So I just wrote a long post on how much my baby is changing. Case in point - I made dinner tonight (chicken Florentine!), and then decided to go and get the mail while hubby watched baby in the kitchen. Apparently, as soon as I walked out the door, in one smooth motion, Alistair went from his stomach, to sitting up, to pulling himself to a standing position on the kitchen chair. My baby is awesome. =) Neither of us had even seen him get into a sitting position before, so hubby was quite shocked! I guess now's a good time to further my baby proofing efforts.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Musings on Alistair
It's one of those mornings where the only thing that keeps me going is a constant infusion of coffee. My darling little baby has turned into a bad sleeper after all his teething, when he became accustomed to late night snacks and mommy cuddlies. I was planning on beginning sleep training after finals were finished, for the sake of my husband's sleep (well, that's the official story, but secretly, I really just want to have another person willing to help me at night or cover for me during the day so I can get some additional sleep). But, I've been having lots of trouble getting enough sleep as it is, so I'm semi-somewhat-mildly starting some training, and it's making me tiiiiiiired.
Anyway, in between the exhaustion and the artificially elevated heart rate, I've been spending lots of time thinking about how my little guy has changed since he was born. For the first four + months of his life, Alistair was entirely a "carried" baby. There was no putting him down for "tummy time" - which was apparently entirely unnecessary in his case, as his head is the pride of my pediatrician's office - no daytime napping anywhere other than on top of mommy, and often, no way to stop his crying other than walking around with him for hours on end. He was incredibly timid of loud noises, so that if you raised your voice enough to be heard by someone else in an adjoining room, he'd start wailing in terror. And, if he caught sight of another baby, or heard a baby on the television, he screamed.
There are some obvious changes - he can crawl, has put on 13 pounds, and has 8 teeth. Previously (actually, up to 7 months or so), the only way to put him to bed was already sound asleep, or he would not stop screaming. Now he goes down at the same time every night for bed, awake, and he takes two scheduled naps a day!
Before, he always cried to be carried. Now I've had to learn that sometime my little guy cries to be *put down.* He loves exploring, but like many (most? all?) babies, he has an innate sense of danger - meaning, he heads straight towards it. He's found all the little places where the grout is cracking in the tiles, and tries to eat it. If hubby and I are musing for the first time whether the lower parts of the oven become too hot to be touched during use, he charges straight for the oven as if he were volunteering to check it for us. He's been crawling for a few weeks now (still army crawling), and has recently had some success in sitting himself up.
As you can imagine from his love of exploration, his timidity has been greatly reduced. My brother and sister-in-law, as well as their two children, were recently visiting, and Alistair wanted to crawl straight towards their toddler and "play" with him. He grins and giggles when he sees little kids running around, though he is still scared of loud noises/screaming (baby and I keep a quiet household together).
Sometimes we watch TV together (bad! bad! I know, no screen until 2+) , and he claps his hands when his favorite TV show comes on which is (*gasp*) the Colbert Report. =) I won't exactly allow him to continue watching it past a month or so into the future, but the bright colors, funny facial expressions, and constant laughing crack him up.
He's become way more vocal all of a sudden. He makes so many different vowel and consonant sounds in succession, but he's also learned to hiss, almost razz (he's actually, really bad at it, but he doesn't know that), and smack his lips. Those are his "pay-attention-to-me" noises that he'll make, and then look at you and wait for you to repeat.
Most impressively to me, Alistair has been doing admirably with potty training. We've really cut down on diapers, and he's learned enough to associate my "potty sound" with needing to use the potty that he'll often make it when he needs to go.
Of course, I don't enjoy all the changes! One new obsession of Alistair's is crawling into the kitchen to desperately search out some num num on the floor. The problem, beyond him snacking on floor food, is that his palate is not particularly refined. The other day I picked him up and he had stiiinky breath. A moment's fishing around in his mouth revealed a highly masticated piece of garlic.
I'm really excited for his first word, whenever he says it. I'm hoping it's momma. =)
Anyway, in between the exhaustion and the artificially elevated heart rate, I've been spending lots of time thinking about how my little guy has changed since he was born. For the first four + months of his life, Alistair was entirely a "carried" baby. There was no putting him down for "tummy time" - which was apparently entirely unnecessary in his case, as his head is the pride of my pediatrician's office - no daytime napping anywhere other than on top of mommy, and often, no way to stop his crying other than walking around with him for hours on end. He was incredibly timid of loud noises, so that if you raised your voice enough to be heard by someone else in an adjoining room, he'd start wailing in terror. And, if he caught sight of another baby, or heard a baby on the television, he screamed.
There are some obvious changes - he can crawl, has put on 13 pounds, and has 8 teeth. Previously (actually, up to 7 months or so), the only way to put him to bed was already sound asleep, or he would not stop screaming. Now he goes down at the same time every night for bed, awake, and he takes two scheduled naps a day!
Before, he always cried to be carried. Now I've had to learn that sometime my little guy cries to be *put down.* He loves exploring, but like many (most? all?) babies, he has an innate sense of danger - meaning, he heads straight towards it. He's found all the little places where the grout is cracking in the tiles, and tries to eat it. If hubby and I are musing for the first time whether the lower parts of the oven become too hot to be touched during use, he charges straight for the oven as if he were volunteering to check it for us. He's been crawling for a few weeks now (still army crawling), and has recently had some success in sitting himself up.
As you can imagine from his love of exploration, his timidity has been greatly reduced. My brother and sister-in-law, as well as their two children, were recently visiting, and Alistair wanted to crawl straight towards their toddler and "play" with him. He grins and giggles when he sees little kids running around, though he is still scared of loud noises/screaming (baby and I keep a quiet household together).
Sometimes we watch TV together (bad! bad! I know, no screen until 2+) , and he claps his hands when his favorite TV show comes on which is (*gasp*) the Colbert Report. =) I won't exactly allow him to continue watching it past a month or so into the future, but the bright colors, funny facial expressions, and constant laughing crack him up.
He's become way more vocal all of a sudden. He makes so many different vowel and consonant sounds in succession, but he's also learned to hiss, almost razz (he's actually, really bad at it, but he doesn't know that), and smack his lips. Those are his "pay-attention-to-me" noises that he'll make, and then look at you and wait for you to repeat.
Most impressively to me, Alistair has been doing admirably with potty training. We've really cut down on diapers, and he's learned enough to associate my "potty sound" with needing to use the potty that he'll often make it when he needs to go.
Of course, I don't enjoy all the changes! One new obsession of Alistair's is crawling into the kitchen to desperately search out some num num on the floor. The problem, beyond him snacking on floor food, is that his palate is not particularly refined. The other day I picked him up and he had stiiinky breath. A moment's fishing around in his mouth revealed a highly masticated piece of garlic.
I'm really excited for his first word, whenever he says it. I'm hoping it's momma. =)
Friday, April 13, 2012
Grown Up Bolls
A quick follow up on my previous mentioned Korean Designed Chinese Made Freebie. At a friend's request, I decided to open the package and dump all these little bolls into water. I wasn't entirely sure how much 400G was, so I just gave them a hefty soaking. They started off incredibly tiny, and actually, remained that way for a good number of hours. Finally they absorbed enough water to be about the size of a marble.
Unfortunately, the smiling pears on the package were the last faces my freebie had to offer. I'm toying with acquiring some fresh cut flowers to see whether my little jelly balls are a suitable replacement for water.
In other, baby related news, I just have to mention how delighted I am yet again with my baby. At this point, any male or squeamish readers should stop reading.
I've begun potty training with Alistair, though that's hardly the term for it. It's much more of mommy-baby-bowel-awareness training. I believe the mainstream term is "elimination communication" - but that sounds way too fancy for guessing when your baby is going to poop. Again, stop reading if you're squeamish. I basically watch Alistair for any signs that he needs to go. In conjunction with a basic understanding of how long he goes in between pees and what time of day he poops, it's been quite effective. Plus, I think he's becoming much more accustomed to the idea of going on the potty. Today, I caught two poops and four pees - I only missed the three in-his-sleep pees. It will obviously take a number of months of mommy guessing what baby is up to and running him to his potty, but I'm very pleased with our beginning!
Unfortunately, the smiling pears on the package were the last faces my freebie had to offer. I'm toying with acquiring some fresh cut flowers to see whether my little jelly balls are a suitable replacement for water.
In other, baby related news, I just have to mention how delighted I am yet again with my baby. At this point, any male or squeamish readers should stop reading.
I've begun potty training with Alistair, though that's hardly the term for it. It's much more of mommy-baby-bowel-awareness training. I believe the mainstream term is "elimination communication" - but that sounds way too fancy for guessing when your baby is going to poop. Again, stop reading if you're squeamish. I basically watch Alistair for any signs that he needs to go. In conjunction with a basic understanding of how long he goes in between pees and what time of day he poops, it's been quite effective. Plus, I think he's becoming much more accustomed to the idea of going on the potty. Today, I caught two poops and four pees - I only missed the three in-his-sleep pees. It will obviously take a number of months of mommy guessing what baby is up to and running him to his potty, but I'm very pleased with our beginning!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter everyone!
It was a quiet day in the B household. We stayed around Ithaca so that hubby could get enough school work completed, but we still had some time for relaxing. For Easter Mass, we tried a new strategy to keep baby happy. In the past (when he was several months younger), he would nap through most of Mass - now he gets all squirmy and wants to crawl away. Usually we sit in the very back, but yesterday, we decided to sit in the front row so that Alistair could observe everything. And, for the first 45 minutes, baby was so delighted by all the smiles and attention he received from everyone around him that he was entirely occupied with smiling back and playing coy. Eventually, he got a little cranky when Mass ran into his lunchtime, but it was still the easiest time we've had with him in awhile. It was also a particularly happy day for me because I was able to wear some pre-baby pants for the first time!
I've been waiting awhile to make the official declaration, but I think it's safe to say that my baby is now a crawler. He's not a proper, tummy off the ground crawler, but he can actually move forward very quickly by dragging his body forward with his arms and pushing with his legs. Of course he still prefers to roll most of the time - unless you place something in front of him, like food, and then he shoots straight forward after it. My son is going to be like the tubby kid in Emile who was taught to run races when Rousseau bribed him with treats. At least in Alistair's eagerness to shove food into his mouth, he's rather indiscriminate. Broccoli? Yes please!
It was a quiet day in the B household. We stayed around Ithaca so that hubby could get enough school work completed, but we still had some time for relaxing. For Easter Mass, we tried a new strategy to keep baby happy. In the past (when he was several months younger), he would nap through most of Mass - now he gets all squirmy and wants to crawl away. Usually we sit in the very back, but yesterday, we decided to sit in the front row so that Alistair could observe everything. And, for the first 45 minutes, baby was so delighted by all the smiles and attention he received from everyone around him that he was entirely occupied with smiling back and playing coy. Eventually, he got a little cranky when Mass ran into his lunchtime, but it was still the easiest time we've had with him in awhile. It was also a particularly happy day for me because I was able to wear some pre-baby pants for the first time!
I've been waiting awhile to make the official declaration, but I think it's safe to say that my baby is now a crawler. He's not a proper, tummy off the ground crawler, but he can actually move forward very quickly by dragging his body forward with his arms and pushing with his legs. Of course he still prefers to roll most of the time - unless you place something in front of him, like food, and then he shoots straight forward after it. My son is going to be like the tubby kid in Emile who was taught to run races when Rousseau bribed him with treats. At least in Alistair's eagerness to shove food into his mouth, he's rather indiscriminate. Broccoli? Yes please!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Something I received in the mail...
A new hobby of mine lately has been to order as many free things to my house with free shipping as I can possibly use. Most of the free things I've received have been useful - free razors, tote bag, small packets of shampoo for traveling... One item I ordered was advertised as a packet of little balls that would expand in water. You could then place them in a vase for decorative purposes with fresh cut flowers, and they'd keep them hydrated. Anyway, here's a picture of the package that arrived.
"Product use information:
1. add water 400G on the product. about 4 hours it will grow up.
2. one clear beauty satiety face will grow up.
3. when the flower want to oxygen and nutrition, I will help you too much."
"Seven Color Crystal Boll
Designed by Korea"
"Product use information:
1. add water 400G on the product. about 4 hours it will grow up.
2. one clear beauty satiety face will grow up.
3. when the flower want to oxygen and nutrition, I will help you too much."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)