Swing Swing Swing

Last week, because of this unusually warm weather, we took a walk to the park.  And Carter had his first ride on the swings!

He was fascinated mostly by watching his big brother swing next to him, but I did get him to look at me for a quick shot.

Carter's my baby who loves to move, so swinging was right up his alley.  I'd say we'll be playing on the swings a lot more this summer.

Cool dude Brooks had fun too!

Bye Bye Toochie

For those who don't know, a "toochie" is the name we have for the pacifier in our house.  And Brooks has slept with it every night almost since the day he was born.  To say he was attached to it is a bit of an understatment.  But I was ok with that.  He only used it for nap and bedtime and as soon as he woke up he knew he needed to put it away.  And with a new baby, and then a not-so-new baby who didn't sleep, I really wasn't ready to tackle getting rid of it.  But for the last few weeks, Brooks has woken up one, two or even three times a night crying because he lost his toochie.

(sigh)  This toochie was becoming more problematic than it was helpful.  So Chris and I decided it was time to say good-bye to the toochie.  It was a tough decision we knew we'd been putting off, but it was time.  So yesterday morning Chris had a good father-son chat about how "big boys" don't need toochies for bed time and Daddy doesn't sleep with a toochie, etc.  Then we took a trip to Target to buy him a new "lovey" to sleep with at bedtime.  I knew it wouldn't really replace the toochie, but that was the idea.

Brooks and his new puppy, "Fuzzy"

Then we headed to the river.  Yep, the river.  Chris and I were racking our brains as to how we would actually get rid of the toochie.  We couldn't just throw it in the garbage because when nap time came he would dig it back out again (or try, at least).  We needed something very permanent; where there would be no way to get it back.  So we decided on the river.  (I know, not very enviromentally friendly but just don't call the EPA, okay?)  Brooks grabbed both his toochies, walked down to the bank and chucked 'em in.  He seemed really ok with this new idea.  He threw them in himself, waved bye-bye and that was that.

Until nap time.  As we walked up the stairs we talked about the toochies being gone and now that he was a big boy he didn't need them anymore.  And he agreed.  But when it came time to lay down, the reality of the situation finally sunk in.  And then he panicked.  "I want my toochie.  I need my toochie.  We need to get a new toochie!"  I hated seeing him so distraught, but there was nothing I could do.  We talked, we hugged, he talked some more.  He started searching for solutions to this problem.  "I could use Carter's toochie.  We could go to the store and buy me a new toochie."  Sorry buddy, they're gone.  After about half an hour of talking, I left the room.  And he cried.  And cried.  And cried.

I felt awful.  But we had to get through this.  After a while Chris went up and calmed him down but he never did take a nap.  And then I started to panick.  If eliminating the toochie meant eliminating nap time, I may want to take Brooks up on his suggestion of buying a new toochie :\  But I figure we would give it a few days and see how things went.  When bedtime came we went through the same routine.  Him negotiating for a new toochie and us reminding him that it was really and completely gone.  Chris laid in his bed with him for almost an hour until Brooks finally fell asleep.  What a good Dad!

But after all that drama and crying, Brooks slept the whole night.  He didn't wake up even once!  Which I had hoped would be the case since I knew how tired he was.

Then today at nap time we were prepared for more crying and negotiating.  But he went into his room and laid down without a fuss.  It took him a while to fall asleep (I could hear him playing around in his room) but that's not too unusual.  And he did eventually fall asleep!  Can I hear an amen!  Bedtime tonight?  Same story.  He did ask for his toochie but I reminded him that he gave it to the fishes (clever, huh?) and he seemed ok with it.  No crying.  No negotiating.  It's simply the way it is now.

And just like that the toochie is gone.  Forever.  I'm so proud of my big boy!!

Watch Me Grow: 6 Months

Well, it's been half a year since our family was blessed with a new little boy!  The time has gone quickly and slowly at the same time.  But he hit a few big milestones this month that made me realize just how quickly he's growing up.

Eating:

• Carter is still my chamption nurser.  He loves to eat, but is starting to go a few longer stretches between feedings during the day.  He'll usually go 3 (sometimes 4) hours between eating.  And I've noticed that's helped with the spit-up too.  I'm finding he really only needs to eat every 3 hours and when he nurses more often than that, he spits up a lot. Too much food in his tummy apparantly.
• Just a few days ago, Carter has his first taste of "real" food.  We gave him some avocado and he had a lot of fun playing with it.  Some even made it in his mouth.  This milestone kinda made me sad.  I know he's six months old and ready for food, but he still seems like my little baby to me.  He can't possibly be eating food.  And although his eating food is more for the experience than for actual nutrition, I know we're headed down the road where he'll nurse less and eat more.  It's good, it just makes me a little sad.
• Another reason this new food eating makes me sad is the diapers.  Before, Carters' poopy diapers were sweet smelling and no problem to change.  But now??  Oh sweet mercy that avocado poop smells awful!  And since he's in cloth diapers I can't just wrap it up and throw it away.

Sleeping

• Oh, where do I even begin?  Most of the month had been the same as before.  Fighting every nap, not sleeping nearly long enough during the day and lots and lots of crying.  I starting reading the book No Cry Sleep Solution which promised me a happier baby who takes regular naps and sleeps through the night.  I was very leary at first (clearly, this lady had never met my baby) but we were desperate for answers and willing to try anything.
• Through reading this book, I realized Carter didn't have any kind of consistent nap schedule and part of that was my fault.  Some mornings we were home, other days we were at story time or a friends house.  Sometime he slept in his car seat, other times not.  The afternoons were hit and miss too with naps since he fought them so hard.  So usually he would become so overtired he would scream and scream at me, unable to calm down to sleep.  So just last week I started working to change that.  (Please don't think I'm boasting that I discovered the answer to this problem - we're just willing to try anything to help Carter sleep and I'm documenting our progress.  Or lack of progress.  We'll see how it turns out)
• I've started trying to notice his sleep cues before he gets too overtired - which is when the screaming starts.  When he becomes a bit fussy, starts rubbing his eyes or yawning, I know he's ready for a nap.
• Carter has been taking a mid-morning nap, usually around 10am.  If we're going to be gone that morning, I'll try to get him to fall asleep in his carseat.  (He sleeps like a champ in that thing)  If we've arrived at our destination and he's still awake, I'll drive around the block a few more times until he's alseep.
• In the afternoon, Brooks goes down for a nap around 1 and Carter is usually ready for a nap shortly after.  So we'll nurse or rock and though he'll scream at me for 10-15 minutes, he'll eventually give in and fall asleep.  On a good day, he'll nap for 1 1/2 - 2 hours in the afternoon.  On a not so good day, he'll sleep 45 minutes.  On those days I'll have to try to put him to sleep again so he can get the amount of sleep he needs (I usually shoot for a minimum 1 hour nap)
• Carter will then usually take a short nap in the early evening, around 5:30.  That's my least favorite nap because I'm trying to cook supper at that time.  Chris comes home around 5:15, so most nights we can tag-team Carter and cooking and make it work.  I'll be happy when he gets a little older and can skip that nap altogether.
• We've started putting Carter to bed earlier in the evening, around 8:30pm (instead of 9 or 10)  Again, he'll cry for about 10-15 minutes (sometimes longer) while we rock him but he'll eventually fall asleep and sleep for the night.
• Although we've seen a little improvement during daytime naps, the nighttime sleep has become a struggle.  He's waking more in the night - not necessarily hungry, just awake.  And the last several mornings he's ready to be up for the day at 6am!  He's wide awake and smiling.  I'm not.  I'll nurse him in hopes he goes back to sleep.  Sometimes he does.  Sometimes he doesn't.  Oh how I live for the day when Carter won't scream at me whenever he's tired and will sleep consistently.

New Discoveries:

• Carter is exploring everything.  And by explore I mean, put it his mouth. Teething is in full swing!
• Carter has teeth!!  (ok, that's not really a "discovery" for him, but it was for me :)  Mid-February Carter finally popped in his first two teeth - the bottom two.  Oh, they're so cute.  You can still hardly see them, but they'll be so cute when they grow in more.  Perhaps that was the cause of a lot of his fussiness.  Perhaps now he'll sleep better.  (well, I can hope, right?)

New Abilities:

• Carter is working so hard to crawl.  He spins in circles on his belly to reach and grab for toys and he's even gotten himself up on all fours a few times!  He's constantly moving, even when he's lying "still".  An arm is waving, a leg is kicking ... something!  We are going to have our hands FULL when this kiddo really takes off and crawls!
• Carter's becoming more efficient at doing things.  He's quicker at rolling over, he easily grabs things (and puts them in his mouth), he's swift to grab my hair.  It's amazing to see just how fast he's growing up.  I love my little boy and although these last several month have been challenging, I still enjoy watching him grow and learn and discover new things.  I don't think it will ever get old.

me and my buddy at the Washington Pavillion

First Food

Tonight was a big night in our house.  Carter had his first taste of food.  Avocados.  Really, he's been ready for food for quite some time.  Grabbing at our food, opening his mouth wide when we eat something.  So since I was making an avocado dip for our salmon tonight, I figure now would be as good a time as any to start.  I think more than anything, Carter was just happy to be sitting at the table with the rest of us.  Not sure why we didn't put him in his chair sooner - even if just to join the family for supper.  Usually he just hung out in his chair on the floor.

Ah, he's so big.  In my mind he's still just a few months old.  Not SIX months old and eating food already!

can I eat this strap instead??

At first I tried feeding him the mashed avocado with a spoon.  But he grabbed at it and starting flinging it all over the place.  Nope, that won't work.  So I just put a little bit of it on his tray and let him explore.

hmmm, not too bad.

And then, of course, it went everywhere!

Yep, even in his ear. The hair.  His eyes.  I kinda forgot just how messy babies are when they eat.  There was more food on him then in him, but that's ok.  It was fun.  Brooks was laughing hysterically at Carter's mess.  But he really seemed to like the avocado.  I think tomorrow I'll leave it in small bite-sized chunks instead of mashing it so maybe he can pick it up a bit easier.