So I have a 9-month-old today. Whoa! And although that doesn't mean that he's been out as long as he was in (being ten days late), it does seem significant. Nine months!!
He's still our sweet, silly, amazing boy, but this month more than any other, he's impressed us with how smart he is! He's learned to wave when we say "hi" or "bye-bye," he's started signing! His "all done" looks more like a wave with both hands, but he's improving it, and he definitely knows what he's trying to say (just today he did "milk"!!). He can make baskets in his toy basketball hoop. And he's been mimicking is ducky bath, "quack quack quack."
He's so mobile now! Since last month he's perfected his crawl. Now it's on hands and knees and lightening fast! He still pulls himself up on everything, and now he can walk along the side of the couch or transfer himself from, say, the ottoman to the rocking chair. He's also getting good at climbing up the stairs, not so much down. On the 3rd, Gion and I were watching Everett stand holding his toy box. He had a ball in one hand. He let go of the box to hold the ball with both hands. So for about a second he stood on his own, then dropped to his bottom.
But with all these amazing things, the most amazing thing is SLEEPING AGAIN!! Hooray! A few weeks ago, I had pretty much had it with my lack of sleep. Anyone who reads this blog or follows me on Facebook could tell that I was beyond frustrated.
So I did what I do every time something stumps me, I put Brian in charge. That sounds bad, but I think it's a part of every successful partnership. If you're not very good at something, give that task to your partner, who may be better at it than you are.
Brian's always been a very supportive daddy. Of course! We're not the type to separate tasks down gender lines, but sometimes it makes sense. He works full time, and I'm the milk-maker, so jobs get separated. With sleeping, I was the one getting up most, especially when he started rejecting Brian's comforting. Brian would get up when I asked him to, but he was a passive participant in this sleep thing.
When I put him in charge, he read the same sections of the books I had read, but all of a sudden . . . we had a plan!
So we started sleep training. It was hard at first. The first night, when he woke up, we let him cry for 5 minutes before Brian went in and comforted him (without picking him up, just rubbing his back). That 5 minutes was an eternity! Brian came back in and we let him cry for 10 minutes. At this point I thought, "this kid will be scarred for life! We'll give him attachment disorder!" Brian went in and rubbed his back. During the slot where we were supposed to give him 15 minutes, he started whining, then fell asleep.
We did a similar thing the next 2 or 3 nights, but I was never so alert as I was the first night, and he cried less. For the last couple weeks, he's maybe woken up once, cried for about a minute, and Brian will comfort him right to sleep.
He's been "waking for the day" around 5:30 or 6:00. At first, I was good and got up to feed him in the office. The last week-ish, I've just brought him into bed with us so I can stay nearly sleeping. When he's done, we get up.
But last night he slept from about 9:00 to about 7:00!! Hallelujah! No waking, no crying. Wonderful!
So, for nearly 8 months, I was sleep deprived. And I really came to understand the importance of sleep. This coming from a person who always appreciated sleep. I'm an 8 to 9 hour a night sleeper without a baby. Now I REALLY appreciate sleep and what it's like to live without it.
I've been sleeping pretty well for the last 2 weeks, and this is my message: If you have an infant and you are waking up 2, 3 + times a night to comfort and/or feed him/her, and this has been going on for months and months, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!! You are no good when you're tired. You're unproductive, unhappy, and dangerous! I avoided sleep training because the idea of "crying it out" seemed horrible to me, but he's fine crying for 5 minutes and now he can comfort himself back to sleep, and he's probably more rested too!!
I'm sorry we didn't do it earlier.
He still isn't the best solids eater, but we try to sit him down three times a day and see if he'll eat something. He usually will, more at dinner, less at breakfast and lunch. His favorites are probably squash, yams, and yogurt. He's also good with applesauce, pear, banana, peaches, mango, oatmeal, and this week he tried strawberries and watermelon and liked them both.
We're sticking with fruits and veggies right now along with the yogurt and oatmeal. I know a lot of people are sensitive to wheat and dairy, so we're avoiding those for now (besides yogurt).
If you read my earlier post, you'll know we're avoiding avocado. Who knows when he'll get that again!?!
With this new introduction of food, his poop is changing. You know you're a proud parent when you say, "his poop just peeled off the diaper into the toilet!!" and are actually excited!
Because of the solids, we're trying to have him drink a bit of water at every meal. We've been having him drink straight from his plastic dinosaur mug. He's ok at it, but we're wondering if a sippy cup might be more efficient. We bought a container with a straw. It was supposed to be for babies, but it was too hard for even Brian or me to drink from. Design flaw!
Everett got his first haircut on February 7th. I'd wanted to cut his hair at the crown for a while. It was getting so wild, and he still had some long newborn hairs (which our friend Jessi called Who Hairs, so cute!). But Brian wasn't on board until his hair started growing over his ears and making a mullet in the back. It went well. I used the trimmer, and he wasn't too freaked.
The hardest thing for him is still getting his clothes changed, especially when the shirt goes over his head. He HATES that! But changing is taking longer overall because he's such a wiggle! Sometimes it's taking 5x as long as it used to because I basically chase him around his room to get his pants on.
It seems like he has a new facial expression every month, and this month he's been doing what we call "ant face" where he pinches his nose and purses his lips. It's really funny, but it makes me wonder if he has allergies like his parents and grandparents.
It's been so lovely around here, I wanted to post some pictures of him playing outside.
It's been a busy month.
We've been doing a lot of house hunting, and we've made two unsuccessful bids on houses. Both times it's been frustrating, but it's just the reality of the market right now combined with our price limit. We'll find the perfect place eventually!
On January 17th, Brian had the day off for MLK Day, so Phil, Gion, Brian, Everett and I went to Calcareous Winery in the west Paso hills. They have some beautiful land up there, wow! And it was a wonderful day.
On January 21st, we celebrated Rosalina's 1st birthday with her family and friends. Rosa is Everett's closest little friend right now, and her parents (Chris and Janna) are friends we hope we won't have to move too far away from when we finally get a place. Right now they live just a short walk away.
On January 30th, we got a visit from our friend Jennifer Little. It was great catching up! I'm sorry we didn't get any pictures.
On February 5th, we drove down to Arcadia for my Uncle Olin's memorial service. It was lovely and so nice to see family and longtime friends. The best thing about the service (in my opinion) was all the stories people told! Olin impacted the lives of so many people, and he will be missed. It was a crazy trip because we decided to go down and back in one day. More than 8 hours in the car! It was exhausting, but Everett did really well, so I'd say it was a successful trip
February 6th, we celebrated Julie Hunter's birthday. It was fun because it was the first one of these get togethers at the Hunters' where Everett actually played with other kids . . . sort of. He was interested. We also always love to celebrate birthdays with one of our favorite families! Here's Everett with his new little friend Eli.
Also on February 6th, we celebrated Everett's Grandma Gion's birthday. And on February 12th we went over to the Asdel grans for dinner to celebrate Grandpa George's birthday.
It's been a very exciting month. Let's see how he changes in the next 30 days!
4 comments:
Thats fantastic that you are finally getting him on a sleep schedule. It's amazing to see how fast times goes by. It's one thing to see your own child grown up but to watch as your freinds kids grow up kinda makes it hit harder. He is such a cute little guy can't wait to see him again!
Look at how big he is!!!!! I can't believe it! He was so sweet with all the other babes at Julie's party. :) Such a sweet boy.....or a "Nice Man" as Andy would say.
It's so fun reading about your sweet boy and thinking of all the fun things I have to look forward to with Carson in a few months. Thanks for sharing!
The action shot with tambourine and stripedy pants just says celebration!
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