My Big Little Girl

There was an administrative glitch at the state with Margaret's PKU test so today we had the visiting nurse out again to readminister the blood draw. While she was here, I asked for a weight check since Margaret and I got off to a slow start with good nursing. Now it's easy as pie and there is no pain, but I wanted to make sure she was gaining appropriately. I had hoped she'd reached about nine and a half pounds. Turns out that Margaret now weighs 10 pounds 8 ounces! That means she's gained an ounce and a half per day for the last three and a half weeks. Go girl, go! No wonder her newborn clothing has already become snug and I'd asked Chris to get the 3+ month clothing out of the attic.

Today John used Play-doh to make a nest with bird eggs in it. I was struck that he wouldn't attempt to draw a nest with bird eggs in it, as he still mostly scribbles, but he was able to create it in three dimensions. It is interesting to me how the mind works. That made me think of Handwriting Without Tears which uses, as part of its program, modeling clay to teach the children how to form the letters before they are putting pencil to paper.

Note in the photo John's pale skin and dark circles under his eyes. He hasn't been sick-sick since Sunday, but he's still obviously sick. His appetite is not returned and he is eating only a few crackers or a slice of toast each day. And each day he spends some time being energetic and excited like his normal self and spends other portions of the day lying on the sofa feeling nauseated. I started to wonder if he was faking it so I stopped letting him watch TV when he'd lay down, yet he still lays there on the sofa, looking pathetic. Last night he went to sleep for the night two hours before his normal bedtime. Poor little guy!