Miss O’s nearly 3 months old

Today we travelled up from Tauranga to Auckland for Miss O’s latest Plunket check-up. We had thought that the initial stages of our home renovations would have been completed by now and that we would be firmly ensconced in the modified and newly decorated body of the house. Unfortunately that was not to be. And on talking to the floor sanding men today it looks like we may have to stretch our return date out another week to ensure our newly re-polished floors don’t have lovely dents from the feet of our furniture or the talons of our dogs. Give a builder two or three weeks and they take five or six!

Anyway, this morning at a respectable 7:30am we set out for Auckland. Our young Miss had a wonderful night of sleep, starting at 9:30pm and finishing at 6:15am.
Are her parents happy with her overnight sleeping patterns? Definitely.
Are we getting adept at tag-team mornings? Definitely.
Do we need to pack the kitchen sink for a couple of days away? Definitely.

After a quick stop for fuel and coffee (make mine decaf thanks) at Waihi, we made respectable time until Miss O demanded her morning tea half an hour early. If you think her demands can be put off for any length of time, I suggest taking a quick look at the photograph called “Why talk if you can shout” in my Flickr album. To accommodate this request we had a roadside snack at the little café just to the south of Maramarua. When I say “we”, I actually mean “she”, of course.

Finally after our enforced pit stops we actually made it to the Plunket clinic right on time for our appointment. Will miracles never cease?
This was our first visit with our regular Plunket nurse, and she turned out to be a cheery English lady who clearly likes her job. As for the young Miss, she was on her best behaviour. This time there was no peeing all over the examining table, unlike her visit to the Plunket bus that came around when she was 6 weeks old, and she even managed to give out that rare commodity – a smile for a stranger.

At eleven and a half weeks old Miss OhWaily is the proud owner of the following statistics:

Weight: 5.35 kg
Length: 57 cm
Head: 39.5 cm

She also warrants the following comments:

Good head control - holds head well, weight on forearms
Hips – slight uneven creases

Actually this last one is bum creases, which apparently indicate whether she is likely to have hip issues that need to be investigated further. Personally I’m glad that I don’t need to be subjected to this examination. I shudder to think where and what my creases, at my age, might be up to.

We were also given a little check list of what will be coming next at a baby near you.

Sight is nearly fully developed.
Judging by the way she nearly screws her head off to follow you around a room, I’d say she’s pretty well developed in the vision department. Not to mention the fact that either her vision is pretty near 100% or she has ESP and can tell when the bedroom door has been very gently and silently pushed an inch or two open so you can check if she’s asleep. This generally goes something like: “Hah. I caught you in the act of checking on me. Guess what? I’m awake and I seeee you!”

Longest period of sleep is at night.
We’ve been blessed in this department, even though we could have done with her body clock setting its wake-up signal to a little later than 4:00am most mornings.

Get noticeably stronger.
Yes, my little finger loses all sensation when she is gripping it in her absent-minded death lock.

Able to hold head up and sit up.
She’s been able to hold her head up since birth to a fair degree. But now she doesn’t suffer too badly from the speed wobbles and the noddy-dogs unless she is tired and needing a good sleep. Sitting up has become attractive since she discovered the Kowhai tree in my parents’ garden and (unfortunately) the TV.

Rolling around floor, enjoys kicking.
She has kicked consistently from pre-birth until now, so no change there then. Rolling around the floor is currently hampered by the size of her rather large, well padded nappies. We have a small semi-waterproof mat, but it is still a bit of a worry when it’s not your own carpet that could, and mostly likely will, be peed on. But even this has not stopped her from doing her best impression of a horizontal weeble.

Can become more vocal.
More vocal than what? At the rate this child is talking, it is surprising she hasn’t got a chronic hoarse throat. Apparently it’s a case of ‘like mother like daughter’ on this one. Speech will not be a problem I feel.

Babbling in word sounds of 2 syllables.
Just two? Are you sure about that? I could have sworn that in full flight she has managed to string together at least 6 or 7 sounds without taking a breath. I refer you to the comments just above.

In summary, Miss O is doing well, talking up a storm and generally altering her parents’ lives in untold good ways. Coming up to three months of parenthood is something of a minor milestone and looking back on all the things that she and we have learned in that short time completely amazes me.
Parenthood truly is an awesome journey. I’m glad we got on the ride, it’s fun, scary, exhilarating and completely rewarding.

Only a whole lifetime to go…