Owen does Stevie

Owen's latest cute thing (not that I'm biased) is shaking his head from side to side like he's Stevie Wonder. I managed to capture it with my phone - which I'm still in love with. It's posted to YouTube. I'll update the link here later.

The continued quest to master rolling over

We reached another breakthrough today on the rolling over front. Although I am becoming increasingly resigned to the fact that Owen doesn't particularly like rolling over, I continue to press the issue, trying all sorts of things to encourage him to try. Today, I hit on something. I put Owen on his tummy and then pushed on the side of his head so he'd tilt it over and voilà, he pushed himself the rest of the way. He last couple of days his "quota" had gone steadily back down to once or twice and the frustration (for him and me, let's be honest) was starting to settle in. It was like he needed to be reminded of what to do. After that initial push, though, he must have rolled over 20 or 30 times. He barely let me put him onto his tummy befor he was trying to roll back. It was so much fun.


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The Rolling Over Quota

For the last week or so, Owen has decided that he can roll over. But, only under certain conditions. He does it only once a day, and mostly when mom isn't looking. I'd praise him anyway, but in the back of my mind I'd wonder if he thought I was praising him for laying on his back. He'd smile at me and I'd roll him back over onto his tummy after which he would whine and fuss and burry his face in the carpet/blanket until I'd either roll him over or pick him up.

Today, though, he exceeded his quota, rolling over 4 times in one "laying". The first time was pretty standard. I put him on his tummy, walked away to do a couple of quick dishes in the sink and while I was there, I heard some loud thumping, which turned out to be his hugely powerful legs bodyslamming themselves onto the floor. He was on his back! I put him back on his front and right away he tried to roll over so I got a chance to observe the technique. He tips his head way over to the side and follows with his arms. The hips and feet are the last to go. It looks somewhat awkward because his head is so big but at least he's not banging his head on the way over, which is what was happening before. Again and again he rolled over and was so pleased with himself. He was totally beaming.

I also snapped a pretty cute sitting picture today with my phone. He continues to get better at that too, sitting for longer and longer without falling to the side or backwards. Those feet are soooooo cute.

Tooth number 4 (upper right) has arrived!

Sleep, part 2

Owen slept through the night! For real. I put him down at 8 pm and he woke up at about 7 this morning! Funny, it's what I wanted, but I was still a little nervous when I woke up this morning and didn't hear him. About five minutes later, he woke up.

His naps have been a whole lot better too. Both naps yesterday were about an hour and a half. This morning's nap was somewhat short, but he was pretty happy when he woke up.

We went out just after noon to visit baby Sienna down south and he didn't even fall asleep in the car seat (which never happens). We stayed well past nap time so he did fall asleep on the way back, which usually spells disaster for napping, especially when he wakes up on the way up to our place. He did wake up, but I was careful to keep the activity low key once we got home. About half an hour later, I went through the bedtime routine and put him into bed. Without much fuss, he fell asleep!

I hope he sleeps well again tonight.


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Sleep

We have been trying to get Owen to sleep through the night for the last couple of nights. Not to say that he doesn't sleep well, because he does, but I'm a little tired of getting up every night at 4 am and I keep reading that after babies are 12-14 lbs they don't need to eat in the middle of the night. He's around 17 or 18 lbs now, so he really doesn't need it. And, I really do think it's for his own good to stop waking up. It's not like I  have a 4 am snack every night. We've been doing a sort of "modified" cry-it-out since we're both a couple of softies, which we discovered after the first night. He woke up a bunch of times throughout the night and then woke up at 6am and cried until 7 when I fed him and then put him back to bed. Then he slept until 9:30. Last night was way better. He woke up at 12 (when we went to bed), but went back to sleep on his own after only about 5 minutes. Then he woke up again at 4. Kris went in and put his soother in and not much else... he went back to sleep. Then he woke at 7:15 am and cried until 7:30 or so when we got up. Now, he's been sleeping since 10:00 with no help... he never does that. I can't wait to see what will happen tonight.

On the move

Owen is just beginning to figure out that he can move. He other day he was on his tummy and he figured out that he could put both arms straight out and push himself backward. He moved about a foot. Today, he was in his crib, not sleeping, and he started crying pretty hard. When I went in, he had his leg caught in the railing. And in the last two days he's managed to roll over, fully clothed, independently, three times. I am so excited that we're going out to buy more baby-proofing stuff.


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Choices

I've been meaning to write this one for a while now, but haven't found the time until now. The other day I took Owen over to the felt box where I keep all his toys when he's not playing with them. Rather than pick a toy out for him and play, I decided to see if he would pick one himself. So I floated him down over top of the box and asked him to pick out a toy. What I witnessed was pretty cool. He reached out his hand toward the Skwish, paused, thought for a moment, and then decided to pick up the Whoozit instead. It was amazing! For the first time, at least that I've witnessed, a whole, real live person's thought went through his head! To think that 6+ months ago, he couldn't really do anything, and now, he has thoughts and opinions and feelings about all sorts of things. Wow.

Solid food

I must be being punished by someone out there who doesn't like it when I brag about Owen... Some of the ladies from our prenatal class have started a facebook page so we can stay connected and also discuss various things as they come up, compare notes... you know. All of our babies are at the age where you need to start feeding them solids and since Owen is one of the oldest in the group, he's got a lot of experience under his belt, relatively speaking. He's been such a good eater, taking pretty much everything I've given him and so I was singing his praises to on the facebook page. Well, let me tell you, since I did that, Owen has decided that he's not that into food anymore. At least, not for eating. Now, whenever I put something in his mouth he doesn't care for, he slurps at it, makes a face, and most of it ends up down the front of his bib. He's not even that into his cereal anymore. And he'd rather play after about 4 bites. You can imagine what happens when he does the razz with a mouth full of squash. His appetite seems to have really taken a nose dive. Last week he was eating about 3 tbsp of cereal and at least 2 tbsp of vegetables and/or meat. Now, I'm lucky to get 2 tbsp of cereal. I think part of his previous appetite was the 6 month growth spurt, but this new found decision making about what he likes and doesn't like is getting pretty frustrating. I hope he figures it out soon. I just went to the store and made up a BUNCH of new food for him, and it's now taking up valuable freezer space.

Nevertheless, I'm off today to buy a real high chair for Owen. He's been sitting in a travel booster that's really meant for a toddler up until now, and he's been banging his head on the wooden chair back, which makes him cry, and then he's really not interested in eating.

Owen and I were just playing and I happened to get a glimpse of his top gum. There I saw the smallest break in the skin where a tooth is soon to be. That sure happened fast!


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Owen woke up at 6 this morning and wouldn't go back to sleep. We put his soothed in about five times, I fed him, we even brought him to our bed. "Nope, Mom, I'm awake." Yea right. Now, at 8, this is what he's doing.


We're off to swimming lessons now. I hope he's caught up by the time we get there.

Mom's know best.

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Thirsty

Once again a few days have passed since my last post. I will update on why in another post since I don't have a lot of time riht now. For now, I just want to write something quick about Owen's growing independence. We've been feeding him more solids since he seems to always be hungry and I'm having trouble keeping up with supply. Also, he seems to really like eating. Since he's been eating more, his poop has been a lot more solid, to the point where I worried he might get constipated. I saw him at it the other day and he really strained. Anyway, we bought him a training sippy cup since things weren't going very well with the regular one I have. He just couldn't figure it out. Today, after his mid-day meal, I filled it with water and made the sign for thirsty (we're trying to teach him sign language too) and then I put the cup down beside him. Wouldn't you know it, he picked the cup up by the handle, put it to his mouth and drank about 20 mL. He sure picks up new skills quickly when he's motivated.

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The other crazy thing that happened on Tuesday

As I said in my earlier post, it's been a crazy cuple of days. I've been trying to get details finalized for our trip to Italy (and trying to learn some Italiano) and prepare for a duo road trip to Saskatoon. But there was something else that I have to write in the blog. Later in the day on Tuesday, when we got home from swimming, I found a TOOTH poking through in Owen's mouth. It's the front lower right one. Of course, he hasn't been bothered by it - no crying, nursing strike, or other changes in behaviour you read about in the books. He is the best baby ever.


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Little Swimmer

We started swimming lessons on Tuesday. I'd have written this post then, but things have been somewhat crazy. Anyway, it was really fun for both of us. I'm not sure what I expected the lesson to be...  There was some back floating, tummy floating, song singing, and "jumping" off of the edge of the pool - Owen standing on the edge, me pulling him into the pool. We were in the "big" pool, but in the shallow end, which meant that crouching, I could stay covered. The pool is heated, which was really nice for both of us. Owen didn't care much for the back float. At first, he seemed uneasy about having his ears under the water, and although he did relax a bit, his legs stayed straight up in the air the whole time he was on his back. It's gonna be hard to do a flutter when his feet aren't in the water. He really took to the front float though. It not that long, he was kicking and trying to dog paddle with his hands. He did swallow a little water when I wasn't careful about keeping his mouth out of the water. No biggie though. I really liked the song singing... I'm starting to run out of songs to sing to him and he really likes it when I sing. It seems to have a calming effect on him.

I remember thinking when I booked them that 30 minutes was a bit short, but that's all they really offered. But, by the end of the lesson, Owen was pretty tired, and somewhat cold... his lips were blue. We made our way into the wading kiddie pool after the lesson to warm up for a bit. Getting him and me rinsed off, dried and dressed was quite the affair. Basically, I dripped dry while I got Owen into clothes. He's never been in the water for as long as he was and his toes looked like little raisins. I tried to get a picture, but all I could get was this blury one... those feet have never stopped moving (hey Dee?)!

Afterward, while Owen had a nap, we went to Starbucks and after he woke up I took off his toque to find his hair looking like his mama's. Maybe he will have my crazy hair after all.