Pinterest Challenge #8-9: Potty Training and Such

Ready for more Pinterest stuff?
(Psst. See all the Pinterest Challenge stuff here.)

8. Bathroom Sink Extender for Little Hands
source: Sidetracked Sarah
worth doing again: Eh. I guess. Minimal effort, and handy.

About the third time I had to lift Charlie to wash his hands (during day one of potty training) I realized that my belly is HUGE and this was a ridiculous thing to be doing at 24 weeks along, so I pulled a baby shampoo bottle from the tub (where it was serving as a bath toy) and hacked it up with a pocket knife to fit over the faucet, like so:

Its not cute, but it works great. Another solution, of course, would be a taller stool (or child... jk, jk) but we already have four stools in this house somehow. 6 if you count the two for ME.

9. Potty Train Charlie (yikes!) in 3 Days
sources: Potty Train in 3 Days from Happy House of 5
10 Tips for Potty Training Your Strong-Willed Child from The Pinning Mama
worth doing again: Obviously. But hopefully not for like 3 more years, when baby girl hits 2.5!

Oh man. I have been pinning potty training advice for months gearing up to train Barles. And while I read many, many articles, these two were the ones I drew the most from. I also got some great tips from other moms, my favorite of which was Melissa's idea to put a tarp down in front of the TV since I have carpet(!).

I decided to train during Steve's first month of internship (if he's got a challenge, I should give myself one, too, right?). So I gave Charlie a week to adjust to Daddy being back at work (I'd read that too many changes at once are not easy on littles), and scheduled day one of potty training for this past Monday. I was so nervous the night before that I actually had butterflies/anxiety/trouble falling asleep!

We followed the rules of the 3-day potty training thing: wearing just underwear (no Pull-Ups/diapers except at nap/bedtime, and no other clothes), filling him up on water, and taking him every 30 minutes for the first two days. Then day three just asking if he needed to go. I also used several tips from the second article (about training your willful child) including:

1. Have a plan
2. Be enthusiastic, and DON'T get angry
3. Make the timer the boss
4. Give them choices/avoid power struggles

A couple days before starting we bought a Costco 8-pack of Pixar underwear, a big thing of m&ms for rewards, a new Camelback water bottle with excavators and dump trucks on it (he is in heaven), and a highly-rated-but-cheap potty seat with handles for the toilet. (I decided to skip the gross kid-potty where they have to dump pee from a bucket into the toilet this time. I did it with Gracie and then I just had to re-teach her to use the big toilet later. Plus the pee bucket is nasty.) We also started gearing Charlie up, telling him he would be using the big boy toilet and wearing underwear and getting m&ms and HOW COOL HE WOULD BE!

Monday morning I took Charlie to the bathroom first thing and then put him in underwear. We had breakfast, and I laid out a waterproof tablecloth (which we usually use for outdoor picnics) on the floor which I convinced him was SUPER cool to lay on while we watched hours of TV and he drank tons of water from his excavator water bottle. He had two accidents the first day, both in the morning, and the first two times I put him on the toilet we read a book and he said he wanted to get off. After the second book I just asked him if he could get his pee pee out (I know, I know, I am a MOM) and he thought about it for a second, and then just did it. Like it was no big deal. He got really excited, too. He would RUN to the bathroom any time the timer went off SO excited to go again. It was unreal.

We watched like 6 HOURS of TV the first morning...

We had one tiny accident yesterday (like SO teeny) but he stopped himself and asked to go to the bathroom. And today, day three, was the first day without using a timer or going every thirty minutes. I took him at 7, after changing him out of his diaper, and then at 9 I asked if he needed to go, and he said no. Finally at 11 I made him go. This kid has killer bladder control!

We still have some work to do (putting his clothes back ON by himself, not arguing about how to wash his hands, and getting the, uh, non-pee stuff into the toilet, which he so far refuses to do) but all in all this was an awesome and fairly easy experience. I give him full credit--he was totally ready, and took the bull by the horns. We may just try to leave the house tomorrow morning. :)

Prison break.

I know it is hard for you to imagine that someone with this face might ever be a challenge to parent.

Unfortunately his range of hobbies currently includes things like turning the dishwasher on and off, pulling DVDs and Blurays out of their cases, opening and closing the dishwasher while I try to load/unload it, unraveling the toilet paper, trying to put plugs into outlets, playing with the printer, and opening and closing the slider and screen doors.

It's not that he's naughty. He isn't. He knows how to be obedient, and he is definitely not trying to subvert the rules when he spends his naptime pulling dozens of wipes from their container. He just loves thinking about how things work. He's always been a tiny engineer: figuring out how to open jars and containers long before Gracie cared to, stacking ketchup and mustard bottles at restaurants by sixteen months, and experimenting with his bedroom dresser drawers (open closed open closed) by the time he could army crawl at 6 months. It's just who he is: curious, adventurous, a critical thinker.

He's also got pretty strong opinions about most things. Recently we've been working hard on getting him to eat non-fruit/non-carb foods. Like carrots. Or chicken. Nothing crazy. Some days he will take a bite of corn with just an offhanded suggestion from Mommy. Most days we ask him to, say, take a bite of his ham before he gets some yogurt, and he pitches a fit so loud that we send him to his room to cool down. He may have to take another trip to his room if we ask him to eat the ham again. Then, tearful and exhausted, he makes his way downstairs and tells us he is done yelling and ready to eat. He would like some yogurt. So, again, we suggest the ham. He whimpers and cries and eyes the ham suspiciously. He glances at the yogurt. Then, tentatively, he takes a bite of the ham. We all cheer, including him. We make a big deal out of it. We offer him the yogurt. He is suddenly uninterested in it, and finishes the ham.

*sigh*

Another thing he's passionate about, is not staying in his bed at bedtime or nap time. Which... I mean I am passionate about him staying in at those times, so we've been in quite the battle of wills. It's been at least a week so far. And most days Steve or I (and baby-bump) spend several hours either nap or bedtime camped out in the hallway to send him back to bed over and over.

The night this belly shot was taken was a two-hour battle, during which Charlie alternated getting out of bed, crying because he was put back in bed, and monologuing things like this:

"Can't catch me, Mom. Mommy? (singing) A popcorn popping an apricot tree! IIIII! IIIIII! Me now now. (end song) Hey, Dad? (Sneaks to the door. Mommy says: BED. He scurries back over.) Mommy! Mommy! Hey, Daddy! (whimpering) Mommmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Mommmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Daddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! (Repeats for a few minutes until the sobs wear off.)

Mommy? I think it's ten o'clock. Ge bo ge bo ge bo bayyy! Nah mo nay mo nee meh no mah. I just going fixing monkey. I just going fixing monkey! Fixing monkey! Fixing monkey! Bap bap boo bop bop. Oh beddy bap bip (and more nonsense words.) Hi dog. Hi apples. Yes siree! (Sings nonsense words.) Yes siree! Yes siree! (Repeats about five more times.) (Quiet. Bed rustles.) (GASP!) Daddy's home!!! (He isn't.) (More quiet.) You know. It is NIGHT time!"

To say we are tired would be an understatement. :)

So finally we decided that--for nap time only--he could play, as long as he stayed in his room. So we flipped the doorknob around so the lock was on the outside. Only the tricky-to-open side of the knob would be accessible from his room. Like so:

Yesterday it worked okay. Today, after several attempts to body-slam his way through the door, Steve heard a cry that unnerved him enough that he went in to check on the boy-o. Charlie was holding his little bank, wailing inconsolably. 

At first Steve thought he had dropped something into it and gotten it stuck, but when he popped the seal open there was nothing inside but a dollar and a handful of coins. Charlie picked out a penny and suddenly felt much better. Steve put him back in bed and locked the door.

About ten minutes later, we heard a door upstairs open and close. And open and close. And open and close.

"Is his door unlocked?" I asked Steve.

"No."

The door opened and closed again. I knew Gracie's door was unlocked, but she's learned the perils of coming out of her room before quiet time is over.

Confused, I walked up the stairs--and there was Charlie, peering out from behind his door. Thinking Steve had just forgotten, I put him back in bed and locked the door. Then, just to see, I stood in the hallway and watched the doorknob for about thirty seconds as the lock slowly twisted and the door popped open.

Charlie smiled at me, penny in hand. Mr. Lincoln had promised him LIBERTY, and liberty had been delivered.

So. My two-year-old had unlocked his bedroom door using a penny. Certainly that had to be a fluke. I walked in with him, locked the door behind me, and shut us in together.

"I want to go out," I told him. "Can you help me?"

"Yes!" he enthused, sticking the penny in the doorknob's slot and turning. "I'm helping you!" Pure glee.

I thanked him and decided that it was okay that he played with the doorknob (after all, he is my engineer) as long as he stayed in his room.

Which he didn't.

So I put him (wailing) back in bed and, much to his dismay, confiscated the penny. To say he was furious/heartbroken would not be an overstatement. Then I locked the door and left.

Imagine my surprise when, less than ten minutes later, Gracie called down the stairs that Charlie was out of his room again.

...?

I tromped my pregnant self back up the stairs (interrupted for the umpteenth time from trying to pay bills--not my fav to begin with) and found Charlie standing in the doorway with his plastic screwdriver in hand. Steve keeps a real one upstairs to lock or unlock doors the kids have locked or shouldn't unlock (like the bathroom, where Charlie also enjoys turning the lights on and off over and over while standing on a stool). Turns out plastic ones work just as well. 

Needless to say, Steve spent the next hour or so hanging out in the hallway putting our son back to bed again and again.

Looks like we're in this one for the long haul. Good thing he's cute.

And I have to admit, as frustrating as these long nap times are, we have to give him some credit for sheer ingenuity. Right???

{video} Charlie Sings "We Will Rock You"

Charlie's absolute all time favorite song is Queen's "We Will Rock You." It is the only song he will sing without being prompted--sometimes he just walks around the house belting out the chorus. :)

"Good Job!"

Charlie is 15 months old today. Holy cow. I seriously, literally just put Gracie's last pair of 18-24m sized pants away (though they were leggings, so you know, stretchy), and already baby boy is sneaking into that size!

This past month he's really been working on his vocabulary. He says "Daddy" for Mommy or Daddy, "Day-cee" for Gracie, "Doh" for toast, "Di" for drink or "Joo" for juice, "Hi" with a wave and "Di" for bye, "Uh" for up when he wants to be carried, "Uh oh" when he drops something, "Huh" for hug, "Tuh" for truck, and he is working on "Heh" for help.

But my favorite thing that he says is "um" which means Yum, which is what he says instead of FEED ME.

And my second fave is "Deh-dah" which means "Good Job!"

He tells himself this all the time. When he walks all the way across a room. "Deh-dah!" When he puts a crayon back in its box. "Deh-dah!" Even when he asks us for something, like a drink, and we give it to him, he tells us "Deh-dah!" Good job, Mom and Dad! You really hit the nail on the head with that sippy-cup pass off. You guys are the best! Deh-dah!!!

This poor kiddo has had a rough couple of months. Back at the end of January he started crying all the time. I'm not kidding. ALL the time. We were at our wits end trying to figure out what to do with him. At first we thought it was his teeth--he was working on molars then, and we thought for sure that was the culprit. He wanted to be held all the time. He wasn't sleeping well. It was awful.

Finally we wised up and took him in to the doctor, and found out the poor kiddo had a nasty ear infection. Four weeks and three antibiotics later, he is finally seeming like his old happy self again. We missed that sweet little smile and giggly face. He's got an appointment on Friday to make sure its really cleared up.

And meanwhile, he's started cutting MORE teeth. For some reason he waited to get his fangs last, so he's got 4 incisors popping in right now. You can see the little white spots where they're almost pushing through (yowch!) in this cute smiley tub picture.

He's also all about Daddy right now. Whenever he hears his papa come home he starts running (with that slant that says IF YOU DON'T CATCH ME I WILL BE EATING HARDWOOD FLOOR) or power-crawling toward the front door, and immediately asks "Uh? Uh?" (pick me up!! I love you!!) Like so:

How could you resist that cute face and the outstretched arms?! (You can't.)

His other loves are:

Climbing into cupboards to play (we have an empty one just for him in the kitchen).

Eating bananas, strawberries, pancakes, french toast, quesadillas, or toast with jam. (He does NOT like cheese alone!)

Playing with Gracie and/or her toys. (He spends a lot of time with a talking princess wand that says "Why HELLO little Princess!" He's very secure in his masculinity, so its okay.)

His green blanket (which he sleeps with every night).

Trying to do grown-up things, like using a fork or dumping water on Gracie's hair to rinse it in the bath (she doesn't like this as much).

Walking.

Playing on his truck.

Eating pretzels.

Opening jars we think he's not old enough to open.

Finding dirty socks and carrying them around and/or putting them in his mouth and shaking his head around like a puppy.

Playing at the gym.

And of course, being hugged, kissed, and loved.

Missed it.

Initially, he was aiming for his mouth.

But this is nice, too.

Five Months.

Charlie

5 months

big.

Mr. Smiley Pants (or should I say no-pants?) is five months old! Almost half a year already! Isn't he cute?

At five months Charlie:

• Can (finally) roll from tummy to back (as well as back to tummy which he's been doing for over a month). Suddenly he's quite mobile! He likes to rolly-polly around the living room, his bedroom, and his crib. Or anywhere else.
• Loves to "fly." He lays on his belly, lifts his arms to the side and kicks his little legs like crazy, ready for takeoff. Like so:

(He's all blurry because he is in mid-flight.) :)

• Eats rice cereal at dinner time, and has been enjoying that treat for several weeks now. Some days he is totally into it and eats the whole bowl, other days he starts crying halfway through.
• Thinks his toes are the best toy and most delectable treat ever. He doesn't cry when he wakes up anymore, just lays in bed and plays with his feet. How exciting to have toys attached to your legs, right???

Two hands and one foot. How is that even possible? 

• Is in a period of transition. He's starting to stretch to up to four hours between feedings sometimes, and his naps are changing, too. Sometimes two, sometimes three. Luckily he's very go-with-the-flow so we just do our best to get him his sleep.
• Can push up on his arms to look around. (Push ups are so manly, Charlie!)

• Loves his voice. One of his favorite pass-times is laying on his belly and yelling loudly over people's conversations, smiling the whole time. He has a lot to say, and at a decible you can't miss.
• Has grown hair over his former bald spot at the back of his head. :)
• Is moving up to 9 month sized clothes!
• Is still the sweetest, smiliest boy ever.

Four Months

Charlie

4 months

15lbs 6oz (between 50-75%)

26 inches (90%)

Doesn't he look happy to be four months old? Or maybe he's just happy because he's looking at a mama who loves him and thinks he's the cat's pajamas.

I am still loving this happy little boy, and loving having such a sweet baby around to snuggle on. Yesterday I just cuddled him in bed while Gracie ate her breakfast and admired what little chub he has (mostly on his cheeks--he has yet to get the tire-like legrolls that Gracie sported) and listened to him talk and took turns smiling at one another.

At four months Charlie:

• Loves to talk. He chats to Mommy, Daddy, and Gracie, as well as to any pretty thing that catches his eye, like Gracie's Elmo purse or a lit-up window.
• Can eat in about 10-15 minutes. He's super fast now! When he takes a bottle he usually eats around 4-5oz, though on occasion he will want another ounce or so.
• WAS going about 3 to 3 1/2 hours between feedings until last week when he freaked out and started wanting to eat every 2 1/2 to 3. It must have been a growth spurt; he is slowing down again now. :)
• Sleeps from 7pm to 6:30 or 7am--we started cutting out the 10pm feeding this week, and last night he slept right through it and straight on until morning. Way to go, baby boy! Sleeping is the best! We love good sleeping, but we both definitely miss cuddling on him when 10pm rolls around.
• Is no longer a swaddle baby--we either put him in a "sleeping bag" (those footless jammies) or wrap him in a swaddle only on from his chest down. Either way, his arms are now free to wiggle, flail, and bring those delicious hands up to his mouth to be chewed on.
• Still has beautiful blue eyes and is getting more hair! Hurrah! (But still has a bald spot in the back where he rests that cute head.)

• Loves to munch on his hand. Or your shoulder, neck, or anything else within mouth's reach.
• Can bat at things (this started about two or three weeks ago) and grab things and bring them to his mouth to be gnawed on.
• Crinkles his nose when he is giving you a really good grin. He is still full of smiles for everybody, and doesn't mind being passed around to people at church or Steve's school (we visited him for lunchtime today) to be admired. Happy kid.
• Can roll over! He did it for the first time about two weeks ago, but this week he really got the hang of it and does it whenever he wants to. Check out the rolly polly in action!

We love this little boy-o. I can't believe he's only been out in the wide world with us for four months!

Excuse me while I gush about my baby boy.

Look at this beautiful boy. His smile--which is pretty much a constant during his waking hours, and sometimes even sneaks into sleeping hours if he is having a good dream--is infectious. I almost cannot stand how cute it is; he lights up a room. His cheeks are always a little pink from too many kisses from his mama and sister.

When I found out I was going to be the mommy of a little blue bundle, I was nervous. Very nervous. We felt totally unequipped to raise a boy. But it has been wonderful! (Really not that much different than Gracie was, other than a little more danger during a diaper change.) And he is just the sweetest most delicious baby. I keep thinking of Diana in Anne of the Island:

"Before he came I wanted a girl, so that I could call her ANNE," said Diana. "But now that little Fred is here I wouldn't exchange him for a million girls. He just COULDN'T have been anything but his own precious self."


And here is his precious self, beaming:

And he loves his Daddy. Yesterday he talked to Steve for a full five minutes, no doubt complaining about the overabundance of estrogen he has to put up with all day, home alone with two women.


Thank goodness for this little boy! He is my own personal ray of sunshine. We love our Charlie oh so much.

Blessed.

We have been, to have this little guy in our lives. And last weekend we got to have his own little baby blessing at my parents' house, surrounded by family (and the Nuckols, who are adopted family).

Charlie's circle: Jim Nuckols, Grandpa Curt, Charlie, Steve, Grandpa Kris, and Uncle Kevin.

Steve and his brother Kevin, both our dads, and our dear friend Jim gave Charlie his name and blessing in my parents' family room on April 3rd. It just warmed my little mommy heart to hear the things he was blessed with. (And, for the record, he was wearing a shirt and tie during the blessing, but we freed him afterward--what man really wants to hang around in a tie at a party?)

It was a beautiful afternoon, and we all hung around and lunched, enjoying the sunshine and each others' company. We were so relaxed that about half the group (including Charlie) took naps at some point in the day. And the little girls had a fun time chalking my mom's cement turtle and dachshund (below) and wandering around scavenging food from their many admirers (or unguarded plates). Sunshine and family; perfection.

Charlie's Goin' Green

Much news coverage is spent on the politics of the environment, and how money should be spent on protecting our beautiful, God-given planet.

Being responsible parents in this 21st century, we have decided to do our part.

In order to do so, we had a new baby that would start a new generation of earth-saving children. Today, we took Charlie to the doctor's office to reaffirm that we have given birth to a baby that will make the Chevy Volt look like a monstrous environmental atrocity.

Last Sunday (8 days ago, mind you), Charlie decided that he was so excited to see me, that he literally couldn't control himself. He abandoned rectal tone of any kind. This story normally would seem sad... but then again, it was the last time he has pooped. In 8 days.

Most parents would be worried. But of course, not us. Not with our little windmill of a child. Just to double-check, we took the baby to the doctor. After some poking and prodding, the doctor concluded that the baby had no backup of stool, constipation, or abnormality of any kind.

The only possible conclusion: Our baby makes no waste. He uses all the energy that he ingests, and he excretes only urine, or methane (a lot of it), both of which could probably be used for other energy sources had we the equipment.

So, let us all learn a lesson from Charlie. Let us stop wasting precious calories and nutrients that require paper and water to dispose of. Let us all be a little responsible, and try not to go "number two" any more than we need to, if at all.

PLEASE NOTE: The author is stating his opinion, which is most certainly flawed. He is not a medical professional, and his advice should be followed with caution. Heck, even when he IS a medical professional... be careful.

Three Months

Charlie

3 months

15lbs

Look at this sweet baby boy. And his cute tummy. And his handsome face. He just gets more adorable by the day!

We don't know his stats for this month since his next well-baby visit isn't until next month, but he officially moved up to 6 month sized clothes this week! He is wearing a size "Large" onesie for his photoshoot. I love having a huge baby to cuddle. And I am getting some pretty nice biceps--I've never had definition like this before. :)

You're not going to kiss me again, are you Mom?

At three months Charlie:

• Sleeps from 7pm to 7:30am with a little feeding in there at 10pm. He could probably give that up, but since Steve is studying for STEP all day, sometimes it is the only time he gets to spend with Daddy (and vice versa). We had to let him cry through his 4am wakeup for about three nights, but then he figured out that he was a big boy and could sleep at nighttime. It is glorious.
• Has stopped crying when I put him down for naps. He just looks around for a while, sometimes coos, and falls asleep.
• Loves to talk to us. He is always smiling biiiiiiig fat smiles and cooing--especially after he is rested and fed, when we are singing to him, or when Gracie is giving him loves and talking to him. He is her biggest fan, and I love watching them together.

• Is in love with gnawing on his hand. He found it about two weeks ago, and has been gumming his knuckles or sucking his thumb ever since. It's pretty awesome, because if he escapes a swaddle in the night or during naptime, he just attacks that cute little hand and falls back asleep.
• Is much less gassy, but still way gassier than his sister was. And these are not polite little baby toots--they are noisy. And if you don't hear them, you still smell them. He is such a boy! Haha. I bet he will be proud of this fact when he is older.

• Will crane his neck like crazy if a TV or computer is nearby and on. Fascinating stuff, that.
• Finishes eating in 15-20 minutes on average, sometimes even faster. If we give him a bottle, he slurps it down as fast as possible.
• Is starting to look for us when he hears our voices--and of course gives us a light-up-the-room grin when he finds us.

And today he laughed! It was the best!!! Baby laughter is the most magical sound. J.M. Barrie knew what he was talking about. I was just hanging out with him during Gracie's nap, tickling his cute tummy, and he cooed at me. It was so cute that I laughed, and then he laughed right back!

One of the nicest things about baby number two, is that I'm not so scared this time around. In fact, most of the time I feel downright comfortable, capable, and happy. And that has meant that I have a lot more attention and energy to focus on just enjoying his babyhood. I love his new little neck chub and his smiles and his babbling. I love holding him while I feed him and stroking or kissing his soft little baby cheeks. I love trying to teach him that raspberries on his belly are funny (he still does a startle reflex when I do it, but then he smiles afterward). I love giving him baths and singing to him at bedtime and that he is starting to smile at me when I go to get him up in the morning. I love that he loves to be held. It is a little bittersweet, because it is going by so fast, but I love every new stage and every new trick he learns, and watching him get so excited that he kicks his legs really fast and then curls up in a ball on his side. It is wonderful and exhausting, but I definitely have the best job in the world.

How cute is this?! I love this boy!

Sleep

This beautiful boy has been doing something amazing lately--sleeping from 11pm straight through until 6 or 7 every morning. He has already beeng going to bed (no crying!) at 7 for quite some time, with a please-sleep-little-baby feeding at 10:30 before we got to bed, but he was determinedly clinging to the 4am feeding, of which I am not a fan. After talking to one of my friends from church, we got up the guts to let him cry it out for a couple nights. We turned a fan on in our room, turned the monitor down when he started crying, and within three nights he had slept until 6am, and he hasn't gotten up before that since! And, bonus, he is sleeping even better in the daytime now. And his Mommy is so very happy to get to snooze for 7 to 8 consecutive hours--I cannot even tell you how great that is!

His schedule now looks like this (I am writing it down because I have no idea what Gracie's was for the first 6 months of her life!):

7am - Wake up, eat, play!
9am - Nap
10:30am - Wake up, eat, and play some more
Noon - Nap
1:30pm - Wake up, eat
2:30pm - Nap
4:30pm - Eat, hang out in swing while Mommy cooks dinner
5:30pm - Catnap
6pm - Bath
6:30pm - Pre-bedtime feeding (I realize these last two are close together, but I like to really fill him before bed!)
7pm - Bed!
10:30pm - Bottle of formula (6-8oz!)


And of course, he is also FULL of smiles when he happens to be awake. We love this little boy so much!

Another Sunshine

Remember this smiley sunshine face? Now I have another one. :)

Two Months

Charlie

2 months

12lbs 11oz (75%)

24 1/4 inches (75%)

Our little bun (or, The Hoss, as he is more commonly--and affectionately--known) is two months old already. CRAZY. I'll spare you my thoughts on how insane it is that our kiddos are growing up faster and faster; I can barely keep up.

At two months Charlie's personality is really coming out. Since he started smiling, he's been very generous with his grins and coos. He loves diaper changes because our faces are so close, and gives us lots of smiles then, especially if he's just been fed. Gracie likes to mimic the the things we do to get him to smile and then exclaims, "He's filing at me!!!" (She's still working on her "s" sounds.) He likes to watch us and will move his head to follow us around the room. Since he's was sick he has totally converted to a swing-loving baby, so he rotates between that and a blanket on the rug where he is either flailing happily on his back, sucking on his hands (he hasn't found the thumb yet though) or doing baby pushups for tummy time. He likes to be tickled on his tummy, sung to, cuddled and carried. He also mostly likes baths, which is pretty cute.

He's also shown us a bit of a sassy streak. He was sleeping from 10 to 4 during his first month of life, and partway through the second he started waking up for a 1am feeding again. We were shocked and amazed (and not in a good way!). Everyone told us to try to slowly wean him by giving him a pacifier and soothing him. This was supposed to make him wake up a little later every night, but instead he kept waking up at exactly the same time, now wanting a pacifier instead of a feeding. So we have been letting him wake up and cry, because nothing else worked. We go in and check to be sure he doesn't need changed or re-swaddled, but other than that we let him be. It sounds kind of terrible, but since he has been metabolically capable of sleeping through the night since he hit 11 pounds (at ONE MONTH OLD), we figure he got a whole extra month of night feedings, so now he can learn to be a big boy and sleep through the night. His attitude during the daytime is still so cheery that we know he's not feeling neglected (though he would prefer to be cuddled all the time, day or night), and he is now sleeping later and later without waking up, so we have hope that he will achieve this miracle soon. This weekend he stayed with the Pearsons and they used a magical swaddle blanket on him which kept him from batting himself in the face and he slept! They let us borrow a few and last night he slept until almost 6am! Woohoo! He does go down for bed now with absolutely no crying (hurray!) and often goes down for a nap without crying, too. Thank goodness--his crying blew Gracie's out of the water.

Little Hoss is also doing a great job eating. He can now finish nursing in 20-30 minutes (at the beginning it was an hour per feeding, so I am super happy about his speed now!) and since we bottle feed sometimes we know that he is starting to take larger feedings (he totally had a growth spurt about 2 weeks ago, which started his 1am night wakings, and he started eating more and sometimes had to be supplemented a little). He takes about 4-5oz during the day and for his late night feeding (we wake him before we go to bed to feed him) he will take up to 6oz of formula. He's still wearing 3 month sized clothes, but he is just about at the end of them; he might even move up a size before he hits 3 months.

He's also growing some very cute hair--right now he looks like he has a buzz cut in front, and the beginnings of a faux-hawk toward the back.

I think he is just the most delicious, sweet little baby boy and I love him!

Don't Hate the Playa.

Steve believes in getting them started early. To build ultimate gamer skillz.

All your ducks are belong to him.

(That was a geek joke, not poor grammar.)