It's been a really fun month full of changes and new skills. It has also been a much more pleasant month. Last month we were dealing with intense teething and sleep deprivation. Everett had lots of mellow days where he must have been so uncomfortable that he didn't want to smile or laugh much, and he had stopped the babbling he had started at the end of October.
But the babbling has returned with a vengeance (da, ma, gee, ba, hee, la etc.), and he's also been sticking out his tongue, blowing raspberries on cue, in the air, and on other people! He'll also make an "ahh" sound when you tap your hand over his mouth. Can you tell I think he's a genius!?!
The way he can mimic people BLOWS MY MIND! All the aforementioned things he learned by imitating, but I'll notice him opening his mouth a little when I yawn, and that simple action impresses me so much. Geez, babies are smart!
He hasn't been growing as fast. The doctor says it's because he's more active, and I've heard that breast fed babies don't grow as consistently because it takes a while for the milk supply to adjust every time he grows.
Whatever it is (probably a combo), I'm happy we're not burning through clothes as fast. Although he's in this awkward phase between 9 and 12 month clothes (which happens to be an awkward style transition), so it's hard to find new clothes that fit him well.
We've been working on some signs. When he's about to nurse, I'll say, "do you want MILK?" and do the sign for milk, which looks like you're milking a cow (lovely). Then, when he's over being in his high chair or exersaucer, I'll do the sign for "all done." Right now he just smiles and laughs at me, but I think he's catching on that the signs have meaning (especially the "milk" one).
Like I said, it's been a wonderful month. Quite a bit better than last month. But there are always little difficulties. He's started "crying wolf." When he was younger, he mostly cried when he needed something (sleep, food), and I was aware how lucky we were to have a baby that wasn't "a mystery." But lately he's been crying like he's hurt when he's just a little annoyed. Which is, well, annoying! He gets especially aggravated when you want him to put his arms in his sleeves. POOR BABY!! {:
So a couple of events his month:
Everett got to meet family friend Frank Oliver, first in mid-November, then in early December. He was taking a road trip up the coast, and we got to see him on the way there and back.
One day he was here, we went to Morro Bay. It was a beautiful day.
A couple days after Thanksgiving, Garrett, Jessi, and Weston come over for a visit. They were in town for the holiday. We always love to get the boys together. Weston's about two weeks older than Everett and about two weeks more advanced developmentally, so we get to see what Everett will be doing soon!
We also enjoy spending time with Garrett and Jessi as friends and always wish we lived closer.
Brian made two wooden teethers for Everett. They're beautiful, and Brian's excited to get the time and the weather to make more!
Brian got us new phones and a new phone plan for my birthday (early birthday). That doesn't sound like something that would change our lives much, but our new phones take pictures and video (our old ones were so archaic!), and I can send them unlimited. I've been sending Brian photos and video of Everett throughout the day. It makes Brian's days go by more pleasantly and keeps him involved in what's going on at home!
He's been doing this new thing where he'll purposefully squint his eyes when he knows a picture is coming or a light is about to tun on. I noticed it for the first time in this picture with Juliette on Thanksgiving. So cute. This morning I turned the light on over the stove, and he kept looking at it and squinting. I said, "if it's too bright, don't look at it." Silly baby.
Gross motor skills-wise, he's pretty much mastered sitting. Whoop! whoop! Even when he falls now, he usually falls sideways so he can catch himself--although there's still the occasional free-fall backward, and hopefully there's always someone there to catch him.
He started getting really good sitting on the bed and slightly propped up, but now he's full-on free-sitting on the floor!
We went over to our friends Chris and Janna's house after Janna and I went on a walk with the kids. And Everett played so well with her girls (Ines and Rosa). He sat up the entire time and didn't get pushed over. I was very impressed!
Crawling is not quite as successful yet--thank goodness! He has crawled convincingly, so I marked it in the baby book (!), but he's completely content scooting and rolling to get where he wants to go.
I think we're lucky that Everett's not one to get frustrated by the things he can't do. He's completely content doing what he can do at that moment (at least for now!). There's plenty of mischief to get into even if you can only scoot to it.
Oh yeah, but he did that! What's that buddy!?!
I know I showed you in my last blog, but in case you didn't read that one, I FINALLY got a picture of all (?) Everett's teeth. The fifth is questionable, but I think I can see it: bottom left beside the front teeth.
Even though Everett has teeth, he's not a big eater. He was doing okay last month with a couple finger foods, but after the avocado incident, we held back for a while. Then Janna let me have the rest of her rice cereal from Rosa, and one night I mixed some rice cereal with breast milk, brought out the spoon, and . . . you would have thought we were trying to poison him.
The video is on facebook, and it's hilarious, if not a little sad. Since then, every food we've fed him: bananas, beans, sweet potatoes, he's regurgitated. So we'll wait a week or two, then try again. I'm not in a hurry to feed him, BUT on the off-chance it helps him sleep better at night, I'm willing to start him on the solids.
Speaking of sleep, it's been getting better. It's not perfect, but there's been a marked improvement from last month.
We went in for his 6-month doctor-visit (several blogs earlier), and Doctor Patterson and I had a conversation about sleep that resulted in a new game-plan that's been helpful. If it's not helped his sleep, it's at least given me hope that things will change and that we are doing something constructive toward a more restful future.
Basically, he needs to eat more during the day, but you can't just make a baby eat another meal during the day (as Dr. Sears seemed to suggest). He eats his fill as he wants it. So the goal is to slowly get him to eat less at night, resulting in him eating more during the day.
What I've been trying to do is, if it's been less than three hours since his last feeding (less than two at first), I kick Brian out of bed and make him comfort Everett back to sleep. I had avoided doing this before because Brian works and I want him rested. But Doctor Patterson convinced me that we will both be happier and more rested when Everett's sleeping through the night.
If he wakes at around 2:00 or 3:00, I'll usually get up and feed him because he really is hungry. But I'll try to get him to fall asleep after nursing on one side, not eating a whole meal.
This seems to be resulting in him wanting to eat again at about 5:00 or 5:30, but that's great! If he slept from 9:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., I would he HAPPY! And we could wake up for the day right then!
This plan also involves me taking Everett upstairs to nurse in the office during the day. He needs to be away from other people and distraction so he can eat more. This is kind of hard for me because I too like to be a part of the action! But I've been getting some good reading done. And it's all done in the name of better nighttime sleep!
So we're working on it, and it seems to be helping.
We went in for his 6-month doctor-visit (several blogs earlier), and Doctor Patterson and I had a conversation about sleep that resulted in a new game-plan that's been helpful. If it's not helped his sleep, it's at least given me hope that things will change and that we are doing something constructive toward a more restful future.
Basically, he needs to eat more during the day, but you can't just make a baby eat another meal during the day (as Dr. Sears seemed to suggest). He eats his fill as he wants it. So the goal is to slowly get him to eat less at night, resulting in him eating more during the day.
What I've been trying to do is, if it's been less than three hours since his last feeding (less than two at first), I kick Brian out of bed and make him comfort Everett back to sleep. I had avoided doing this before because Brian works and I want him rested. But Doctor Patterson convinced me that we will both be happier and more rested when Everett's sleeping through the night.
If he wakes at around 2:00 or 3:00, I'll usually get up and feed him because he really is hungry. But I'll try to get him to fall asleep after nursing on one side, not eating a whole meal.
This seems to be resulting in him wanting to eat again at about 5:00 or 5:30, but that's great! If he slept from 9:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., I would he HAPPY! And we could wake up for the day right then!
This plan also involves me taking Everett upstairs to nurse in the office during the day. He needs to be away from other people and distraction so he can eat more. This is kind of hard for me because I too like to be a part of the action! But I've been getting some good reading done. And it's all done in the name of better nighttime sleep!
So we're working on it, and it seems to be helping.
One very positive sleep development is going down for naps by himself!! I like to feed him after he naps. That way he doesn't sleep/eat where he starts nursing, and an hour later, he's had a meal AND a nap, and I've been sitting on the couch for most of the day! Because he would rather nurse from me than let me put him down for a nap, I was relying on Gion or Phil to put him to sleep, and that didn't seem fair. But now, anyone can put him in his crib when he's tired, and he'll usually fall asleep.
The last few days he's been having much longer naps than usual. I wonder if that means he's growing or if we're just entering a new schedule.
Whatever it is (probably a combo), I'm happy we're not burning through clothes as fast. Although he's in this awkward phase between 9 and 12 month clothes (which happens to be an awkward style transition), so it's hard to find new clothes that fit him well.
We've been working on some signs. When he's about to nurse, I'll say, "do you want MILK?" and do the sign for milk, which looks like you're milking a cow (lovely). Then, when he's over being in his high chair or exersaucer, I'll do the sign for "all done." Right now he just smiles and laughs at me, but I think he's catching on that the signs have meaning (especially the "milk" one).
Like I said, it's been a wonderful month. Quite a bit better than last month. But there are always little difficulties. He's started "crying wolf." When he was younger, he mostly cried when he needed something (sleep, food), and I was aware how lucky we were to have a baby that wasn't "a mystery." But lately he's been crying like he's hurt when he's just a little annoyed. Which is, well, annoying! He gets especially aggravated when you want him to put his arms in his sleeves. POOR BABY!! {:
So a couple of events his month:
Everett got to meet family friend Frank Oliver, first in mid-November, then in early December. He was taking a road trip up the coast, and we got to see him on the way there and back.
One day he was here, we went to Morro Bay. It was a beautiful day.
We also celebrated Thanksgiving. This year, my parents ate with us at the Cisneros house. Cousin Juliette came up from San Diego (see above picture). The meal was delicious (of course!), and it was a really nice time.
A couple days after Thanksgiving, Garrett, Jessi, and Weston come over for a visit. They were in town for the holiday. We always love to get the boys together. Weston's about two weeks older than Everett and about two weeks more advanced developmentally, so we get to see what Everett will be doing soon!
We also enjoy spending time with Garrett and Jessi as friends and always wish we lived closer.
Brian made two wooden teethers for Everett. They're beautiful, and Brian's excited to get the time and the weather to make more!
Brian got us new phones and a new phone plan for my birthday (early birthday). That doesn't sound like something that would change our lives much, but our new phones take pictures and video (our old ones were so archaic!), and I can send them unlimited. I've been sending Brian photos and video of Everett throughout the day. It makes Brian's days go by more pleasantly and keeps him involved in what's going on at home!
We're having a great time (if you can't tell!).
Until next post!
1 comment:
What a sweet little man he is! I love the rock star jammies! Can't wait to see what the next month holds, he is changing and growing so fast!
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