Knock on Wood

Nicholas has slept through the night 3 nights in a row! He doesn't know it, but he has just revoked his permission to eat at night ever again.

We had tried a few times over the past oh 4 or 5 months to get him down from 2 feedings a night to 1, with little success. But then about 3 or 4 weeks ago he started doing just 1 feeding about half the time. Okay, progress. But just as we were about to start enforcing the just 1 feeding (i.e. making him cry it out if he woke up a second time), he got sick. And so he was waking up coughing and unable to go back to sleep. I understand--when I wake up coughing I need a drink to go back to sleep too. And we figured the extra antibodies from the breastmilk would help him fight off the cold, so I'd feed him instead of forcing him to take water or something.

And so we were back to 2 feedings every night.

Then earlier this week we renewed our resolve. He was basically better, so we decided to start enforcing the just 1 feeding a night. Granted, he was supposed to be at 1 feeding a night at like 4 or 5 months old and by now should have been at 0 nighttime feedings, but baby steps. In our little household, only 1 feeding a night would be huge.

So the first night of our new resolve comes. And he wakes up at 11:30 as we're starting to close up shop and get ready for bed. We decided to make him cry himself back to sleep to postpone his feeding in hopes of only having to do one. After a long time of crying (I don't know how long it was in real time, maybe 5 minutes) he was still going strong and I was tempted to go get him. But, no, I reasoned, at this point I have to stand firm or he'll just think the answer is to cry longer. Must . . . not . . . reinforce. But after he finally fell back asleep I resolved to feed him the next time he woke up, even if it was just 5 minutes later.

It was an hour later, in fact. But that was it. Just one feeding that night.

The following night we determined to enforce the 1 feeding thing again, bracing ourselves for a fight.

But no fight. Not only did he not wake up twice, he didn't even wake up once. He slept straight through until almost 8am.

Wow, that was nice. But it must have been a random fluke (he has done that once or twice before). But we'll hold firm on 1 feeding a night. No backsliding.

The next night. He slept through again. Then again.

And so now he has sealed the deal. He has proven to us that he is perfectly capable of doing it, and so whether he likes it or not, that is the new rule. Cry all you want, little man, but you are done. (I hope. Knock on wood. Pretty pretty please?)

9 Month Update, Addendum

Tonight Nicholas stood unassisted for what was probably a solid 5-6 seconds! It felt like forever. He has done it once or twice before, but only for a second at most. He is like a cartoon character--he is actually fine but he doesn't trust himself and once he realizes that he isn't holding on to anything, he panics and starts flailing around for something to grab onto, which of course causes him to fall.

The other random update from today is that the boy apparently likes cottage cheese . . . after it has been in his mouth for a couple seconds. It was hilarious to watch, actually. I'd give him a spoonful and he'd make a face of disgust. But then he'd finish eating it and ask for more (in "Nicholas-ese," which consists of a particular tone rather than any particular syllable or sign) and open up for the next spoonful. Only to make a face of disgust again. Whatever--he is eating a new food option that gets him some protein, is comparatively cheap, and requires no prep work.

9 Month Update: Creeping and Cruising

Nicholas is 9 months old today! That just sounds so old. It is like it is suddenly "almost 1." How did that happen? There isn't much to report that hasn't been in an earlier post, but I'll put a broad summary here for the purposes of easy tracking.

• The big news this month is his advancement in mobility. No, he still isn't crawling, but he is mobile on his stomach in what I think is technically called "creeping." Basically, he can get to things on the other side of the room on his own, but not with particular speed.
• He has also gotten pretty good at "cruising." This involves walking holding on to objects, usually furniture. In fact, I've created a little "course" for him in the living room where he can do a circuit walking along the couch, transferring to his jumper, then to his chair (which is stable with a foot rest popped out), then to his rocking horse (which does rock, but he does fine using for support). If we really wanted we could probably connect it back to the couch. I think transferring between objects is actually his favorite part, although he does enjoy stopping to play with the toys that hang from many of these objects.
• He has also become a climber. Ironically, he hasn't figured out pulling up, but he will somehow manage to climb over me, up and over the arm of the couch, and onto the coffee table.
• He is still obsessed with photographs. We have started letting him play with one of the cheap flip books of photos because he will just sit and flip through it smiling, and it is one we don't care about the pages getting bent.
• He increases to 3 days a week at daycare starting Monday. He still loves it while there, but he now screams when we leave him. He has figured out that it is a place where Mommy and Daddy leave, and does not approve.
• He claps his hands, but much prefers to bang things together that he is holding. His favorite objects to bang together are his plastic blocks, I assume because they are loud. The similar motion in the bathtub results in water splashing up and out of the tub, something he has taken to doing with glee.
• With a couple exceptions (most notably Playful Puppies and Elmo Says) Nicholas only has patience anymore with books that involve lifting flaps or have fun textured places. Basically he wants his books to be interactive. Why his two favorite books don't meet this criteria is beyond me. I have tried, but can't figure out what they have in common that makes him giggle so.
• In general, he just seems big and sturdy. I now feel comfortable leaving him standing holding onto something and walking away or having him in grocery carts and restaurant high chairs without the cloth thing.

Speaking of which, here is a picture I took the other day. Yes, we were in Walmart and yes I pulled my camera out of my purse to take a picture. Neither of these are common occurrences, I promise.

From 2010 February

Wordless Wednesday: Monkeying Around

From 2010 February

Rockin' the Sweater Vests

We decided to dress Nicholas up for church this morning. (And, to be honest, he was out of other clothes since we needed to do laundry and he has outgrown half his clothes.) But you know what that means. Yep, sweater vest!

From 2010 February

This outfit made it through lunch, but then he spit up right on the polar bear, so we pulled out another outfit. Yep, another sweater vest!

From 2010 February

After church and lunch (and a few loads of laundry) we took a trip down to the huge mall near my parents' house and then to my parents' for dinner. There are some pictures in The Gallery of Nicholas hanging out with his grandparents and playing with blocks and cars, but this is my favorite shot:

From 2010 February

You have to admit that the little boy looks good in a sweater vest. I just wish they made onesie dress shirts because his stomach and diaper kept ending up exposed. But still adorable.

Growth Spurt . . . Of Many Sorts

Nicholas went through a growth spurt in the past week, but luckily this one was not accompanied by the trademark Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Aside from the screams when I brought a Kleenex anywhere near him, he was perfectly delightful.

In fact, I had no idea he was growing until I noticed the new height. All of the sudden half of his clothes don't fit! He has been going through 3 outfits each morning. I put a shirt on and then can't get it snapped. So I try a different one and that one snaps but then I pick him up and he looks absurd because it is pulling at the neck. So I put him back down (at which point he is getting annoyed) and try yet another one, which fits but the sleeves don't go all the way to his wrists. The specific sequence varies, but you get the idea.

While I'm not too happy about him growing out of all his clothes this close to the change of seasons (it is almost spring, right? Please!), I am very excited about the height for another reason. I can now stand up straight when he holds my hands to go walking! My back is so grateful.

I don't know whether it is connected or not, but a bunch of skills have also suddenly clicked. The most exciting one for me, is that he is suddenly close to crawling!

From 2010 February

As you can see in the video, he isn't quite there yet, but it is like he finally decided to start working on it. And it wasn't gradual at all. He had never gotten up on his knees before and then suddenly yesterday he was doing this.

As far as other new skills, he now reliably stands holding onto couches, tables, really anything he can grab onto. Pulling things off the end tables is a fun new game.

From 2010 February

He has also gotten braver with walking, and will hold onto something with one hand while reaching around for something to grab with the other hand to facilitate movement. The best comparison I can come up with is to rock climbing, looking for the next hold. He also can do a decent job walking holding onto just one of my hands. He still thinks he needs both hands and often insists on it, but when he really wants something he'll take the risk.

And a completely random new skill he has developed is turning off light switches. And so of course whenever he sees a light switch he desperately wants to get to it. Yeah, that one is going to get old. But I am impressed with the fine motor skills that are involved.

And, surprise surprise, there are some more new pictures in The Gallery.

Routines

I am a man of routines.

Nicholas, because he is very much my son, is a little boy of routines.

This has made the last few weeks an interesting experience for the two of us (and no picnic for Sarah), and my return from the high-flying business traveler world a bit bumpy.  Each time I've come home from a trip, he's been happy to see me, but I think this last trip did him in a little bit.  Sarah left him with me yesterday to go to an Ash Wednesday service, and instead of a "yay, Daddy time!" response, I got the tears and sobbing that usually accompany leaving him with a babysitter.  He still thinks I'm fun, of course, but it may take him a little while to re-adjust to having me around instead of Mommy.  I've got him all day tomorrow, though, so he may have to re-adjust fast!

Meanwhile, I'm trying to re-adjust to the routines of life as well.  In particular, I need to learn the rituals and preparations associated with day care.  He started at the beginning of February, and since then, I've either been away or Baltimore has been under a massive snow/blizzard/"Snowmaggedon" warning (in which case day care is closed).  So I really have no idea what he has to take with him to the center, other than that he needs food and some bottles.  Sarah seems to have come up with a very good system, but she's already got it figured out so smoothly that I'm having to play a lot of catch-up just to get the hang of what he takes, what gets left there, when things come home, and so on.  I'll get it, of course.  And now I have the feeling that once Sarah reads this I'm going to be put in charge of getting his stuff ready for day care until I've internalized it, but so be it.  I should learn, right?

Anyway, I guess the point of the post is that I've been thinking about routines a lot recently, largely because we haven't had any.  The two storms, and the trips I've taken in the last three weeks, have thrown all of us just a little out of whack (okay, some of us more than a little [raises hand sheepishly]).  But we'll get it back, or create new routines, or whatever it takes.

By the way, if anyone is curious, I'm home now basically for good (I think), and will not have any news to report on the trips for some time.

Wordless Wednesday: Got the Camera

From 2010 February

Photos

I haven't taken many pictures of late because really I don't find the dried snot and chapped face look all that photogenic. But yesterday evening I did take some pictures because I had decided to start playing with some of the settings on our camera. Really I was just playing with lighting and such and so don't have much to show for it. But here is one in which you can see that, while still chapped, he is looking much better.

From 2010 February

Although I guess I didn't show you what he looked like two days ago. Trust me, it wasn't a pretty sight.

But between Nicholas' improved appearance and the fact that I am now on a mission to figure out how to use our fancy camera, I have the feeling I will be taking lots of pictures while I supervise playtime while Joe is on his next trip and we get our next storm.

While I haven't been taking many pictures, there is a new album in The Peanut Gallery. When Allison was over the other day, we used her photo editing software to play with some pictures. Nothing too fancy, mostly just making colors brighter, but it was fun. If you'd like to see the edited versions of some photos of Nicholas, click here.

Sick Baby

The poor baby has quite the nasty cold. In fact, as I'm typing this I can hear a cough over the monitor that breaks my heart.

He's had an occasional cough and a stuffed up nose since last Thursday, but only yesterday did the cold seem to really start getting bad. His nose is now running like a faucet and he's having trouble sleeping at night.

He has maintained a pretty good mood through it, except for when you try to wipe his nose. He hates that! For a few hours today I was able to sneak it in through games of "Where's Nicholas," where I would "happen" to run the cloth under his nose while pulling it off his head. I think he's on to me, though, so I may stop that for a day so I don't ruin that game for him.

The other thing going on here is snow. I don't know what our grand totals were for the week because we had such bad wind with the last storm that depending on where you measure there is anywhere from 25-50 inches. At any rate, the piles of snow behind cars are now as high as any of us can reach, so we've been having to carry snow 30 feet away to an empty parking space as we dug out. And the hand railing at the stairs is completely useless since it is now buried under snow most of the way up.

But we have dug out. Joe even managed to make it to Maine today for an interview! Even this morning neither of us believed it was even a realistic possibility for this trip to go through, but he is there. However, despite the fact that our parking lot is clean and Joe said he was going full speed on the Beltway this afternoon, the city is still a mess and so Hopkins is cancelled again tomorrow and I'm cut off from everyone in the city. (Not that I probably should go visiting with the sick baby, but still.)

This snow has also put me yet another week behind on work because daycare was closed today, we haven't been able to get any babysitters up, and even when one of us was watching Nicholas the other couldn't go anywhere to get quiet to work. And most naptimes (and even some nights after he went to bed) were spent out shovelling. Tonight I made some real progress finally, but not enough.

The one positive of the snow is the community we've developed with our neighbors. We've been on friendly terms with most of the people who live in our building (11 apartments total), but it has never before extended beyond nods, hellos, and maybe a 2-minute conversation as we ran into each other on our way in or out. But all the hours out shovelling with them and being stuck together for days has changed that. In fact, a bunch of them came over yesterday for an impromptu birthday party for Joe. The kids played and the adults chatted and had cake. It was downright delightful.

Wordless Wednesday: Snow Family

From 2010 February

360-Month Update

Joe has made a lot of progress these past several hundred months, and we thought we'd give you an update now that he's hit exactly 360 months old.

First, we want to tell you that he's finally recovered from the nasty fall he took, and seems none the worse for wear:

From Joe as a Child

He's even learned how to dress himself!

From Joe as a Child

He takes his work very seriously.

From Joe as a Child

But don't think he's all work and no play; sometimes he'd just rather ... well, the photo speaks for itself.

From Joe as a Child

And if he keeps applying himself, soon he can put on the cap for real!

From Joe as a Child

Clap if you like snow

Baltimore city has still not managed to clear streets around campus from our last storm, so classes were cancelled again today. However, the streets out here in the county were in pretty decent shape and Nicholas' daycare was open and we had to pay for the day regardless, so we took Nicholas in and we spent the day working in coffeeshops. We all needed to get out of the house.

And we're very glad we got out for a bit, since the snow is now falling again and we're likely to be housebound again for the next few days. But Nicholas is loving the snow. He hasn't actually gone out in it since December (when he was mostly just confused), but apparently watching the storms from our window has familiarized him with it by now. It was snowing as we brought him in from daycare this afternoon, and he was so excited by it!

From 2010 February

I think he would have been happy to stay outside for hours, but his pants had gotten wet and it was cold, so we brought him in.

The other news of the day is that after weeks of banging together toys and clapping other people's hands, Nicholas figured out clapping today. He has been so close for weeks, but it hadn't occurred to him that he could clap his hands together when he wasn't holding things in them.

From 2010 February

But success. And I swear he knows the meaning of the words "clap" and "snow." He responded accurately to each today.

Title Tuesday: Feb. 9

From 2010 February

The Front Crawl

Nicholas still hasn't figured out crawling of the typical variety, but he has mastered a different form of "front crawl" to get things that are out of reach.

From 2010 February

You have to admit that he has pretty good form--if only he was in water.

Another Blizzard, Another Car to Dig Out

Snowmageddon 2010 has come to an end ... or at least part one has (another 5+ inches are now forecast potentially for Tuesday night into Wednesday).  And in the spirit of life seeming like a repetition of activities, I offer you a photo that Sarah "spontaneously" took of me this morning:

From 2010 February

The activity seemed awfully familiar to me, perhaps because I spent a bit of time during the Blizzard of 2003 (also known as the President's Day Storm) at JFK Airport trying to dig out my car:

From The Peanut Chronicle

Sarah just mentioned that it seemed like a "piddling" amount of snow.  In some ways, it was -- just 20 inches!  But at that parking lot, it was incredibly windy, and so I actually found the car in roughly that condition, and I didn't get to the car until the next day.

Anyway, point is that I'm a weather nightmare if you're around me.  My travel schedule, going back years, has been demonstrated to be predictive of calamitous weather patterns.  In other words, look out Baltimore this Thursday and Saturday, and next Monday and Wednesday.  After that, I should stay put for a while, which means winter may actually end one of these days.

Snowmaggedon

From 2010 February

We had over 2 feet of snow this weekend, in what has been alternately termed "Snowmaggedon" and "Snowpocalpyse." Either way, it meant Joe and I each spent a few hours attempting to dig out our cars and Nicholas spent a good part of the last two days staring intently out the window and smiling. He loves watching the snow. He was moderately interested to walk out in it as well, but has absolutely no interest in touching it and no understanding of playing in it. We have gotten more snow than Maryland really ever does, but it is wasted on him.

But, even though we couldn't get a picture of Nicholas standing in the snow (because it would have gone up to his eyeballs and there was no way we were putting him in snow that high), the fact that the snow was almost as tall as he was is pretty remarkable.

The other effect of the storm is that the airport is closed for the next couple days, which means Joe is stuck here with us until Thursday. Yes, for those of you keeping track, that means he will have spent an entire week at home. But don't worry, between Thursday and the following Wednesday he will be home a grand total of 1 day. For now I'll just focus on being glad to have him here.

Pros and Cons

Nicholas loves daycare! He really, really does. And today he even napped a normal amount (albeit in 3 shorter chunks rather than 2 longer ones) and went to sleep in his crib there without needing to be swung. So yay for progress! And when we arrived he looked at us and smiled, but kept playing. It was a "oh, hi, Mommy and Daddy, are you coming to play with me?" rather than his normal "Mommy!!!!! I need you!!!!" when I come home. It is making me wonder why I was dragging my feet so much.

The only down side is the little boy seems to be getting sick. It is to be expected, I suppose, now that he is exposed to so many more germs, but it is sad nonetheless. Right now it seems like just a little cold, but we'll have to wait and see how the next few days play out. Since we're supposed to get another couple feet (yes, feet) of snow, we'll just hang out inside and try to get him to sleep a lot.

Wordless Wednesday: Flashback

From Nicholas Is Born

Promised Video

Here is the video I promised of Nicholas and his fun new game. Enjoy the laughter. :)

From 2010 February

Daycare: Day 2

Nicholas had his first full day of daycare today and did really well. When we got there he squirmed out of my arms and didn't want to even let me take his coat off before he went over to play. And when I went to pick him up he was lying in the middle of the floor on his back, "reading" a book, so content that he didn't notice I was there until one of the teachers picked him up and brought him over to me.

The only problem is that he napped for a grand total of an hour (instead of 3), which has led to a rough evening. He hasn't been cranky or anything, but was too tired to eat dinner. He then woke up after only being asleep for an hour and was a complete mess. He went back down okay after eating, so hopefully he'll get a good night's sleep and be okay.

But he is doing well with the transition. And I really like his daycare.

Title Tuesday: Feb 2

Sarah has trouble uploading photos from her computer, and here at the Dayton airport I have free WiFi.  So you get a remote Title Tuesday today -- enjoy!  And offer your suggestion!

From 2010 January