Fine motor skill development:
*He is a HOOT! I've watched him countless times as he switches his paci from hand to hand and takes it out of his mouth. He can put it back in his mouth too but sometimes he doesn't want to let go! Many times his elbows are straight so his arm is out in front of him as he waves his pacifier around. His wrists don't always rotate either which causes a problem when he has the pacifier close to his mouth.
*He is really good at pulling hair and Jeremy gets excited when the hair is too short to pull! I got my hair cut thinking it would help a little bit, but alas it hasn't. He opens and closes his hand quite a bit and if something is in arms reach, he will go after it and grab it. The grip is excellent though. I ask him to hold things all the time now. We are practicing holding onto his clothes and then dropping them into the dirty clothes basket. 6 months isn't too early to teach someone that right?!
*He loves holding onto his feet more and more as well as pull them up to his mouth. There are times when his little toes go into his mouth too so it's a good thing they are stay clean!
*If his pacifier isn't around, the fist loves to go right into his mouth. One morning Jeremy heard a loud sucking noise from the bathroom and he walked out to see L sucking his thumb on our bed! (March 11) We are trying to discourage the thumb sucking though so have been offering alternatives but somehow the thumb will creep back. Other times he's content with clamping down on his finger, Jeremy's hand or even my shoulder. Source of it all.... teeth?! I'm sure they are coming soon.
*When we are holding him, he always bends over and tries to get down. Where does he think he needs to go? What does he think he's going to do once he's down? I don't know, but he is quite a bender. He can arch his back, strain his neck muscles as if he's trying to do crunches or sit up.
*He's so much more happy now when he's on his stomach. It took many months, but he doesn't cry as often now when he's on it. Instead, he just rolls over so he's on his side or back. At least he has a solution.
Sleep:
He still loves to sleep and takes 2-3 naps during the day, but he still wakes up about once or twice a night and has for about 2 months now. He was doing so well from the time he was born, but it was like a switch was flipped. In our research we found that babies transition into sleeping as an adult would in terms of going through different sleep cycles. This attributes to the 4 month sleep regression some babies experience. All it takes is a paci to help him go back to sleep though so at least it's a simple fix. His naps during the day vary from 30-45 minutes to a good hour or two (sometimes more depending on how much he played or how much time he spent watching everyone else do things).
*When we are holding him, he always bends over and tries to get down. Where does he think he needs to go? What does he think he's going to do once he's down? I don't know, but he is quite a bender. He can arch his back, strain his neck muscles as if he's trying to do crunches or sit up.
*He's so much more happy now when he's on his stomach. It took many months, but he doesn't cry as often now when he's on it. Instead, he just rolls over so he's on his side or back. At least he has a solution.
Sleep:
He still loves to sleep and takes 2-3 naps during the day, but he still wakes up about once or twice a night and has for about 2 months now. He was doing so well from the time he was born, but it was like a switch was flipped. In our research we found that babies transition into sleeping as an adult would in terms of going through different sleep cycles. This attributes to the 4 month sleep regression some babies experience. All it takes is a paci to help him go back to sleep though so at least it's a simple fix. His naps during the day vary from 30-45 minutes to a good hour or two (sometimes more depending on how much he played or how much time he spent watching everyone else do things).
Adventures in public:
*One night at dinner, two women (older mom and daughter) stopped by our table and talked about how fast babies grow up and how boys are the best. It was super sweet how the just thought he was cute but then they made me sad because I know he's growing up so quickly!
*Another night at dinner, a man asked if he could throw a ball yet. I laughed and said no. Then he said, "It's never too early."--- he must have been a coach!
*I haven't had the desire to use a bathroom changing table yet, so we've made do with changing him in the car. The biggest challenge yet was changing him in Jeremy's car. When you have a car instead of an SUV, things are a little bit more snug. Let's just say, if you were around us you would have looked at us with eyebrows raised. I had the changing pad in my lap and knew it was going to be a stinky diaper. As I changed him, I held my breath until I couldn't do it any more. Then we rolled down the windows, but it was raining so that didn't last too long. Next, Jeremy rubbed some chapstick on my upper lip (like he did when he dissected the opossum) so I wouldn't have to smell it. It really was like I was dissecting something because that was a messy diaper! He finds things like that humorous though so we can't help but laugh with him. He laughs all the time and half the time I don't even have a clue what's so funny.
Stories from the month:
*I haven't had the desire to use a bathroom changing table yet, so we've made do with changing him in the car. The biggest challenge yet was changing him in Jeremy's car. When you have a car instead of an SUV, things are a little bit more snug. Let's just say, if you were around us you would have looked at us with eyebrows raised. I had the changing pad in my lap and knew it was going to be a stinky diaper. As I changed him, I held my breath until I couldn't do it any more. Then we rolled down the windows, but it was raining so that didn't last too long. Next, Jeremy rubbed some chapstick on my upper lip (like he did when he dissected the opossum) so I wouldn't have to smell it. It really was like I was dissecting something because that was a messy diaper! He finds things like that humorous though so we can't help but laugh with him. He laughs all the time and half the time I don't even have a clue what's so funny.
Stories from the month:
My students ask me every day after lunch to tell them a story. It awfully hard to tell them a story every day because I don't feel like there are funny or interesting things that happen to us that often. I had lots right when I got back to school because I hadn't seen them. I've told them all the diaper stories and other funny things that have happened. Here are some from this month.
Jeremy loves to toss L in the air. One night he was doing that to get some sweet laughs out of our happy boy but then decided to let L sit on his shoulders. We commented on whether or not we thought he could see over Jeremy's head since he's still so little but I said he could. Right after that we heard a noise that signified spit up... Yep, it was all in Jeremy's hair. When Jeremy pulled L up over his head he got the spit up all over L's pants.
He "held" the hand of my friend's baby and even put his arm around her with a smile on his face. He is just too much.
Jeremy loves to toss L in the air. One night he was doing that to get some sweet laughs out of our happy boy but then decided to let L sit on his shoulders. We commented on whether or not we thought he could see over Jeremy's head since he's still so little but I said he could. Right after that we heard a noise that signified spit up... Yep, it was all in Jeremy's hair. When Jeremy pulled L up over his head he got the spit up all over L's pants.
He "held" the hand of my friend's baby and even put his arm around her with a smile on his face. He is just too much.
Firsts:
Tuesday, March 3: first time eating rice cereal (This rice cereal stuff has given us some STINKY diapers where quite a few of us almost threw up)
Thursday, March 5 (5 1/2 months): I picked him up from Miriam's and she told me that her and Micah heard him say his first words. She then told me that Micah had his head in her lap and L was sitting there too. L looked at Micah and said, "I love you!" Miriam and Micah looked at each other and asked if the other heard what he said and they both did! Jeremy and I heard him babble something that sound just like "I love you" too but about a week before this incident and had the same reaction. All for of us will believe these were his first words!
Monday, March 9: I picked him up from Miriam's and took him back to the school to meet some students who stayed after school as well as see some of the teachers. He stared at a few of the students, which was funny, but what was the best was that he giggled the first time he saw Mr. Padgett!
Tuesday, March 10: I got a text from my mom that said she heard him say "I love you" when she was changing his diaper.
Wednesday, March 18: Patton's class went on a field trip to the fire station so L got to go too. People said he was so well behaved. There was a video and he sat there and watched it quietly. Miriam told them he's not used to having screen time!
No comments:
Post a Comment