Ten Months!

Dear Jack,

You were ten months old yesterday!

I can't even believe I'm saying that!  You'll be one year old before we know it!  But for now, you're just ten months :)

At your last doctor's appointment you weighed 19 lbs. 11 oz., you were 28.5" long, and had a head circumference of 18.25"!  You are technically in the weight range of a size 3 diaper, although we've had to go up to a size 4 to keep you dry at night.  For a while there, every time I would go into your room in the morning, I would find your jammies and your sheet completely soaked through, because your diaper had leaked during the night.  Who knows how long it had been like that, poor thing!  I got the good advice to go up a size at night from a fellow mommy of a little boy at church.  She was right!  It worked, and you've been dry ever since!

So size 4 is pretty much the size you're in all the time now if you're wearing a disposable, although I still use the cloth diapers every day that we are at home and even sometimes when we're not if I'm feeling brave.  You are still wearing some of your 9 month size jammies, but almost all of your clothing is 12 months or larger!  You do have an 18-24 month size outfit that fits fine! 

Still no teeth, although I've been telling everyone that you've been teething for months now!  You show all the signs - chewing on everything, drooling, fussiness, etc.  I'm sure you've got to be tired of me sticking my finger in your mouth to check.

You are getting around pretty well these days!  You are "crawling" all over the place, pulling yourself with your hands and pushing off with your big toe on your right foot.  It's so funny to see you use that big toe to get around.  You still haven't quite figured out how to crawl on your hands and knees, and who knows, you may skip that altogether.  You are pulling up (or trying to pull up) on everything now.  You can almost get to a standing position in your crib, so last month we had to lower it.  You are able to get to a standing position on anything that's low.  It's funny, because once you get up, you aren't sure what to do next, and you kind of freeze and look around for help.

Your favorite "toys" still aren't toys at all.  Objects such as measuring spoons, cups, lids, keys, phones, remotes, etc. are really the only things that will hold your attention.  You're even getting tired of some of those, so I'm having to come up with new objects on a daily basis!  The TV is starting to hold your attention more than it used to.  We don't watch a lot of TV, because it's in the back of the house, and most of Mommy's chores are in the front of the house (ie. dishes and laundry).  But when we do go back there, I have to admit, that most of the time we'll watch cartoons that Mommy likes, such as Sophia the First . . . which is about a little princess . . . I'm sure Daddy loves hearing that, but I kind of figure that at this point, you're not really sure what you're watching??? And that maybe you don't know Handy Manny from Sophia the First, so why not make it entertaining for everyone! :)  

I am happy to report that you are sleeping through the night, most nights, like a champ!  After we let you cry it out for a couple of nights, you were sleeping all through the night and taking long one-and-a-half-to-two-hour naps during the day!  I can't even begin to tell you how excited Mommy was about this.  You have been on antibiotics for an ear infection for the past ten days, so that set us back a little bit on the sleep training, but all-in-all, I'd say we're on the right track!

You are also eating better these days.  I've noticed that if you see me or Daddy eating it, then you'll be more apt to try it.  I recently baked you a sweet potato and put a little cinnamon in it, and you loved it!  I also made you a little blueberry puree, and you loved that too!  It's hard to really pin-point a favorite food, but I would say that you like anything sweet.  You definitely have your Daddy's love of sweets, I'm afraid.  You are still nursing/breast feeding, and I plan to do that until you're one.  I've tried to get you on more of a feeding schedule this past month, alternating between breast feeding and real food.  It is a little difficult when you've got a picker eater on your hands, but we'll keep at it.

Here is a quick list of things you love or find fascinating these days:

Dogs and cats
The water - really any kind - pool, lake, bath.
Watching the laundry go around in the washing machine and dryer
Paper.  You love to hold it, wave it around, chew on it, crinkle it, tear it up, and eat it.
Swinging on our porch swing or the swings at the park
Anything that will fit in your mouth
Short books (otherwise you'll just want to chew on them)
The Johnny-Jump-Up
Basically anything that your Daddy does
Being thrown into the air or tickled
New objects
Crawling and exploring your surroundings

Things you don't like:

Most vegetables
Having sunscreen or lotion rubbed on you
Going to sleep - it depends on the day and your mood :)

Jack, you are such a sweet, even-tempered, easy-going, laid back, gentle, quiet little guy.  You are still so observant of your surroundings.  We adore watching you take it all in, learn new things and explore your ever-changing little abilities.  We love you oh-so-very-much!

Happy ten months, sweet boy!

. . . . .

So, this is what you get when you decide to take pictures BEFORE naptime . . .

A bunch of non-smiling, spacey-eyed, kind of frowning pictures!  He was way more interested in the grass and the leaves than anything I was doing! Ha. Oh well :)

These were taken when a construction worker who was passing by stopped and tried to help me get his attention for the photo shoot!

Crying It Out: Our Experience

I had really hoped it wouldn't come to that, but it did.

More specifically, I had HOPED that I would wake up one morning, mmmm, let's say around 8, confused, slightly alarmed, but also incredibly rested, only to find out that Jack had slept through the night on his own!  And I didn't have to do a THING!  

Just to be clear, this never happened.  I waited and waited and waited.
Month after month, just hoping . . . Maybe he just needs to be a little older . . . or maybe I should start pumping during the day, so I can get a big bottle for him to drink before bed . . . These were just a couple of the things I kept saying to myself in an effort to avoid what I thought was going to be a terrible night, week, month.  I mean, who KNEW how long it was going to take if we decided to start letting him cry it out, and in my mind it was going to take a long time.

So finally , after nine and a half months of getting up at least once in the night, sometimes more than that, I knew I had to do something.  The status quo was just not working anymore, and it didn't seem to me that he was getting any closer to sleeping through the night.  I mean, why would he be?  The idea of self-soothing was a foreign concept around here.

I finally realized that me rocking him to sleep before naps, at bedtime, and when he was waking up in the night was not doing him or myself any favors.  The minute he would wake up in the night, he would panic, because A) I was there when he went to sleep and now I wasn't and B)  he only knew going to sleep while being rocked or nursed, so going to sleep on his own was a strange, unfamiliar feeling.  I knew that he would never learn to go to sleep on his own if I kept that up, and I also knew that the sooner I did something, the sooner I would get a full night's sleep too!

I read up (ie. read the brief synopsis on Babycenter) on the Ferber Method, and he describes one going to sleep on their own as a skill that must be learned.  Duh.  The more I thought about it, the more it made perfect sense.  I had been allowing my baby to become sleep-deprived and dependent on me for comfort.

Aren't I his mother?  Shouldn't I be doing what's best for him, even if it's tough?  And isn't it best for him to be able to go to sleep on his own? And for him to be able to put himself BACK to sleep when he wakes up in the night, which can only be expected as we all wake up at some point in the night as part of a natural sleep cycle???

Reality check.

In my heart I was always doing the right thing by running in to comfort him when he would become upset or fussy, and in the beginning, it probably was.  But not anymore.

So last Friday night, after a series of particularly awful nights (waking up crying every two or three hours), I decided it was time.  I started with bedtime and rocked him for just a few seconds before laying him down sleepy and awake (this is Ferber's suggestion).

An immediate meltdown and an hour and a half of screaming ensued.

Followed by, fifteen minutes of silence, and then thirty more minutes of screaming.


And then, finally . . . . . . silence.

 . . . .


I was so excited and proud of myself and him!  He did wake up later that night crying and cried for about an hour, but then finally went back to sleep.

I should probably say that I did not just leave him by himself to cry for hours, as this is not what Ferber recommends, nor did I feel comfortable doing that anyway.  And let me also say that I did not follow his method to a "T".  My method was loosely based on his.

I would go in every 20 minutes or so to put the paci back in and comfort him (not pick him up!) and then leave.  He would scream hysterically when I left the room, I would let him cry, and this was the cycle.

So that was Friday night.  I continued doing the same thing with naps and then at bedtime both Saturday and Sunday nights.  And BY GEORGE!  He finally slept through the night!  BOTH NIGHTS!!!

Can I just say, I'm not sure why it took me this long to do it.  Yes, I do - I'm a big weenie.  Even our pediatrician said so.

As an added bonus, he's had longer naps during the day as well!  Yippee!  Sleep begets sleep.  This is a fact!  I've now seen it first hand.

So the short of it is:
If you're reading this, and you're having the same problems, and you're not sure if you should do it . . . don't be a weenie.

Try it.
It's worth it.
It probably won't take as long as you think it will.
He won't remember it.
You're not a bad mother, you're actually a good mother.
And you and your baby will both benefit from it.

Nine Months!

      Dear Jack,

You were nine months old on July 29th!  So, I'm a week and a half late.  You'll learn that about Mommy - she is a habitual procrastinator/late-to-the-party kinda gal.  She tries her hardest, but usually just comes up a day late (week and a half) and a dollar short (several dollars).

But I digress.

I know I've probably said this before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, but I think this has been my favorite age thus far.  

I just look at you and want to eat. you. up!  You have stolen my heart for sure, little man.

At your last doctor's appointment you weighed 19 lbs. 11 oz.  You were 28 1/2" long and had a head circumference of 18 1/4".  You are still wearing size 3 diapers and primarily 12 month size clothing.  I did, however, put you in an 18-24 month size outfit recently, and it wasn't all that big.  We are still doing the cloth diaper thing, and I think it is going well!  We still use the disposables when we're out of town or Mommy is behind on the laundry.  Although, I still haven't figured how to spray off a poopy diaper in the toilet without spraying the entire bathroom or myself for that matter.  Must work on this.       

You are becoming more and more mobile every day.  If there is something that you want, and it's not within your reach, you will find a way to get it.  Even if you have to pull yourself across an entire room to get to it.  I do believe it's your preferred activity these days.  You are already so busy and curious, once you really start moving we are going to have our hands full!  We had to lower your crib this month, because Mommy found you pulling up on it!  You can still only get to your knees, but it was still far enough that it made me nervous!

You are still waking up usually around once in the night.  I'll feed you, and you'll go right back to sleep.  This happens MOST nights, not every night.  You still have the occasional wakeupeverytwohours kind of night, which we LOVE.  These leave us feeling crabby and tired happy and rested and ready to start a new day the next morning!  We are only able and willing to forgive you once you wake up and we are reminded of how incredibly cute and sweet you actually are and that you really didn't mean to torment us with all that crying nonsense the night before ;) 

Not too sure at what point I'm going to stop feeding you in the night . . . it works so well at putting you soundly back to sleep that I've kind of been wondering what I'm going to do when I stop nursing you!  Guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  I am trying to pump more and more bottles so you won't be so shell-shocked when it comes time to wean.        

Your eating habits do however leave much to be desired - not with the milk, but the solid foods.  Milk is still by far your favorite source of nutrients, while you'll only tolerate most solid foods I put in front of you.  Corn and butternut squash seem to be a favorite.  Pears, bananas, apples - anything sweet.  But the vegetables, you could take 'em or leave 'em.  And most of the time you leave 'em.  Looks like you got your Daddy's palette, while Mommy scarfed down anything that was put in front of her!  Butter included.  Yikes, this is unfortunately true.  Which begs the question, why was butter put in front of me in the first place?

You are basically entertained by anything that is not a child's toy.  Whether it be a lid, a hairbrush, some measuring spoons, whatever it may be, it must not be child related in any way, or you won't be interested.  You love running water and are fascinated by it!  You recently discovered bubbles in the kitchen sink and thought they were the neatest thing ever, which they are.  You love dogs and are just enamored when one is around.  You love, love, love your daddy and practically leap out of my arms to get to him when he comes home. You think he is the funniest person ever.  You still love the Johnny-Jump-Up, but most of the time you would rather not be contained in something at all.  

You are still cooing and making all kinds of precious noises that your daddy and I just adore.  We say all the time how we are going to miss your little baby noises.  You still only say "mamamama" or "dadadada", but you don't really address us as such.  

Well, I guess that's about it!  I can't think of much else to say other than we love you to the moon and back, little one.  Happy 9 month birthday!             

*Side note:  Right after this picture above was taken, you flipped out of the crate face first into the grass.  Mommy had to laugh ;)