Baby Bloomquist Blog

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Eating flowers

Bernadette Alice will be turning 2 this month, and we can't believe what a big, smart, observant, funny little person she is! She knows her whole alphabet, plus lots of other songs (e.g., Twinkle Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy, Old MacDonald, etc.), and she can count to 10, although we wonder if she fully understands the concept of counting, since she sometimes counts far beyond the amounts she is tallying.

She talks a lot, including 4 and 5-word sentences (e.g., "Put it over there," "I use a fork too," etc.). She can be very polite, liberally using "please," "thank you," "welcome," and "sorry!" She also recently started saying "I love you" or just "Love you!" She makes us laugh by using a lot of grown-up phrases, such as "One minute! Be right back," "I'm fine," "just one ... enough," and by cracking up when she sees the adults laughing, even if the punchline was over her toddler head.

She loves school, especially dance class, where she pretends to be a tiger by lying on her belly on the floor and growling. She has a group of friends, mostly boys, about whom she chats frequently, including while laying in her crib by herself. She enjoys gymnastics class and can do a somersault by herself!

She loves her baby sister Tilly, and loves to help mom and dad by bringing dirty diapers to the garbage. She shares her toys with Tilly ("Tilly have truck") and wants Tilly to participate in her activities ("Tilly stand up, clap hands"), but sometimes when mom or dad is holding Tilly, she really wants to be held instead. We usually accommodate her :)

Instead of the traditional blankie, a "foot sack" is her comfort object for crib, car, and cuddles. Some of her other favorite things are bubbles, stickers, chalk/crayons ("Daddy draw cat!"), pasta, cows, play doh, and spending time with her family. We love our big girl so much!!!

Friday, April 1, 2016

Dimple girl

Matilda Marie turned 12 weeks old yesterday, and her cuteness is increasing every day! She smiles a lot and has a pronounced dimple in her right cheek, as seen in most of the pictures below. She also has an adorable cowlick, inherited from dad.

She has a really strong neck and strong legs like her big sister did at that age. She can stand up and support her own weight with mom or dad holding just her hands or one hand.

She loves to hear talking and singing, and she responds with coos and gurgles. I think she is even more "talk"ative than Bernie was at that age, sometimes carrying on enthusiastic dialogues for several minutes.

During tummy time, she has rolled over from her front to her back a couple of times. She loves to look at bright colors and anything black and white, but looking at faces is her favorite.

She's such a good baby, snoozing peacefully at times when her big sis is being a particular handful. She often wakes up just once during the night for food. However, she is very particular about having a clean, dry diaper at all times (something Bernie did not care about at all as a baby!).

We love her so much and can't wait to see how she develops in the next 12 weeks and beyond!