Hallie and Travis

I’ve had two nights in a row where I’ve put T to bed without a bottle, so maybe our nursing-without-supplementing has a bit more life left. He needed an extra visit last night, but I think that was partly because he was revved up from our having friends over for dinner.

Today he took an almost-three-hour morning nap, but completely refused to sleep this afternoon. That meant he was pretty tired at Hadley’s birthday party this evening. He hung in there fine and loved marching through all the activity. But there was a lot of eye rubbing. This will only mean something to local folks, but on the way home he was sound asleep before we got to Durant Road. (That’s about 2.5 minutes into our 5 minute drive home from Jeff and Suzie’s.)

When I put him to bed, he had more spunk than I’d expected, sitting up from nursing periodically to make a comment or grab another book. But before long he was limp and relaxed, and he didn’t budge when I put him in bed. I’m hoping we can get back on schedule, whatever that may be, tomorrow!

Hallie was wired after we got back from our playdate yesterday. She was literally running (and rolling) laps between the fireplace and the fridge. She finally settled down a bit and the three of us were playing on the floor.

While we were playing she did something I asked her not to do–I think she was grabbing T’s hands too roughly or throwing something around–and I told her that if she didn’t stop, I would have to ask her to go to her room. BTW, it’s been months since I’ve used that as a consequence, though it has been threatened.

She thought about this for a minute or two and then announced that “I’m going to go up to my room until I can learn to behave.” Stifling my laughter, I solemnly explained that her behavior was fine now and as long as she didn’t repeat what I’d asked her to stop, there was no reason for her to go upstairs.

“No,” she said, “I need to go upstairs and think about it. I’ll come back when I can behave.”

“OK,” I said, very curious to see what she would do. She went on upstairs, and I didn’t hear anything more. It was all I could do to wait for her to come back. A couple minutes later I heard her coming down the stairs.

“I’m coming back down now, Mommy!” she announced. When she got into the den, she told me that she was done thinking about it. After a minute or two, she suggested that she go back upstairs again, but then she seemed to lose interest in her self-disciplining practices, and she stuck around to play with me and T. That was the last I heard of it, so I guess she decided she’d learned how to behave.

What a funny girl!

We love it when Hallie coins new words. This weekend she introduced a new one. Travis is really into holding our fingers and marching all over the house. He’s also been VERY vocal lately, and Hallie often hears us comment on how talkative he is. What a logical leap to calling him “walkative” too!

We’re hitting yet another nursing transition. I’m hoping it isn’t the beginning of the end, though I know that will come eventually. I’d really like to make it to the end of his first year, when we can start Travis on whole milk. (At which point we’ll be buying skim, 2%, and whole milk. That will be fun to keep track of!)

After a bumpy reintroduction, Travis loves taking a bottle now. It makes it a lot easier for Mark (or Grandma or anyone other than me) to put him to bed and I love the freedom of being able to go out without worrying about how much milk is in the freezer. Since T will drink anything now (even straight from the fridge), we’ve gotten a lot more liberal about mixing formula with breastmilk or just using formula.

If I’m not the one to put T to bed, I always pump at night. But I think the last few weeks of Mark doing more feedings have put a dent in my supply. Last night, T wouldn’t settle down at all while nursing. I finally got a bottle of formula, and after inhaling 2.5 ounces he was out cold. He didn’t eat a lot for dinner last night, so he started off extra hungry. It was sad to not have enough for him on my own, though!

He’s also so fidgety when he’s nursing that he’s making me sore again. And he’s started a neat habit of practicing his pinching action while nursing. That’s fine, except he’s using my breasts as his target! So, nursing isn’t as comfortable for me as it has been for a while.

I’ve loved nursing him even more than I ever thought I would. And I’d feel great about what we’ve done, even if it stopped today. So, we’ll just see what seems to work for both of us and go with it. I’ve got no concerns that he’s a thriving big guy, and I’m so glad nursing could be part of that!

Here’s what I get for bragging about T’s napping last week. This week has been a disaster! Two days he’s boycotted his morning nap and then had a super short afternoon one. Right now he’s squawking up a storm after having slept only 45 minutes all day. I’m going to give him a little while longer, though he doesn’t sound likely to settle down. Aargh!!!

Hallie had her first visit to the dentist today, and she did great! We’d read about Dora’s first visit, and that helped a lot.

Hallie was really calm and sat still for the X-Rays and the cleaning and exam. She loved all the decorations in the office and getting some little prizes. The only thing she didn’t like was the flouride treatment they painted on her teeth. It’s supposed to stay on until tomorrow morning, and I guess it feels sticky and tastes funny.

She kept asking me to brush if off and I told her it needed to stay on to make her teeth healthy and strong. She looked so glum and uncomfortable I finally told her that after lunch we could brush a little bit. She thought about this for a little while and then asked, “But if we brush it off, how will my teeth stay healthy and strong?” And I never heard another word about it!

We learned that Hallie’s got some pretty deep grooves that the dentist wants to watch carefully. She’s likely to need some fillings next time around. And she’s also got very soft enamel, which is probably a result of my preeclampsia/her early arrival. The bad news is she’ll be prone to cavities in her baby teeth. The good news is that shouldn’t affect her permanent teeth. So, we’ll be doing lots of good brushing!

Travis turns 9 months old today. I can only imagine what the next 9 months will bring!!

Travis has been a pretty jolly guy ever since we got past those first 2.5 months. But this week he’s really been showing me just what a great, easygoing sport he is.

If we stick close to home, he’ll usually nap for 1.5-2 hours in the morning. But it’s not fair to Hallie for us never to leave the house. So some days, I just get us in the car headed somewhere at his morning naptime and let him catch whatever snoozing he can in the car.

I know plenty of kids who would lose it if you messed with their schedule like that. Not T! Here’s our scenario from last Monday, as an example.

We got in the car around 9 am to head to the Museum of Natural Sciences, aka the dinosaur museum. T conked out about halfway there, so he got about 15 minutes of sleep in the car. I woke him up when we were parked, and he was immediately smiling and engaged by what was going on around him. He stayed that way our whole visit, content to watch from the stroller or from my arms and even to take a few “steps” when I let him.

Back in the car, he was asleep before I got out of the parking lot. But he never gave me any sign at all that he was tired or cranky at the museum. So, off we go to meet Mark for lunch. 20 minutes later, I wake T up at Mark’s office. Immediate smiles and chatter and lots of grins for Mark’s coworkers.

Off to Bear Rock Cafe, where (other than my nasty case of food poisoning that followed later that night) we had a fun lunch. He snacked on some of Hallie’s grilled cheese and watched everything around us. He stayed awake the whole way home (partly because I kept handing him new toys to keep him engaged). Then he played well on the floor while I did Hallie’s stories. And finally he conked out while nursing at his normal afternoon naptime. And slept for 3!!! hours!

Another example: Yesterday he didn’t settle down for his morning nap, so I just got him up and we went on about our day. He got about 10 minutes of sleep on the way home from Target (where he was very cheerful except when I tried to keep him from climbing over the back of the cart to get at everything in the basket–he was not too fond of my intervention!) And he made it through lunch and Hallie’s stories before taking his own long snooze.

He hasn’t napped less than 2.5 hours in the afternoon any day this week. And he’s been sleeping until almost 7 am, a nice treat from his recent 5:45 wakeups. Since I’ve had a crazy list of things to get done, that’s been amazing.

I don’t want it to sound like I only love him because he’s a good snoozer. But it sure does make it easier to focus on him when he’s awake. And it’s great to know that we can alter his schedule once in a while without danger of meltdowns. (Has he ever had a meltdown? Certainly not recently!!) Maybe all our months of NOT leaving the house are paying off now. I’m sure that getting that much good sleep contributes to his jolly outlook. We sure did hit the jackpot with both our kiddos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since Monday, we’ve been giving T lots of real solid food with every meal. He’s doing great with it, and clearly has his preferences. Until now, he’s pretty much eaten anything we spooned into him. Now, he’s quite adept at picking out his favorites. He likes chicken and broccoli and cheese and bread and Cheerios and especially Gerber puffs. At lunch today he carefully picked out all the apricots and left the black beans and ate the cheese toast.

He isn’t eating any great quantity yet, but I’m sure that will pick up. The funny thing is that he’s cut WAY back on the baby food he’ll eat from a spoon after he’s had his solids. It’s definitely not because he’s filled up on the other stuff. At least I don’t think so. Maybe he’s deciding he doesn’t like us feeding him any more. I’d better get dicing!

I dodged a bullet this afternoon! Hallie’s been doing great with using the potty all the time, and she gets really excited when she poops in it.

Before her nap today, she was admiring her poop and telling me what it looked like. (Today it was a Santa hat!) Then she told me she wanted to play in it. I told her that poop was definitely not for playing in. When she asked why, I told her it was smelly and gross and would make her sick if she played in it.

She thought about this for a while and then asked, “Is that how you get pregnant?”

“Gulp!” from Mommy. And as the words “No, that’s not how you get pregnant” were leaving my mouth, I KNEW she’d ask the natural follow-up question. I have to hand it to her, she’s definitely good at the pre-nap stall tactics!

Fortunately, she didn’t ask me to elaborate. Instead, she said, “Then I’d be stuck.”

“What?” I asked. “If I got pregnant, I’d be stuck forever and ever.”

Where did she hear that, I wonder? I really don’t know! She didn’t seem to be looking for a comment, so I kept mum and she moved right onto a different topic. I guess I’d better get prepared for the next time, though!