A's sleep patterns just got WEIRD this week. Monday through Wednesday I just could *NOT* get him down for a second nap unless he was in a moving vehicle of some sort. And even those naps were short. Thursday was good, finally. And then Friday L and the cleaning ladies accidentally woke him from his morning nap after only 25 minutes, and he didn't go down again for a few hours, and then the phone woke him up after only 30. The "Sleep Lady" book we got once would call those disaster naps...and yeah, cranky baby was cranky. Poor thing.
The odd thing is, L and M say no matter how much he naps or doesn't during the day, it doesn't seem to impact his nighttime sleep. Which seems weird to me. But whatever works for him...
Big progress this week with the rolling--meaning, holy crap the kid won't stay on his back! Especially when putting him down for a nap...We have a video monitor, and so i dump him in the crib (not literally) and then go out of the room and watch him on the monitor. Almost every day this past week, within a few minutes the kid was on his stomach. I learned that if I left him there until he started whining (as opposed to going and turning him over immediately) he was much more likely to go down for good. We'll see if that keeps up.
Oh, on thursday A had his evaluation from Early Intervention! He tested extremely well--with the exception of his upper body strength, he's completely at age level (and that's real age, not corrected!) and even AHEAD of it! They basically said he was brilliant, lol. Apparently the fact that he will move a blanket that's on top of a toy to get said toy, and things like that, is really advanced for his age. Awesome! So he still qualifies for services, but since it's not covered by M and L's insurance and it's pretty pricey without, I'm not sure what they're going to do. He's progressing really well, really blowing everyone's minds actually, so they'll probably end it. We'll see.
Every day is so new with this kid, it's why I love this age so much. Just this past week he's started reaching out to be picked up, and every day I discover something new that makes him laugh, and he's just such an incredible delight. I left L a mother's day card before I left on Friday, and inside of it I wrote "I am glad you're a mom, because if you weren't, I wouldn't have the best job in the world". And I mean it. I am incredibly, incredibly lucky.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Rollin' rollin' rollin'...
Hi! This is going to be short because I am tired and blah after a very long weekend.
This week A had a bit of...something. We couldn't tell if it was a cold, allergies, or teething...but he had a cough and runny nose a bit, and while it didn't bother him, it sure worried us! Crazy baby. Other big doings...he finally has rolled from back to front enough times that we can say he *can* do it. He just doesn't, often, and when he does he sometimes gets his arm caught underneath him. But he CAN! this is huge :-) We also made progress with him holding himself on his arms; he'll stay like that for a good ten seconds if you force him into the hands-and-knees position...but he's still not doing it him self. Baby steps...(no pun intended).
We did get out of the house a lot this week, which was great. Yay for awesome weather! It made me really happy to be able to take long walks. I love walking around their neighborhood, there's so many interesting and pretty houses! And sometime in the coming months we'll try walking to L's parents' place, which is a little over a mile away. And maybe I'll explore the bike trail in their area. Or take him to a park. Who knows! The weather opens up a whole new world for us :-)
Only other big news from the week is my own--I looked at an apartment on Thursday that is AMAZING. A friend of mine lives there, and his three roommates are moving out and he's looking for three more. I've decided that I'm one...now hopefully we can find two more very soon! If all goes well, I'll be moving in there in the beginning of July. Woot. And it's got a month-by-month lease, so no matter when I part ways with L, M, and A (*sniff sniff*) I can either get another job in the area or I can leave and find a job somewhere else with very little notice on the apt. I was out at my college today and I really miss that area, so I might move back out there...we'll see!
This week A had a bit of...something. We couldn't tell if it was a cold, allergies, or teething...but he had a cough and runny nose a bit, and while it didn't bother him, it sure worried us! Crazy baby. Other big doings...he finally has rolled from back to front enough times that we can say he *can* do it. He just doesn't, often, and when he does he sometimes gets his arm caught underneath him. But he CAN! this is huge :-) We also made progress with him holding himself on his arms; he'll stay like that for a good ten seconds if you force him into the hands-and-knees position...but he's still not doing it him self. Baby steps...(no pun intended).
We did get out of the house a lot this week, which was great. Yay for awesome weather! It made me really happy to be able to take long walks. I love walking around their neighborhood, there's so many interesting and pretty houses! And sometime in the coming months we'll try walking to L's parents' place, which is a little over a mile away. And maybe I'll explore the bike trail in their area. Or take him to a park. Who knows! The weather opens up a whole new world for us :-)
Only other big news from the week is my own--I looked at an apartment on Thursday that is AMAZING. A friend of mine lives there, and his three roommates are moving out and he's looking for three more. I've decided that I'm one...now hopefully we can find two more very soon! If all goes well, I'll be moving in there in the beginning of July. Woot. And it's got a month-by-month lease, so no matter when I part ways with L, M, and A (*sniff sniff*) I can either get another job in the area or I can leave and find a job somewhere else with very little notice on the apt. I was out at my college today and I really miss that area, so I might move back out there...we'll see!
Friday, April 22, 2011
On-time! Woo!
This was a week of...oddness. Several factors: a) L not being home all week. it was very strange having only limited texts with her, not being able to leave things for her to see at night, etc. b) A got circumcised last Friday, so we had to deal with the, erm, wound. The bandage came off Wednesday. it is swollen. poor bubba. Luckily it doesn't seem to bother him much but...c) i think there's actually, FINALLY, a TOOTH! GLORY HALLELUJAH! This kid has been drooling like there was a faucet in his mouth for MONTHS. and just now there is a tiny little bump on his top right gum. either b or c was causing some serious cranky-pants yesterday. tylenol to the rescue! so, due to all of this, d) sleep was a little messed up. naps were seriously unpredictable--one day, he did 3 hours in the morning and 1.5 in the afternoon. another, he did 40 minutes, 1 hour, 30 minutes. He's also eating like a pig. Yesterday I swear I was feeding him every two hours if not more.
We did not get out at ALL this week. No playgroup due to school vacation week, no meetups with other moms because...well, just didn't get organized. No dates with Jill because instead she and her cool Israeli boyfriend came over to the house to visit us there. No walks because it was either cold, wet, or uber-windy. Effing LAME. I cannot waitttttttt til summertime! We're gonna be outside alllll the time. Playing in the yard, taking walks, going to parks...it is GOING to happen. Hold me to it!
Oh, one cool thing this week was that I got to be there when A's Early Intervention lady came. He gets services because he was so premature; he needs a little help to get some of his skills up to his actual age (as opposed to his adjusted; basically he was born on 8/29 but was due something like 10/8, so he is really "younger" than he is, developmentally speaking...it's complicated). She had said a month or so ago that he might place out of EI services because he was so awesome and almost AHEAD of his age, but recently he's stopped pushing up on his arms and that's something he should really be doing. He'll do tummy time, and can roll front to back if he wants, but he doesn't support his weight on his wrists like he'd need to to crawl. And they really *want* him to crawl first, even though he likes "standing" a whole lot more, because he needs to build his upper-body strength. So she showed us (M and I) how to kind of force him into a crawling position by holding his bent knees between our legs and supporting him under his chest with one hand and using the other hand to hold one of his stationary while he reaches with the other. hopefully, if we keep doing this with him, he'll get the idea! He really wants to crawl and is getting really frustrated that he can't quite figure it out.
That's all. Thanks for reading!
We did not get out at ALL this week. No playgroup due to school vacation week, no meetups with other moms because...well, just didn't get organized. No dates with Jill because instead she and her cool Israeli boyfriend came over to the house to visit us there. No walks because it was either cold, wet, or uber-windy. Effing LAME. I cannot waitttttttt til summertime! We're gonna be outside alllll the time. Playing in the yard, taking walks, going to parks...it is GOING to happen. Hold me to it!
Oh, one cool thing this week was that I got to be there when A's Early Intervention lady came. He gets services because he was so premature; he needs a little help to get some of his skills up to his actual age (as opposed to his adjusted; basically he was born on 8/29 but was due something like 10/8, so he is really "younger" than he is, developmentally speaking...it's complicated). She had said a month or so ago that he might place out of EI services because he was so awesome and almost AHEAD of his age, but recently he's stopped pushing up on his arms and that's something he should really be doing. He'll do tummy time, and can roll front to back if he wants, but he doesn't support his weight on his wrists like he'd need to to crawl. And they really *want* him to crawl first, even though he likes "standing" a whole lot more, because he needs to build his upper-body strength. So she showed us (M and I) how to kind of force him into a crawling position by holding his bent knees between our legs and supporting him under his chest with one hand and using the other hand to hold one of his stationary while he reaches with the other. hopefully, if we keep doing this with him, he'll get the idea! He really wants to crawl and is getting really frustrated that he can't quite figure it out.
That's all. Thanks for reading!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Sorry again!
Yeah, I kind of suck at keeping a regular posting schedule. Sorry about that.
Last week was a really short week. Monday I only worked half a day, because L wanted to take A to playgroup because they were doing a sign-language class thing. I wanted to go with her but she insisted I take the afternoon off! Well, okay, then. :-D I spent the afternoon at the mall with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, which was pretty sweet. The rest of the week was pretty normal, I can't think of anything super special that happened. Oh, well, Thursday my friend Jill came over and we went to Panera for lunch and then took a nice long walk after A's nap. I love taking him outside, and I can't WAIT for the weather to cooperate so I can do it daily!
Friday I had off, because poor A got circumcised. They had to wait until now because when he was born he had some issues due to being so premature, and then once the baby is older I guess they have to put him under anaesthesia for the procedure and they wanted to wait until he was *really* strong to do that again. So bright and early on Friday they took him into the city and had it done. And now he's got bandages and stuff all up in his junk. And L's away on business all week. FUUUUUUN! Luckily the wound and all doesn't seem to be bothering him much, other than maybe some itchiness--I noticed him twitching his hips a lot today. He also may have a cold or possibly allergies right now. Poor baby...wish he could talk! This is going to be an interesting week!
Last week was a really short week. Monday I only worked half a day, because L wanted to take A to playgroup because they were doing a sign-language class thing. I wanted to go with her but she insisted I take the afternoon off! Well, okay, then. :-D I spent the afternoon at the mall with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, which was pretty sweet. The rest of the week was pretty normal, I can't think of anything super special that happened. Oh, well, Thursday my friend Jill came over and we went to Panera for lunch and then took a nice long walk after A's nap. I love taking him outside, and I can't WAIT for the weather to cooperate so I can do it daily!
Friday I had off, because poor A got circumcised. They had to wait until now because when he was born he had some issues due to being so premature, and then once the baby is older I guess they have to put him under anaesthesia for the procedure and they wanted to wait until he was *really* strong to do that again. So bright and early on Friday they took him into the city and had it done. And now he's got bandages and stuff all up in his junk. And L's away on business all week. FUUUUUUN! Luckily the wound and all doesn't seem to be bothering him much, other than maybe some itchiness--I noticed him twitching his hips a lot today. He also may have a cold or possibly allergies right now. Poor baby...wish he could talk! This is going to be an interesting week!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Sorry
This weekend was insane. So, late post!
Um. This week.
Tuesday was fun. Well, except for the morning...poor A spit up just about everything in his stomach around 8:30 while I was giving him his food-breakfast. It was insane. And messy. And it came out his nose. And he was, understandably, upset. However, once the spit-up stopped and I got him calmed down, he was happy as could be. And he went down for his nap SUPER quick. And then I got him up so M and I could get Brueggers before playgroup! It was so funny having M there, because there are no other men at playgroup EVER. Some of the babies were like, wtf is this strange man doing here?! But one of the other small babies (there is a group that are all A's age or a little younger, and then a group that are 9-12 months) was totally enthralled with him and would smile like crazy whenever he looked at her. It was cute. Anyways, A was again a total angel...it was almost freaky. I totally expected him to start whining in hunger at any minute--you'd think, after all that spit-up, he'd be starving! But he totally didn't care. M fed him a few ounces at playgroup and he was just...fine. Strange child.
Wednesday, M took us out to Target. We got some more things for the playroom--a little boom box for playing the radio or cds, a beanbag chair, and a stuffed Lightning McQueen thing. They also ordered a Cars-themed little couch for him online. Yay! It's fun to play in the playroom, to not have to worry about keeping him on a blanket or keeping the dogs off. Anywho. Target was fun, and then we went to M's hairdresser's place so she could see A, and then we went to M's friend's garage so he could see his car that he's selling and so that THEY could see A...This was all fine and good, except poor baby kept falling asleep for just a few minutes and then getting woken up again. Ah well.
Thursday, I took A to the mall to get lunch and shop a bit with my friend Jill. It was super-fun, he was (almost) a perfect angel, and he fell asleep in the stroller for 45 minutes which was AWESOME! It was so cute--he had his hand out holding the handle of the carrier (it's a snap-and-go stroller, meaning the carseat/carrier snaps onto a base) and that's how he fell asleep. His hand was up on the handle for a good ten minutes or so before it fell! Precious. And while he was asleep I scored some gorgeous tops at Delia's, woot woot.
Friday was a half-day, since both A and L had appointments in Boston. Nothing too exciting happened, I don't think.
Sorry, I know this wasn't a terribly thrilling post. Hopefully next week will be a bit more interesting!
Um. This week.
Tuesday was fun. Well, except for the morning...poor A spit up just about everything in his stomach around 8:30 while I was giving him his food-breakfast. It was insane. And messy. And it came out his nose. And he was, understandably, upset. However, once the spit-up stopped and I got him calmed down, he was happy as could be. And he went down for his nap SUPER quick. And then I got him up so M and I could get Brueggers before playgroup! It was so funny having M there, because there are no other men at playgroup EVER. Some of the babies were like, wtf is this strange man doing here?! But one of the other small babies (there is a group that are all A's age or a little younger, and then a group that are 9-12 months) was totally enthralled with him and would smile like crazy whenever he looked at her. It was cute. Anyways, A was again a total angel...it was almost freaky. I totally expected him to start whining in hunger at any minute--you'd think, after all that spit-up, he'd be starving! But he totally didn't care. M fed him a few ounces at playgroup and he was just...fine. Strange child.
Wednesday, M took us out to Target. We got some more things for the playroom--a little boom box for playing the radio or cds, a beanbag chair, and a stuffed Lightning McQueen thing. They also ordered a Cars-themed little couch for him online. Yay! It's fun to play in the playroom, to not have to worry about keeping him on a blanket or keeping the dogs off. Anywho. Target was fun, and then we went to M's hairdresser's place so she could see A, and then we went to M's friend's garage so he could see his car that he's selling and so that THEY could see A...This was all fine and good, except poor baby kept falling asleep for just a few minutes and then getting woken up again. Ah well.
Thursday, I took A to the mall to get lunch and shop a bit with my friend Jill. It was super-fun, he was (almost) a perfect angel, and he fell asleep in the stroller for 45 minutes which was AWESOME! It was so cute--he had his hand out holding the handle of the carrier (it's a snap-and-go stroller, meaning the carseat/carrier snaps onto a base) and that's how he fell asleep. His hand was up on the handle for a good ten minutes or so before it fell! Precious. And while he was asleep I scored some gorgeous tops at Delia's, woot woot.
Friday was a half-day, since both A and L had appointments in Boston. Nothing too exciting happened, I don't think.
Sorry, I know this wasn't a terribly thrilling post. Hopefully next week will be a bit more interesting!
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Mother of All Naps
Today A slept for over THREE HOURS STRAIGHT. Completely on his own. In his crib. No soothing.
Of course, this was because his routine got messed up yesterday and he slept like shit, so his parents weren't very happy today, but still. THREE HOURS. it got to the point where I was worried! And of course I didn't get anything really accomplished other than eating lunch, because really, he hasn't slept that long in like a month, so why would I expect it? And he kept making noises and turning over (we have a video monitor--SO useful) so I thought he was waking up, and then no.
Yeah. I just had to share. Cuz, WOW.
Tomorrow: Playgroup! And I think M might be coming with! Should be interesting cuz there are no other men in the group :-)
Of course, this was because his routine got messed up yesterday and he slept like shit, so his parents weren't very happy today, but still. THREE HOURS. it got to the point where I was worried! And of course I didn't get anything really accomplished other than eating lunch, because really, he hasn't slept that long in like a month, so why would I expect it? And he kept making noises and turning over (we have a video monitor--SO useful) so I thought he was waking up, and then no.
Yeah. I just had to share. Cuz, WOW.
Tomorrow: Playgroup! And I think M might be coming with! Should be interesting cuz there are no other men in the group :-)
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Week in review...
Okay, so Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal, except for M being home. It's not too awkward, except when he comes upstairs and I'm watching my super-girly-trash shows, haha. I think it was Monday that he changed the channel and we watched something about the history of illegal moonshine for a while. fun.
Wednesday we built the playroom! I don't know if I mentioned that they have two big Boxers, Desi and Cooper. They are gross and dirty and Cooper slobbers a lot and yuck. So up until now, we've had to contain A to a mat or quilt on the rug in front of the TV, and endeavor to keep the dogs off so that he wouldn't come into contact with their germs (especially because they often step in their own poop outside, and you can't really teach a dog to wipe its feet...). However, once M's mom moved out of the in-law apartment on the lower level of their house (it's a split-level and all the important stuff is on the top floor), they moved their office down there and cleaned out the office upstairs for use as a dog-free playroom! Last week M painted it a nice cheery yellow, and then this Weds M and I built a nice shelf and put down some padded flooring. Here's a picture, with A's back in it :-) I won't show his face 'til I get permission, but there's no harm in the back of his head!
Nice, huh? it was fun. except the 20 minutes I spent on my hands and knees spraying and wiping down the mat with the Dreft toy cleaner stuff. So worth it though, for a dog-free room that he can crawl around freely once he gets around to learning! We still spend time in front of the TV, of course--I can't miss Today, Ellen, or Nate! And the rocking chair that we feed him his bottles in is out there too. But hopefully now we will spent most of the rest of the day playing in here or outside, not glued to the tube.
Thursday was another exciting day. M is going quite nuts being stuck at home, and so he decided to take me and A to the Rainforest Cafe at the nearby mall. It was SO FUN! A loved it, behaved beautifully, was not phased by moving animals and loud noises and even a thunderstorm! That kid, he's amazing. He just kept staring around, chewing on his seat-cover thing, smiling and cooing at me and his Daddy...He especially loved the waterfall and the fish tanks. I had some very delicious fried chicken. Nom! We walked into the mall after to find a place to sit and feed A, and he devoured some "mixed veggies" after I realized the bottle we'd brought had a too-small nipple and he wouldn't drink from it. M had to pick up A's reflux meds in another town after, and we rode along and A slept in the truck. Awesome. AND he took an afternoon nap too!
Friday was pretty normal except that L AND M were home, and that M had two visitors who oohed and aahed over A. Oh and? He took a 35 minute nap in the morning. then an hour and fifteen minute nap a few hours later. And when he woke up from that, we were like, ok no way is he going to take a third nap! But guess who got him to go down again? Yup. As he gets older he is starting to have reeeeally distinct signals when he's tired--shaking his head back and forth really fast is one, and now he's started rubbing his eyes too. it's very useful :-)
Hmm...last note is that L brought home a little book on baby sign language, and we're going to start doing a few signs with him. We've decided on eat/food, drink, more, and change, to start. We'll see how it goes!
Wednesday we built the playroom! I don't know if I mentioned that they have two big Boxers, Desi and Cooper. They are gross and dirty and Cooper slobbers a lot and yuck. So up until now, we've had to contain A to a mat or quilt on the rug in front of the TV, and endeavor to keep the dogs off so that he wouldn't come into contact with their germs (especially because they often step in their own poop outside, and you can't really teach a dog to wipe its feet...). However, once M's mom moved out of the in-law apartment on the lower level of their house (it's a split-level and all the important stuff is on the top floor), they moved their office down there and cleaned out the office upstairs for use as a dog-free playroom! Last week M painted it a nice cheery yellow, and then this Weds M and I built a nice shelf and put down some padded flooring. Here's a picture, with A's back in it :-) I won't show his face 'til I get permission, but there's no harm in the back of his head!
Thursday was another exciting day. M is going quite nuts being stuck at home, and so he decided to take me and A to the Rainforest Cafe at the nearby mall. It was SO FUN! A loved it, behaved beautifully, was not phased by moving animals and loud noises and even a thunderstorm! That kid, he's amazing. He just kept staring around, chewing on his seat-cover thing, smiling and cooing at me and his Daddy...He especially loved the waterfall and the fish tanks. I had some very delicious fried chicken. Nom! We walked into the mall after to find a place to sit and feed A, and he devoured some "mixed veggies" after I realized the bottle we'd brought had a too-small nipple and he wouldn't drink from it. M had to pick up A's reflux meds in another town after, and we rode along and A slept in the truck. Awesome. AND he took an afternoon nap too!
Friday was pretty normal except that L AND M were home, and that M had two visitors who oohed and aahed over A. Oh and? He took a 35 minute nap in the morning. then an hour and fifteen minute nap a few hours later. And when he woke up from that, we were like, ok no way is he going to take a third nap! But guess who got him to go down again? Yup. As he gets older he is starting to have reeeeally distinct signals when he's tired--shaking his head back and forth really fast is one, and now he's started rubbing his eyes too. it's very useful :-)
Hmm...last note is that L brought home a little book on baby sign language, and we're going to start doing a few signs with him. We've decided on eat/food, drink, more, and change, to start. We'll see how it goes!
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