Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick...: January 2012

Thursday, January 26, 2012

The end of the beginning

I realized today that Jack is officially a Baby. Not quite a Toddler yet but definitely not an infant. He's so much more expressive; you can totally tell what he's interested, what he wants, what he doesn't want (usually those things get flung across the room in disgust). It's pretty cool.

The sleeping is going well. We're settled in to a 7-ish to 7-ish sleep schedule which he's been pretty consistent about. We occasionally still have the early waking, but I try to be vigilant about not feeding until 7am and it's working pretty well. I've also cut down to 4 feedings a day, every 4 hours. He didn't blink an eye at that change, which makes me think we probably should have done it weeks ago, but whatever.

Naps are still wildly inconsistent. I try and put him down at the same time every day and even if he wakes up early, I let him hang out in his crib for the duration of the "nap" but he's still dog-tired by the end of the day and it's a fight to stay awake til bedtime. But we'll keep working on that...

Jack got his first cold last week, which wasn't too bad until I caught it too. Wow does being sick when you've got a sick baby to take care of really suck. He was all thrown off schedule and I'm not quite cold-hearted enough to stick to the no-feeding plan when the kid wakes himself up at 3:45 in the morning with a coughing jag and then lays there for a half hour pitifully crying and coughing, so needless to say we were off our game for a few days. But we're both on the mend and seem to be feeling better.

Solid food has officially begun! After the last couple weeks of attempts (to have the food literally spit back at me), Jack seems to be accepting the non-breast-milk sustenance. So far, he seems to prefer sweet potatoes and squash (and yogurt), which works for me.

Another question for the experienced moms (whose advice was AWESOME regarding the sleep problems - thanks!!): how do you "teach" the kid to drink from a cup, or to drink water out of something? Not that I'm in any hurry, but I have made a half-hearted attempt with water in a sippy cup and there was just no having it. Do you put water in a bottle? Use one of those straw cup things? Is it too early to even think about water?

Anyway, I had a birthday this week. 34. Jack gave me the lovely gift of waking up at 3:30am for the first time since he got over his cold. Thank you, son. He was back to sleep by 4:20 but I laid there until 5:30, so that was a delightful way to start my 35th year :-)

My friend asked me the other day if I felt like a mom yet. That morning at 4am listening to my baby crying on the baby monitor - yes, I did. But there are other times when I forget for a few minutes - on the subway, in a work meeting, even just getting a coffee when he's back at home. So I don't know if I feel like a mom. I mean, I AM a mom. I get that. But that doesn't mean I feel like one. Or maybe this is what it feels like?

Anyway, here's a bath series with various setting on the always delightful Hipstamatic app on my phone:

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Sleep (what else??)

Happy New Year!

We drove back to Brooklyn on New Year's Day with Jack in his big boy carseat (he got too tall for the infant one we had been using!) and settled back in to life in NYC.

After hanging out with several of my RI friends while I was home over the holidays, most of whom have children of their own, I began thinking more about getting Jack more on a schedule. As I've mentioned before, his day is basically dictated by what time he wakes up (which could be anywhere from 4:30-6am) and then how short his naps are (anywhere from 30-90 minutes) Other than eating every 3 hours, I have no way of knowing, for example, what time he'll nap tomorrow, since it all depends on when he wakes up. So, after talking to some of my mom pals, I've been attempting to give his day some structure. One week in to this plan, it's going...ok.

I started by establishing that I wouldn't feed him before 6am (previously, I would feed him whenever he woke up), so now if he wakes at 5:15, he hangs out in his crib (sometimes talking to himself, sometimes whining) until 6. This seems like maybe it's helping him to wake up a little later (though last Thursday he did wake at 3:45 and cried/whined/babbled until I caved at 5:15 and fed him) but it still isn't helping the nap thing. He can only stay awake about 2-2.5 hours until he just hits the wall from exhaustion, so even if I wait until 6 to feed him, if he's been up since 5 he wants to nap at 7/7:30, which seems crazy early to take his first nap. And then if that nap is only 45 minutes (very possible), again even if I leave him in his crib, it doesn't change the fact that he's awake and will want to nap again 2 hours after he woke up from that nap. So even though I can control when he eats, it just seems like if I don't have any control over how long he sleeps, I'll never be able to set a schedule. Ah well. Maybe I just need to be more patient with it. But any tips from seasoned vets are appreciated.

On the starting solid foods front, it's also pretty bleak. He pretty much rejects any food I try, whether it's warm or cold, with or without oatmeal mixed in. At this point he won't even open his mouth anymore so I'm wondering if I should let it go for a few days and try again at the end of this week. He's not even 6 months old yet, so I'm not too worried. He IS a Farrell after all and we are certainly genetically predisposed to eating. I think maybe he doesn't get the swallowing thing yet (as everything I try to put in his mouth is promptly spit back at me, including just plain old breastmilk on a spoon!)

But in happier news, here are some pics of Jack with my friend Jenn's daughter, Maddie as Jack tries to show her his moves (and is completely and totally rebuffed!)