Insta-Nap!

When Alex went into his clingy phase - wanting to hang with me all the time and not napping - I took to taking him out in his stroller. He'd stay awake and entertained on the first leg of the walk and in about 15-20 mins would be out. He'd stay asleep the whole way back and for at least an hour or two later.

Must be the motion. Kinda like Jeep-ing would bring.

July 30, 2007

"Ahhh-lix! AHHH-lix!" Already? Amazing!

This is a link to the video of Alex trying to say his name. He's sixteen weeks old here. (Not quite "four months", since it was July 19.)  We're simply amazed.

July 21, 2007

Scheduling a Newborn

I've been reading so much conflicting information on scheduling a newborn.  Some sources say it's necessary for a future school routine.  Some sources say that any schedule established in newborn life will long be history by age 5.  It's best for the newborn for a parent to just respond as needed.  If there's a schedule to keep, the newborn's body will keep it. We have no schedule here yet.  I also have a hard time getting him to take his naps due at around 12-1 for at least two hours and again at 5-6 for at least two hours.

I feed on demand. My pediatrician informed me (when he was two months old) that he wasn't able to learn how to anticipate events at that age. I'd have to just go with the flow until he showed signs of understanding that events can happen again with some time delay.  I'm getting only some signs of this lately. He seems to be able to judge what's about to happen by noticing what room we just walked into - which either calms him down if he wants that event (like feeding or changing) or gets him upset if he doesn't want that event.  I've also noticed that he now understands what a bottle looks like from a distance and he will calm down if he witnesses me pouring milk into it.

Afterall, we are talking about someone who doesn't yet understand that if he chokes from drinking too quickly and pulls his head away from the nipple that the nipple won't be in his mouth when he stops coughing. He has to put it back into his mouth. 

July 18, 2007

Jocularity! Jocularity!

Alex has a few "hilarious" events in his world. They include his L'il Dino mobile being cranked up, Mommy sticking her tongue out, being fed when he really only wanted to be held, sitting in his Pod seat - even though he can't hold his head up enough to be left alone and having Mommy or Daddy repeat his baby language back to him exactly as he said it. I think the last one is due to his being overjoyed at the thought that he actually communicated something.

July 15, 2007

Alex's Favorite Toy - Mama!

Alex will be 14 weeks old as of tomorrow. At 8-10 weeks, he first showed the signs of reaching for toys and he'd swing his arms to hit them, but then he lost interest in it.

6 weeks later, he's still far more fascinated by hanging mobiles, colored lights and music than he is by toys on his eye level.  He just grabs at us a lot. At about 8-10 weeks, he started grabbing my hair or my hands when I'd feed him. Now he grabs my clothing a lot and tries to hold his bottle.
 
Toys? Blah. They don't move like you guys do.
 

July 3, 2007

Mommy Learning Curve

No sooner do I finally get a handle on what Alex's cries or calls out mean than they become more complex two weeks later, because his development moves along. At first he cried only because he was hungry. I had the habit of changing him for every feeding and burping him halfway through.  Then his needs got more complex. He started rejecting the midway burping and I had to figure out what that all meant. I learned to burp him after the whole feeding only to have to eventually return to mid-way burps anytime his appetite grows to the next ounce.

Recently, he's learned that he can cry to have his diaper changed alone. If I changed his diaper before a feeding, I could expect howls. Get to the feeding first, then he'd let me know if he wanted a change.  Now he actually cries to go to sleep or be alone. We've been puzzled at his screaming towards the end of a feeding. Trying to burp him brings angry shouts and even swinging arms pushing us away. I'm finally getting it that he will now cry to be put down for a nap or to be left alone with his music and mobiles.

I'm sure once I build in the nap response into my repertoire, his communication skills will just get more complex and I'll miss the cues again.

Man, this learning curve is brutally fast.

July 2, 2007