Our happy boy got our day going this morning about 5:30. He was jabbering and shrieking away happily in his bed, and there didn’t sound like any hope that he’d go back to sleep. And I was afraid he’d wake up Hallie. So, he joined us in our bed and alternately nursed, talked, grabbed at our faces, and grinned ear to ear for an hour. And despite the early wake up, we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Fast forward to this afternoon. Hallie had a fun playdate with her friend Paige. They stayed for lunch and by the end, T was showing sleepy signs. I was determined he and Hallie would sleep at the same time, so I managed to keep him up while I got her down for an earlier-than-usual nap. T went down without complaint right after, and I buckled down to work (I’ve started freelancing again, at least for one project).
T squawked a bit after 45 minutes but then settled himself down again. I ran down to get a snack a bit later and came up to hear Hallie opening her door. Of all the luck! Travis would end up sleeping 2 hours and Hallie only 1.5! (This after T took a 2 hour nap this morning, too. What a guy!)
The up side was I got some good Hallie time while T kept snoozing. At one point she saw me yawning. “Are you tired Mommy?” she asked. I explained that I was, since I didn’t get a nap while she and Travis were napping. “Why don’t you lie down with me and we’ll take a little nap together?” she said. I was happy to oblige. We snuggled onto my bed together, she closed her eyes, and I lay there marveling at my girl. Just moments later, we heard Travis wake up. “Travis is waking up!” she announced. And then she went on, “Did you get enough of a nap, Mommy? Do you feel better?”
I never felt that bad to start with, but I sure felt great to have such thoughtful attention from my big girl. She’s the best!
For the first two and half months, I didn’t think we’d ever get here. In his early weeks, you couldn’t even put him down for a minute or two and he wouldn’t sleep unless he was held or lying next to me nursing all night. But now we have a certifiable happy baby on our hands. When I watched him play on his blanket happily for a long stretch yesterday, I realized that at one point I wasn’t sure that would ever happen. But Travis seems to get happier every day. He turned a corner around 4 months. I think getting enough sleep has made a huge difference. And filling him up with cereal isn’t hurting, either. Also, we’ve gotten so much better at reading his signals. Now we don’t give him a chance to melt down–we just get him what he needs first. Most days now we have almost no tears, just a bit of minor fussing now and then when he tells us he’s tired or hungry or needs a change of scenery. What a delightful change from where we started!!!
I’ve been meaning to write for weeks to capture just how much I love nursing Travis. On so many levels, it’s been such a great experience. There’s the practical convenience of it all–no formula, no bottles to wash, nothing to measure or pack. There’s the savings–formula is soo expensive! And there’s the emotional bonding–there’s nothing like having that little (but getting bigger!) warm body snuggled in against me. Especially when he falls asleep there, it’s so hard to put him down. Most nights I end up holding him well beyond when I could put him in his crib, just because it’s such a delight.
Travis definitely loves his cereal, and we’ll be introducing new solids before long. But I’ll do everything I can to make sure we can also keep the nursing up–hopefully at least for a year if not longer. It’s something I’m really, really going to miss when it’s time to move on.
Yesterday morning was really nasty, so we spent a lot of time indoors doing “projects.” Hallie has gotten really into drawing pictures of specific things and telling us what she’s drawn.
At one point, she took a fresh piece of paper and announced that she was going to draw a picture of Travis. She drew a 8-10″ long diagonal line across the paper and announced matter-of-factly, “That’s his penis.” She then drew two circles and told me they were his eyes and then went on to draw all sorts of other things on the same paper.
If I do say so myself, I did an admirable job of keeping my reaction to a pleasant smile (instead of completely howling), but Mark and I sure shared a good laugh after bedtime!
It’s only been two weeks since we introduced cereal to Travis. You’d never know he hadn’t been eating it for months! Every morning I make a little more, and every morning he finishes it. Today I commented that it wouldn’t be long before we’d be giving him cereal at lunch, too.
Well, it wasn’t long. About 4 hours in fact. T got grumpy shortly after nursing. I tried to put him down for his nap, but he wouldn’t settle in my arms like normal. I took him downstairs and he gobbled a huge bowl of cereal. Back upstairs for a “nightcap” of nursing, and he’s out cold.
I was really hoping that he’d still be strictly nursing for our trip next month, just for the convenience of it. Things are going to be more complicated now, but I love that he’s a good eater. We’ll start trying other types of cereal, and I’m sure we’ll be working on vegetables before we head for Italy. That’s going to be fun on an airplane!
Happy 5-month birthday, Mr. T!!! What a long way you’ve already come!
Hallie’s always had a great sense of play and fun with language. Her latest game is to answer any question with the negative of its answer. So, if you ask her “Who always calls you a gilly soose?” she’ll get a gleam in her eye and say mischeviously, “It’s NOT Daddy!”
She got an Easter card from Grandma and D-Daddy today. I asked her, “Who drew you a monkey in your card?” Her response: “It wasn’t D-Daddy!” We spend a lot of time teasing her and playing games with language. It’s so fun to see her start doing it for herself.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to share the bad with the good. We’ve had our downs as well as ups this week. After both kids were so great on Monday, Hallie gave me a wild ride on Tuesday. I guess she just didn’t want to nap. But she pitched a fit like I’ve never seen from her. She kept coming up with excuses to get me back in the room. Finally, after she’d called me to take her shoes off and then called me back to put them on, I refused to do it and she went nuts. Shrieking and wailing for about 30 minutes. Of course she woke up Travis, who only got a 20 minute nap and was thus a grouch himself. And of course that made me more mad at Hallie. She finally wore herself out and woke up in a happy mood, saying “Mommy, why was I crying?” I told her I wished I knew!
Well, day two in a row for T waking up happy. This morning Mark got to go in and get the first smiles of the day. And another milestone–his first happy wakeup after a nap. After sleeping a measly 30 minutes at each nap yesterday, I didn’t know what today would bring. I won the jackpot!
T grumped a bit going down, which has become unusual. But then he slept for more than 2 hours! And he woke up cooing and gurgling and playing with his Whoozit! Hallie’s friend Suzanna came over to play, and Travis missed the entire playdate. It’s amazing anyone could sleep through their shrieks and giggles. But he had no problem with it.
He cried a bit going down this afternoon, too, but he’s now been asleep more than an hour. I’m so hoping this will start making our evenings more pleasant. We’ve been doing fine if we put him to bed by 6:30, but that gives Mark almost no time to see him. Maybe this will let us stretch things out a bit. We definitely won the lottery with these kids!
We’ve really been enjoying the warmer weather, the longer days, and all of our neighbors. In our chunk of the street there are 5-6 houses on each side of the road that have about 10-12 kids among them. The kids range in age from 18 mo. to 16. And they all play together beautifully! Every afternoon after Hallie’s nap we wander outside. There’s almost always someone and usually lots of someones playing ball or jumping rope or riding bikes. This week is spring break, so it’s been especially active.
Hallie always wants to bring out her big basket of sidewalk chalk. Usually, the other kids join in. We’re running out of real estate to color! The last three days we’ve ended up with a dozen kids and parents spread across our porch, steps, and sidewalk. Hallie LOVES it!! Even when she’s not directly interacting with the other kids, she thrives on having so many people around to watch.
If we’re ever out there alone, she gets the most pitiful expression and says, “Maybe some friends will come out soon.” Everyone is a friend, and we’re so glad to be in a place where it’s so easy to walk out our front door and find our own entertainment. There’s no way this would ever have happened in our Garner house. What a difference sidewalks make!
