Week 25
Nate is 6 months (and two days) now!
I am trying to be enthusiastic about this, but right now all I can think about is how much I miss constant sleep. It's like a rollercoast - one week we're climbing up that hill, the next week, for no reason I can discover, we're PLUMMETING BACK DOWN! Nate's having a hard time soothing himself back to sleep again, which means more times up for the pacifier in the middle of the night. I keep thinking about handing this duty off to Rob, but it's so hard to drag him out of bed that I'm honestly not sure I'd get any more sleep out of it. Anyway, I'm particularly exhausted today after a bout of 20-minute-catnaps from 5-6:15, when I finally decided to just nurse him and he conked out for another hour when my alarm went off. I let him sleep in in the hopes that he'd be less grouchy and Rob would get some extra sleep, but apparently he woke shortly after I left, so WHATEVER KID.
We've had some fussy, clingy days this week (I say, like it's so terribly hard, when usually Nate is so mellow that even an hour of wanting to be held feels annoying). I don't know if it's just an off few days, or if he's finally teething, or... who knows. He's also started REALLY protesting when he's annoyed/hungry/etc. He used to just sort of fuss, now he actually cries.
Sometimes he clearly just wants attention and to be played with, because he'll cry and fuss, and then as soon as you look over at him, BOOM. Smiling. Like, wide-eyed grins.
In fact his grins are getting more and more fun. Yesterday I came home from lunch and he started grinning so hard it nearly broke into a cackle, and just kept doing it for like 10 minutes. For literally no reason except that I was there.
Rob can get him to cackle by kissing him all up and down his neck and tummy. Sometimes bounce-a-baby gets it, too. He gets so excited that he stops breathing, then lets it loose in a cackle. No real giggles yet, though.
This is also the week he started the hardcode military crawl. This kid can book it across a room - like a good 5 feet or so - in a minute or two. He's developed real preferences, this toy over that one, that are fascinating to watch. He's feeding himself his bottle most the time now, and he can pull it away and put it back just fine (and sometimes he tries to treat my breast like this, too).
He still LOVES to touch faces, especially when nursing. He almost always wants to have his hand on my chin or my nose or in my mouth, which is both sweetly adorable and really annoying.
He's super into the jumperoo. He loves to make it swing, and can turn the chair in a circle and play with nearly all the toys on it. He loves to make the things spin, and this week he realized that if he stretches on tip-toes, he can pull the bird down and stuff its beak in his mouth.
He's working on sitting. He can do the tripod thing, especially if supported by a boppy or something else. As soon as he starts to move, he tends to topple to one side or the other, though. Last night I watched him move from tripod onto one knee and then his stomach in pretty smooth succession, which was wild. He still loves floor time, and especially likes to be on his tummy now. He's pretty good at balancing and reaching with one hand.
We bought an avacado to start him with this week, but haven't fed it to him yet. To be honest, I feel like we are way not prepared for this solids thing. It's a different level of work, from prepping the food to cleaning him up to dealing with the non-breastmilk diapers, and I at least don't have the energy for it yet. We may way til our doctor's appointment, next Wednesday. IDK.
In some ways this feels like a huge step, and for me it's kind of sad. This is the point where my baby boy is no longer mine, in some ways. Right now, he's a 21 lb and some change chunk who has been entirely made by me. All of him. It's silly to be sad to lose that, especially since I think we'll be nursing for quite some time to come, but still. It is.
I also feel like this is the time when he's really starting to have preferences, and food is another part of that. Oh, he loves sweet potatoes, he hates broccoli, etc. I want that for him, but it feels like such a change from the little potato we brought home, which WASN'T THAT LONG AGO, that sometimes it's a little hard to deal with.
Which is stupid because I don't even like babies!
Except this one. I like this one pretty well.
I am trying to be enthusiastic about this, but right now all I can think about is how much I miss constant sleep. It's like a rollercoast - one week we're climbing up that hill, the next week, for no reason I can discover, we're PLUMMETING BACK DOWN! Nate's having a hard time soothing himself back to sleep again, which means more times up for the pacifier in the middle of the night. I keep thinking about handing this duty off to Rob, but it's so hard to drag him out of bed that I'm honestly not sure I'd get any more sleep out of it. Anyway, I'm particularly exhausted today after a bout of 20-minute-catnaps from 5-6:15, when I finally decided to just nurse him and he conked out for another hour when my alarm went off. I let him sleep in in the hopes that he'd be less grouchy and Rob would get some extra sleep, but apparently he woke shortly after I left, so WHATEVER KID.
We've had some fussy, clingy days this week (I say, like it's so terribly hard, when usually Nate is so mellow that even an hour of wanting to be held feels annoying). I don't know if it's just an off few days, or if he's finally teething, or... who knows. He's also started REALLY protesting when he's annoyed/hungry/etc. He used to just sort of fuss, now he actually cries.
Sometimes he clearly just wants attention and to be played with, because he'll cry and fuss, and then as soon as you look over at him, BOOM. Smiling. Like, wide-eyed grins.
In fact his grins are getting more and more fun. Yesterday I came home from lunch and he started grinning so hard it nearly broke into a cackle, and just kept doing it for like 10 minutes. For literally no reason except that I was there.
Rob can get him to cackle by kissing him all up and down his neck and tummy. Sometimes bounce-a-baby gets it, too. He gets so excited that he stops breathing, then lets it loose in a cackle. No real giggles yet, though.
This is also the week he started the hardcode military crawl. This kid can book it across a room - like a good 5 feet or so - in a minute or two. He's developed real preferences, this toy over that one, that are fascinating to watch. He's feeding himself his bottle most the time now, and he can pull it away and put it back just fine (and sometimes he tries to treat my breast like this, too).
He still LOVES to touch faces, especially when nursing. He almost always wants to have his hand on my chin or my nose or in my mouth, which is both sweetly adorable and really annoying.
He's super into the jumperoo. He loves to make it swing, and can turn the chair in a circle and play with nearly all the toys on it. He loves to make the things spin, and this week he realized that if he stretches on tip-toes, he can pull the bird down and stuff its beak in his mouth.
He's working on sitting. He can do the tripod thing, especially if supported by a boppy or something else. As soon as he starts to move, he tends to topple to one side or the other, though. Last night I watched him move from tripod onto one knee and then his stomach in pretty smooth succession, which was wild. He still loves floor time, and especially likes to be on his tummy now. He's pretty good at balancing and reaching with one hand.
We bought an avacado to start him with this week, but haven't fed it to him yet. To be honest, I feel like we are way not prepared for this solids thing. It's a different level of work, from prepping the food to cleaning him up to dealing with the non-breastmilk diapers, and I at least don't have the energy for it yet. We may way til our doctor's appointment, next Wednesday. IDK.
In some ways this feels like a huge step, and for me it's kind of sad. This is the point where my baby boy is no longer mine, in some ways. Right now, he's a 21 lb and some change chunk who has been entirely made by me. All of him. It's silly to be sad to lose that, especially since I think we'll be nursing for quite some time to come, but still. It is.
I also feel like this is the time when he's really starting to have preferences, and food is another part of that. Oh, he loves sweet potatoes, he hates broccoli, etc. I want that for him, but it feels like such a change from the little potato we brought home, which WASN'T THAT LONG AGO, that sometimes it's a little hard to deal with.
Which is stupid because I don't even like babies!
Except this one. I like this one pretty well.