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The little monkey boy rolled over! Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it, as I had turned to take a drink of coffee. Baba, however, got a front row seat. Gabriel gets lots of nicknames in this house. The most common ones are monkey boy, little wee bear, and standing boy. I guess we'll have the add 'rolling boy' to the mix. :-)
And yes, as always, I was very spoiled. First of all, I got to SLEEP IN. Ty got up early with our little guy and I curled up under the warm covers and went right back to sleep. I awoke about an hour later to the aroma of coffee and something tasty being cooked in the kitchen. As I've said on this blog many times, my partner is a wonderful cook. Beyond wonderful, in my opinion - I have never enjoyed meals eaten out as much as her delicious dishes. What's even more amazing is what she can cook up 'in a minute', so to speak. As you can see in the pic, I was treated to scrambled eggs (light as clouds), veggie sausage, waffles with strawberry sauce, fresh asparagus and thinly sliced apples.
After breakfast we simply hung out on the living room floor for a while - we talked, laughed, played with Gabriel and watched the crazy Oregon weather (it went from rain, to sun, to snow/small hail, back to sun again all within two hours.) I love weather like this so Ty informed me that she had ordered it special.
Ty then left to 'pick up something at school.' Yeah, right. She arrived home soon afterwards with flowers (and my cake.)
My parents came over soon after and we played rummy-cube together. For some odd reason I *love* this game. I think it's the mixture of color and organizational strategy. Ty on the other hand can't stand the game - which is good because Gabe began to fuss and needed a nap, so she took care of whining, tired boy.
If you are following closely, you will recognize that it is now mid afternoon and I have done almost no childcare. Thanks love!! :-)
After the game Ty brought out my favorite cake from a local bakery (rich dark chocolate cake with mouse filling) and we enjoyed cake and coffee. Soon afterwards Ty and I whisked ourselves away to one of my favorite restaurants in town (a small italian place) while mom and dad watched Gabriel. (Extra thanks to my folks here, because Gabe was really fussy this day and continued to fuss for a good portion of the time they watched him. Poor kid, I think his teeth were really hurting him.)
It's my birthday, so guess what Ty and I did *before* we drove to the restaurant? We stopped by a local toy store and bought a little toy car for Gabriel. LOL. Earlier in the week he saw other kids playing with a train set at a bookstore and was actually able to move the train pieces himself a little. We were thrilled and had been wanting to get him something with 'wheels' ever since. It's amazing how hard it is to find a simply toy with wheels!
Anyway - there it is, a birthday sum-up. I'll post my thoughts about turning 35 later on.
6:00 - Gabriel wakes up in his co-sleeper. I pick him up and snuggle him next to me, hoping he goes to sleep again. So far, he usually does! He doses and nurses on and off until about 7:00/7:30.
7:30 - Gabriel *really* wakes up, and tells his mama and baba that he is AWAKE. We both sit up a little and talk to him for a while. He seems to like these morning conversations, and he talks and smiles right along with us. I love these morning times. He also loves to have both of us hold him and will lean himself out of my arms to go to baba, and vice versa.
7:40 - Gabriel decides he is ready to get OUT of the bed. One of us does the first morning shift and the other does the second. If it's my turn, the morning goes like this...
7:45 - Lay Gabriel on floor by the bike racks. Spin bike wheels and let him watch them spin while I go to the bathroom, wash my face and clean my teeth.
7:50 - Change his diaper, take off pj's and put on his clothes for the day (we're still putting him in those one piece sleepers most of the time.)
8:00 - Put Gabriel in the sling. Go into the kitchen and make coffee and my breakfast (usually peanut butter toast.) Gabriel loves to HELP. He watches me pour the water in the coffee pot, loves to watch me scoop the coffee beans and 'push' the button on the grinder (mama helps), and then he holds onto the bag the bread is in, making it crinkle. He tries to grab the peanut butter as well, so I have to do a lot of quick baby evasion.
8:15 - Put Gabriel down on the floor and stretch a little. He thinks this is very funny and talks to me the whole time. I often pause in this little stretching routine to have a whole conversation with him. 'ah' 'ah' ooohh'' aaaooohh' 'mmm'' ''aaagggoo'...etc.
8:40 - Put Gabriel on playmat for tummy time; Get my coffee; turn on my laptop and do the following all at the same time: entertain the boy, eat my breakfast, read the news. Baba usually comes out to join us right about this time.
9:00 - Gabriel informs me that he is DONE with tummy time play and wants to do something else. Luckily - it's baba's turn! :-) He loves to play 'standing boy' on her lap in the morning, so this is usually what they do first. I, in turn, get to finish eating my breakfast.
9:15 - The wee one starts getting TIRED and fussy....naptime is upon us.
9:30 - Down for nap. I either nap myself (if it's been a long night) or quickly get some work done.
What am I up to now?
- big, dramatic, throw the head back squeels of laughter. He LOVES to laugh! These huge belly laughs are often followed by a chorus of adorable giggles.
- 'tripod sitting', where he sits on his own supported by his hands. He gets a kick out of this, but quickly feels frustrated because he can't reach for things without tumbling over.
- Other physical stuff: Transferring toys from hand to hand, Dropping toys and watching them fall, Supporting his own weight when he stands (holding onto Baba's fingers), Pulling himself up into a sit if he's supported by pillows (so he only has to go halfway) Things he is *not* doing? The kid refuses to roll over. Nope, not doing it, he says.
- Watching us move about the room. He'll crane his neck around to see where we are going. He also keeps a close watch on us when other people are holding him; whereas before he didn't seem to notice where we were.
- Watching us eat with *great* interest - he even opens his mouth to 'take a bite' at the same time we do. Ty is going to introduce him to some sweet potatoes and avocados very soon.
- I'm not sure how many words he is starting to understand, but we know he understands the word 'cat'. We are always pointing the cats out to him. This week baba said 'cat' and he looked around for them!
- Talking wise he is trying out both the 'mmmm' and the 'b' sound (both are pretty sporatic, but we've heard them!)
- He also like to talk to the baby in the mirror. I don't know if he recognizes himself, but he sure loves to hold a conversation with that baby! Oh, and speaking of conversations, he has also started to 'talk' while he nurses. Oy!
I can confidently report that he has mastered the art of nursing. Yesterday I sat him in my lap for a story before bed. He pushed the book away with his hands, leaned his head back - and latched! Upside down nursing boy. Unbelievable. I remember when it took dozens of pillows, multiple tries and hours of patience to get any kind of productive latching.
It was much easier to grade with a baby. I show him an exam. If he smiles it's an A, and if he cries they flunk. :-)
Seriously, one of the downsides to teaching freshman/sophmore intro classes is the onslaught of 120 final exams at the end of the term to grade - along with 120 anxious students who know your email address. Argh. *And* my department pulled the teaching assistants for the class this term and gave me two 'graders' instead. Which is fine, except that all the panicked emails go straight to me instead of being split between us. Oh well - it's now over and I can enjoy my spring break. Well, kind of. I can now let myself focus on my *own* writing. This week I need to compress a 45 page literature review paper into a sleek 10-12 page dissertation proposal. Ty is swamped as well, because her MFA show is coming up in a few short weeks. Luckily, the elementary school mom works at is off on spring break as well, so she can play with the boy while I type and Ty gets her piece for her show ready. Yeah Mom! Yeah Dad, too, because he watched kiddo today while I got the grading done.
Who would of thought. We buy all of these great toys for the wee one, and what causes him to burst into laughter again and again? Watching mama tear up paper. Bills to be exact. And junk mail. I go through our bills and such once a month. This month our little guy was sitting on Ty's lap in the rocking chair playing with a toy while I sat on the floor and began my monthly bill paying/mail shredding routine. I tore up a bill - and he shrieked with laughter. We laughed and tore up paper for 15 minutes or so. I have never heard him laugh so hard and so long in his whole little life!
I love porch swings. Some of my favorite memories as a kid are my times reading books on our porch swing. Here is Gabriel having a snack while we wait for baba to finish up in her art studio.
Gabriel loves these flowers. If you hit them, they play little songs. He figured out early one that they *also* turn on if you gnaw on them. Since his head control is better than his hand control, and since he like to chew on stuff anyway, more often than not (this* is how he turns on the songs)
Gabriel loves this book - he even tries to turn the pages. I read that at 4 months old he sees red and blue colors the best, so that could be part of it. It also has pictures of a baby's hand on each page and Gabe seems fascinated with this.
All the expensive teethers we have and *this* is what he likes best. :-)
That's a quick summary of *our* week. So...what up with you?
Sitting! Albeit a bit wobbily.
First of all, my computers back. Yeah! Now I can download pictures and brighten up these bare posts. Right now, as I write this, our little guy is sleeping in the co-sleeper beside me. Yes, I know I wrote this same statement many months back. But I never told you that he didn't *stay* in the co-sleeper for more than a few hours. Either he wasn't ready, or we weren't ready, or both, but he's been sleeping in our bed right beside me for four and a half months now. This time, we are going to try to get him to stay in it all night - every night. What sparked this change? For the past 3 months Gabriel has been a *great* night sleeper. A horrible napper, but a great night sleeper. He would go down at 7:30, wake up around 2:00 to eat and go right back asleep until 7:00am in the morning. For the past three nights, he has recognized that he sleeps RIGHT NEXT TO THE KITCHEN! And it's open all night long! Needless to say, we are both exhausted. So at this point, it's either continue to let him sleep right next to me, but not eat until around 2:00 and listen to him cry about this. Or - move him just five more inches over into the co-sleeper and listen to him cry. We're thinking the latter is the better plan. I won't let him cry by himself, however, so tonight (and the next 4-5 nights I'm sure) is going to be a lot of patting, momentary picking up and rocking, and more patting. Eventually, he'll figure out that the kitchen really is closed and that mama and baba are still close by.
Update: Goddess give me strength. This is hard! He woke up not long after I posted the above piece. He immediately started crying. I leaned over him, layed my head close to his and 'shhhed' and patted for about 5 minutes. Then his cries turned from angry cries (which I don't like, but can handle) to confused and scared cries, so picked him up and put him on my chest for a while. He settled down instantly. I put him back in the sleeper about 2 minutes later and bam, instant cries. More of the above, and then picked him up 10-15 minutes later. Again, he settle down immediately. He stayed settled for a small while when I put him back in the sleeper and then started crying again. Another 10 minutes - I picked him up, settled him and *this* time when I put him back in he stayed settled. After about 5 more minutes of saying little 'shhh' and love notes to him ("my sleepy boy....it's bed time...it's okay...) he fell asleep. We'll see how long this lasts.
New update: He just woke up a little, searched for me and after a little bit of eye contact and more 'shhh - go to sleep' he closed his eyes!!
Update - 3 days later: Well, the quiet certainly didn't last long. The above scenerio (cry, calm him, cry, calm him) happened about 3 more times that night. Yesterday, however, it seemed to go much better. He woke up right around the usual feeding times (11:00, 2:30, and 6:00) and cried when he found himself in the co-sleeper, but he calmed down faster than the nights before. As of right now, he's been asleep since 7:30 (holding onto his flannel lovey I made him out of an old shirt.)
Gabriel's first word! Well, perhaps not first real word, but Ty said it was quite clear to her. This past week he has been trying out all kinds of new sounds...we've got 'g', 'l', and 'w' going pretty consistently. Still no 'b' or 'm', but I'm sure it's coming soon. He's also been experimenting with making other sounds, like coughing, blowing raspberries, and making this very odd throating 'g' sound. I'm not sure what 'hoagie igloo' means, but Gabriel still gets a kick out of it when Ty says it back to him. Does anyone know where the baby dictionary is?
Sorry about the lack of posts on this blog. First the computer went down (and is still on the operating table) and then both Ty and I got food poisoning. I have never, ever been that sick in my entire life. I have so much more sympathy now for people who have it. It only lasted for one day..but oh what a day it was. We ended up calling my parents at 2:30am to come watch Gabriel as ty and I took turns at the toilet. We finally crawled into bed around 9:00am or so in the morning and slept the rest of it off. Gabe, however, just thought it was cool to have nana and papa come over in the middle of the night and play with him! :-)
Gabriel has figured out he can splash the water in the tub at bathtime. For weeks now, Ty has been taking his little hands and hitting the water with them saying 'splashy splashy.' He would giggle and grin at the game. Today, she said 'splashy splashy' and he hit the water all by himself! And oh how proud he was. He then proceded to splash like there was no tomorrow and just laughed and laughed. By the end of bathtime, Ty was soaked. (BTW...there are no pics because my computer is still in the operating room)
My computer died on me last week - hence the lack of posting. (That, and the fact that it seems like *everything* is due right now in school/work.) Ack..boy woke up...be back later.
