A Night in the Crib

So Luke has his own room (well, half of a room as the other half is my office), but he hasn't really ever used it. The crib is set up, there are decorations on the wall and the shelf, and there's my wonderful glider, but that half of the room gets very little use. Luke takes naps in his swing out in the front room and he sleeps at night in a bassinet beside our bed. It's been working out nicely for us (our bedroom and his room are at opposite ends of the house, so it's much easier to have him right there in the room for nightly feedings than to have to go up and down the hall several times a night).

But Luke is going to outgrow the bassinet soon. And so it seems that it is time to transition him to the crib. And it's not just transitioning him that is the issue; it's also transitioning me. I have to admit that I love having him right beside my bed at night because I can check on him whenever I want (without getting out of bed) to make sure he's still breathing. So moving him to a different room is actually harder on me than him, I think.

So last night was the night. I started by putting him to bed a little earlier than we have been. He's been going to bed around 8:30. Instead of having him take a short evening nap, with a short playtime after, and then bedtime, I just put him to bed when it seemed like he was ready for that evening nap (which turned out to be a little later than he had been taking it, so I think that worked out nicely) around 7:00. I rocked him in the glider, nursed him a little, and put him in the crib. Video monitor in hand, I went back out to the front room to watch some TV and knit and spend time with Jarrett. Luke seemed perfectly content sleeping in the crib. He had a moment around 9:30 (during Grey's Anatomy) where he started wiggling around a lot, but he wasn't crying and he got himself back to sleep.

I decided to sleep on the futon, which is in the room right next to Luke's room so that way if there were any issues, I wouldn't have to keep walking back and forth down the hall. Shortly after I got into bed (10:30), Luke woke up and was hungry so I nursed him. He went right back to sleep and I went back to the futon. Unfortunately, I didn't go right to sleep. And it wasn't the futon. It was my own mind. I keep turning on the video monitor to check on Luke and was straining my ears to hear if he was making any noise. I found myself wide awake. I think I finally got too tired and fell asleep a little over an hour later.

I don't know why I was so worried. Luke didn't seem bothered at all to be in his crib. He had several other wakeups where he wanted to nurse (I think it was 1:30, 3:00, 4:30), but that has been our normal for the past few weeks (he's eating less during the day because he's equating nursing with sleeping and he's been fighting his naps a little, so he's making up for eating at night), so it actually wasn't too bad. He was up and ready for the day a little after 6:00, which is a bit earlier than usual (between 6:30 and 7:00) but not too bad.

So for Luke the first night in the crib was quite a success. And once I actually let myself get to sleep, it was successful for me, too. I'll probably sleep on the futon for a few more nights just to be sure, but I don't want that to become a permanent situation so I'll have to make myself move back to the bed, let's say starting Monday evening. That gives us three more nights to make sure everything is working out okay with the crib.

In other news, the weather was gorgeous again yesterday, so we met up with some other moms and took a nice walk at a part (we also went for a walk the day before). And for the first time, I tried out the stroller without the infant seat so that Luke could actually look around while we were walking. The shoulder straps were a little loose, even on the tightest setting, but otherwise Luke seemed to be perfectly fine sitting that way. (One of the other moms has the same stroller and she said the straps were loose on her daughter for a while, so it seems that it's just the way the stroller is built.) He did start to get a little fussy right at the end of the walk and cried quite a bit in the car on the way home, but he had a very good reason for that as I discovered when we got home: his diaper was quite dirty! Oops on me for not checking it!

One other first yesterday: it was the first time that Luke has actually grabbed my glasses off my face and waved them around. I've tried to keep his hands away from my glasses but I wasn't being careful yesterday morning and sure enough, he grabbed for them. I guess I'll just have to keep a more careful watch, but I'm sure it will happen again.

I think today will be a stay home day since we've been going out a lot this week. If the weather is still beautiful this afternoon, I might go on a short walk around the block, but I think relaxing at home sounds really nice today. And maybe I'll get a little time in for sewing during his afternoon nap, something that I haven't done at all yet this week. We'll see what today brings.

A Bit of Banana

This morning I was making a recipe that called for mashed banana, so I decided to see how Luke reacted to banana. This time I made sure he was in a good mood first.

He didn't like it at all. Just the smell seemed to be rather unappealing to him and he pretty much spit out the banana the three tries that I gave him. I've got it all on the video here. I'll try again with banana when we do start with solids, but so far it's not looking good!

On another note, the recipe I made was for for banana chocolate chip muffins, and I think they turned out pretty darn yummy.

A Nibble of Avocado

On Monday Luke was 5 months old. Cliche again but true: I can't believe it! Here's my big boy:

I plan to wait to start Luke on solids for his 6-month birthday, but today I was making something for lunch that included avocado so I decided to give Luke just a little bit of it to see how he would react.

I got him a high chair a couple of weeks ago, and I've been having him sit in it for a little while every few days to get him used to it. Yesterday, I put him in the high chair in the kitchen while I was doing dishes and he really seemed to enjoy that. So I put him in the high chair while I was making my lunch.

I gave him a spoon to play with so he could get used to it as well as the high chair.

I had a slight miscalculation, though. He was in the high chair for about 30 minutes while I was fixing lunch and I left the avocado for last since I didn't want it to get brown. Well, that was about his limit for sitting in the high chair and he was starting to get fussy. I decided to proceed with the avocado anyway. I put a tiny bit on the spoon.

He seemed a little unsure about it:

We spent the next couple of minutes alternating between him seeming to be okay with the spoon (and avocado) in his mouth and him screaming. I'm not sure if he was upset about the food or if he was just tired of being in the high chair (and also hungry apparently as he nursed for quite a while when I got him out of the high chair). So the first food experience is undecided as to what he thought about it. If this video uploads correctly (I've never tried uploading a video before), you can see the experience for yourself.

Next week I plan to make something with bananas in it, so I'll try again with a tiny bit of banana and see what he thinks about it. And I'll make sure that he's not tired when I try it so I can get a better judgment of his reaction.

Catching Up

I've been meaning to sit down and type up a blog entry for days, but I keep putting it off because I seem to have so much to say that I know it will be a long post and I just don't quite have the time. But by putting it off day after day, the needed post keeps getting longer and still not written. So what I'm going to do is just start with updating on current things and if I have a chance to backtrack a little, I'll do that in subsequent posts. But I would hate to see this blog become completely outdated because I feel that there is just too much to write at once!

So Luke is 4.5 months old now. He is definitely enjoying lots of playtime. We've been doing quite a bit of tummy time on the floor which he will usually be happy about for a good chunk of time. Although he had rolled over from tummy to back a few times, it hasn't been something he's done a lot. But in the past few days, he's been rolling over a couple of times a day, so it looks like he's really starting to get the hang of it and also the desire to do so.

But rolling from his back to his tummy still hasn't happened quite yet. He tries. He tries really hard sometimes. He can get onto his side, but either his arm gets in the way or he doesn't kick his leg over far enough and he goes right back onto his back. But I think the roll in that direction will happen really soon.

He also seems to be starting with teething. Although I can't see or feel anything in his mouth yet, his drooling has really kicked in a lot and his new favorite toy is the small Sophie the Giraffe which he puts in his mouth quite frequently. He also has taken to gumming anything that he can get into his mouth, which means we are keeping a sharper eye on what is within his reach. He also has some moments where I can tell he's in pain, poor baby, because he gets fussy and cries a little. So I'm checking for teeth each morning, but like I said, nothing in evidence quite yet.

He's also getting to the point where he is fighting his naps sometimes. I can tell that he's really tired but he doesn't want to let himself go to sleep. It's gotten to the point where he's made associations with things that put him to sleep and he fights against those, too. The main one is nursing, so he'll really start to cry if he's tired and doesn't want to sleep and I try to nurse him. I know he's also hungry at that point, but I just try to rock him and get him to fall asleep and I can nurse him when he wakes up. He also knows that when I'm holding him while I'm sitting down, he's more likely to fall asleep, so he'll fuss or cry until I stand up. I tried this to see if it was just my imagination the other day. He started to cry so I stood up. He stopped crying. I sat down. He started crying. Repeat a few more times. Yup, he seems to associate me sitting down with him going to sleep. Usually if I just rock him he'll give in and let himself sleep. Other times I let the swing do the rocking and that works as well. And he's always in such a better mood after he wakes up. He does go to sleep at night pretty easily, which I'm very grateful about. And he doesn't always fight his naps.

When he does fall asleep, he sleeps hard!

He's babbling quite a bit these days, especially with Daddy. One of his favorite sounds is "Ah-goo" which in my mind, I've taken to translating as "I love you." Hey, why not? He also seems to make a sound that is like "Hi" which is not too surprising because it's a word that both Daddy and I say to him quite a bit. And one toy, Crinkle Puppy, likes to kiss him and give him a hug, so when I hear Luke babble, "Huuu," I imagine that he's trying to say Hug. Maybe he is, maybe he's just repeating sounds, maybe it's just coincidence. I don't know. But it's fun to try to figure out what he might be "saying." He can really get going with his "talking" sometimes. It's so fun to listen to.

He also really likes to be in his jumperoo and over the weekend, I went to a clothing/toy sale and picked up one of those jumpers that you hang in the door frame. And I'm so glad that I did because he just loves it! One of the moms from my moms' group is letting us borrow this padding (looks like a giant diaper) to help him fit into the jumper a little better and it has definitely helped. He was spinning around and bouncing and grinning from ear to ear for quite a while yesterday afternoon.

Luke is wanting some attention now and I also need to squeeze in some lunch, so that's today's update. I still have lots to say about our travels over Christmas to Texas, but that will have to wait for another time. At least I was able to get a few little updates in for now.

Creativity and TV Watching

I was reading an article in Parenting magazine that I found quite interesting about creativity that confirmed some of the thoughts I've had over the past few years.It discusses creative potential and says that we all have it. But then it goes on to say, "Whether that potential is being fulfilled is another story entirely. Kyung Hee Kim, Ph.D., an educational psychologist at the College of William & Mary, in Virginia, has spent the past decade poring over the creativity scores of more than 300,000 American K-12 students. The news is not good: 'Creativity scores have significantly decreased since 1990,' she says. Moreover, 'creativity scores for kindergartners through third-graders decreased the most and those from the fourth through sixth grades decreased by the next largest amount.'"

I'm not very surprised to hear that creativity has decreased as I noticed it with my own college students over the past few years. It was difficult in literature classes to get them to have that "willing suspension of disbelief" that is often needed when reading a story such as Beowulf (of course, he didn't truly breathe underwater for several hours. It's just a story and is meant to show how strong Beowulf is and how he's not like other men). One of the worst moments was when I had students in my Introduction to Fiction course write their own short stories (incorporating some of the elements of fiction we had been studying that semester) along with a reflective essay on the story. I'd say at least 3/4 of the class started their reflective essay with one of these two beginnings: "This was the first story I've ever written" or "I've never written a story before." Really? Good gracious, I wrote all the time when I was in elementary school and even junior high and high school--for school, not just on my own (although I did that, too). What do these students do in school these days? Are the standardized tests really taking over that much? Of course, I know the unfortunate answer to this question is yes in many schools. And the article addresses this point as well:

"This focus on rote memorization can be detrimental to cultivating strong creative thinkers. 'Children aren't given the opportunity to express their own ideas or come up with their own way of doing things,' she explains. 'Instead, the answer is A or B or C. There is only one right answer.'"

In case you were wondering, as I was, how creativity is tested, here's an example from the article: "The tests consist of open-ended questions, such as 'How many uses can you think of for a toothbrush?' Scores are awarded based on the number and originality of the ideas produced. A creative child might respond by saying that he can brush his cat's teeth, polish a rock, and clean his fingernails--all answers that show dexterity in generating a wide range of potentially useful ideas." So it's not even "write a story" type of creativity: it's trying to come up with different ideas rather than just the standard. And it's this type of creativity that is very much needed in our world. How else will things get invented or new ideas to solve some of our nation's problems come forth?

So what does the article say parents should do? There are a couple of specific suggestions, but mostly it boils down to allowing children time for free play instead of scheduling very regimented activities and drilling things like numbers and the alphabet all the time. Basically, encourage the development of free thinking and play--and play along with your child(ren).

Toward the end of the article it brings up the prevalence of television watching (or using other screen time such as playing video games or being on the computer). The article states, "This constant bombardment, says Jung, can inhibit divergent [i.e., creative] thinking. 'If you're just a sponge,' Jung explains, 'you may be able to regurgitate facts, but you can't combine them in novel and useful ways.'" The article recommends limiting screen time.

So that brings me to the TV watching portion of this post. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under 2 years not watch television. I wanted to know more about why this was recommended and I read a fascinating book called Bright from the Start: The Simple, Science-Backed Way to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind from Birth to Age 3 by Jill Stamm. At the heart of it, babies brains are still developing and making tons of neural connections during these years at the same time losing connections that are not developed. And brain scans of children who watched more TV compared to brain scans of children who did not watch TV were very different, especially in areas such as that of attention span. Babies who were TV watchers did not have long-term attention spans as developed as babies who did not watch TV. (I've read some other articles that suggest TV watching from an early age might be connected to ADHD.) Their brains look different! That's pretty amazing, but also quite sobering. And it's the reason that Luke will not be watching TV or any videos until he is at least 2 and after that point he will have a specific limit for each day.

I know you're probably thinking that I'm still an idealistic new mom and I'll give in at some point and let Luke watch TV. After all, I need to give him something to do while I go shower. And I completely understand that reasoning and why other parents use the television for their own young children. And I'm not the parent of those children so I'm not saying that you shouldn't allow your own child to watch TV. This is just what I (and J) feel we are doing to help Luke. And although I don't think we should be a slave to Luke's needs, I do think that as parents, we should think less of our own convenience and more of what we feel (based upon our research) is best for our child.

Do we still have the TV on when Luke is in the room? Yes. Have we found his eyes wandering to the screen? Yes, of course, TV is attractive. So we just make sure to turn him away from the screen and watch that his eyes don't drift that way and fixate on it. But in doing this, I've been examining my own TV viewing habits and I realized that they were getting out of control. I had been turning the TV on to watch the morning news while I had my coffee and the TV would stay on all day, mostly as background rather than me actually watching it. And what was I watching? Reruns of House Hunters or a new favorite, Storage Wars. But when I realized that I'd seen a particular episode three times before already, isn't that getting a bit ridiculous? What does that type of TV watching add to my life? Nothing. So during the day, the TV is off and Luke and I have a lot of interaction time. I don't have to worry about him watching the TV and I also don't have it going in the background. Instead, I turn on music or an audiobook (and I've started investigating podcasts) if I want something in the background. But mostly Luke and I read together or have a "conversation" (he's really doing a lot of babbling these days). And when he's asleep I actually enjoy the quiet more than having the TV droning on in the background.

I'm not saying that TV is evil and we shouldn't watch it at all. My evenings have a pretty full lineup (from Castle on Mondays to Supernatural on Fridays and several shows in between) and I'm definitely not going to stop watching those shows. But I'm being a bit more picky about what I do watch--something that I actually want to watch rather than reruns that don't really do anything for me. And I'm looking forward to when Luke is older to watching things with him. I can't wait (although obviously I am waiting) to introduce him to movies like The Goonies, The Dark Crystal, Toy Story, and of course Star Wars (original trilogy). But even when we do start watching TV together, I'm going to make sure to keep it limited and have him doing more activities and free play during the day. And hopefully, by doing so, I'll help him to learn to use the television responsibly while also developing his creativity so that he can become a divergent thinker.

Four Month Doctor Visit

Luke had his four-month visit with the doctor today. It is still 10 days before he will actually be 4 months, but with the holidays, we had the visit a little early.

Overall he is doing well. I had two concerns at this visit. Luke has had a stuffy nose for a few days, but no fever or other symptoms. The doctor said that it wasn't an issue and just keep using saline drops and cleaning it out. We only need to be concerned if he develops a high fever or has trouble breathing. So that's good to know. I just hope that it clears up soon as I'm sure it is not comfortable for him. The other concern was that he hasn't pooped since Thursday morning (that's 5 days). He had been going about 2 days between pooping for the past few weeks, but this is the longest stretch by far. She felt his stomach and said it feels soft, so that doesn't seem to be an issue. Everything else is normal (he eats, sleeps, pees, passes gas, and doesn't seem uncomfortable), so she is not concerned. Breast milk just doesn't produce a lot of waste and it looks like his body is just using up all of it. She said just to make sure his stomach isn't hard and that he doesn't seem uncomfortable, but he's fine otherwise.

He's been growing really well and is staying on target for his growth rate. He's been pretty consistently in the 25-50% for his age, and that's his actual age, not his adjusted age for being three weeks early (when he's plotted on the adjusted chart, he's in the 75th percentile). So here's how he's grown since his two-month visit:

Weight at 2 months: 10 lb 14.4 oz.
Weight at 4 months: 13 lb 4.9 oz.
Growth: 2 lb 6.5 oz.

Length at 2 months: 22"
Length at 4 months: 24"
Growth: 2" (no wonder those 0-3 month sleepers were getting tight in the leg length!)

Head circumference at 2 months: 39 cm
Head circumference at 4 months: 41 cm
Growth: 2 cm (and that's why I used ribbing for the new hat I knit him: it's stretchy so can accommodate a growing head!)

Then came time for the vaccines. He did a lot better with the oral one (I think this nurse was much more patient than the one last time) and got almost all of it down (only spitting out a little right at the end). I held onto him while he got the two shots, one in each leg. With the first one, he didn't cry right away. I think he was taken by surprise. But he started crying a little when she reached for the second shot. When he got the second one, he really started crying hard, and his poor little face turned bright red. Bandaids on and the nurse left the room. I then had a screaming child on my hands that I had to try to get dressed and back in the car seat. I held him and bounced him for a little while and he calmed down. But as soon as I laid him on the table to put his clothes on, he started crying again. We did this for a couple of minutes and I thought about nursing him a little really quickly. But then I spotted his pacifier in his car seat and thought I would try that first. That worked and I was able to get him into his clothes (well, mostly. I just put on the onesie and the socks, leaving off his pants and covered him with his blanket) and into the car seat. I wanted to schedule his next appointment and he got a little fussy while we were waiting for the receptionist to be free, but I just rocked him and talked to him and he was okay. Into the car and after a little crying in the parking lot, he quieted down. I think he fell asleep. When we got home, he cried a bit more but I nursed him and he was calm again and I put him in his swing so I could (finally) eat something for lunch. He fell asleep and is still asleep right now. Hopefully he's feeling better. I know he at least was having a good dream because a little while ago, he smiled and laughed in his sleep. We'll see how the evening goes.

Play Time

Luke has definitely been a lot more interested in a play time lately. He really loves to either stand on our lap and bounce or sit down propped up in the corner of the couch. He'll hold onto some of his toys and Crinkle Puppy seems to be his favorite. He smiles really big and even laughs a little whenever Crinkle Puppy gives him kisses.

The only bad thing is that he's not content anymore to just cuddle with us. He still has cuddle time, but when he wants to be active, there is no cuddling. And holding him up in the standing position while he tries to jump can get very tiring very quickly!

But every time I see him smile because he's having fun, my tired arms become less tired and I grab Crinkle Puppy for another quick kiss. And sometimes Mommy sneaks in a kiss or two herself!