April Chit Chat - Page 10 « Back to Group Discussions

[jbk21]

I hold Dylan and let our dog come up to him.  She tries to lick him of course, which I don't really allow.  He just paws at her and grabs her fur.   He gets SUPER excited about it though!  She is extremely hyper and very rambunctious, but she doesn't try to jump on him.

[KayPea]

Oren can sit unassisted for a minute or so before losing interest and toppling over. He can roll back to tummy (and does so incessantly, even though he doesn't usually like being stuck on his tummy.) He used to roll easily from tummy to back when he was 6-7 weeks old, but he can't do it any more. His arms get in the way, though he can get his legs and bum all the way over in fits of sheer determination. He's starting to pivot while on his tummy, and can now do the full push up. He pulls his legs under him sometimes too, and can move a little bit by pushing the ground with his feet. He got stuck under the couch today when I was getting DD a snack.

He loves toys, and can do some simple manipulating, like using both hands to open and crumple paper. He can get most anything to his mouth now. He's getting his object permanence I think, because he is starting to get so mad when he drops a toy. He's discovered his feet, but there is too much fat in the way for him to get them to his mouth. And yes, his bits too - diaper changes have gotten interesting. I've had him taste some food, and he seems interested in our food, but I'm going to wait until he gets to that point of getting mad when we aren't feeding him before I start with the solids. His first two teeth keep coming and receding. And you all know his sleep is crap.

He has a few consonants, like Ba, Ma, Ga, Da and something that sounds like Zsa, but mostly it's just open-mouthed vocalizations with all kinds of different voices. He does say Mama when he is upset, but I don't really count it as talking, just something he does when he gets upset.  He has a comically deep voice, he and I are pretty much the same tone (and I have a deep lady-voice) and enourmous hands. He'll be 5 months tomorrow. 

[Mal85]

I'm loving all the updates.

Greta is getting close to sitting unassisted. She can for quite a while if I let her fold herself over. She doesn't topple, but she likes to sit and eat her feet that way. She does the same thing in her Bumbo, leans as far forward as she can trying to reach her toes. 

She can roll both ways. She mostly rolls from back to belly and loves being on her tummy for quite a while. I'll stick a couple of toys in front of her and that keeps her busy for a while. She knows how to go from belly to back, but doesn't like to do it for some reason. If I let her fuss about it enough, she'll roll over on her own. 

She's not really showing any signs of crawling yet. Not really getting on her hands and knees yet. Well, she gets her knees up under her, but has never tried to support any weight with her arms. DH even tried "showing" her how to do it one time by positioning her that way. It was funny to watch, but not at all effective.

We have a Jumperoo that she finally figured out how to use. She used to just hang out in there, playing with the toys, but she recently figured out the jumping part and is loving that thing even more lately. 

She has started eating some solids. We do a combo of purees and table food. We do the purees about once a day. When we eat our meals, I put some of what we're eating on the high chair for her and let her experiment with it. I think food is her favorite part of the day right now!

She blows raspberries almost constantly and hoots like an owl most of the time. She gets the mama sound out when she's upset. When she's feeling whiny, she coos like a little pigeon. Thanks to her noises, she's gotten some great nicknames. She's my little hoot owl when she's happy and my little pigeon when she's crabby.

[dashley111]

So how do you guys get your babes to enjoy tummy time?  We get about 2 minutes tops before a total melt down.

[birdhappy85]

My baby goes through phases with tummy time... One week she likes it, and the next week she hates it. That's progress from how she used to ALWAYS hate it. (She liked it more when she learned to roll, but then that got boring for her and we went back to square one.) Others on here suggested to me before to elevate the baby during tummy time to make it more comfortable for her. I use a Boppy pillow. Sora is much more likely to do tummy time while propped up. It works like a charm. But --- she still isn't that keen on being on her belly, so we keep our activities brief. She built super strong neck and back muscles from getting her "tummy time" in other ways like babywearing and being chest-to-chest. I decided after a while that the whole typical floor tummy time is overrated...

Also worth noting is that if I put Sora on a quilt with an interesting print or put toys around her to look at, it seems to distract her from her initial irritability with tummy time, at least for a little longer.

[TalkToMeNow]

Jasper's doctor was concerned that he wasn't getting enough tummy time to build up those muscles. She had me start by doing short tummy time sessions (like a minute each) multiple times per day. Within a day of that, he learned to roll over so that he could avoid tummy time all together! So now he rolls from front to back with ease. He's actually gotten a little bit better with being on his tummy. He'll play with a toy for a few minutes like that.

Other than that, he's sitting for short periods, usually by propping himself up with his hands. He also loves standing. And he tries to grab our food when we eat. I'm still not giving him any food; I don't feel that he has any real signs of readiness other than a mild interest. He's super observant; he spends most of his time in what appears to be deep contemplation! :)

Ash, the noise you say Bettie makes... dd2 make that noise. I'm a huge Lord of the Rings nerd, so I would say she sounded like a Nazgul rather than a pterodactyl. Lol.

[beccawprice]

I don't post here hardly at all, but I read every single day. My little Theodore (ok, not quite so little, since he's tipping the scale at 18 pounds) is so crazy fun right now! I love this age so so much--interactive, but not mobile yet. Teddy rolls like a champ from back to front, but hasn't a clue how to roll back. He just found his feet and loves them and his bits desperately. He's getting his second bottom tooth and drools something fierce. If given his Sophie giraffe, he will attack her with slimy gusto. Not sitting up at all--basically he's been an adorable lump for a good long while But it seems that the last week or two he's making big jumps in his abilities. I wish time would just slow down.

[seraf]

Shay prefers tummy time On the bed or something colorful. He flips himself to his tummy now. He likes it there and it makes him pee, so he fusses then. He is desperate for food. If I hold food up for him he can grab it but if I lay it on the table he just chases it around and knocks it on the floor. All this food has changed his poop but eating is clearly one of his favorite things and it makes a big difference in his level of crying while I'm at work.

I have started putting daily pictures on an old blog. I'm going to see if I can put a link in my profile if anyone feels like they would like to see more pictures.

[CDsMom1031]

Conner likes tummy time... If he's in a good mood. To encourage it, I'll put his toys down in front of him or lay down with him and talk to him while he's doing it.

As far as pets go, my cats pretty much stay out of his way. My dog... He's the best big brother EVER. He does l.o.v.e licking though, so he's constantly giving Conner a "bath", which annoys the crap out of me, but that's pretty much it. He's super gentle with him and doesn't freak out when he gets pulled on and stuff.

[seraf]

Long hair question.  My 9 year old wakes up every morning with mats in the back of his hair and he's getting a lot of breakage.  What all do you do with long hair?  Right now he just uses weekly shampoo, lots of conditioner, brush when dry and daily.  I was told that braids would keep the tangles down but is there anything else I should be doing to his hair?  It took me almost 20 minutes to get all the mats out this morning.  He feels strongly about keeping it long, so I told him I would ask for suggestions.

[LunaLady]

I had butt length hair before I chopped it in December. I always slept in either braids or a bun. Otherwise not only would I get tangles, but my hair would just be smothering me at night! 

I used to rolling my hair into a handkerchief to bun it for bedtime. I would fold the handkerchief in half to make a triangle and lay it on the bed so that the point was pointing away from me. Then I would lay down over the handkerchief so that the end of my hair were about at the point. Then roll the point down, tucking the hair and rolling it into the handkerchief. Keep rolling and rolling, using the ends to roll if his the hair is longer than the handkerchief. Roll until you reach the scalp, then take the ends of the handkerchief and tie them together. Nice bun on top of the head, out of the way!

Phew, that was lots of type out the word, 'handkerchief'. I'm spent! 

[seraf]

Thanks Christina, I'm not sure if he wants to go that far, but I will offer him. Would it stay up there if I rolled it up on the couch and then he got into bed? He is on the top bunk and I doubt he could do it himself.

[TalkToMeNow]

Sara, I think it totally depends on hair type. I used to have very long hair and as long as I straightened it, it never got tangled. Dsd and dd1 have long hair with no tangle issues. Dd2 has medium length hair and wakes up with bad tangles. She also insists on brushing her hair herself. And there is no way she would sleep with anything in her hair. So I let her use kids tangle spray. She sprays it on, brushes, and the tangles go away like magic! I'm sure it's terrible stuff, though.

I've also heard that sleeping on a satin pillowcase prevents tangles.

[LunaLady]

Originally Posted by seraf 

Thanks Christina, I'm not sure if he wants to go that far, but I will offer him. Would it stay up there if I rolled it up on the couch and then he got into bed? He is on the top bunk and I doubt he could do it himself.

Yep, it's a very sturdy bun! It should stay in. Does make for some nice soft curls... but if he doesn't like that the big curls from this bun are easier to comb out than braid waves, IME.

[Jaimee]

I pull mine back in a french braid or pony tail.  I don't get a lot of tangles, but I think it depends on the hair like Amanda said.  Ds1 seems to get mats in his 3" long hair.  I spray it with water in the morning and brush it with a bristle brush.

[dashley111]

Im going to have to start putting my hair up at night.  I never thought of it...but I get the worst tangles.  Im on the verge of red dreads.  Haha.

[wellforth]

We've had an awful time with sleep here.  Naps in the stroller are getting harder, like instead of falling asleep in five minutes, it'll take an hour.  That's an hour of walking to GET to sleep, then an hour of walking to STAY asleep.  Ergo naps are easier, but harder on my body (my dp does most of them).  Luca now takes 4-5 short naps a day (an hour or less), and then usually goes to sleep by 8, up around 6 a.m., with 4-8 wakings usually to nurse.  We had two nights of waking up with hysterical screaming (him, not me :D); I couldn't even get him to latch on he was so upset.  Last night, there were no hysterics, but he woke up at least 6-7 times between midnight and 7.  I'm kinda brainless today.  And highly caffeinated.

Other than not sleeping, Luca's working on more teeth.  He's cut two canines, and working on two more.  He can sit for a few minutes at a time, but will fall over if he's reaching for something too vigorously.  He's called me mom or mmmm for a while, though I think he is referring to my boobs more than me.  He found his consonants, which he whips out when he's angry.  Sounds like he's cussing up a storm.  He can roll pretty easily.  he got on all fours yesterday, and pushed himself forward.  He likes to stand next to the couch, though his balance is not the greatest.  But he loves to stand.  He's actually getting some pincer grasp, which surprises me.  He was grabbing for dandelions yesterday while sitting in the yard, and actually managed to get them and stick them in his mouth (also a maple seed). 

Really, I wish he'd slow down on the development and get to the sleeping, but I don't have much choice in that, I know. 

carey

[wellforth]

Oh, and his bits.  He's been ALL about his bits lately! 

carey

[KayPea]

Carey - what he's doing sounds like teething. That's what DD would do - be SO hard to nap and then wake up screaming in the night. Camillia really worked for the screaming. So, if he's getting canines, does he look like a vampire? Big pointy teeth on the sides and gums in the middle? Or does he have his front/middle teeth too?

I think I've been dooming myself as far as sleep goes. Naps anyway. A couple of months ago when Oren got bronchiolitis he stopped going down to sleep on his own and started needing to be nursed to sleep. And for naps I can't really move him, so I was nursing him down in the bed. And then he'd wake up 5 - 10 minutes later. And I just kept doing that, having gotten used to it, I guess. But then DH rocked him to sleep for the morning nap and he slept for an hour!  So for the midday nap I tried nursing him to sleep but he wouldn't do it, so then I thought, why not? And I put him in the crib and came down to eat lunch. He fussed for a little bit, but never got to actually crying, and when I went up to go check on him, he was starting to fall asleep, and so I backed off and he fell asleep on his own and has been sleeping for 25 minutes. I feel silly that this is all I had to do!  And I realized today that he hasn't been falling asleep at the breast for a while during the day, well, at least not at first. He will the second attempt, but it's clear to me now that it's because he is just way over tired. He has been going 2 - 3 hours between naps lately. 

He still falls asleep at the breast at night time, but I might try him on his own then too. 

Woo!

[dashley111]

I am heading to Portland tonight for the weekend.  Its a 3 hour drive and I'm having some serious anxiety thinking about the baby in the car...she HATES the car.  It might be the longest 3 hours of my life.

I keep thinking about Katie's trip...