Well, we made it past a year, and nursing is still going strong. Why not go for 2? I’d like to keep nursing as long as it works for both of us. Our recent sleep issues have me questioning how long that will be, though. There are definitely times when I can put Travis in bed awake and he’ll go to sleep happily. And Mark can do this more than I do.
But MOST of the time, Travis falls asleep while nursing, yells for the seconds it takes me to carry him to his crib, and then settles down again. It’s not so much that I’m trying to nurse him to sleep as that when I nurse him before sleep times, he always conks out. I’d really like to be able to read to him, turn out the light for a last snuggle, and then put him in bed awake. That’s what we worked into with Hallie, even when she was still getting a bottle or a cup of milk at bedtime. But nursing doesn’t really fit in there. Guess we’ll see what the doctor says, if our sleep issues improve, and wing it from there.
“I changed my mind. I’m really NOT done sucking my thumb!” Hallie announced as she removed today’s band-aid. Looks like this will be a slowish process.
I was really proud of Hallie today. She’s always been very comfortable playing with the kids she knows and even when meeting a new friend one-on-one at a park. But I haven’t often seen her take the initiative to join a new group.
We went to Blue Jay Point Park today. We were playing in the huge sand area, and Hallie asked me if she could go play with some little girls she saw. I told her to go ahead. She looked a bit intimidated, but she walked up and asked, “May I play with you?” They were a little older, but they said “sure.” And for the next while, all three dug and poured happily together. I heard enough snatches of conversation to know they were introducing themselves to each other and even learning last names.
Hallie’s always seemed a bit shy outside her comfort zone of friends she knows or friends she’s meeting because I’m talking to their moms. I was really pleased to see this interaction go so smoothly!
We had a few more rough spots putting Travis to bed last night. He was acting sleepy early, so we tried putting him down early. Bad idea, I guess. It ended up taking two hours before he was finally asleep. He’d fall asleep on one of us and then scream bloody murder when we put him in bed. By the end, he didn’t want to nurse or have a bottle. The last time I picked him up (from standing and wailing), he was asleep in against me in a matter of seconds. He protested again when I put him down. I rubbed his back for a little bit and he finally settled down. We heard a few whimpers in the night (which of course keep me awake listening for more) but he woke up happy as could be this morning.
We didn’t have any plans today, and T was acting tired early. He ended up taking a 90 minute morning nap (which Hallie and I capitalized on for some play-doh, painting, and reading time) and woke up cheerfully talking up a storm. He’s been really happy all day. He had fun sitting in some leaves at Blue Jay Point park while Hallie played with some new friends, and we’ve had some great giggly chases. The irony is that he woke up with a crusty nose this morning and has been dripping all day, but he’s also happier. What a confusing guy!
He’s more than an hour into his afternoon nap now, too. A big improvement over yesterday’s 40 minutes, which ended with wails. Maybe he’s been going through some teething or a growth spurt. He’s got his one-year check-up tomorrow, which may or may not provide some clues. From a purely selfish perspective, I’m relieved to have a little time to get a few things done. And from a mommy perspective, I’m glad to see him waking up happy again!
We finally got around to going on a family bike ride this weekend! On Saturday Mark set up the trail-a-bike, which Hallie is now tall enough to ride. She loves it! Except she keeps telling Mark to go faster. She’s got her own set of pedals, but mostly she’s just along for the ride.
On Sunday, we put T in the seat on the back of my bike, and we all pedaled down the greenway. It was a gorgeous day, and we all enjoyed ourselves. It’s definitely wobbly having T behind me, and we took one very slow-speed spill. We both came through it just fine, but it was a good reminder of why we NEVER do that without helmets on everyone.
It’s too bad the days are so short now. We’ll have to save our riding for the weekends until spring. But I think we’ll log a lot of miles when we can. Mark was suggesting we get a trailer that both kids can sit in for my bike. Does he really think I can pull an extra 70+ pounds? We’d better get a gym membership first and a lot of time for me to spend there!
I don’t know what’s going on with Travis! He’s been up in the night at least 3 times in the last week, a couple of times for 2 hours or more. He doesn’t seem sick or uncomfortable, just WIDE AWAKE! And he yells when you put him back in bed. He’s also getting shorter and shorter on his afternoon naps but waking up crying instead of happy. Today he only did about 40 minutes. And though he looked sleepy well before bedtime, I spent an hour with him and still couldn’t get him settled down. He’s just wide awake and wants to read and play.
He’s pretty darn adorable when he’s like that, but not at bedtime! I’m giving him a while to yell it out before I go back in there. I don’t want him used to the idea of nighttime social time, which seems to be what he wants. I’m glad we’re going to the doctor this week, though I don’t know what they’ll tell us that we don’t already know. I was trying to figure out why I feel like I’ve gotten nothing done the last couple of weeks and then I realized–It’s because I’ve gotten nothing done!
Hallie went to her first peace demonstration at about 6 or 9 months. Travis had to wait until 1 day past 1 to get to his. We all spent a while on the Boylan Street Bridge on Wednesday at a vigil recognizing the death of the 2000th US soldier in Iraq. We met some great people and saw a few familiar faces.
Hallie was mostly interested in the dogs and in doing arabesques as we walked along the bridge. She crouched on my knee the whole time I was interviewed by the Channel 11 reporter. I blathered on quite a bit, and fortunately they chose not to air that footage!
Travis (surprise) mostly wanted to get down and walk around. He wasn’t too thrilled about being held, though bringing the wagon instead of a stroller proved to be a good idea. We knew we were pushing it by being out at bedtime. We got home with only a few whines and complaints and no one seemed any the worse for wear by morning.
Hallie’s been a committed thumbsucker since about the time she was weaned from bottles. She sucked some before then, but with every bottle we dropped, I watched her spend more time with her thumb. We’ve chosen to ignore the advice of her dentist, which basically said “make her stop” and follow the advice of almost everyon else, which says the best way to keep it going is to try to make it stop.
We’ve made a few more points of it recently, often in the context of not sucking while we’re running errands to prevent sickness or not doing it while we’re talking so we can understand her. In the last few weeks Hallie’s announced on her own, several times, that she’s decided she’s going to quit sucking her thumb. Problem is, she keeps forgetting. And then when you remind her while she’s doing it (which I was a little afraid to do at first but it’s been fine) she announces that she really hasn’t decided to quit yet after all.
We haven’t been pushing it, though I’m very eager for her to quit. The other night I suggested that we could put either a bandaid or some bad-tasting stuff on it to help her notice when it goes in out of habit. She didn’t want to try that on Wednesday, but today she did. I think it helped that we’d just bought some new bandaids.
She spent all afternoon with a bandaid on her thumb, and I didn’t once see it in her mouth. When I congratulated her at bedtime she told me she felt like taking the bandaid off at night. I diverted her attention and she didn’t come back to that. We’ll see if it’s still on in the morning. But it seems like we’re making progress. And I think the most important sign of potential success is that she’s deciding she wants to do this herself. That’s what we’ve been waiting for!
I know kids Hallie’s age are supposed to be self-centered. The other week, Hallie showed this in a very interesting way. On our mantel is one of my favorite pictures of Travis. He’s in his exersaucer on the front porch, wearing a baseball cap. The pictures is full of vivid color and he’s got an adorable smile.
The picture was taken during a playdate with Paige and Denelle. The girls were running around the yard and the porch blowing bubbles. I have some pictures of them, too, but they aren’t in the shot above the fireplace. A few weeks ago, Travis was walking around the den and stopped in front of the fireplace and looked up.
“He’s looking at the picture of me!” Hallie exclaimed.
There IS a picture of Hallie on the mantel, but not where T was looking. “Which picture of you?” I asked.
“The picture of me when I was blowing bubbles with Paige!”
Hallie remembered the occasion for the picture of Travis. She knew exactly what she was doing when the picture was taken, and with whom. The fact that she doesn’t appear in the picture at all didn’t seem to change her impression that it was a picture of her. What a funny insight into the mind of a three-year-old!
Travis is getting much, much more solid on his feet. I don’t hover right over him like I did just a couple weeks ago. And if we’re in a “safe” room, he’s OK marching around on his own. The problems seem to come when he’s got enough space to pick up some speed. He really loves to charge along, but the faster he goes, the less steady he is. We had a couple of good crashes today. I know he’s safer when I hold his hand the whole time. But he won’t let me most of the time, and I know he needs to do it on his own.
Travis is also showing signs that he wants to be a climber. He’s been going up the stairs on his own (with someone right behind him) for a couple of weeks. And now I see him approach an obstacle or a chair or the tub and immediately lift his leg as if to climb on or into it. Hallie never had a lot of interest in that, so this will be a different level of supervision to keep track of our little explorer.
Despite the new challenges, I am enjoying his new stage of independence. I found it exhausting to be constantly tailing him and alert to every wobble, since many of them meant crashes. It’s also nice to not have him so dependent on physical contact. Even just a couple weeks ago, I coudn’t sit on the floor to play with him because he’d just use me to climb up and off he’d go again.
It’s ironic that now that he’s got a lot more mobility, he also seems more content to play with stationary toys for MUCH longer periods. He played with a Little People house for a long time today and had fun stacking legos, too. I was feeling that he was missing out on some of those learning opportunities when he was constantly on the move. I know both types of activities are important. I was missing the playtime we’re starting to get, so I’m glad we’re finding a better balance.
