Silas John - Week 19

Our week was much smoother than last week.  I realized a couple of things in the course of the week.  The first is that Silas needs longer wake-time (the time between naps).  We've bumped him up to 1 1/2 hours between most of his naps.  This led to him napping longer too.  The second thing I learned was that Silas wasn't waking from naps because he was hungry, he was waking because he had too short of wake-time.  No wonder he acted so frustrated when I kept trying and trying to get him to take full feedings.  In actuality, he wasn't hungry enough for a full feeding!  He's now doing much better eating, and it's so fun to have him awake longer. Because, really, who can get enough of this face:

Our big news this week is that Silas ROLLED OVER onto his tummy!  Amos started by rolling onto his back, so I fully expected Silas to do the same.  To my delight, he learned his tummy first.  He still hasn't rolled onto his back yet, but I'm OK with that not happening anytime soon.  I dread the sleep disruptions that will be caused by that skill.

I thought that he was just going to be content to lay on his back and watch the world pass by him.  He changed my thinking this week.  He was pushing out of his bouncer, dancing in his exesaucer, rolling over, and wanting to sit on his own.  He's figuring out how to make his body work for him instead of against him by hitting himself in the face.

With this nice weather, he spent some time outside this week and doesn't appear to have the aversion to the sun that Amos had for the first half of his life (he's completely over it now).  And he sure makes a cute Teddy Bear.

SCHEDULE: I'm been meaning to put this on here for my sake, but keep forgetting.
7:00 -- wake up feeding
8:05 -- nap
10:30 -- feed
11:45 -- nap
1:30 -- feed
3:00 -- nap
4:30 -- feed
6:00 -- nap
7:00 -- bedtime feeding
This definitely still fluctuates, but it's the goal.

And here's Amos at the same age:

Five Months Old

"And I'm sitting up all by myself."

This past month has been my favorite so far!  I know I'll probably keep saying that, but we've had so much fun this month!  Amos is really starting to interact with us.  Last month, he would grab at his toys, but this month he demands them, or knows when they are gone and smiles really big when they are back!  He reaches for us and tries to play with our face!  He's also very involved in play time.  Repetition really gets him going!  If something tickles his fancy, we can just keep repeating it and get a big belly laugh every time!

He's reached that stage where he just moves all around in his crib.  I can finally just put him down in it and he will figure out for himself where and how he is going to sleep!  We've been waiting for this for a long time.  I put him down at one end and in the morning, he's on the opposite end, facing the opposite direction!  

He still like to chew on everything, but no tooth has popped up!  We did start a little bit of rice cereal at the end of this past month.  He seemed so interested in what we were eating that I thought we would start practicing with food before he really needed the extra calories!  So for his first feeding, I got the video camera out, all ready for some craziness!  Major letdown.  He took the food like no big deal!  No funny faces.  No spitting food.  Just swallow and smile!  He's already a pro at eating!

He's got hair!!!  And it just keeps getting fuller and darker!  It very fine, though, so it almost looks like fuzz.  He's starting to fill out a little more too.  We still wouldn't call him chunky, he's just a solid guy.

His favorite things are chewing on everything, but specifically Sophie the Giraffe that he borrowed from his friend Ace!  He also likes to play in the tub.  This is a very recent favorite!  After getting done cleaning, his feet start going crazy with splashing!  Drinking water!  Looking at the Christmas tree!  Playing with Daddy's beard after waking him up on the weekends!  And finally...bouncing!

He's not a fan of...being naked, sleeping in his carseat, the booger sucker, missing a nap, and staying still.  He's pretty much always gotta be moving!

That's all for this month!  I can't wait to see what next month brings!  The best is yet to come!

21 Weeks of Fun!

New Things this week:

He’s a rollin'!!  7 weeks ago, Amos learned how to roll from his stomach to his back.  Although fun, this roll interrupted his precious sleep, and Mom had to rig up a silly way to keep him on his tummy.  However, Saturday, he successfully rolled back to tummy and I literally did a happy dance.  I felt like I should reward him with something, but he’s a baby and wouldn’t get it, so I just gave him a big hug!  I’m sure he didn’t know why I was freaking out so much!!!!

He is really starting to reach!  He’s been semi-reaching for his toys for a while now, but now it is a definite, “Mom, I want that toy, now” reach!!!  Also, he’s reaching for people.  When in someone’s arms, he’ll extend both of his to try to get someone else!  He’s really starting to use those arms - which may be part of the reason for the rolling success!

He is also using his legs to bounce up and down.  He's not getting any air, but it looks like a work out!  I think my legs would be sore if I tried!

He’s got a new noise.  Really hard to explain, but come over sometime and I’m sure you’ll hear it. 

He was loved on by tons of family during Thanksgiving break!  And we got so use to having Dad home, that we didn’t know what to do with ourselves Monday without him!!  Thanks Dad, for working so hard!

He loves the Christmas tree and looking at it all lit up!  We’re hoping that he takes after his parents’ love of winter and Christmas music!  He’s not going to fit in too well if he’s one of those beach lovers!

Ready for the road trip!

"Are we there yet?"

We got to see all kinds of family!

Pirate Monkey and Bananas????

It’s been a crazy week, and I thought we needed some crazy material to remember it by.

Tuesday night, Amos discovered he had a voice!  He’s made lots of noises before this point, but on the way to friends house, and back, we were entertained with a constant, “Uh…uh…uhh,” from the back seat.  Our giggles from the front seat I’m sure egged on his nice, baby bass voice.  Although his favorite place to “talk” is in his car seat, we caught some “talking” on camera at home!

Thursday, Amos was a trooper!  Rachel Eden and I hit the road and headed to Springfield for some shopping!  I learned that Amos no longer sleeps in his car seat!  Not even during an hour-long drive home that is right in the middle of naptime!  That should make our 3-hour drive to Lebanon this weekend interesting!

Friday brought an unwelcomed visitor….the growth spurt!  Just as I was thought we were headed to a 3-½ hour schedule, Amos had other ideas.  Those ideas involved eating every 2 hours and waking up in the middle of the night!  It took three LONG days, but we are on the other side of it and back to sleeping through the night and 2 hour naps! Yea!

During the growth spurt, Amos kicked his rolling into gear.  He’s been at it off and on for about 3 weeks!  However, now I can barely put the kid on his stomach without him kicking/rolling onto his back!  Jason had to hold him down so that I could get the video camera to catch this roll!  We’re still working on rolling back over!

Amos had lots of visitors this week.  He got to see Nanny, Grammy, Gramps, Uncle Joe, Aunt Amelia and Cousin Josie!

The cousins!

Cute Rainbow Josie!

         

 

We love each other!

Here I am with Gramps!

I'm starting to chew on things...like my fingers!

Yep!

I'm getting better at sitting!

And I'm such a good boy in my exesaucer!

If you look very closely, you will see that...

...I'm standing all by myself.  That's right, just leaning on my exesaucer!