VJ from 3-5 months

Time is flying, and baby VJ is growing up before our eyes. Since our last posting, VJ has learned how to hold things - including his bottle at feeding time. He has also become very oral and loves to put whatever he can in his mouth and drools freely and without prompting. Just in the past three days, VJ has started to drink from a big person's cup (with Mom guiding him)!! Any day now he is also expected to master sitting up on his own - thus the daily practice in the new pea green bumbo seat you see here in the pictures.

When VJ is active, he enjoys playing under his Baby Einstein play mat, reaching for his toys and putting them in his mouth. When winding down, the veej enjoys watching kiddy videos on the computer. His favorite video is called "Baby Noah," which introduces babies to all kinds of animals in the tropics, polar regions, desert, and on the savanna. He also enjoys watching a series of videos called "baby signing times," but this is not his favorite right now. They teach him American Sign Language. He and Mom are learning how to communicate the essentials such as "water," "milk," "cereal," and "diaper."

Two other big things that happened in VJ's life recently is that he got to meet his Grandpop Carolan and Grandma Dempsey (whom we call "Pop Pop" and "Nani") Pictures will be put up soon! Also, VJ got a new baby sitter who comes to take care of him 4 hours per day while Mom works on her dissertation. His Nanny, Lucy, is awesome. When VJ sleeps, she helps Mom with housework like washing bottles, clothes, etc. etc! (What a relief! :o ) Lucy takes such good care of VJ and teaches him many things. In particular, she reads Dr. Seuss books to him and talks to him in Spanish every day.

Tracking VJ

We just started using a website named TrixieTracker.com to track VJ's sleeping and eating patterns. Hopefully this will help us as we try to figure out a good sleeping schedule for him.

The Latest on the Veej

This past week VJ had his 3-month "well checkup". The doctor says VJ looks great. I learned that VJ is now in the 75%-ile for height and weight. Below is a record of his measurements over the past 3 months, which I personally find very interesting. I'm very happy that he seems to be growing well.

Also, incidentally, VJ has just started daycare three days per week this week, as I have had to start teaching my class at UCLA. VJ's daycare provider reports that VJ is a "very very very good boy," which also makes me proud. If asked to describe VJ's personality at the present I would use the following adjectives: calm and mellow (unless he is inordinately hungry or sleepy), very observant and curious, and happy and cheerful.

Signing off,
VJ's proud mommy, Ann Marie

Post Script: Shortly after I wrote this update, VJ came down with his first cold - almost hours after he had gotten a perfect bill of health from his doctor. He is fighting the cold like a trooper - sometimes even giving us short smiles between bouts of coughing, troubled wheezing, and sneezing. Needless to say, it's hard to watch a newborn feel sick - of all the things he has to learn to get used to in the world, we hate for him to think that this cold is "normal". In any event, as to be expected, we can't wait til the little bub gets all better - hopefully in the next couple of days...



2/9/09 weight: 16 lbs 8 oz
head circumference 16.75 inches
length: 25 inches
80th percentile for weight
"average" percentile for height

1/8/09 weight: 14 lbs 12 oz
head circumference 16.25 inches (first time measured)
length: 24.5 inches
75th percentile for height and weight

12/8/08 weight: 12 lbs 7 oz
length: 23.25 inches
60th percentile for height and weight

10/23/08 weight: 7 lbs 13 oz
length: 20.5 inches

10/15/08 weight: 7 lbs 2 oz
length: 20.25 inches

10/7/08 AT BIRTH
- already not sure about this and will have to ask Scott, but -:
weight: 7 lbs 12 oz
length: 20 inches

Note: Although these figures seem promising (I'd like to think that VJ is going to grow up to big and strong!!!), the doctor told me that VJ's current size "rankings" vis-a-vis his peers are NOT necessarily indicative of how big he will be later in life...