The Growl

We've had some pretty exciting things happening this past week!  First off, Amos is officially on a four hour schedule and it is wonderful!  A four hour schedule means that he eats every four hours and only eats four times a day.  He stays up for about two hours and naps for about two hours!  In the evening he doesn't take a very long nap which makes for a lot of playing time with Dad.  It really wasn't too hard of a transition from his previous schedule.  For about the last two months I've been trying to squeeze a fifth feeding in, just so I knew he was eating enough.  However, he really didn't seem very interested in it so I decided to go for it. Last Monday, instead of getting him when I first heard him making noise in his crib, I let him play around in there for about thirty minutes and then fed him.  Soon he wasn't even waking up thirty minutes early and instead was taking his full 2 hour nap!  He seems to be content on four feedings and the longer naps do him good.

His four feedings line up nicely with our meal times, so Amos gets to enjoy meals with us at the table.  He's still eating his baby food like a champ.  He even likes bananas now - especially with a little yogurt mixed in with them.  His new finger foods are cucumbers and cheese.  He really loves to gnaw away at the cucumber.  I've heard they are great for teething and I'm pretty sure tooth number two is on its way.

Growling is Amos' other new sound.  If he's talking, he is growling.  Dad likes that the noise his son makes is very manly.  He use to favor a high pitch squeal, but the growl is where it is at these days.

Amos' sickness didn't keep him from practicing his new skill - crawling.  I think its time to baby proof the house.  Its a slow process, but he makes it across the room now and is already eying the outlets!

This past weekend we got to see my side of the family as we said goodbye to Uncle Joe who is headed back to school in California.  I told him that the next time he comes home, Amos will probably be walking to him.  Amos had a lot of fun with Gramps and Grammy too!

"I love Grammy's necklaces" - Amos

He had fun rolling his cars. 

However he thought he needed to hold them all at once.

Of course, he also needed to eat them.

MaKenna came over for a short visit the other night.  Here's what followed:

MaKenna and Amos:  "What is the bright light?"

 Very serious

Amos: "No wait, I'm a lot of fun!"

MaKenna:  "I'm not so sure about this guy."

Amos: "You will smile."

MaKenna:  "What's he doing to me."

MaKenna:  "Nice try buddy."

Mr. Sicko

Thursday morning, Amos woke up with a slight fever and a runny, runny nose.  The fever was gone after he ate and took a bath, so I wasn't too concerned and we went on with our day.  That afternoon, the fever was back.  A little higher than before - 100.6.  I could definitely tell he was sick.  He wasn't too interested in eating or being by himself.  We hung out pretty close for the rest of the day.  In fact, he fell asleep twice in my arms.  TWICE in one day!  That alone told me we had a sicko on our hands.   I'm pretty sure it is just a classic case of a cold.  His nose just keeps running and man does he hate the nasal aspirator!  Thankfully he still slept through the night and today, Friday, his fever is gone and he seems to be more playful!  I hope this means we are on the mend! It's no fun being sick - except the falling asleep in Mom's arms part!

Week 29 - The Off Week

So Amos was a little off this past week.  I chalked it up to him moving out of the wonderful "Content Just Sitting Here and Playing with My Toys" phase to the "I Want to be MOVING" phase.

He wasn't content just playing.  If he was on the floor, he needed to be standing.

  If he was standing, he needed to be standing by his table.

  If he was standing by his table, he needed to be riding on his dinosaur!  AND if we stopped playing, he cried -- more whined.  Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandma Hubbard came for a visit this weekend.  It took a couple of hours and lot of work before Little Man even cracked a smile.

Saturday morning he woke up happier.  It was that day that I first noticed the spot on his gums.  Everything began to make sense.  I thought, "Maybe his attitude this past week was due to a tooth coming in."  Grandma took a close look and she thought it might be a tooth too.  And wouldn't you know it, Sunday evening I got a good look at his first tooth!

On Monday, Amos was back to his normal self.  He played on the floor with his toys for a long time that afternoon.  I guess an off week isn't too bad for getting a tooth out of the deal.  He still slept through the night and took all his naps.  I didn't even know it was happening until right before it popped up!

I think all of his visitors this past week kept him entertained and helped him forget about tooth pain.  Grammy and Aunt Audy came for a visit on Thursday.  Of course, he had to be standing.

And then Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandma Hubbard came for the weekend.

Standing was still his favorite pastime.  If anyone came down to play with them, he would search for their hands until he found them and then pull himself up.  They took us out to eat for a late birthday celebration for me.  Amos sat all by himself in a high chair and had dinner of his own.  Here are a few eating pictures from the week.

Most of the time, he's like this while eating.

Sometimes he's like this: 

He was loving some banana. 

The men spent time working on the scooter and car and bike during the weekend.  They had some success and ended the weekend like this:

Can you tell they are related?

Our next adventure???  Crawling.  He is pretty close.  He kind of does the inch worm right now, but he's definitely covering some ground!

The best is yet to come!!!

Looky, Looky....

Someone got a tooth!  I'm a little worried about what might follow, but luckily this one popped up without too much fussiness.  About a week ago, he started sucking on his thumb all the time again.  I thought that we had broke this habit, but now I think it was part of the toothing process.  I hope all the rest are this easy!

Anticipation

We've had a restful few days this past week.  With the snow and cold weather last week, Amos and I stayed inside for the most part.  I finally feel like were back to normally from the holiday crazy-ness!  Amos and I are back in our groove.  Although, Amos' grove is always changing.  He can't quite decide if he is ready to go to a four hour schedule, or if he wants to take all three naps.  Luckily he's still pretty happy, no matter what he chooses.

Still trying to crawl.  Lots of time spent like this with some swiveling - rocking - scootching action going on.

During this restful week, I've had quite a bit of time to just sit and watch him play.  One of my new favorite things about play time is that he involves me!  Pretty recently he's started anticipating things.  If one thing happens, he knows something else is going to happen.

On the changing table, he squeals before I blow on his stomach because when I suck my breath all in, he's knows that's coming next.

If he's playing in the living room and sees me coming towards him he's starts holding his breath and waving his arms.  This is the way he prepares for Mommy Kisses.

If I unfasten his safety buckles, on anything, he arches his back and propels himself forward.  I've learned to be ready.  Speaking of safety harness, check out our latest eating endeavors.

If Daddy is holding him, he knows it climbing time and promptly begins scaling up Dad's chest.  The funny thing is that he never tries to do this on me!

He now knows that if he wants to stand up, all he has to do is reach for our hands and pull himself up.  And if he is standing, he wants to be standing in front of his activity table.  That thing makes music and lights up - perfect for pounding on!

Here's his pounding face.

Action shot.

Crying ensues when he leaves his activity table.

His carseat is where Mr. Frog lives, and as soon as he is in it, he starts looking for it.

A bowl and spoon mean FOOD.  Commence the lip smacking and tongue licking.  Also, bib means scrunch up my neck and turn away.  He hates the bib.

I love carrots.

I hate fruit!  He's getting better.

Love me a chicken breast.

He was mostly just sucking.

Here's him trying out broccoli,

Anticipation is fun!  I think of it as his way of telling us, "I know what's going on, and I think I like it!"