On Friday, we “graduated” Claire up to the bottle nipples for 3-6 months of age. We had tried them a couple weeks back, but the flow was too much for her to handle. Then, a few days before she reached 12 weeks, she seemed increasingly frustrated with her meals, sucking really hard and getting mad. So, even though she was not officially three months old (but she will be this Saturday), we switched nipples.

Formerly Claire consumed 18-21 ounces a day. Since last Friday, her intake has increased to 24-28 (!!!) daily. She pounds the milk down in 10 to 15 minutes (startling to observe, actually) and hasn’t got many burps at all. There’s been a little more spitting-up, but on the whole all is fine.

Well, it’s like watching a plant grow from slo-mo to sped-up film. And more amazing is…

Saturday night she ate three ounces at 8 p.m., five ounces just before midnight, and then did not wake for a feeding until 5:20 a.m. That meant Husband did not have to wake for a 2/3/4 a.m. meal.

The heavens rejoiced! But wait, was that an anomaly?

It happened again Sunday night: meal at 12:30 a.m., up at 5:30 a.m. However, yesterday she didn’t nap much in the afternoon — was tired but just would not. Finally around 6:30 p.m. she was whiny and exhausted; I rocked her for about three minutes and she was practically out cold. I put her in her crib and there was no fussing. A minute later she was solidly sleeping. We kept waiting for her to wake at 8ish, but no. We resigned ourselves to the fact she’d wake at 10:00, eat a little, then wake again at 2 a.m. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted. I went to bed. Husband came to bed later and I woke. I asked if she’d eaten. Yes, at 10:30 p.m.

Oh. She’ll probably wake at 2 a.m. then. Husband said: Guess how much she ate?

Seven ounces

What?! Seven whole, count ’em, honest-to-goodness ounces? Wow. Double-wow!

She slept until 4:50 a.m. and woke ravenous. We had a lovely morning meal (4.5 ounces) and a little bit of play, and by 5:50 were sleepy and at 5:55 unconscious in the swing.

And I don’t know if I can pinpoint what it is, but there is a different quality in her in the past few days. She is more… present. Oh my goodness, what pleasure she takes in existing! Wave a toy in front of her and she wiggles and grins with delight even more than she did before. She’s more coordinated now; she can grasp toys, and with purpose she brings them toward her mouth. They don’t always go in the first time, but she manages to get her mouth on them. I sing to her, tell her nursery rhymes, over-exaggerate words, and she writhes in spasms of joy.

Previously I just read books (Boynton’s Moo, Baa, LaLaLa, etc.) and didn’t bother to show her the pictures. But now I lie next to her and turn the pages, and she looks at them while I read. I know she doesn’t understand what they are or what is read, but she connects the act of hearing and looking; she is engaged. It’s the same with a picture book of farm animals. She really looks at them while I point and say what they are. Her communication is more intentional too. She studies my face while eating and breaks into a grin and coo spontaneously. Being adored, basking in someone’s adoration, is an amazing experience. The feeling is mutual.

Her laugh is still developing. I call it the Beavis and Butthead laugh. However, she laughs more readily for her father. I get a Beavis laugh (one heh). He gets the whole shebang (hehheh. hehhehhehheh.) The arpeggio of silly giggles is still in the works.

What everyone kept promising seems to be coming true: Everything settles out at around three months, as if by magic. It’s a good thing this is happening. I was prepared to make some heads roll if your predictions failed.