Potty time! Excellent!

Sterling has become quite adept at using the potty. As long as we offer her enough potty-tunities, we can catch most of the her pees and poos.

This morning, she started her usual bout of wiggling at about 7:00am. Remembering yesterday, when she was wet by the time I got her up and tried to potty her (and she didn't pee), I got up and tried to potty her in the bathroom. She was still mostly asleep and didn't go. We went back to bed. Twenty or so minutes later, she started wiggling with vigor and refused to be quieted with a boob. I figured she really had to potty now, but when I checked her diaper she was already wet. I thought I'd give her a try on the potty anyhow, since her wiggling had been so vigorous. She pooped almost immediately after being put on the potty! I sat her there for 5 or so minutes and she continued pooping, then she got antsy so I decided she was probably done. It was a total success. We caught the entire poo and she definitely communicated her need to go (which is the whole goal of the process). She also peed in the parking lot after I finished my walk today.

Donor milk!

Mike just finished a major milk organization freezer project, which pushed his tetris abilities to the maximum. I'm very proud of him. We now have milk in the freezer from 4 different women and milk in the refrigerator from a fifth. Since babies get antibodies through breastmilk, I'm anticipating that Sterling will be immune to every disease known to man. 

I was getting a little concerned because our main donor (who we get the unfrozen milk from) had seen a drop-off in milk supply. We were burning through our freezer stash faster than I was comfortable with. 100 oz of milk *sounds* like a lot, but we use up to 15 oz a day, which means we could burn through that much in a week. 

I think it's sort of like wanting to have your cupboards filled if you've ever had a period of your life when you've been hungry. I want to know what I have plenty of milk so that my tiny squee won't have to go back on formula. The new goal is to keep her exclusively on breastmilk until she's 6 months old... longer would be great, but apparently their gut has matured to the point where formula isn't quite as bad by the time they're 6 months. That's about when I think she'll probably be starting solids, too.

These days, we're mostly bottle feeding with an occasional use of the Lactaid. The little tube is just so fiddly to keep in her mouth, since she's gotten a lot more active when she nurses. I haven't seen a huge decrease in supply since stopping the Lactaid, but there has been some decrease. I keep telling myself I am going to start using it full-time again, but the bottle is just so much easier. She's learning to hold it herself, too. We got her some handles to make it easier. 

Diaper Rash and Diaper Free

For some reason, TS has gone from pooping 1-2 times a day to pooping about every half hour. It must be something that I, or one of her milk donors, ate. I didn't quite realize how often she was going yesterday, so I think she ended up sitting in a dirty diaper for longer than she should have. She has developed her first diaper rash, which I feel badly about.

Today, lots of naked time is on the agenda (it's good to get rid of diaper rash). Also, lots and lots of diaper changes between naked times. And, lots of changes of the diapers that she's laying on when she's naked. There's still lots of pooping going on.

On the plus side, it's given us ample opportunity to practice our pottying. We've gotten her to poop and pee on the potty quite a bit today. I really think she's gotten the idea now.

Just all sorts of activities

In addition to swimming, Sterling has also been playing in her new activity gym. I had consigned some maternity clothes at a consignment store about a week after she was born. I finally went back and checked on them on Friday. Three items had sold and I had an $18 credit. We don't need any clothes, but I saw this activity gym out front and thought that Sterling could grow into it.

Turns out she's ready to use it as long as we stick the Ergo insert pillow under her butt so she can see over the top, and put another pillow under her feet so she can touch the ground.

Swimming Squee!

Tiny Squees can swim!

Well, at least Tiny Squees can play in the pool. Swimming might be a bit of an overstatement.

This is us in the apartment pool.
Mike couldn't come to the swim lesson,
so I don't have any pictures.

We had our first official swim lesson today. We got a LivingSocial coupon for 12 weeks of swim lessons at the Dolfun Swim Academy. There's a lot of singing and a little bit of splashing. There were 5 babies in the class. Three of them were girls about 4 months old (including Sterling). One girl was much smaller, and there was one boy who was probably around 3-4 months. We floated the babies on their fronts in the "harbor hold" (like little harbor seals) and clapped and sang. Then, they floated on their backs with parents holding their heads only - surprisingly, their bodies stay afloat doing this. We poured water over their faces ("Ready, Sterling, Swim!") to prepare them for going under. Then, near the end of the class, we actually dove them under water (with instructor assistance). Sterling was not pleased with this part. I think she was getting tired and hungry by that point in the class. She had only napped for 45 minutes or so between getting up and going to class and she hadn't had much to eat either. Next time, I need to make sure to load her up with milk before we go so that she doesn't get hungry part-way through. She's totally exhausted at this point. She fell asleep in her carseat and is still there napping, which never happens. She's been asleep for nearly an hour.

Wonder Weeks (12 weeks)

I'm pretty sure that we're through our 12 week developmental leap. Like the last one, I think she was about a week late. She's 14 weeks old and I think that she just finished it a couple of days ago. Here's what was supposed to happen (with the things that I've observed bolded).

BODY CONTROL

• Barely needs support to keep his head upright
• Smooth head movement when turning to one side
• Smooth eye movement when following a moving object
• Is generally more lively and energetic
• Playfully lifts her bottom when her diaper is being changed
• Rolls independently from back to stomach (or vice versa) while holding on to your fingers (we haven't tried this yet)
• Sticks his toes in his mouth and twists around (I'm not sure she can reach her toes)
• Sits up straight when leaning against you
• Pulls herself into a sitting position while holding onto your fingers
• Is able to move into a standing position when seated on your lap by holding on to two of your fingers
• Uses both feet to push off when seated in a bouncing chair or lying in a playpen (she'll push off our hands when laying on her stomach)

HAND CONTROL

• Grabs and clutches at objects with both hands
• Shakes a rattle once or twice
• Studies and plays with your hands
• Studies and touches your face, eyes, mouth, and hair
• Studies and plays with your clothes
• Puts everything into her mouth
• Strokes her head, from neck to eyes
• Rubs a toy along her head or cheek (especially her taggie blanket)

LISTENING AND TALKING

• Discovers shrieking and gurgling; can easily shift between loud and soft tones, low notes and high ones
• Produces new sounds that resemble the vowels of real speech: ee, ooh, ehh, oh, aah, ay
• Uses these sounds to "chat"
• Is able to blow saliva bubbles, and laughs as if she finds this very amusing

LOOKING AND SEEING

• Turns hands over, studies both sides
• Studies her own moving feet
• Studies a face, eyes, mouth, and hair
• Studies someone's clothing

OTHER SKILLS

• Expresses enjoyment by watching, looking, listening, grabbing, or by "talking", then waiting for your response
• Uses different behavior with different people
• Expresses boredom if she sees, hears, tastes, feels, or does the same things too often; variety suddenly becomes important