We'll work on that skill set

I am thinking Alex's growing front teeth were really bothering him yesterday because he hardly drank any formula during the day. He ate his solids like a champ though. At his last doctor's appointment, his doctor said we can try introducing a sippy cup to him with a little water in it. Since he hadn't had much to drink, I thought last night would be a perfect night to try it out.

At first I thought this kid was going to prove he was our child with his drinking skills. He grabbed the cup with both hands, opened his mouth and pulled it right in. But then there was no drinking. There was a lot of chewing, but no drinking. He did manage to get one decent pull on the spigot thingy. Which resulted in water running down his chin, but at least he got some water to come out. So, not so much with the drinking out of a sippy cup thing.

We left it on his little tray for him to inspect and in no time at all the cup was on it's side and he was rolling it around on the tray. So apparently he is ready for a Bud Light Golden Wheat, but not a sippy cup. Perhaps he is our child after all.

7 months and counting

Alex is two days shy of 7 months old. We did it! We have managed to keep him alive for 7 whole months!! In honor of such a momentous occasion, I give you pictures.

Not only have we kept him alive, but he is growing. It's a shame he isn't a happy baby though...we will have to work on that.

And this last one is for Claire. She calls it his "Bitch please" face. Truer words were never spoken.

Bitch Please.

Going the wrong way

So the sleeping through the night is not so much sleeping through the night anymore. Last night, the beast went down at 7pm, woke up at 10:30pm, and again at 3:20am, and again at 5:30am...to eat two ounces, play for a half hour, fart a disturbing amount, and then eat a bit more and go back to sleep. Then, when I have to be up and getting ready for work and can't go back to bed, he slept for almost two hours. I can't imagine why...do you think he was perhaps a little sleepy from NOT SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT??? Because, I have to admit, I am.

The silver lining of this wretched tale is that I believe we have not only located the cause of the sleeplessness, but are also armed with a defense against said cause. The poor kid is getting both of his top front teeth at the same time. Pretty sure that is enough uncomfortable-ness to make a sleepy sloth restless.

And what do you do when a baby is in teething pain? Tylenol!!! To the rescue! Seriously, they should package that stuff with a little cape. It is amazing. I know it is amazing because he also had to get his second round of flu shots today. One for the regular flu and one for the piggy type. It is amazing how quickly the Tylenol makes him feel better. Do you think if I went to the factory I could just get a big drum of it?

U-G-L-Y you ain't got no alibi

As stated earlier, there was an ugly sweater party. And it was great. And we dressed Alex up. Although he doesn't look too happy about it.

The picture doesn't really showcase my sweater, which I assure you was H-O-T! But you can see the awesome pleather on Travis'. And seriously, I hope Alex fits in those pants for a long time.

The new witching hour

Pretty much every night the boy is asleep by about 7 or 7:30pm. He stays in his bed until any time between 5 and 6 am. But this past week, he has added an additional wake up time. This lovely little addition to our schedule rears its precious head somewhere between 3 and 3:30am. Every night. It is bizarre. I cannot figure out what the hell happens in our house at 3 in the morning that makes him wake up.

The really fun part is that he wakes up and obviously in turn I wake up. I lay there hoping he will go back to sleep..which most of the nights he has. But then there are nights like last night where it is very apparent he is not going back to sleep without a whole ton of crying or some sort of adjustment. So, I got up and went to his room. He was diagonal in his bed and completely uncovered. So I spun him around to a better spot, covered him up, and popped a nuk in his mouth. He pulled the blanket up over his face, rolled onto his side and fell back asleep. I go back to bed. But by the time I get there, the dog is now awake and pacing around. And Travis, even though he didn't wake up AT ALL when Alex was fussing, has woken up enough to sprawl himself across the entire bed and half of my pillow. Awesome. Getting him to move when he is asleep is like trying to move a stubborn floppy bear.

Alex did let me sleep until 6 this morning. Isn't he sweet?

Catch 22

This morning was another early one. Alex did not sleep very well in the wee hours this morning. And he was up and hungry at 5am. Travis was supposed to be on his way out the door at 5:15 this morning, but luckily for me, his start time today got pushed back a bit. So Trav fed the beast. And wouldn't you know it. This morning, the one morning that Travis doesn't have to leave so ungodly early and I can go back to sleep...he chugs the contents of that bottle in 13 minutes flat. And then Trav's co-worker calls and asks him to meet at the warehouse. 13 minutes. That's how much extra sleep I got. Very generous don't you think? I shouldn't complain since Travis was up before me and he didn't even get an extra 13 minutes. But I am tired. And I want to whine.

I was so hoping that baby would be tired from not sleeping very well and then having a full stomach. But, to quote a grumpy old man, "You can wish in one hand and crap in the other. See which fills up first." I did not get my wish. The boy was awake and ready to play. So play we did.

He was sitting up for a while, whipping toys all over the floor in his room. While reaching for one of those toys, he ended up on his stomach. With the toy just out of his reach. Holy man did those fat little legs start kicking. He was grunting and pulling on the rug with his hands. And for about 1.56 seconds, he got his hips up off the floor. You could see the wheels turning in his mind. Trying to figure out how to get himself just that little bit forward on the floor. People, he is trying to figure out how to crawl. Developmental milestone here we come.

But here's the deal...

I have a fear. That fear is this child being mobile. That fear is also seemingly within an amoeba's flange of becoming a reality. Do you think my couch will miss me as much as I will miss it, when I am running around chasing the child that is NEVER still?

Zzzz

The boy has been pretty much sleeping through the night for a while now. However, there are some interruptions every now and again. I still call it sleeping through the night because I don't ever have to pick him up if and when he does wake up. He also isn't waking up to eat. Any wake up usually only calls for a re-nuking or blanket adjustment and he is back to dreamland. He usually doesn't even really have his eyes open while he is fussing. I know this because I have been getting up every time to fix whatever could possibly be wrong. But, I realize this little habit needs to be nipped in the bud.

So last night, at 3:27 the boy started making noise. Nothing too bad, but he was kinda awake and not exactly happy about it. More whimpery than actually crying. But I did it. I laid there listening and did nothing. I let him figure it out. It didn't go on very long...thank goodness. He whimpered and tossed and turned for a while, but then reached over and turned on his monkey soother thingy and fell back asleep.

Amazing what can happen when I just let the kid be. Now if he could teach the dog, we would be all set.

Kick, kick and kick some more

Alex's legs pretty much do not stop moving....EVER. Especially when he is excited. He is still being called "Shark Boy."

For Christmas, daycare made us a picture thingy that had Alex's footprints in paint and then a little poem about the pitter patter of baby's feet. It is awesome and another example of why I love the daycare we are at.

Last night I was in Alex's room putting some stuff away while he was kicking the ever-loving shit out of his piano crib toy. After about two minutes of continuous piano pounding, I hear Travis in the kitchen, "Pitter patter my ass! That kid is bringing the thunder!"

Pretty sure he is a proud dad.

Feeling really great....

So this morning was a good morning. Alex woke up a bit on the early side. Ha! I cannot believe that I am at a point in my life when I refer to 5:15AM as a "bit" on the early side. I remember days not too far gone when that was more of a bedtime number than a wake up number. And yes, I do still miss those days. Anywho, he was up and hungry. He ate, we played, he got a bath, he took a nap, I got ready, we left on time. Traffic was moving well. Everyone at daycare was in a good mood. Smooth sailing baby.

Then I went to leave. There is a little door about 3&1/2 feet tall that separates the entrance from the open "big kids" area. You know what's tricky about a 3&1/2 foot door? You can't see a three year old sitting on the othe side of it...with his forefinger in the door jamb. Oh yeah. I squished it. All the way too. Not just a little pinch and then realized what happened. Nope. I closed the door all the way and latched it. With a three year old's pointer finger in the jamb. Just give me my "Asshole" hat now please.

Once I realized what happened, which was quickly clear by the screaming little boy on the other side of the door, I opened the door and picked him up, telling him I was sooooo sorry. He was crying, pulling on his bright red finger and looking at me like, "Why in the hell did you do that?!?!?" I felt like such a jerk. One of the teachers came over and got him and he rather quickly recovered and settled down. So, I hung my head and left...before I could injure any other children. Yay me.

I can be taught!

So it only took 6&1/2 months, but I think I can finally tell what this kid wants. I never really believed people when they said they could tell what different cries meant. A cry is a cry is a cry, right? But once again I thought I knew a whole truckload more than I do. There are different cries. And they meant totally different things. Who knew?

It's kinda cool when I can figure what he needs without going through every possible option. One would think I could have figured this out sooner, but cut me some slack...I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL I AM DOING. Although with each development, I do feel like we are succeeding at this baby thing. Not sure how much credit we can actually take as most of the development going on now is pretty much just nature. There isn't a whole of teaching or mind molding going on right now. Mostly just muscle development. And since I can't seem to get my muscles to stop turning to fat, I am not sure I am in any place to be talking to Alex's muscles.

He seems to be doing a stellar job on his own. He is getting really good at standing if you help him keep his balance. And he pretty much has the sitting up thing nailed down. I still don't let him sit without someone sitting behind him. His head and the hardwood floor do not need to meet anytime soon. But he sits there banging on his bongo drums all by himself thankyouverymuch.

Additions

The daycare Alex goes to is growing quickly all of a sudden. We got there this morning and there were three new kids and one new teacher. The new teacher is in the infant area so she will be with Alex and the other three babies. She immediately came up and introduced herself to us. I know that isn't a big deal, but seeing as though none of the teachers at the daycare from hell we started at even knew our names, having her take the initiative to meet us made me very happy. And not shocking, Alex took one look at her and busted out in a giant drooly smile. I love that he isn't afraid of new people yet. I don't know when the stranger fear normally starts in babies, but I am relishing every moment of him loving everyone.

Speaking of him loving people, my sister-in-law Julie stayed with us last night. She is in town for a conference for a couple days and we all agreed it would be way better if she stayed with us instead of sharing a hotel room with a woman she barely knows. Having her around seriously made me really anxious for Travis to hone his pooping gold superpower. We need enough money to have a live in nanny. Getting ready this morning was a breeze. It definitely doesn't hurt that she has three boys of her own and is a preschool teacher...yeah...she's pretty good with kids. And Alex adores her. I finally just gave him to her to feed this morning. The whole time I was trying to feed him, he was barely eating because he was too busy trying to look around the bottle to be able to see Julie. I tried until the fourth time the bottle popped out of his mouth and smeared formula across his cheek. I took the shot to my ego and pouted off to the bathroom to get ready...with sound of a giggling baby and aunt following me out of the room. They're lucky they're cute.

Noises

Alex is definitely becoming more vocal as time goes on. He isn't quite at the point of constant babble, but there is a bit of narration lately. Obviously this narration is in the form of coo's and the like...Morgan Freeman this kid ain't. But it is there and it wasn't so much before. So far my favorite is this grunt/growl thing he just started doing the past couple days. It sounds like an angry buffalo pushing a dump truck down a gravel road, but he is not angry when he makes the sound. I have yet to figure out what prompts him to make this sound. My guess is that he simply likes the sound.

He also has started a grunt to go along with pooping. There is no mistaking when this kid is making a mess of himself. He gets a long off gaze on his face and lets out a little baby grunt every couple of seconds. Oh. And he has his left arm raised up next to head. No joke. Almost every time. Not really sure what that is all about, but he still thinks the word "stinky" is funny, so if he wants to giggle at me with his hand raised up and little grunts coming out...I'll take it.

Fooled you!

I'm pretty sure I have said this about a thousand times so far, but every time I think I have a good idea about what I am doing, this kid throws a giant rubber monkey wrench in the mix. For a while now, we have been on a pretty consistent schedule. Wake up around 6, eat, go to daycare, have three bottles and whatever mush I have brought along, come home around 5, play for a bit, eat a bottle and some more mush around 6 or 7, go to bed, sleep until about 6. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But, not yesterday. No sir. The day started off normal. But when I picked him up from daycare they let me know he was eating his bottles with a lot less time between each one and he only ate about half of the broccoli. And he only took two very short naps all day. He had his last bottle at 2:30. So I figured when we got home he could take a little nap then get up, have a bottle, some broccoli and a bath and back to bed. Yeah...that "little nap" turned into sleeping all night. He went down at 6pm and didn't stir at all until 5:30am. After eating last at 2:30pm. So the kid that couldn't go more than three hours between eating all day went 10 hours without anything. And then this morning took his sweet time with his morning bottle. If he is this confusing now, what the hell am I going to do when he is a teenager?

On a side note, you would think I would be ecstatic about him sleeping so soundly through the night. Except that I was so worried he was going to wake up, I kept waking up to listen to the monitor. Sweet action.

Almost over

We have one last holiday party for the year. I cannot wait for that party. Ugly sweaters and white elephant gifts. Yeah baby. I also am very excited to get back to normal life. Except for all the days off...we can keep those. Normal life with less working. Yes, make that happen.

The beast did incredibly well with all the traveling and sleeping in places not his room. This last weekend we made the trek up to Minneapolis for the Julius family Christmas. We left on New Year's Day. We planned on leaving late morning. Not so much. Problem with that plan? New Year's Eve was the night before. Duh. We did manage to get out the door around quarter to 2, ran a couple errands and were on the road to Viking territory by 2pm. Alex ate around 11:15, and immediately fell asleep when we put him in the car. So we were figuring we would have to stop around 3 to feed him. Nope. He slept the entire way there. He slept from 1:45 to 5:30. It was nuts. Especially since he hadn't eaten since right before lunch! And when I say "nuts", what I really mean was fan-freaking-tastic. I really don't like the drive to Minneapolis. At all. So the fact that he was the best baby on the entire planet and didn't wake up and make that trip any longer was A-Mazing! He really does love me!