Notes from Dad -- July 4, 2007

Quick update re Chloé: She is now almost 12 weeks old and she really is a good girl. She's been better than ever at sleeping through the night lately. She often sleeps from around 10:00 to 6:00, which is great for Mom and Dad's level of energy during the day. Not to say there aren't some rockier nights. For example, Guard Dog Zimmy sometimes barks in the night at would-be burglars, which wakes up Chloé. The solution? We're getting rid of Zim...just kidding. (Jeanine strongly objects to this and knows that I actually really love Zimbab) [Editor's Note: Jeanine wrote that last parenthetical.] Like Mom and Dad, Chloé will have to learn to ignore Zim's false alarms and howling at passing fire engines and keep sleeping.

We haven't weighed Chloé in a couple of weeks, but we'd guess she's around 12 lbs. She is officially in the 3 -6 month clothes. Some of the 0-3 gear still fits, albeit tightly, but her long skinny legs have outgrown most of it. Chloe is reaching out a lot, playing with her hands, really focusing on things of interest to her (i.e., Morris the Monkey, her favorite book "Go Dogs Go", Mom's songs, and her jungle gym), and smiling anytime she sees Mom and Dad.

Chloé's least favorite thing to do right now: drive in the car. She really doesn't like it. Sometimes it is possible to calm her down when the two of us are with her in the car to keep her company, but when she is with just one of us, she really belts out some cries. It's difficult because Mom often needs to drive around town to get things done which is hard to do while Chloé is (loudly) voicing her displeasure. Hopefully, it's just a phase and she won't mind it soon.

Chloé is now liking her baths. She doesn't know what think at first but then settles in a enjoys the warmth. She is also sounding out a lot of sounds, which according to the stuff we've read, is the first stage of her development of language skills.