Baby in Motion

Diaper change is becoming Wren's time of high-activity. We change him on the floor in the corridor (since Dad visited and we were using Wren's room as a guest room) which is pretty excellent considering how he likes to roll away. The moment his diaper is off he flips sideways.

Sometimes I leave him on the floor a while before bath or while I fetch clean clothes. He travels a fair distance. The following photo shows where I found him 5 minutes later - he started out on the patchwork changing mat.

Morning Walks

The only advantage in waking up so early is that there is time for Wren and I to take a walk at my favorite time of day - when the light is still gentle and you can have both the sun and cool breeze.

This morning, I put Wren on my hip (leaving the expletives for the bedroom) and headed for the coffee machine. Woe was me when I found that all the ground coffee was finished. Its too noisy to grind more coffee in the dawning day because there is one thing worse than Wren up before 6am and that's Wren and Frost up before 6am. Instead, I got dressed and put Wren in the stroller and headed off for the Grateful Bread coffee house and bakery. It opens at 7am to an exclusive clientelle of dog walkers, commuters heading for buses and mothers with babies.

Wren chewed his teething toy the whole way which confirms my suspicion he is cutting another tooth. I shall try Tylenol tonight and see if he wakes less frequently. I admired and envied gardens along my route - the vegetable gardens seem far more advanced than ours - tomatoe bushes are huge, artichokes fully formed, blueberries clustering over the pathway and rhubarb that towers like a rainforest canopy.

As always, I clucked my tongue at the McMansions being squeezed onto every leveled lot and launched a silent diatribe at a man who arrived at one carrying a role of plans. "How can you be responsible for this monstrosity?" That one looked like a penitentiary with a maple outside. It was for people who need a huge room for each activity and a master bath that doubles as a day spa. Wren was content to grab leaves and try and chew rosepetals I suggested he sniff. He doesn't want to live in a McMansion either.

Frost was still not awake when we returned because of his terrible night but when I woke him he staggered out. He has been playing a game in which he piles monster trucks and waits for Wren to knock the pile over.

Night Weaning?

Here is the copy of my 4.00am post to the Sleep Training Discussion Board. It is now 6.08am and I have been up for 15 minutes. Wren thinks its great.

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My mood is probably due to the fact I have been awake since 2.30am and probably will get an hour more sleep if I am lucky. The past week, Wren wakes and cries a few times a night and resettles himself. Since he is in our room I wake and don't resettle as easily (although I am quieter about it). Finally, at 4am I nurse him and then he wakes at 5am and 5.30 and is pretty much up at 6am. That means I barely sleep from 4am on.

He goes to bed quietly at 7.30pm (taking 3 1 hour+ naps).
He rouses sometimes around 9.30pm, cries and settles quickly.
He wakes around/after midnight-1am and I nurse him.
Again 2-3ish (resettles himself)
2.30 - 5 year old woken by baby comes into room
3am - 5 year old kicking and rolling wakes Wren.
3.30 - I take 5 year old back to his room where he says he has a sore leg. Give Tylenol.
4ish again Wren wakes.
4-5ish I nurse him for a short while (4 mins). Put him in crib. He is pissed off at the short nursing.
Resettles in 5 minutes loud crying.
Will probably wake in one hour.

I want to night wean him immediately, right now, before I move out and join a colony of mothers who gave up on sleep training and hit the road. I am so utterly fed up with him at night.

I have the idea (wrong or not?) that he has no idea when he gets to eat at night and so wakes every time and cries a bit to check whether this is the time he gets to eat. My only solution is NONE. Is there another way?

Please share night weaning experiences because I fear I am about to embark on it in a spirit of frustration and do it the hard way.

Shannon

Pushing up

Just a quick note. Today I noticed that when Wren is on his belly he pushes up with straight arms. This means that he is lifting his belly off the floor! His legs are still straight so its not a crawling position but it is a step in that direction!!

He pushes up with straight arms and wriggles, then topples over. He moves a great distance like this. While Frost and I were watching Star Wars and Wren was having tummy time he moved from right by my legs to right underneath the coffee table.... about a yard away. He also peed (it was naked tummy time with a towel under him) but he peed when he was on his back and the pee shot right off the towel and landed on a plate!!

I don't have a picture of that!

Slightly sick

Wren has a head cold. I suspect it is the virus Frost had last week and we'll just have to hope it only lasts a few days. He has a crusty blocked nose and has a lot of trouble staying asleep - last night he woke hourly for a small cry and a few larger wakings. He wanted to get up at 5.15 and I only managed to get another hour out of him after 45 minutes of "playing" in bed.

I hope he goes back to better sleep afterwards but for now, we trust in tylenol and soothe him when he is really upset.

Today, I bought a new carseat for Wren (on craigslist). Its a Britax Roundabout convertible carseat. He has graduated from his infant carseat due to being about 20lbs. Its less convenient but I think he will enjoy riding a bit more upright and higher up. Perhaps he won't fall asleep as quickly.

But what if I don't like yams?

After a lot of thought Wren was offered yams as his almost-first food. I say almost first because he had lurched forward and gnawed off some pieces of banana a week ago. He was then offered banana and ate a bit.

Yams were the OFFICIAL first food, with a few drops of La Sante iron. He ate a few spoonfuls and then this happened:



It was very intentional. He would work hard to gum and then spit it out. Since then he has refused to swallow much yam (with or without iron). I have moved onto a bit of avocado which he prefers and loves to suck off a spoon. Next, we plan to give him some squash and then pear puree. I think he will like pears.

He appears to like the taste of onions. He loves to gnaw the juicy (oniony) end of garlic sprouts.

Six Months Today

Today is Wren's 1/2 birthday. He is exactly six months old and at his six month pediatrician visit this morning the doctor said

"He looks like any other baby. He is doing just what he should be doing."

We feel very pleased with him. Here is a picture of him (taken by Frost) yesterday.


His Stats
Wren weighs 19lbs 10oz (85th %), is 28 inches long (90th%tile) and his head is 17 and 5/8" (60th%tile). He had his HIB, PCV and Rotovirus vaccinations. We delayed DTaP for a month to reduce the number of shots he received in his leg since we are using only the right one.

He is rolling from front to back and back again (although less so on the side that requires him to use the left leg), sitting, grabbing for food, moving toys from hand to hand, standing supported and just generally looking about for trouble. We have been told to babyproof our home as he should start crawling during the next 3 months!

Rattlemania
Wren loves rattles. This surprises me. We never bought rattles for Frost because he wasn't particularly impressed by them. Wren hangs onto rattling toys and shakes them methodically with one hand. If he drops the rattle he works hard (rolling, stretching, grunting) to retrieve it. Unfortunately, the rattle often ends up between his legs. If he fails to find it he chews his hands for a bit and then cries until it is returned. His favorite rattles are this ball and a duplo lego piece. I have a 2 minute movie showing Wren playing with his two rattles:



That Crazy Mohawk
Wren is very social and loves to stare at faces, especially new people. People also like to stare at him - at his hair in particular. His hair is very fine and stands completely straight up in mohawk. The pediatrician called it "stylish". More than one person has commented that he doesn't need gel. Its true. It keeps growing longer but it hasn't fallen over yet. It is especially erect after a hairwash. You can probably see the mohawk in this first picture on the floor chasing the rattly ball:




"Hey, where did that ball go?"

Teething
Wren has been having a hard time growing his teeth. The second tooth came threw 2 days before he turned 6 months and he has been very fussy and quick to cry during this period. Yesterday, after his nap, he had bloody spit from the gum bleeding where his tooth is coming through and he had blood on a cloth he was chewing a few days earlier. He is also showing signs of growing one of the lower incisors. We have been giving him Tylenol at bedtime which seems to help but he is not sleeping as well as before this period.

Sleep Update
Wren is still doing a lot better than before at night but he has fallen off from the glory days of early sleep training. We believe this is due to teething but it may take a few days of hard work to remind him not to wake and come into bed with us after 4am. Recently, he has had a lot of trouble getting back to sleep after 4am nursing so we have had him in bed and this hasn't helped my nights. He has also woken more frequently in the 10pm-4am period which he was sleeping through before. He is generally putting himself back to sleep on his own but it sometimes takes 45 minutes of silence and then whining, then silence, then whining before he is asleep. Last night he cried (shrieked) in a different way that sounded like pain and Josh rocked him back to sleep. So, there are bumps in the road but since he puts himself to sleep every night with little or no crying and does the same at nap time, we have come a long long way.

I feel this is long enough already so I will try and post some other shorter updates on Matters Wren. In particular, I want to mention our share in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) with Jubilee Farm. Here is Wren eating the garlic shoots we collected from the farm this week!



Before I head off to book and bed... I am thinking of Izzy who is facing airway surgery tomorrow for a hemangioma. I hope it goes well and she feels a lot better afterwards. Also, Ramona, who is having open heart surgery on Friday to repair an aneurysm at the site of her RVOT patch. Her family is hoping the surgeons can do a safe repair AND put in a shunt to improve her cardiac function as part of a staged repair for her serious heart condition. Good luck to both little ones.

Baby, baby

Last week I was asked to clean the baby dolls at Frost's school. After they had had their baths I let Wren look at them. As you can see he was stunned. After staring at them with intent interest for a while he grabbed them and then started to chew on them.

Sadly, they went away and wouldn't play with him anymore.

The Office

I just have to say that The Office is my favorite TV show. Its hysterical. I am going to have to get the whole thing from Season One and watch it with wine somenight(s). Anyone want to join me?

A tooth, a tooth!

I think Wren is growing at least one tooth. His front middle gum has a tiny hole in it that wasn't there yesterday and its white around it. There are also reddish lumps on either side of the middle teeth. He is chewing and drooling but he has been chewing and drooling for 3 months now.

The only difference is that he is a bit more fussy during the day despite being well napped.

I am making sushi rolls for dinner. I have just made a folded seasoned japanese omelette for some tamago sushi. It is the first time in over a year I have made this. It was fun. It is sitting in the bamboo roller right now cooling.

I am also doing smoked salmon sushi medium rolls, small rolls with cucumber and avocado for Frost and some medium rolls with tofu and vegetables for Frost. I am in the mood for wasabi. Someday Lynne and I are going to have to go to her neighborhood sushi spot for a treat because I am really missing out on the unagi with this dinner. Its my favorite by far.

Josh is having mac and cheese for dinner and sushi for starter but he doesn't know that yet.