Tummy Time

Oh my, there's so much to report this week! Let me run down the list:

1. Patrick didn't poop for about 4 or 5 days over the weekend. Lori and I were beginning to get concerned, but I figured as long as it looked healthy when it did come out, it's probably okay. He still wasn't pooping, but he kept getting gassier and gassier and gassier! Tuesday night I said to Matt, 'Man this kid really stinks! He must have finally pooped.' But no. No poop! Finally, Wednesday morning he let it all go. Lovely mustard-colored poop was overflowing Patrick's diaper (and they hold a lot), onto his outfit, my shirt, his sheets, his sock...needless to say, it was a mess. I was happy, however, that it finally came out. I wondered if it would be another 4 or 5 days before he pooped again. When I picked the kids up from Lori's Wednesday night, I found out that a second, equally explosive episode had occurred just minutes after I told Lori he'd finally pooped the big one. He seems to be back to normal now though.

2. Karol is learning things faster than we can keep up. She says all kinds of words now, way too many to list. And she's starting to make 2-word sentences. Some favorites are "Elmo diaper," "Mom and Dad," and "letter (whatever letter)." She's getting really good at recognizing the letters of the alphabet and can say pretty much all of them. I didn't expect that to happen until later, but then again I have no previous example to compare her to.

3. Yesterday (Thursday) night we had a package opening party. We'd gotten a box from Aunt Carol, a package from Aunt Dine, and some stuff I ordered online. Even though two of the three had been here for days we didn't have time to open them! Or maybe we just weren't thinking about it. Anyway, we decided to make an event of it. Karol has a truckload of new books, which is GREAT because she's kind of 'over' the board books that we have. She got some new Dr. Seuss, ALWAYS a favorite in our house, and a whole collection of books about a DOG named Biscuit! Naturally, we had to read a couple of those right away. Both Karol and Patrick got some awesome new clothes, too. Luckily Patrick isn't too big for them! He's wearing a lot of 6-month stuff right now, and I'm gradually weeding out the 3 month clothes as he outgrows them. The clothes he got were 6 month but they look like they might actually fit him around 6 months, because I think they're a little bigger than the average 6 month size clothes (thank goodness!)

3. Patrick found his hands about a week and a half ago, and they've been entertaining him ever since. And just within the past couple of days I've been able to get him to laugh. He has to be in the right mood, though. He's starting to get really interested in the kinds of toys you hang above him that he can bat at with his hands. He also has a little horsey/silky-smoothy thing that he likes to shake and suck on. I want to get him one of those gym play-mat things this weekend, but we'll see.

4. We are finally moving to Arlington in five days!!! It seems like it's taken forever to get here, and yet I can't believe it's actually happening either. It hasn't really sunk in yet, I guess. I am really worried about how Karol will handle it. I've kind of explained it to her, but I don't think she will understand until she can see it. I want to take her to the new apartment on Saturday just to play a little bit, but I doubt it will be open. Maybe I'll take some time Monday for that.

5. This is the last week of the sixth class I've taken in my master's program, I'm almost half-way through :)

6. And lastly, I made a little video of Patrick and Karol enjoying some tummy time together. Here it is!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djM5ctrlb6M]