the time, and came home full of talk about winning prizes and playing games. A red ball that she (or Daddy) won quickly became part of the in-house arsenal of things we have to keep telling her not to throw indoors.

Annika starts dance class
As you might remember, we tried the dance class that shares campus space with Annika's school, about a year ago. She didn't like it and apparently sat on the floor and watched, declining to participate. But a few months ago, she started to say she wanted to go again -- "Really for real. I'm not tricking you!" We put her off for awhile, but she was so persistent that we decided to give it another try. And this time, it was a huge hit. She loved it, loved it, loved it, and begged me to sign her up, so I did. It's not cheap, but it is super low-key and convenient (they walk the kids over from school for the midmorning session, once a week), and they wear normal clothes and rented shoes, which couldn't be easier! Thursdays are now her absolute favorite days -- dance in the morning, Soccer Shots in the afternoon.

Mihira and Metalia
Mihira is the name of a girl in Annika's class, but we don't know where Metalia came from -- and both are names she often uses for imaginary students in the imaginary classes she teaches, imaginary sisters (sometimes older, sometimes younger) that she plays with, and imaginary pets she takes care of. She also tried to get us to actually change her own name to Mihira, but we declined.

Crafty St. Paddy's
I am rediscovering so many of the lost crafts of my youth ... for St. Patrick's Day, we wanted to make some sort of shamrock. I drew one on a piece of cardboard, and we cut up green tissue paper into a couple hundred 2x2" squares, which we twisted around the eraser ends of pencils and glued to the cardboard. It looked like a parade float or a putting green ... good times.

Grandma the Nanny, for my return to work
I had to go back to work on March 26, so it was Grandma to the rescue, giving up her spring break and a couple of weeks of paid work to take care of Lukas. Fortunately for everyone, it was the kind of job Grandma likes best -- holding the baby literally all day long, and then marching to Annika's orders until the junior set is at last corralled into bed. We really couldn't have managed the transition without her, and we are HUGELY grateful for it. The kids were happy and well-cared-for, R and I had a third adult to manage the chaos, and I even got fresh coffee to go in the mornings -- as hard as it was to go back, it was doable with Grandma on the job. Thank you, Grandma!