Flannery turned three months on July 30, the same day that Clive turned 10. (Happy Birthday, Clive!)
The household has settled into calling her Flansie or Flansie-Mo, with the occasional Flansie-Mouse, on the part of Anselm. This is how nicknames evolve, and I love it.
Flannery is a very expressive little lady! She has all kinds of faces and shows instantly how she feels about things. These faces are, actually, usually overwhelmingly positive. She is full of smiles, wide-eyed wonder, intense concentration, excitement; her eyes seem so, so big, and she uses them to her full advantage.
She’s very ticklish, and she’s starting to giggle when you tickle her ribs and her neck. She likes to kick, kick, kick her legs. She may be something of a daredevil, because she really loves it when I gather her hands and feet together and roll her from side to side on her back. She lights up with the biggest grin when I do this. I wouldn’t think too much of this except I remember that Aurick was terrified of rolling over for months. Months. It’s like it took him a long time to lose his startle reflex. Flannery, on the other hand, loves the sensation of rolling. She also likes it when I (gently) toss her legs up so they reach her head. One, two, three! (toss). She likes that very much.
She’s been really interested in her hands this month. She’s always chewing on them. I’ve found her sucking her thumb a couple of times–something I feel very ambivalent about. In my experience it’s easier to wean from a pacifier than it is to stop thumb sucking. But I suppose we’ll see how it progresses.
She’s officially in the blue-eyes club for now–so blue! I suppose they could still change slightly, but I’m guessing it’s not very likely. Her hair continues to look very red, and it is growing in all over her head, but very, very slowly. I imagine she will take after Elvie and be bald for a little while.
She’s also started scritch-scratching at the side of her basket when she’s awake. I’ll find her turned to the side, looking intently at the basket wall, while she grabs and feels the woven rattan. I brought the IKEA play gym up for her (the only toy that has remained intact through all eight children!) but she’s not very interested in swiping up at the toys, yet. She does like to look at the spinners on the sides, though.
She is a very happy baby. She has her fussy moments, but her real M.O. is to just take things in and smile. She falls asleep easily, almost always without me. She either wakes up happy or wakes up slightly complaining, which stops when she hears me coming to get her. She wakes a couple of times at night still, something I’m not really trying to discourage, as I’m not entirely happy with her weight gain, still. She doesn’t seem to be hurting at all–it’s just my own worries.
Her one, true loathing is the vacuum cleaner. Even at just a couple of weeks old she would cry when I vacuumed. She still hates the sound of it–or the suddenness of the sound of it. If I can vacuum while her white noise is running, she won’t startle too badly. But it will always wake her up, even when the white noise is running. She’s just sensitive, I guess.
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