Monday, January 31, 2011

The Boys' Monthly Pictures

By request, here's a new slideshow.  I can't find E's 6 month shot, and have been really searching for his 7 month.  Hopefully they are on the other computer; I KNOW I took them!

It's so striking because, as it is now, it goes from A at 12 months to A at 1 month--quite a difference!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Kawaii Diapers, a review

E has been waking up with such full diapers at his 3am changing, I've come to the conclusion that he's been waking so frequently because of the diapers.  I discovered that many moms use Kawaii, which can be purchased lots of places but I bought through jackbenatural.com, for overnight.  I checked it out and discovered their prices are way cheaper than the other diapers I've been using (like under $10 cheap).  There are several different styles, and even a Heavy Wetter style, but I went with the Heavy Duty.  They also have all kinds of fun prints, though I went with blues (the Heavy Duty only comes in solids).

My first impression was that the aplix seemed really strong, and more importantly to me, that they might actually stay attached to the laundry tabs.  That held true on the first washing at least!  The next thing we together noticed was that it seemed really big on our little peanut.  I had the rise set just as I do on our other one size diapers, on the second setting. 

Maybe I shouldn't say this and jinx myself, but his first night in the Kawaii diaper had E sleeping 8 hours without waking.  I fed him and didn't change him.  He went on to sleep another 3 hours, went back to sleep ON HIS OWN, and woke for the day half an hour later.  What's that, you say?  He didn't get changed all night and slept really well?  Yes, yes he did.  We'll see how it goes on night two, but I may be writing a love letter to the folks at Kawaii diapers!

The thing about 9 months.

Yet another thing I forgot about in the roughly 3 year interim between my kids--at around 9 months, my boys started rolling around on the changing table.  E really loves doing this, hanging out on his belly, and reaching for what's over his head.  Lovely kiddo today stuck his foot in poop.  Ew, poop, especially eating table food poop.  Gross.

Some other nuggets that I want to remember, should my sons have kids and their wives are interested in advice from their crazy mother-in-law.

  • Swaddling is awesome.  Both boys started to break free at about 5 months, at which point I started using the sleep sack.  It took a little bit of adjustment for them to sleep well again, but it really helped keep him warm without a blanket.  At least, we used this until he was old enough to sleep with a blanket, around 6 or 7 months.
  • Blankies quickly became a security/cuddly issue for both boys.  E sleeps with a giraffe, and every time I put him in his crib, no matter how sleepy he is, he will reach for the giraffe.  A slept with a bear, though he is not very particular about who he sleeps with these days.
  • On potty training.  I think I've documented many of the steps we took with A here, but I really want to remember one trick.  We all know that potty training for number 2 is harder than for number one.  It's about losing a part of himself, it's about control.  Our doctor said that the kid will hold it in, making it even harder to go.  So, we gave him laxative to make it as easy to go as possible.  When I knew he had to go (and believe me, it was easy to know!), everything would stop--no toys, games, tv, nothing.  Sometimes, we even took off his pants.  Once we started that routine, he started using the potty pretty quickly.
That's all I can think of for right now!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

40 weeks?!?

I just got an email that E is 40 weeks old.  Wow; he's been outside longer than he was in.
Sooo, what can our E do at 40 weeks?

Clap--he loves clapping; clapping's his favorite.
Wave--sporadic, but it's definitely there.
Babble--duh duh dah dah is his favorite, rah rah rah is his second favorite
Stand--not so great at this, but we're working on it a lot right now.  He stands at a taller toy or at the couch, holding on and standing!

He giggles like crazy when A runs around, when he sees A for the first time in a day, etc etc.  Yesterday, he about had a conniption when A and Daddy came home at the same time.


He's sick right now, but yet seems to be sleeping better at night.  He's been waking only twice the past few days, and only for a quick nursing.... waay better than last week's three or four wakings, plus being awake and crying from 2-4am.

I love this picture of E, because, well, it's adorable, but also because he's the spitting image of:

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

9 month stats

At 9 months, E weighs 14.8lbs, and is 25.8" long. PEANUT!! (By contrast, A was 14.9lbs and 26").
The doctor told me to start feeding him table food.  He said E can eat anything we eat, as long as it isn't a choking hazard or honey (honey has botulism in it.  It's fine for us, but deadly to the under 1 year set.  Weird!)   We have to return in one month for a weight check, and if there is a problem, he wants to do bloodwork.
The boy loves to eat.  He LOVES to feed himself too, so this really shouldn't be a problem.  If I remember correctly, it wasn't a problem when we had weight problems with A at HIS 9 month appointment, so we should be totally fine!

Eyes

We are a family of four.  This family has four different eye colors.  Throw in the cats, and we have six different eye colors.



Thursday, January 6, 2011

You're my baby blue

Over the River and Through the Woods

My kids only have one living great grandparent, my grandmother Mom Mom.  Likewise, her five other great grandchildren live 5+ hours away and don't come to NJ all that often.  I told A today that he "might just be her favorite person ever."  She calls, talks to M or me for a few seconds, then asks to speak with A.  The conversation almost always goes the same:  How are you?  Did you go to school today?  Are you a good boy?  I love you!, but it makes her happy and it makes me happy that he gets to know his great grandmother.  Further, he's learning a million and one lessons about how to talk on the phone and manners. 

See, my great grandmother doesn't hear so well.  This makes those phone conversations pretty funny for M and I, since more often than not, what she hears as his answers is actually E making noises or the tv.  But A does a great job--when I say, "You need to say it a little louder," he does... and is getting to the point where he will do it automatically.  It also helps me to explain why "uh huh" (or worse, "mmhmm") isn't as good an answer as "yes."

We drove down to see her today for dinner, and it again reminds me of how lucky we are with this boy.  He is so well mannered and well behaved.  I also get the opportunity to teach him how to speak up for himself.  Mom Mom offered him two dessert choices, pudding or apple pie.  He wanted the pudding, but she then said "Let's have the apple pie now, and you can take the  pudding home."  I said to him, "If you would rather have the pudding than the apple pie, you need to tell her so." 

He is such a sweet, kind little boy, that ADS.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

More Than This

Encouraged by yesterday's signing adventures, I've been working more and more with E and his signing. When he was eating his lunch, I asked if he wanted more to eat, and he kept doing the sign for more more more. Them, I looked up the sign for tickle... I tickled him and said, "tickle tickle tickle!!" then signed, "more tickle?" He signed more more more!

So cool!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Signs Signs, everywhere the signs....

M began teaching sign language to A around the time he became verbal.  I can clearly remember A shoving food in his mouth, and making the sign for "more."  He became more vigorous when A started potty learning, having heard that teaching a kid the sign for "diaper" will help him to communicate his need to be changed OR that he NEEDS to go.  That wasn't so much the case with A, but he is really excited to do signs and loves to practice them.

When E started solids, I started working on the signs with him.  "E," I'd sign, "more food?"  This would typically get him to open his mouth for more.  It worked.  Otherwise, I've been pretty sporadic.

The other day, I saw him putting his fingers together doing what I thought was an early clap.  Today, however, I said "more?" and he made the sign.  Every time I said the word, he'd do the sign.  I'm not sure what he wants more OF, but he is so damn proud of himself when I understand what he's trying to tell me!

Video is so short because for some reason, my new phone only lets me email super short clips.  I made another video in which he did it, on command, three times.  Maybe I can figure out how to upload that.