The title of this blog pretty well explains our new activities for the week. As you'll see in the video below, Eli has learned to clap! Although it is a crazy uncontrolled clap, it's still clapping!
Our parent educator did an assessment on Eli this week and he was able to do everything, except maybe 1 or 2 things (which I can't remember right now what those are!). He was able to clap objects together (like in the above video), pass an object from hand to hand, sit unsupported, babble with consonants, and a variety of other things I do not remember either! We will get a copy of the results in the mail so I'll post about it more then. But, regardless, it's always nice to know he is on track! Eli still is working on lunging forward for toys as he currently lunges, falls forward or to the side and lands on his belly, where he either hangs out for awhile, or starts to cry. Mommy tries to encourage him to roll himself over or better yet, get up on all fours, but he doesn't understand that concept yet. He still loves to stand and can hold himself up against the couch for a few seconds, but mommy must be careful as he can topple over at a seconds notice!!
This week we attended our first Music with Mar class. Although Eli was the youngest, it was still fun and we plan on attending if not every week, every couple of weeks. The other kids ranged from about 2-5, but it was really cute because they liked to help Eli with things such as getting his instruments for certain songs. Eli's favorite part of the class was when we used kazoos. He just laughed and laughed....like on the below video:
Mom, look at the kitty kat over there....he's so funny!!
One of the cute things (of many ;) is how Eli is so expressive with his mouth. He makes such different mouth "shapes": one for when he is concentrating, one for when he is happy but not fully smiling, and a variety of other ones such as the one below which I'm not sure what he was doing. He makes us laugh everyday!!
This weekend Grandma Bidney is here and she is making an offer to buy a condo here in Independence, woohoo!! Eli (& mommy) is so excited to have another Grandma close by to visit and have spoil him ;) If all works out, Grandma will be here sometime in May! Well, that's all for now!
Happy weekend, everyone! This weekend is very relaxing and low key so far....very nice! Our last week was that way, too, and we just did our usual: attend breastfeeding group, run errands, nurse, nap, take baths, play, jump in the jumperoo, and make dirty diapers! We are still working on our sleep and today I checked out some additional books from the library about sleep. We'll see if I find any miracle solutions! Eli also had his first eye appointment on Thursday. Missouri has a free screening program for infants 6 months to a year old. Eli passed with flying colors and even did okay when they put drops in his eyes to dilate them!
Eli is doing wonderful with his sitting and really only needs the boppy because he likes to lean back on it and look upside down at what ever is behind him. He is lunging forward and to the side for his toys and still doesn't know what to do when he lands on his belly. Hopefully soon he'll figure out how to lift his back and belly up and go into a crawl position! It will be interesting to see if he goes right to crawling or if he choses to do a variety of other ways of transportation such as butt scooting, rolling, or crab crawls! He can stand really well (with us supporting him, of course) and I tried to stand him against the couch and he did it for a short time before his legs gave out. He also plays so intricately with his toys, moving them from hand to hand, chewing them, putting them to his head (not sure why he does this, but he does) and them usually dropping them behind him or to his side. Mommy likes to put things on his head, which is fun. I will try to get video of this this week.
This week I hope to take Eli to a Music with Mar class. We went to a free one put on by Parents As Teachers when he was 5 months and he really liked it. Music is a great teaching tool as we know!!
Hello all! Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend with family & friends. My family came down from Iowa for Easter but also to celebrate my mom's birthday (on 3/30). On Saturday we looked at condos for my mom who is considering moving down here. We hope she does as Eli would get to see Grandma a lot more often!! Saturday evening we celebrated my mom's birthday and went to eat Mexican. At the restaurant, my cousin Emily held Eli & he just was cracking up at her:
The week prior, Eli & I went to visit Emily & her little girl, Mallory. Here are pics of them together (stolen from Emily's blog, thanks!!)
On Easter Sunday, my sisters & I played a hymn at church and I sang in a women's ensemble, and then we had everyone over for Easter dinner. Thankfully, Mom Clarkson cooked the ham we bought along with yummy hashbrown casserole and a dessert as we were so busy that morning we didn't have time to cook the ham! We made the green bean casserole (good 'ol stand by!) and had the rolls. It was a great time! Eli got an Easter basket from mommy & daddy, Grandma Bidney & Grandma Clarkson. He got books, clothes, stuffed animals, and Easter eggs.
Stuffed peeps on my head (silly mommy!)
Bunny ears from Grandma Bidney....I wasn't so sure about them!!
Below are Eli's 7 month pictures with Mr. Monkey.....I'll let them speak for themselves.....
Eli is still working on liking solids. He's not sold on the idea, yet. Mommy gave him a break over the weekend and started again yesterday. He wasn't all that excited, again, but we will keep trying and I've been told that someday he'll just decide to like them!! Just the few he's had, though, has made his poopy quite yucky!
Eli's sleep is the same. I feel like I'm kinda just accepting it right now. The ideas in the book I've been talking about are too hard and it seems that Eli is too strong willed for them to work. I have been somewhat successful in extending his naps. I have given in to the fact that he naps best in our bed so I nurse him to sleep and either nap with him or leave him. If he wakes 30-45 minutes later, I nurse him again and he has been falling asleep for another 20-30 minutes. This means he has had about 3 naps at about an hour each. We'll see if he'll be able to extend out the naps without the nursing in the middle over time. We also have daddy put him to bed 3 nights a week (nights he doesn't have class) so that he can go to bed without nursing. BUT, if he wakes, daddy has been unsuccessful at putting Eli back to sleep at all, or if he does, he wakes up 10 minutes later. So, he still insists on mommy when he wakes. I don't always have to nurse, though. Sometimes I just pick him up and he falls asleep. He also has been going to bed earlier so our routine (bath, reading, nursing, watching display on ceiling) usually starts around 6:45/7pm and he is asleep by around 7:45/8pm . That of course changes when there is company or an evening activity, but otherwise this is what it has been. He also has a white noise machine playing all night, a humidifier, and a temp controlled heater (which he won't need in a few weeks, hopefully!) in his room. With these changes there hasn't been any improvement on his wakings. I plan to go to the library this week and check out a couple of other sleep books and take what I can from them to see what can work for us. Wish us luck.....we need it!!!
Eli continues to work on his sitting, and is doing very well! He only tips over if he is reaching forward for a toy and then he lands on his belly. At that point he just stays there for awhile and then starts to cry. Hasn't figured out the rolling thing yet! He's really good with his hands and can grab almost anything, even small things. He loves to watch cartoons and a signing video from Baby Einstein that he finds one part particularly funny and laughs at it over and over. I hope to try to teach him some signs that will be useful such as food, drink, more, mommy, daddy, etc. We'll see as I have to remember to use them myself!!
This week continues to be a calm week. The weather is supposed to be nice so hopefully we can take some walks! Have a great week!!
P.S. My friend Da had her 2nd baby girl yesterday.....congrats!!! Visit their site (under my blogs worth visiting: Horton Family)!
Here I am on a Sunday evening around 8:45pm and Eli is asleep in his crib and has been since 8:15pm. He looks so peaceful through the video monitor and hasn't moved an inch. But, if the pattern continues, as it has since he turned around 4 months, he will let out a wail in about 15-30 minutes that if not tended to, will turn into a full blown fit. Most of the time when I go in his room for the first waking of the night, his eyes are still closed but he is very upset. I will pick him up, and he will almost instantly go to sleep but I have to hold him for about 5 minutes at least to make sure he is really out. Sometimes, though, he is crying so hard (as though he is having a nightmare) that the only thing that will wake him to calm him is to play his mobile. Then, after that waking, he will wake again anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. This waking usually requires a feeding or he just roots and cries until then. The subsequent waking is about the same length until around midnight when the wakings extend out for about 2-3 hours (closer to 2). This is the point in which I either stick to my guns and keep him in his crib or give in and bring him to bed with us.
With the above scenario, you can see why I am desperate to find a solution. What exactly happened at 4 months you say, I HAVE NO IDEA!!! I thought it may be a phase that he would outgrow either due to teething, adjusting to his crib, growth spurt, etc., but it has now been 2 1/2 months of bad sleep patterns. Another bad pattern is he will only nurse to sleep. Eric used to be able to get him asleep without issue. We are working on this and he has successfully put him down about 4-5 times this last week but it required major bouncing on the exercise ball. This nurse to sleep pattern started when his naps during the day became every 2 hours after waking for about 30-45 minutes (cat naps) which is also how often he eats. So, he quickly made the association between sleeping and nursing. The book I talked about last week (no cry ideas)has many ideas of how to help his sleep improve including how to break the sleep/nurse association. This includes allowing him to nurse for shorter and shorter times (until asleep, then until falling asleep, then until drowsy) and taking him off. When he then starts to root (which he does), I try to close his mouth and if he fights, put him back on and start over again. She also has ideas of how to help him learn to put himself to sleep by learning that white sound, certain words I say, music, etc. mean sleep and then slowly going from picking him up when he cries to standing by the crib to standing at the door, to not having to go in at all. I say slow, because I can see it will take a LONG time to get to not going in at all.
My success with these techniques has been minimal, primarily due to being so tired at 3am after getting only an hour or less at a time of sleep and just giving in and either nursing him to sleep without taking him off or just bringing him to bed where he just rolls over to nurse. I'm not 100% sold on how this will work as I have joined a chat room of other moms using the book and all have their ups and downs and frustrations with how long it takes to work. I am doing okay now as I can nap with him during the day but once I start work within the next couple of months, I'M IN TROUBLE IF THIS DOESN'T GET BETTER!!! I may need to explore some other ideas, too, if I can't get myself to stick to it due to my exhaustion!! I took Eli to the doc to make sure he wasn't still sick with an ear infection and he checked out clear. I asked about sleep and she suggested that maybe he has set a pattern of eating and sleeping for himself of every 2-3 hours 24 hours a day. This makes sense to me but as for how to break it, that is the real question. I don't want to not feed him when he is really hungry but don't want to nurse if it's just out of habit!!
As for eating, Eli isn't a huge fan of it yet. He's had rice cereal and banana and has worked up to about 1 tbsp before he shuts down. He hasn't quite figured out how to open his mouth for each bite but then is able to do the chewing motion pretty good. Tomorrow I think I will start him on sweet potato and see how that goes. Then maybe add either pear or carrots to the menu later this week. Mommy question: Did/do you make your baby food with fresh ingredients and with what you are having for dinner or just use the jarred food? I am thinking of doing both as I don't want him to get completely accustomed to just fresh foods and then not like any processed foods, which he will have to eat on occasion. Any thoughts? Here's some video of him eating yesterday:
This week we returned to breastfeeding group which was good. We enjoy playing with our friends and having mommy talk. Eli now weighs 22 lbs. 4 oz!! Otherwise, a pretty low key week. I was a week off of the government test for the job in social security, it's this Thursday not last Thursday. I'll post about how that goes next week....keep your fingers crossed!!
Eli continues to babble, babble, babble and just loves to hear himself talk. He also has started a very high pitched scream which is a little annoying, but again, he likes to hear himself! He still doesn't like to roll over too much, just when he falls over from trying to reach a toy and then he just kinda hangs out instead of rolling over. He prefers sitting right now! Below are fun pics/videos from the week:
I practice my sitting a lot throughout the day. Here I am watching Sesame Street that mommy started putting on in the morning for me to watch....see!!!:
I often have my feet in the air when playing under my gym
This weekend Uncle Chris, Aunt Holly, Aunt Sarah, Aunt Stephanie, and Grandma Bidney will be visiting for Easter. Should be fun and hopefully mommy will remember to take pictures!!
Eli is feeling MUCH better and has his last dose of amoxicillin tonight and is only his breathing treatments as needed, which he hasn't needed since Friday! Now mommy can really start to work on his sleep and introducing food! Mommy is starting the techniques from "The No Cry Sleep Solution" today for 10 days to see how things go. Here's what we are doing:
1. Adjusting our bedtime to get it down to 8pm (currently around 9pm) with a routine that starts around 7pm 2. Try to follow a flexible schedule during the day 3. Watching his tired times during the day to decide when I should try to encourage 2 naps during the day (this one may be hard as he just gets tired every 2 hours after waking and naps from anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour) 4. Help him to learn how to fall asleep without help 5. Use sleep cues such as sounds and words to encourage sleep 6. Change his sleep association to not just be breastfeeding 7. When wakes at night help to not just nurse to sleep but to nurse when hungry and learn to soothe self otherwise (this is the BIG one for us!!)
I'll let you know how it's going next week!
As for introducing food, we started with rice cereal on Saturday night and only got about a 1 tsp in him before he was sick of it. Sunday night he got about a 1/2 Tblsp, so there's some improvement! He likes to take it from my finger better than the spoon, but is getting better with the spoon, too. Later this week I think I'll introduce a banana. Here's a video of the experience:
Friday night mommy & daddy went to see Michael Buble at the new Sprint Center. This is our 2nd time seeing Mr. Buble and he was great. The arena is definitely big and we had up high seats, which are so angled it's a little scary! Eli got to play with Grandma & Grandpa Clarkson, so that was good for him, although he was stubborn about eating from a bottle & going to bed, little stinker :)
This week we return to breastfeeding group to see all of our friends. We haven't gone for 2 weeks due to Eli's illness as I didn't want to risk getting any other babies sick! Hopefully this week we will be able to do more activities outside the house....mommy needs it!
Mommy is taking the test for a government job this week and we'll see what comes from it. Otherwise, not too many other prospects. I haven't been able to focus as I have before due to Eli being sick, so hopefully I can send out more resumes this week.
Here's some pics & video from the week:
My high chair is fun!
Working on rolling over for my toys!
Daddy likes to be silly
Sitting up much better but I still have pillows to catch my fall!
This weekend Grandma Bidney is here and she is making an offer to buy a condo here in Independence, woohoo!! Eli (& mommy) is so excited to have another Grandma close by to visit and have spoil him ;) If all works out, Grandma will be here sometime in May! Well, that's all for now!
