Snuggles

One of the best things about the second child is that you know. For instance, you know it's actually easy at first (they can't move; they just need milk and sleep). You also know that every stage, good or bad, is short.

Right now I know that it won't be long at all until John won't fall asleep in my lap, so I am going to sit here and bask in the cuddles.

Hard Headed

Luckily it seems James has a tough skull because the boy's been having some tough times. Of course there are the everyday glances from doors, walls, doorjambs, tables, and chairs as he races through the house.

But then there are the big hits-- yesterday at church he decided it was good fun to lean back when Daddy was holding him. He'd do these "hanging crunches" over and over. Then on one trip down he whacked his head against the pew in front of us. Everyone around us looked over wincing. James, oddly, was unfazed.

Then last night at dinner he decided, as he often does, that he wasn't very interested in actually eating. Ok, fine. Our new thing is that if he doesn't want to eat he doesn't have to, but he does need to sit nicely while we eat. Sometimes he then pushes his feet against the table, and we grab his chair and say, "No." Well, last night Grandpa and Grandma were here, and we were at the dining room table. Anyway, when he pushed off he succeeded in completely tipping backwards. Frightening! He was scared, but had no bumps or bruises, and recovered quickly. Crazy.

Interestingly, not long after the tip, Dan noticed something dark in the corner of James's eye. He was quite fearful that it was blood (from the fall), but no, thankfully it was not. So, what was it? It appeared to be a large bit of spice. Like oregano. From pasta sauce. No wonder he was screaming in pain! (As Dan said, forget the two pricey prescriptions-- he just needed a good whack to the head. Kidding, of course.)

In other news, James and I attended his buddy Isabella's birthday party on Saturday morning. Like James's party, it was a lovely playdate affair at her house. James remembered right where the playroom was with all the toys. And had a great time using the doll house as a parking garage. I heard such gems as, "The tractor is going up the stairs," and "The blue car is stuck by the window."

Of course, the kids were very cute sitting at the table in big chairs to

eat. Not surprisingly, James would not stay in his seat, so

Isabella's parents graciously leant Isabella's booster chair so that James would be strapped in. Then he didn't want the pizza. Cake, however, was another story. He went after his cupcake and sat quite nicely in the seat with no straps needed!

James-ese and A Very Sad Parenting Lesson

So, James speaks his own language sometimes. (I'm sure it sounds a bit like "Olympian"-- a language spoken by a certain adorable three year old circa the '88 Games.)

When there is something he's interested in for which he doesn't know the name, he'll point and say something along the lines of, "Babe-ooo-ab-gab-ee-ee?" in a somewhat sweet, and high voice. It cracks me up. We'll respond, "Do you want the salad dressing?" "Yes!" (with an enthusiastic nod) "salad dressing."

He's started to say "Cheerios" better instead of "Chos." And "cookie." (so sad to have "chi-chi" out of rotation.)

"Mountain" is pronounced "Mah-ment," and "Hickory Dickory Dock" is "Hicky Dicky Dock" or just "Dicky Dock."

Remember, the second word or syllable always receives the emphasis in James-ese.

Now for the sad news. Yesterday my fantastic NYC snowglobe became a casualty to toddlerhood and poor parenting judgement. A few weeks ago a certain grandparent showed James the snowglobe as, I'm sure, an innocent means of entertainment. Of course, James loved it-- especially listening to "New York, New York" and watching the cars go around on the base. He called it "House." Or "James House!" (after a few referrals in James-ese babble). I didn't let him hold it. He had to just watch it. Which he'd do laying next to it for the best view.

Well, yesterday I was a bit distracted and didn't get to him fast enough when the music stopped. I saw him trying to wind it up himself. The next thing I knew, he was screaming and the water and glittery "snow" was all over the floor. FORTUNATELY, he didn't cut himself (although I'm still not sure how he managed that!). I was so concerned with him that I didn't have time to be sad about the snowglobe until later.

It's probably irreplaceable as it had the Twin Towers in it. Dan got it for me at least 10 years ago when I still lived in SC.

Oh well. We know it is only the first of many things that will be broken/damaged/lost/ruined by children. And we've also learned that such items must be kept out of reach. Always.

Sunday Morning

Lately we've been up with the sun. And in these longest days of the year, that's pretty early. Dan heads to the gym or runs before work, and often I get up at 5:00 to get in my workout and shower before he has to leave. James, like the sun, has getting up earlier and earlier. It used to be that he'd wake up as I was getting out of the shower. Lately, he's already halfway through breakfast when I walk in from my run!

Indeed, Dan reports our son awoke at 5:15 today, just as I was heading out the door. (Dan was taking a day off from working out, and had hoped to get some sleep- ha!)

We were all fed, clean and dressed well over an hour before we had to leave for church. (I was scheduled to read today; our attendance really depends on the lector's schedule. With no nursery for James, it is just really hard to make it to/through the service.)

So, Dan suggested we head to the playground to burn off a little energy (and time) before church. I had the foresight to bring a towel (with all the rain we've had, we've learned it is quite handy to be able to dry off the swings & slides) and a wet washcloth (in case James needed to be tidied up afterwards). Next time we'll bring a second pair of shoes. James's sandals got pretty dirty running around on the mulch, which then meant we were bound to get dirty holding/carrying him. We took his shoes off when we left the playground, and banged them together lots, but having a second pair would've worked better.

Anyway, we made it to the service with very little dirt to show from our trip to the playground. (Mind you, James was wearing his super cute smocked outfit, so the bits of dirt he did manage to get on himself pained me more than usual.) We've learned to sit at the back of the church, so that we can more easily allow James to get up and "stretch his legs" and distract the fewest number of parishioners.

All in all, a pretty good morning.

Cutest Penguin Ever

So, as we're preparing to leave on a Thanksgiving road trip (which is what I should be doing instead of blogging; whatevs), I thought I'd better post our Halloween story & pictures.

I've called James "Lil' Bug" for much of his life. Thus, I thought I'd create a bug costume for him. Now, this was somewhat tricky because I didn't want him to look girly. Thus, no lady-bug and possibly no wings. My idea was to get a green (possibly stripey) outfit for him. I'd actually buy two outfits, cut off the arms of one, stuff them with polyfil and attach them to the outfit he'd wear. Then he'd have six "legs"-- his legs, his arms and the fake arms. I'd also make some antenae and put them on a hat. He'd look super cute as he crawled all over the place. Good plan, right? Well, two issues: 1) I couldn't find a green outfit (shocking, I think), and 2) the concern was raised that he might look like an alien, or at least not enough like a bug.

The next costume idea came from Dan-- Dress him as a monkey because he is one. Easy enough. Get a brown outfit. Put a tan belly on him. Perhaps a brown hat with monkey ears. He can carry a banana. Well, I couldn't find a suitable brown outfit! Everything had writing/graphics. I did find a zip-up hoody, but wasn't sure it would work.

Let me interrupt to acknowledge that there are plenty of VERY CUTE monkey (and likely bug) costumes available for purchase. However, I come from a family of homemade costume wearers/creators (partly because such cute store-bought costumes didn't exist in the 70s and 80s), so I felt compelled to make James's costume.

OK, meanwhile, hanging in James's closet is a penguin outfit from his Auntie Ali & Uncle P. He received it as a Christmas gift last year and would have disappeared inside it even though it is an infant design (read-- big sack). I figured it was likely too small, plus he'd get frustrated in the sack now that he's so mobile. . . Well, I took it out, and had him try it on. It fit, and HE LOOKED RIDICULOUSLY CUTE!!!!!

I was still concerned about the mobility factor, so I did make a homemade costume that he could wear under the sack. If he got too hot or too frustrated, I'd remove the sack, and he'd still be a penguin. (As it turned out, it was pretty warm for Hallween, so he didn't wear the sack much.) The homemade costume was a black unionjack suit (oddly easy to find compared to the green and brown!) with a white felt belly. I made a beak and eyes and sewed them to a black hat. Cuteness.

Oh! I did actually make yet another costume for him! A wind-up toy! I made a crank (cardboard covered with aluminum foil) and velcroed it to his back. It was pretty hilarious, but didn't stand up well, and he kept trying to look at it (think dog chasing his tail). Unfortunately, I couldn't capture it in photo form, but Auntie Peg has documentation!

Our Halloween festivities: Baby Isabella's Halloween party, Mommy's school parade (and visiting the fifth graders, aka her former students), Grandpa & Grandma's house, a party at the Whitakers'. Our trip to Daddy's work was cancelled because his building closed due to plumbing problems before we could get there. Sorry!!

Sleeplessness

So, we're pretty tired around here.

In October, I finally nailed down James's nap schedule, and was working on night sleeping. He'd take a nap at 9ish and 2ish every day, usually for an hour and a half each time. For a while, he was falling asleep at 8:45 every morning like clockwork! With the help of The No Cry Sleep Solution, we established a nightly routine and found ourselves happily getting Baby Boy in bed much easier and by 7:00 each night. He was still waking a few times, but I felt we were definitely making progress.

Then we were hit with a one, two punch:

One: The marathon. And all its accompaniments: Dan offering to tend to James in the night in an effort to get me more rest (major backfire), visitors from out of town, major schedule alterations (traveling around the city, etc.)....

Two: The time change. Because of the marathon, we didn't really try to pre-empt this because it actually worked out better for us if he woke up an hour early the morning of Nov. 2nd (so I could nurse before heading to the start, and he could eat a good breakfast before trekking to Brooklyn to cheer).

In the first days after the time change, he still napped twice a day, and slowly seemed to adjust his time from DST to Standard.

Not so much anymore. He's been fighting naps like crazy and waking up lots at night. I'm really hoping it is the elusive front teeth causing all of this. (His gums are all white and swollen.)

On Tuesday night, he woke several times then was up for the day at 3:30!!!! Dan rocked him for over an hour. I nursed him. He even went for a 30 minute stroller ride around the dark house. No luck. We finally gave up at 6:00 and got ourselves up.

Guess what. He's crying now. Loudly. After his second lame, 30-minute nap of the day. This is killing me.

Interesting Development

Oh, I think James might have a tan! Now, we block him up every time we go to the pool. And he usually wears his bucket hat even in the water unless it is after 5:00. I even have been putting block on his legs when I go running (because they stick out from underneath the protection of the large canopy on the running stroller).

However, I noticed on Sunday that his hands and legs looked a bit brown!!! I do know that he was in the stroller for a while in Ramsey on Saturday morning; Grandma took him for a walk to the library. Could he have gotten a baby tan?!

Let's just hope this means he inherited the Mediteranian pigment from his Italian ancestors!

Today's Long, Dangerous Nap

So James seems to be transitioning to two decent naps a day now. Thanks to training/coaching from Nana, I can put James in his crib when he appears tired, give him a comfort item or two, turn on his mobile and leave. He's usually asleep before (or shortly after) the music stops. Sometimes I have to turn it on a second time. And now that he is such a roly-poly wiggle worm, I often am summoned (by loud cries) to "rescue" him from an uncomfortable "landing" against the railings before he finally dozes off.



This afternoon's nap lasted at least two hours! I periodically checked in, to see if he was A) still asleep, and B) still breathing. At one point he cried, but then settled himself down. When I next checked on him, I found this scene:

He was fast asleep...on his belly! He slept like this for a while. Of course, my check-ins became much more frequent as all of the SIDS-prevention "Back to Sleep" propaganda has worked its magic on me (I know, how did we ever survive?), and I was freaking out about him being face down.

Granted, I realize we could play a great round of "Can you name all the dangers in this napping photograph?"

So, can you?

Blanket, belly, bear...

Meanwhile, I got lots of cleaning done! I think he would've slept even longer had he not been awakened by the dreaded vacuum. . .

Baby Wrangling

So, lately, much of our (mostly MY) time is spent Baby Wrangling. "What's that?" you ask...

Well, imagine an almost-seven-month-old who is very curious and becoming more independent. He wants to see everything, and by see, I mean hold and often insert into mouth. No matter what direction he is facing, there is something in another direction that might interest him.

Remember, I said he was becoming more independent; he can sit on his own, but, often in his effort to see something, he topples over and/or rolls. He cannot yet get back into a sitting position without assistance, so he'll often lie on the floor, whining, doing baby ab-crunches.

The baby wrangling in such instances occurs as you try to help him in his endeavors.

But wait, there's more!

Baby wrangling often occurs at church and at mealtimes. Again, wanting to see everything, he is super squirmy. Whatever adult is holding him is not just holding him, but wrangling him. Trying to keep him happy while still in one spot.

Baby wrangling at bath time is the scariest. Why? There is both water and porcelain involved-- both big dangers (think: drowning or cracking of the scull). He CANNOT bathe in the kitchen sink anymore; he fits, but he came very close to cracking his little noggin on the edge of the sink/counter too many times. Lately, he sits or lays on his bath chair thingy in the big tub, and Daddy sits on the edge of the tub (with his feet in the water). Not the relaxing "spa experience" from when he was younger and less active...

The benefit from all this wrangling--great triceps and biceps!

So Far, So Good

Well, I went back to work yesterday. Of course, I'm only working 6.5 weeks, then taking all of next school year off, so that makes it ridiculously manageable. Nevertheless, it has gone quite well thus far. Cutie Pie has been waking up a bit earlier these two days, so that is actually good. It allows me to not only get his first meal in him with no rushing or stress, but we also get to spend some time together.

Let it be known: Dan is doing a crazy good job as stay-at-home-Dad. I'm praying that he either slows down or at least somehow manages to keep from completely burning out and getting sick. He's cleaned, done laundry, gone shopping and still managed to get James to eat and take some (short) naps!

It was a little rough leaving yesterday morning. I got choked up and had a hard time walking out the door. By the time I got down the road, I was fine. I haven't called home either day. I figure that if Dan really needs me, he can call me. By calling, I'm just bothering him, plus I don't want to hear James cry over the phone. That would break my heart. I just stay in school mode while there (aside from pumping), and eat James up while I'm home.

Pumping has been going pretty well thus far. Of course, I have recess duty this week (nice timing), so I've spent my lunch time pumping these first two days. I managed to sneak some fruit for lunch while at recess yesterday. Today I had lunch while my students were at PE in the afternoon. I think that eating lunch won't be an issue anymore. On Wed.-Fri. I won't have to pump at lunchtime because I have both morning and afternoon specials on those three days. Thus I can pump then rather than lunch. [Mondays, I have PE in the morning, and nothing in the afternoon, so I need to pump at lunch; Tuesdays I teach from 8:40 until 12:10, so I'm dying to pump by then!] Anywhim, I won't have recess duty again on a Mon or Tues after today (I think), so I'll have enough to eat and pump midday.

Oh, so one super great thing about returning to work this week is that it's Teacher Appreciation Week which means that there are all sorts of great festivities going on at school. I love the traditions that our school observes. For one, the doors are decorated by the students. My door is pretty cute: "Welcome Back, Mrs. Lepori! Thanks for running back to us!" The students all posted welcome back notes on the door, and there are pictures of running shoes. The PTO is giving us breakfast tomorrow and lunch on Friday. Our principal gives us a treat in our mailbox each day and has coffee and treats in the office as well. Older students often stop by with letters of appreciation as well. It is just lovely. Of course, I'm getting extra-special showers of appreciation upon my return, such as my principal popping in and leading my students in "three cheers for Mrs. Lepori, hip! hip! hooray!" Seriously, I love this class!

I realize that this is, quite possibly, the most poorly written entry of all time, but that's what my dual personality gets you these days. Alas.

I Figured It Out... for now...

So, just in time for my return to school (on Monday!), I have kind of figured out James's schedule. He gets up between 7 and 8 for the day, and wants to eat. He's ready for a nap about an hour and a half later. Usually this nap takes place in the stroller whilst I run. He'll sleep for the entire run (cutely, he stays awake during my walking warm-up)-- usually 45 min.-an hour.

He wakes up and is hungry around 10 or 10:30. After he eats, he likes to play. We do tummy time, jumpy seat, activity mat, book reading, piano playing.... He's ready for another nap around noon.

That nap lasts about an hour and a half, then we repeat: eat, play, nap. He eats again around 4ish then stays awake (reading, playing, bathing) until bedtime which happens between 7:30 and 8:30.

He only sleeps in the car if he's tired now. Otherwise he's looking out the windows. Cute.

Also, this all gets screwy if he misses or is late going down for a nap. For instance, this morning he got tired (fussy) around 8:30, but didn't fall asleep until 9:30. He woke up a bit after 10. As I told Dan, "Hungry trumps sleepy every time." He ate, but now he's still tired. However, he wants to play, so he's playing fussily. We'll see how the day goes from here.

Dan has the next two weeks off for paternity leave. After that the grands take over until school gets out June 18th. Then I'm home until Sept. 2009!

This sucks

So, my son likes to suck to sooth himself to sleep. The problem is that we didn't give him a pacifier much in his first month o' life. It was in an effort to 1) establish breastfeeding and 2) avoid having one of "those kids" who always has a plug in their otherwise cute face. Well, we were successful on both counts because he loves to eat (note sizable weight gain), and he won't be one of "those kids" as he cannot keep a pacifier in his mouth. Literally. It flies right out. Instead he sucks Mom or Dad's pinky or the aforementioned boob. He has located his hands for sucking/slobbering, but they don't seem to do the trick. Oh well!

Thanks for Proving Mommy Wrong!

So, yesterday James was a good napper. He napped in the morning on our way to and for the beginning of the Moms Group (aka Breastfeeding Support Group). He then napped on our way home. He napped for a while in the afternoon (before and during a 45 minute walk in the Maclaren). Then in the evening he napped again.
He even went to bed at a decent hour. Crazy.

This has continued into today. I put him down for a morning nap in his cradle, and he slept between 45 minutes and an hour. Now he's down again, this time in the Pack & Play. I'm sure that now that I've commended this development, it will end...

Baby Not-so-wise

James hates naps. Seriously. The boy doesn't like to go to bed until as late as possible with Dan & I going to bed as well. No napping.

The exception is that sometimes he'll nurse himself to sleep. However, if you try to put him in bed in such situations, he often awakens. Furthermore, today I read in Babywise that babies should follow this routine: eat-wake-sleep.

This made for a miserable day. James cried more than ever today as I tried to make him take naps. It was AWFUL. I was doubting when and how often to feed him. More crying. I wanted to cry too! I had myself believing that I'd ruined him by letting him eat-sleep-eat-wake-eat-eat...

This evening I did some internet research about Babywise and found that it is not very well respected in the scientific realm. Great. Now I feel like an even worse mom than before!

Bottom line: I am going back to following my instincts: feed him when he's hungry. Let him sleep when he wants to. I'll ask the pediatrician about his lack of napping when we go on Tuesday.