Six Month Appointment

Jack had his six-month appointment today.  He weighed in at 15 pounds, 14 ounces, and 25 3/4 inches.  He’s still in the 25th or so percentile for both… short and skinny!

He had a lot of fun while waiting for the doctor, rolling around on the table and looking in the mirror and playing with the paper tape measure the nurse kindly left for him.

Jack had an excellent night of sleep last night:  slept from 8:00 – 11:00 and then 12 to 7.  The night before, however, was one of the worst in months; he woke up just before 3:00 and never really went back to sleep.  I was glad it was a Saturday night so Chris and I could take turns being up with him.  We even brought him into bed for an hour or so which we haven’t done in a couple of months; he slept for an hour there but woke up crying again.  I asked Chris if he had replaced the crib mattress with a bed of hot nails when I wasn’t looking, but he said he had not.

This morning I had an epiphany about Jack’s sleep patterns:  I think the days when he has a late nap (post 4 PM) make his night sleeping worse.  It didn’t used to matter; he could nap from 5-6 and go to bed fine, but now that he’s older I think it’s causing a problem.  So we’re going to try an experiment and have no more naps after 4 PM.

Of course tonight he’s had his shots so adds a new wrinkle, but hopefully a pattern will emerge.

Jack has tried two new foods in the last week:  banana and avocado.  He seems to like them more than the rice cereal, and who can blame him?  I am not sure how much he likes the taste, but he eats a fair amount willingly enough, and likes to grab the spoon and shove it into his mouth for me.  Today he grabbed the spoon and wouldn’t let go, and was smiling.  I said, “What are you smiling about?” and he started laughing and so did I and I felt like we were sharing a joke.  It was nice.

If You Think I Will Nap, You Are Sorely Mistaken

Jack came down with his second cold, just a week or two after he got over his first one.  I’ve just come down with it myself.  Blah.  It is 2:00, and Jack has napped for a half hour since getting up at 7:30.  He is one tired and cranky boy today.

Two nights ago, he had one of his miracle sleeps, and slept from 12 – 7:30!  Of course, I kept waking up, wondering what was going on.  But then last night he woke up at 3, instead.  It is such a mystery to me.. what causes him to wake up at 3, or 4, or 5?  Why does he sometimes manage to get himself back to sleep, and sometimes he won’t go back to sleep until I feed him?  If only I could ask him.

We gave him his first “solid” food on Sunday, rice cereal mixed with formula.  He seemed eager to try it then, though I am not sure how much he actually ingested.  We’ve also started trying out a sippy cup with water.

Since then, he hasn’t been so keen on it.  Not sure if I’m just timing it wrong, or what.  I managed to pump a little milk the morning after he skipped his middle of the night feeding, and tried mixing it with that instead, but he had a similar reaction.  He’ll accept some of it willingly enough, but doesn’t seem enthused.  I think I’ll try some other food next, like banana or avacado.  Anyway we took a little video of his first experience.

Jack is rolling around on his alphabet mat right now, a little bit upset.  I’ll try putting him down for a nap again soon.  Chris isn’t coming home tonight til after Jack goes back to bed.  It’s gonna be a looooong day.

Where Should We Put the Baby?

Before Jack was born, I figured we wouldn’t go hog-wild with the baby seats.  We’d have the carseat/stroller, a baby papasan, and eventually a highchair, and that was it.   How wrong I was…

We got the baby papasan at our baby shower, and we used it from day one.  It was great because he could lie in it before he had head control, and it was pretty secure when we belted him in.  It was light and could easily be moved to wherever we were, and the cover was easy to take off and wash.

Then Chris’s older brother and his wife sent us a Baby Bjorn bouncy chair.  Jack was too small to use it at first, but was soon able to sit up in it.  He ignored the bears in the beginning, but slowly learned to spin them around, and eventually learned to have a lot of fun with it.  I often put him in there facing the sliding glass door in the family room so he can hang out and look outside.

When Jack was two months old, we bought a swing in a desperate attempt to get him to nap somewhere other than in our arms or in the sling.  It took him a little getting used to, but it turned out to be quite a boon, and he took 2-3 hour naps in it.  We only used it for a couple of months, but during those months it was a lifesaver.  When I started transitioning his naps to the crib at 4 months, we more or less stopped using it.

Next up was the “Johnny Jump-Up”, a hand-me-down from my sister.  Neither of her kids really took to it, but Jack has a lot of fun in it (for varying lengths of time; sometimes he will hang out in there quite a while, and sometimes only a few minutes).  It’s been a handy place to put him while I’m in the kitchen (it hangs in between the kitchen and dining room).

When Jack was around 4 months, we purchased a highchair.  He didn’t start solids until 6 months, but he enjoys sitting in it when we’re having dinner, and it’s another good place to put him when I’m busy in the kitchen.  He doesn’t always sit with us at dinnertime; depending on a) when Chris gets home, b) how tired he is and c) how long it takes me to make dinner, we often eat after he goes to bed.  Also he is not always in the mood to sit in the high chair for a whole meal.  It was fun having him in the highchair this weekend when we had my family over for a BBQ; he sat in it for a while during dinner while we all ate in the dining room, and was entertained by his cousins.

Finally, there’s the Exersaucer.  This was a hand-me-down from a friend.  I put it in our bedroom upstairs and he hangs out in there while I’m in the shower.  (In the early days, I put him in the crib under his mobile while I was in the shower, but when we took the mobile out of the crib in an effort to get him used to sleep there, I stopped.  Then I put him in the Bjorn seat, which worked for a while.  The Exersaucer is great because it really keeps him entertained.)

We’ve moved the baby papasan and swing into the garage for now, but we are using the rest of them pretty much every day.

Six Years, Six Months

We had a nice weekend celebrating our 6-year wedding anniversary.  We went to Walnut Creek on Saturday afternoon, and went out to dinner while my parents babysat.  When my sister babysat a few weeks ago she gave Jack some formula but he wouldn’t drink it (first time that’s happened!)  This time I pumped so he would have some milk, and luckily he accepted that.

But I tell you, I pumped 7 times in the 5 days leading up to Saturday and only managed to get 3.5 ounces.  The only time I can pump is after I’ve fed Jack, and there’s nothing left.  (For comparison, if I pump instead of feeding him, I’d probably get 4-5 ounces in one go.)  Not sure how I’m going to get enough milk to mix with his rice cereal when he starts solids this weekend; I may have to mix it with formula and hope he’ll be ok with it.

I’m also going to start getting him used to drinking water from a sippy cup.  I can’t believe he’s nearly six months old!  It’s going to be so interesting to find out what kind of foods he likes and doesn’t like.  I sure hope he inherited his dad’s non-picky eating habits.

Jack has been very entertaining lately.  He likes to play with his blocks, and can pivot and roll wherever he wants to go.  He’s trying very hard to crawl; he gets up on his knees and rocks back and forth, and sometimes goes backwards.

I can’t say sleeping has improved dramatically, but it seems to be getting a little more consistent at least.  Usually he goes down at 8 PM, sleeps til 11:30, then I feed him.  Goes back to sleep until 4, I feed him, back to sleep til 7 or 8.  Sometimes it’s worse and he needs a lot of soothing before that first feeding, or he wakes up at 2:30 and won’t go back to sleep.  But sometimes he sleeps from 12 – 5 AM… that rocks.

On Monday I was at the grocery store and had Jack in the Bjorn.  A woman in line behind me at the cash register said “You don’t drive with him in there, do you?”  I said, “No, that would be illegal.”  Then she proceded to tell me that she’d seen in the news last night that “a lot of those baby car seats are really dangerous”.  Uh, gee, thanks for the PSA!

I’m thinking I might start driving with Jack in the Bjorn after all.  He could steer while I use my cell phone.