Yesterday was my long awaited for day off with our son. Last week was a little skewed with the super storm we had roll through. I didn't end up taking my usual Wednesday off. Instead, I ended up spending a little more time at home on Monday and Tuesday because of the storm. That being said, I couldn't wait for yesterday to roll around. According to my mother-in-law, our son declined to nap on Monday and Tuesday at all. Well, he might have gotten 20 minutes here, 30 minutes there, but compared to his normal 3 hours of napping during the day, he really didn't get much. Even the 20 and 30 minute stints are suspect as we do not have a video monitor in his room and as such can't tell if he is really sleeping or just lying in his crib with his eyes open staring at the ceiling. Every time he went down for his nap on Monday and Tuesday he decided to babble, shake his crib, and essentially just have a good old time by himself in his room. So yesterday I was determined to get him down for a nap. Its not like it is my decision, but I was all set to do whatever was necessary to make him sleep short of feeding him alcohol or a sleeping aid (which we don't have by the way, just alcohol). In any case, my wife calls me the nap king as I can usually get our son to go down fairly easily most of the time. Granted, every time is different and owing to the fact that our son has developed his own strong willed personality, nothing is certain anymore. So after his breakfast of scrambled eggs with spinach and cheese and his subsequent morning snack of pears and yogurt, I decided it was time for his morning nap. I changed his diaper, brought him upstairs, and proceeded to rock and sing to him for about 10 minutes. He stared at me most of the time with his thumb lodged securely in his mouth. After a few minutes I saw his eyelids start to flutter and I knew that a nap was definitely in his immediate future. Once I was done going through my set of songs, I placed him in his crib, kissed him on the forehead, and left his room. What I thought would be an immediate nod of to sleep actually took 40 minutes before the sandman reached him and tapped him on the head, sending him off to dream land.
He slept for about 2 hours and 15 minutes, much longer than his usual nap time of an hour and a half. He probably would have slept longer, but I wanted to get him to Baby Rhyme Time at the library, so I woke him up. I know, I know, never wake a sleeping baby as my wife told me later, but hey, he didn't wake up as Jekyll, so I guess it was OK. I loved waking him up despite the fact that I probably shouldn't have. As soon as I opened his door, he started stirring. I snuck in and waited by the head of his crib as he slowly came around to the world of the waking. At first, he didn't see me and just stared at the door, probably wondering why it was open. After a minute or so, he finally saw me and a big smile burst out on his face. It was absolutely priceless. With that, he was up and ready to go. It is funny whenever you get him up from a nap or his night's sleep. At first he just lays there for a few seconds, staring at you or the door before popping up to a sitting position. He usually follows his popping up with a resounding "ado". After I got him up, brought him downstairs and changed him, it was time for his bottle of milk. We have heard from numerous people about how they are breaking their baby of the bottle habit and trying to get them over to sippy cups or straw bottles. Well, our son has his own agenda. He will only drink milk from its source (my wife) or the bottle. We have tried putting the milk both in a sippy cup and the straw cup and he wants nothing to do with either. Yet, despite that, we are not overly worried because he loves his sippy cup and straw cup for drinking water out of. He will even drink water out of a regular cup as long as we hold it for him. If we didn't, as I'm sure most parents could imagine, it would get everywhere. Regardless, I was talking about feeding him his bottle. I don't know what it is, but whenever I feed him his bottle, I can't just put him in his high chair and hand him his bottle while I do other things. I simply hold him on my lap on the couch and have him drink his milk that way. Call it whatever you will, I call it my little bonding time with him.
All in all, his is babbling more and more and starting to study our lips as we talk to figure out how to properly formulate words. He is getting closer, although I have a feeling we are still a good ways off from full out talking. I love watching him study our lips though. Its almost as if you can see the gears grinding away inside that little head of his trying to figure out the English language. I can tell you this much, he is quite the chatter box and talks more than most other babies that I know (not that I know too many). In any case, his personality is flourishing and he is perpetually curious about anything and everything. Needless to say, I couldn't ask for more. Through all his curiosity, he is getting more and more adept and dexterous with his fingers and hands. Its amazing to watch every little development and see him grow and change. He is a mover and a shaker and I can only imagine what will come next. For now, as always, I will enjoy every minute I have with him, not push him beyond what he is capable of, and let him explore the world that he knows.
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