Ellen retains her title of “Queen of Inertia”. However, she no longer lives by the motto, “an object at rest tends to stay at rest”. Oh no, her new motto is, “an object in motion tends to stay in motion.”

In the space of a week, Ellen has gone from perfectly content wherever you put her to unsatisfied with any position.

On her belly? Immediately rolls to back. On her back? Immediately rolls to belly. Sitting up? Lunges forward and ends up on her belly. Laying down? Tries to sit up with all her might! And if she is unsuccessful at changing positions, she gets very upset.

This perpetual motion coincides with the sudden sleeping-all-night trend. I definitely do not think that is a coincidence! Girlfriend is wearing herself out during the day!

All the movement, coupled with the complete erasure of night-feeds has her hungry, too. She seems to want to be eating constantly. Her nursing feeds are longer in duration, and she has been eating a ton of solids (at school anyway…). She must be hungry enough to want real food pretty badly, because she’s even accepting more from me. Pretty awesome!

My body has adjusted beautifully to her new feeding schedule. I’ve stuck to my daytime pumping adjustment at work, and the combination of that + no more feeds at night have my milk supply much lower, but perfectly in line with what Ellen needs. I will never cease to be awed by the human body and all of the magical things it can do.

I looked at some stats, and Ellen has only gained about 3/4 of a pound in the last two months. Remember when she was gaining multiple pounds a month? Phew! What a change. She is still a squishy delight – far from a skinny kid – but she no longer qualifies as the fattest baby I’ve ever met. I credit all her “exercise” for the change in stature.

It all makes sense. All of these developments and changes explain each other – the motion, the change in sleep, different appetite, change in body shape. Special creature of mine, growing up!