Samuel is eight months! I know I keep saying this, but where has the time gone? Someone, please, make it slow down!
My little angel is so wonderful! The biggest adventure of this month was (drumroll please) sleep training. It was a hard journey but after not-too-long he's gone from having to be nursed to sleep and painstakingly laid down and keeping the house in absolute silence, being "in bed" from 11pm to 7 am AND waking up at least two, sometimes three times a night, we have a wonderful new normal! He is now going to bed around 8 every night, usually waking up once to eat, and sleeping until 6 or 6:30! The best part is that he now cries for 10 minutes tops, sometimes not at all when we put him down! Hallelujah!
Early this month we had a little scare when he was making some wheezing noises. It turned out that he was just experimenting with this vocal chords, but we took him into the doctor to get it checked out. While his breathing was just fine, we discovered that he hadn't gained any weight in over a month even though he had gotten taller. The PA was incredibly helpful and told us to start feeding him solids once a day and work our way up to two-to-three times a day. He loves it! He's eaten everything we've tried so far. He didn't like the pureed meat the first time, but then we mixed it with some sweet potatoes and he gobbled it down after that. It's a little bit messy sometimes but it's so fun watching him get better at eating off of the spoon and getting excited and opening his mouth when he sees it coming.
One of the beautiful side effects of more sleep and more food (and probably just age in general) is that he is even happier than before. He laughs much more easily and smiles at everything. He charms everyone, even random passersby on campus when we're walking to and from my classes.
He has started looking at us whenever he accomplishes something, looking for affirmation that he's done something well. It is darling, and he has lots of new tricks to show off. His scooting has turned to speedy quick crawling, and he loves to go! Before he always stayed in the living room or within a foot or so of the carpet. Now he will make a break for the kitchen cupboards or the bathroom, today he got all the way to my bedroom, and the further he gets from the living room the harder he laughs and the louder he squeals! He either feels ultimate freedom in getting around the house by himself, or he has some sneaky plans up his cute little sleeves.
He has gotten very good at pulling himself into a standing position. He still struggles on using the walls, but anything that offers him a little more grip (tables, chairs, the couch) he quickly uses to kneel and then stand, then look back to make sure we're watching and cheering for him. He has also started to learn how to get down! He'll reach one little hand down towards the ground until he falls onto it then quickly uses it to push himself backwards onto his bum.
He has some new "words," my favorite of which is "mamamama." He first started doing it when he was crying (which broke my heart during sleep training) but now every time he does it when he's happy I say, "That's me! I'm Momma! Mamamama" I do the same thing when he says "dadadada." "Yes, that's Daddy! He loves you. Dadadada." Hopefully he figures it out soon. He loves it when I copy his sounds, which now include blowing raspberries and clicking his tongue (the latter being the one he is most proud of.) He babbles a lot more than he used to, especially if he's excited or frustrated, but likes it when I coo and talk back to him.
Some other smaller things he enjoys are turning off light switches, watching the toilet flush, playing with himself in the mirror, sucking on his toes (an old favorite re-discovered) and bouncing. He's also starting to interact more with his toys, so I'm working on sewing a few more. I'm in process on a plush dinosaur and some blocks. If he's upset (like if we're putting him in his car seat) he cheers up quickly if we sing "popcorn popping on the apricot tree" or "the wise man and the foolish man" (from the LDS children's song book.) He especially loves the accompanying hand motions.
A sad stage to see go is that of the easy and happy diaper changes. He has no interest in lying still anymore. Sometimes we can get him to be good until he's wiped down, but it's usually a struggle to get the new diaper strapped on and his clothes re-snapped. We try toys and singing and anything else we can think of, but diaper time is often a two-man job now.
He's developing so quickly and we're excited to see where these next few weeks lead us! I'm so grateful for my sweet little boy!
My little angel is so wonderful! The biggest adventure of this month was (drumroll please) sleep training. It was a hard journey but after not-too-long he's gone from having to be nursed to sleep and painstakingly laid down and keeping the house in absolute silence, being "in bed" from 11pm to 7 am AND waking up at least two, sometimes three times a night, we have a wonderful new normal! He is now going to bed around 8 every night, usually waking up once to eat, and sleeping until 6 or 6:30! The best part is that he now cries for 10 minutes tops, sometimes not at all when we put him down! Hallelujah!
Early this month we had a little scare when he was making some wheezing noises. It turned out that he was just experimenting with this vocal chords, but we took him into the doctor to get it checked out. While his breathing was just fine, we discovered that he hadn't gained any weight in over a month even though he had gotten taller. The PA was incredibly helpful and told us to start feeding him solids once a day and work our way up to two-to-three times a day. He loves it! He's eaten everything we've tried so far. He didn't like the pureed meat the first time, but then we mixed it with some sweet potatoes and he gobbled it down after that. It's a little bit messy sometimes but it's so fun watching him get better at eating off of the spoon and getting excited and opening his mouth when he sees it coming.
One of the beautiful side effects of more sleep and more food (and probably just age in general) is that he is even happier than before. He laughs much more easily and smiles at everything. He charms everyone, even random passersby on campus when we're walking to and from my classes.
He has started looking at us whenever he accomplishes something, looking for affirmation that he's done something well. It is darling, and he has lots of new tricks to show off. His scooting has turned to speedy quick crawling, and he loves to go! Before he always stayed in the living room or within a foot or so of the carpet. Now he will make a break for the kitchen cupboards or the bathroom, today he got all the way to my bedroom, and the further he gets from the living room the harder he laughs and the louder he squeals! He either feels ultimate freedom in getting around the house by himself, or he has some sneaky plans up his cute little sleeves.
He has gotten very good at pulling himself into a standing position. He still struggles on using the walls, but anything that offers him a little more grip (tables, chairs, the couch) he quickly uses to kneel and then stand, then look back to make sure we're watching and cheering for him. He has also started to learn how to get down! He'll reach one little hand down towards the ground until he falls onto it then quickly uses it to push himself backwards onto his bum.
He has some new "words," my favorite of which is "mamamama." He first started doing it when he was crying (which broke my heart during sleep training) but now every time he does it when he's happy I say, "That's me! I'm Momma! Mamamama" I do the same thing when he says "dadadada." "Yes, that's Daddy! He loves you. Dadadada." Hopefully he figures it out soon. He loves it when I copy his sounds, which now include blowing raspberries and clicking his tongue (the latter being the one he is most proud of.) He babbles a lot more than he used to, especially if he's excited or frustrated, but likes it when I coo and talk back to him.
Some other smaller things he enjoys are turning off light switches, watching the toilet flush, playing with himself in the mirror, sucking on his toes (an old favorite re-discovered) and bouncing. He's also starting to interact more with his toys, so I'm working on sewing a few more. I'm in process on a plush dinosaur and some blocks. If he's upset (like if we're putting him in his car seat) he cheers up quickly if we sing "popcorn popping on the apricot tree" or "the wise man and the foolish man" (from the LDS children's song book.) He especially loves the accompanying hand motions.
A sad stage to see go is that of the easy and happy diaper changes. He has no interest in lying still anymore. Sometimes we can get him to be good until he's wiped down, but it's usually a struggle to get the new diaper strapped on and his clothes re-snapped. We try toys and singing and anything else we can think of, but diaper time is often a two-man job now.
He's developing so quickly and we're excited to see where these next few weeks lead us! I'm so grateful for my sweet little boy!
Such a cutie! Love you all!
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