A toy is a toy, except when it's not

Last night we had a minor situation. I walked into our room and saw Sully laying on the floor, happily chewing on one of her toys. Then I looked more closely, and she was chewing on Orca! To be fair to Sully, he was on the floor (in Jack's floor gym, but still, the floor is the floor), and he probably smelled wonderfully of baby spit, sour milk and drool. I gave her a small bop and grabbed him away, and apparently assaulted her dignity beyond repair. She ran into her box and wouldn't come out, even when I told her she was good and that she could chew on any of her own toys, just not on Jack's toys. She was still pissed.

I have a feeling that this is going to happen more often - luckily, Orca was undamaged, but as a matter of hygiene it's probably not a good idea for Jack and Sully to share chew-toys. Especially since Sully sees all toys as hers by default. Hopefully we can keep her from taking it too personally.

WOE!!!!

So Sweet

And sometimes, he just sleeps, and is so precious that it breaks my heart. Sometimes I still can't believe that he's real - I'll be working, or doing something that I've done a million times, and think "Wow, I actually have a baby." Although it's getting harder to remember what my life was like without him.

Playing with stuff

One of the things I'm enjoying most about watching Jack grow up is how much he's starting to love toys. Just this week, he's figured out how to push buttons and pull and kick on his toys to make them do stuff, and I think he's starting to notice the cause and effect when he does. He got this play station form his Grandma Gigi, and he had such a good time pushing the various buttons and watching it light up and sing. He's coping an attitude here - probably because of his jaunty cap - but trust me, he was really having fun with it.

Little High Chair

Jack loves his little high chair. It's so cute and just his size - he can sit on the counter and "eat" with us. It comes with a toy that he loves to spin.

Gnawing on Orca

"Deeeeelicious!"

Jack is teething - or at least thinking about it - and his favorite thing to chew on is his Orca. It's pretty funny to watch him, especially when he's on his tummy. He grasps it carefully, and slowly lowers his face down to where it is. Then he thoughtfully gnaws on it, stopping every now and then to look around.

His favorite parts are the fins and the tail. I can even stick it in his mouth when he's starting to cry and he'll usually stop and start sucking on it. I don't think it's really a lovey - he doesn't cuddle with it at all, just chews on it - but he sure likes it. Now I just have to figure out how to clean it.

"Hmmm, this fin is pretty good."

"Aaaah, the tail is much better."

"Yes, definitely the tail."

Putting up the bassinet

Well, we finally took down the pack n play bassinet in our room. Jack hasn't slept in it in months - it had basically become a diaper-changing station - and we were ready to get the space back. We replaced it with an actual changing table, which is half the size and super-practical with all the shelves. It looks a lot nicer and is really convenient.

I was surprised, though, at how ambivalent I felt about taking it down. I guess because it was Jack's newborn crib - he slept there the first two months. He was a terrible sleeper, making noise and waking up all the time, but he was right there and I could reach out and touch him or look at him. Taking it down brought back a lot of those feelings - being happy, tired, worried about nursing, and wondering what came next. We used to bundle him up in blankets and he would actually stay in the position we laid him down in! That changed soon enough, but for awhile it seemed like he'd be a newborn forever.

December 2009

Working from home

So far working from home is really hard, and very rewarding. It's a challenge to find time to do everything I need to - and I'm often frustrated because I never seem to have enough time - but I really enjoy it. I honestly can't imagine not seeing Jack during the day for an entire week at a time - so much of his life happens then. He is such an easy baby, at least now, that I get big chunks of time when he's playing to work. His "playroom" is the entire right side of my room, where my computer lives. He has a huge mirror, which he loves - the "baby in the mirror" is his best friend. He'll play in his gym or chair and laugh at the baby in the mirror. here he is mesmerized by a crib soother that Steve bought him. It doesn't put him to sleep, but he loves to look at it.

"I love bright lights!"

Bathtime

Last night Jack learned to splash! He has always kicked a little, and made the water splash up in his little bathtub, but last night he figured out how to do it on purpose and thought it was just the greatest thing ever. He made several huge tsunamis and got the floor and the counter really wet, laughing the whole time. The best part was when Daddy came in wearing socks to bring Mommy an extra towel and stepped in a huge puddle. Daddy swore and everything! He can't wait for tonight's bath.

"What? I'm just getting clean."

Sleeping

Jack is still waking up about 2 hours after he goes to sleep - but Monday night he only woke up once, at 11:30, and then slept until 6:00. Hopefully that will become a trend! Even better, he went back to sleep right after he ate at 11:30, and I got TWO newborn stretches. :) And he didn't cry at all, either time that he was laid down. Maybe he's feeling better from his shots. I love how sweet he is in the mornings; he just babbles and coos to himself the whole time.

UPDATE:
Tuesday night he went to bed at 9:15, and didn't wake up until 3:00. Then he went back to sleep at 3:30 and didn't wake up until 7:00! And he's been waking himself up, not crying, but just making little sounds in his crib until we get him. And hasn't cried when I lay him down at all. It's awesome - hopefully it's a pattern and not a phase!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Wilson!

My Boys

Sweet New Chair

Jack loves to sit in his bumbo chair, but sometimes he gets a little bored, so we found this uber-chair for him at Amazon. It's a bumbo-style chair with a tray that goes all around and rotates, so he can't fall out of it, and it has toys built into the tray. Of course, once he's in it he still mostly just sits there and sucks on his fingers, but lately he's started messing around with the toys. We keep it on the counter in the kitchen when we're eating or cooking, and I put it in front of the mirror in my room while I'm working.

"This is a pretty cool chair."

"I love it!"

4 Months Old!

Jack was 4 months old yesterday. He got his shots and was very brave - just a little crying. He weighs 14 lbs 15 oz and is 25 3/4 inches long, which puts him in the 75% for both height and weight. He is so strong and healthy. He flirted with the nurse and showed Dr. Patel how he can push up and roll over when he's on his tummy.

I expected him to be really upset and sore from his shots, so I took the afternoon off, but he did fine. We ended up playing most of the day. I did let him nurse whenever he wanted and he took his afternoon nap in my arms in the rocking chair, which was pretty nice for me too.

Then we went for a nice walk. Jack sat in his stroller facing forward for the first time, so that he could see everything in front of us. At first he wasn't sure about that.

"Hmmm, this is weird."

But then he decided that he liked it just fine.

FLASHBACK!!

An old video (from when Jack was only 3 months old):

Sleep Training

Last night we started sleep training, and for the first time we let Jack cry himself to sleep. It sucked. He only cried for 20 minutes, which was great, but they were the saddest, most pathetic cries. He then slept until 2:30, got up to eat, and went back to sleep until 7:00. We'll see how tonight goes, but it probably went as well as could be expected.

Saddest. Baby. Ever.

Such a good baby

Well, my plan of writing something every day isn't going very well! I guess I should have thought this one through - if I actually had time to blog every day, I would probably take that time and actually wash my hair instead. Well, I'll keep trying.

Yesterday was Wednesday, so I worked from home. Jack was so good! It was like he was an actor, and the role was Being a Perfect Baby. He played happily on his gym and sat in his chair, he laughed at himself in the mirror and rolled over, and he took TWO two hour naps. Both times, I had to wake him up. He was so happy and playful. I got so much done, and kept stopping to play with him because he was so cute. It was a very nice day.

Last night he decided that he would prefer not to sleep, even after a bath, nursing and rocking for a long time. He laid down for about 15 minutes, then woke up and would NOT go back to sleep. I had to work on some things, so I finally gave him to Scott. Scott sat him up in his boppy on the bed right next to the pillows and they watched Seinfeld.

He finally fell asleep about 11:30 in our room, and went to bed in his crib about 1:00. This morning I let him stay in his crib instead of bringing him back to bed with me. I missed it, but we both slept better. I woke him up at 7:00 and he was happy and sweet.

I got a call today from his daycare - he had thrown up 3 times in the last 45 minutes. It's amazing how scary it is to get a call from the daycare telling you that something is wrong with your baby. I checked with his doctor, and he said to just monitor him and see if it got worse. It didn't - I went to see him after lunch and he was fine. Very relieved.