July 7

Isla has been more awake and alert this week, which means she has been more fussy. I don't think she quite knows what to do with herself when she is awake. Up until recently, she ate and slept and didn't do much else. Now, she is more awake and alert. Then she doesn't know how to fall asleep when she gets tired. These are tricky things for a tiny little baby to have to figure out!

Plus she is still eating every 2-3 hours, which would be normal if she was breastfed. But since she is formula fed, I expected her to eat less frequently by now. She still is not eating that much at each feeding. She usually eats between 2-3 oz every 2-3 hours. Normal for her age is 4-6 oz every 3-4 hours. I think she is still eating enough, but she is just eating in smaller portions. That makes her hungry more frequently, and therefore more fussy.

Anyway, all of that was just to say that Isla has needed lots of extra love and attention this week! And I have needed lots of extra patience (and Diet Dr. Pepper) in order to maintain my sanity.

I feel Audrey has been getting a lot more negative attention from me lately. I'm always telling her "no" or "stop doing that" or " be quiet" or "go play by yourself." This afternoon, Isla took several good naps, so I decided to use the time for some positive, quality interaction with Audrey.

We picked up with a new letter of the week: I. (It's going to take us three years to get through the alphabet at the pace we are going!). Ice cream was the main focus of our activities today. We made this lovely ice cream I.
Then we made pretend ice cream sundaes. When it comes to pretend food, Audrey has come a long ways since this incident last year when she was so upset that the ice cream was fake. Today, she kept coming up with different creations, then she would pretend to take a bite and say, "Yum. Yum. So delicious. Mmm, mmm, mmm."

We also found a couple of ice cream books at the library this week that Audrey has been enjoying: Curious George Goes to an Ice Cream Shop and Ice Cream. I'm thinking that as a finale for this ice cream theme we need to make some homemade ice cream tomorrow!