The New Reality

Each day and each week we see fascinating new developments in Ian. Many of them make us say "oh, shit. Do you realize what this means??" as we hope that it takes Ian a little while to realize what he's capable of while we scramble to make it safer for him. He's growing up so fast. Here's what he's "up to."

1. Climbing. He can ascend and descend stairs. Safely most of the time. That means ONLY supervised stair climbing. I caught him a few steps down on a frightening fall (yes, the wood stairs. Bad mama was not immediately behind him). Fortunately, most of that fall was in the air, and little stair bouncing had happened. We really need a way to soften those stairs. He's going to fall down them eventually, and probably when he's older and has farther to fall.

Think I can get to the bookshelf from here?

2. Climbing. Suddenly, Ian has decided that nothing is outside of his grasp. He can climb up on a chair, his toys (and then to the windowsill), the rocker in his room. We won't mention in his company what this means. We'll just put him in a bubble wrap suit each day.

Aww Dad! I took that off for a reason!

3. Which he'll promptly take off. The rear-velcro g-diapers? Off in seconds. He's not getting the rest of his clothes off yet, but let's not mention that.

Ok, He's playing with Grandma here, not signing. But it's close!

4. Signing. Just this week he signed "milk" for the first time well, and he's been following up on it all week. His version of the milk sign is actually snapping his fingers! He can snap! With his little hand in the snapping position, moving it back and forth now means "potty!" Today after his nap, he signed potty and I asked him if he had to go potty. In response to that, he ran to the bathroom, I stripped him down, and he sat down and pooped (in the potty). Yay! Could we be moving toward him being able to tell us that he needs to potty? I sure hope so. We'll definitely follow up on those signs when he does them. We have to remember that our other cues are still more reliable, but it's a definite step. He did it again this afternoon (lots of poops today). His signs are: Down, All Done, Cheese, Milk, Potty, and "hot!"

5. Talking. When asked what a dog says, he says "Uh!" Meow is his official first word, though. He loves to "ooowaoow" at the cat. Also when asked if he wants down, he says "dow" in addition to doing the sign for down. He calls the dog "Dah-do" and says mama and dada, although he says dada constantly (and dat? as in "what is that?") and mama only when he's pretty upset.

In other news, I finished the top of his new quilt today. John took Ian to the garden this morning, brought him back asleep and he slept for over 2 hours here (close to 3), and Ian and I played after his nap for the rest of the afternoon while John ran errands in town. After dinner, John took Ian and Tango for a long walk. With all of that time, I layed out and sewed up the whole quilt top. The 9-patches and resulting quarters were already done when I started this morning. I'm so excited to see this quilt in finished form!! The top measures 37" x 61.5" and I plan to put a border around it in blue - we'll see what I've got material for. Probably 3-4". And a brown binding.

And, he fell out of bed tonight. That was a loud thump. There's a little mark on his forehead where he hit the rug. I took him into the our room to cuddle while John put the foam tiles under his rug. I don't know why we didn't think of it before. We'd considered the foam tiles, but Ian can't leave them alone, so decided against it. Under the rug, they're hidden from tempted fingers and the rug helps with more cushion. I feel a lot better having a better surface for him to fall to. I think what happened is he sat up at the edge of the bed and fell off. He sits up in the worst places sometimes!

Busy Busy Busy!!

It's no wonder he needs a 2 hour nap. With the amount of energy Ian exerts every day, we all need naps just chasing him! Ian got a fat lip today because I was too slow. Thank goodness it was only a fat lip. He almost went down the stairs! We need a gate for the top of the stairs, but for now we will keep his door closed when he's roaming his room. We got the mattress onto the floor and rearranged his room. We found some great wall-hangings for his room - John's old Sir Lancelot picture among them. They aren't up yet, but will be soon.

Big boy Ian signed "potty" today! I thought he was signing "nurse," as he closed his hand. He was in the high chair. So we took him out of the high chair to nurse. It's close to bedtime, he's really fussy, so we head upstairs. Part of the night-time routine involves a diaper change and that involves a potty stop. He had to poop! No wonder he was fussy! We'll see what the night holds. John rocked him down, and he didn't eat much today. The early night has been difficult lately, but often a good stretch toward morning.

Another Level

Not only can Ian stand up using anything at all (Tango, Roscoe, any unstable object, a wall, a windowsill), and move down the hallway at alarming speed, he has discovered the cabinets. For today, opening and closing one of them was sufficient. I'm sure that won't be the case tomorrow.

We cleaned the kitchen today. And by "we cleaned the kitchen," I mean "John is a saint and cleaned most of the kitchen while Ian and I slept." We did help for a bit, and Ian was past ready for his nap, so he got to ride in the sling for a while. He's so happy in the sling!

"Now, how about that nap? Someone was promising a nap? Can it be a snuggle-nap?"

"Coming right up!"

New Babbles

Ian's current babble can be heard on this video.

It's the b-b-b-b-b made by pursing your lips and making a "buh" sound, and letting air escape your lips on either side alternately. It's not the easiest thing to do, for us adults. We have no idea where he learned this, but he's been doing it for days. It's hilarious.

Plus, it's hard to eat when you're too animated to get the food into your own mouth. Silly boy. He's really really good at crawling now, using both knees, and can stand up using anything at all, even a wall. He also sometimes straightens his legs when he's been crawling and has stopped. (That puts him in a "downward dog" position. Maybe we should start yoga with him?) He's been "letting go" lately, especially on uneven surfaces, of all places. On the bed (or while camping, on the aerobed), and he'd stand for quite a long time (10-15 seconds?) before either sitting on his butt or falling forward. He always catches himself or we catch him when going forward. Then falling forward becomes a game. Everything is a game. John will shake his head and make noises with his tongue out and Ian squeals. I will move toward him then away and back again and he squeals. Such a happy boy!

Wow, teething.

Teething is just off the hook the last few days! Snotty, low fever, phlegm-y cough. We'd thought it was a lower lateral incisor a bit ago, and there's a tad of a bump there, but none of the gums are really swollen right now. There's a bump at the first molar on the bottom, but we're just not sure what those teeth are trying to accomplish. These are the same symptoms he had a few weeks ago when he got those 4 top ones at the same time. Maybe the top ones are advancing more? We don't know. He's happy otherwise, though, and gets a bit irate only when he's not gotten enough naps, or is hungry, or isn't moving at high speed. Tall orders!

I think two things have turned a corner, however. The sleep - he's regularly sleeping at least one 4 hour-ish chunk each night. That is wonderful. We seem to have a few more hours in the day that we don't need to spend resting. And nursing. He's serious about it again. He's been distractiboy for over 4 months, but now he's spaced out nursing sessions (dropped a daytime feeding, I think, as well as a bazillion night-time feedings) and when he wants to nurse, he pays attention and gets the job done, instead of farting around. To some extent, of course - if the cat or dog or dad come into the room, all bets are off.  What has caused these changes? Maturity? Did he hear the doctor when he said that Ian was "probably getting more than he needs to eat?" (although he said he wouldn't change anything). Did Mommy hear that and doesn't offer nursing as often? Your guess is as good as mine. Either way, we like it.

Also, I think that the difficulties in putting him down at night are easing as well. Last night he was put down asleep, promptly woke up (as usual), and put himself back to sleep. Our next step will be putting him down more drowsy.

Ian says, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a water dish to raid."

I'm ready to run!

How do I love being mobile?

Let me count the ways:




Ian has thought to escape the living room a few times! We have to make sure to keep the door downstairs closed! He has lots of time to contemplate this, since he's not napping much right now. But... I'll take it. As the sleep spreadsheet will attest, he's been asleep for over 5 hours, and he's still asleep. And this after approximately no naps yesterday (two short ones).  Some sleep theories say "sleep begets sleep," meaning that the overtired child won't sleep as well. It's true in adults, but only when way overtired. There's also the common-sense "you sleep better when tired." It's 8am and he hasn't nursed since 1:30, and has been asleep since just before 3am. I'm going to call this a fluke for now, but we're hoping it may not be!!

Sweet Little Video

Here's a video for you. A little snapshot of our day. Enjoy.

Truckin'

Ian is definitely moving. A light bulb went on in his head this weekend, and now he has the idea that if he can see it, he can have it. The tantrums when he can't have it!

Things Ian wants but can't have:

1. The dog's water dish. You should have seen the crocodile tears. The huge cry. All because I was kindly holding him a few feet away from the water dish. The tragedy!
2. The light on John's nightstand. Little does Ian know, there's not a continuous path on one plane to get to the light. There's a bit of a drop between the bed and the nightstand. Ian does not consider this when he lunges forward.
3. He can't get anywhere when there's a small obstacle, like the tiles he's ripped up, or a pile of toys. Or a pile of Mommy, strategically placed.
4. The list will grow exponentially.

His crawling motion consists of using his right knee and his left foot and both hands. He can do it on the slippery wood floor, carpet, rugs, and the foam alphabet tiles, which you can see here. He can also do this on the bed, so we have to make sure to keep a constant hand on him when he's on our bed, usually for morning or night-time routine.

Regarding sleep: Last night wasn't bad. Down at 10, up at 12, 4, 6:30, 9 for the day. That 4 hour chunk is the most we've seen in months. He seems to be increasing gradually, which is what he did as a newborn. Back when he was so tiny he fit in the bassinet! Ha!

There's a new album up on Picasa. I'll be sharing pics from there on here, but for those that might be impatient, it's there. :) Movies of baby in motion included. Enjoy.

Forward Motion

We officially have forward motion! We were at a friend's house for dinner tonight, and Ian crawled across the floor to get at something. He went about 8 feet or so. Definitely not a reach. He's moving his legs more and more, when standing or on his belly. He seems to know that moving his feet and knees will help a lot. Wow! We're in trouble now!!