The Berry's Blog

...to let non-sleeping babies cry. This is probably one of the hardest decisions Sean and I have made as parents, mostly due to the fact that we didn't really agree. Since Colin was born I felt strongly that I would not/could not let him cry himself to sleep. It just didn't feel right, so I read a lot of books and gravitated toward the 'no-cry' camp because it was in line with they way I was feeling. Colin wasn't ever a crier, I could always soothe him by picking him up and holding him so when I started to get panic-attacks when he would cry, leaving him to cry was NOT an option. I was convinced I could get him to sleep without torturing both of us and making him cry. Honestly, we almost got there, unfortunately our success coincided with Colin's marathon teething and I think he made an association with the pain and going to sleep by himself. A few times while putting him down for a nap he would fight me so I tied to leave him to do it himself but I never made it more than a few minutes.
Over the last couple of months, Colin's sleeping has degraded more and more and it has become clear that he knew he was manipulating us. I knew we had to do something but grabbed onto any excuse not to: he was teething, we were going away that weekend, Sean was going to Chicago.. all valid reasons but excuses none the less.
When I got home from a week upstate Sean said we were doing it. I wanted to give him a week to re-acclimate but we finally decided 'a fresh start' was the better approach, since he would just re-acclimate to our old routine and possibly make it harder. After some discussion we agreed to compromise and follow the plan laid out in Sleeping Through the Night by Jodi Mindell. I liked this plan because she concentrated at the bedtime routine, and allowed you to do a normal overnight routine. Her theory was that 90% of children who put themselves to sleep will easily put themselves back to sleep. We had found this to be mostly true for Colin since the nights he put himself to sleep he slept much better than the nights we helped him. She also insists on frequent checks to reassure everyone that things were okay. We spent the evening discussing with Colin what was going to happen. I think he is old enough to understand what we are saying but not really old enough to be able to anticipate the fear.
Knowing I was the weak link, Sean asked me to leave the house for the process but I felt that wasn't a very good precedent to set. I couldn't just leave the hard things for him to do, and if Colin was going to go through it, so was I.
I set myself up in the tub so I could run the water loudly if I started to loose control. I got a book to read to help the time pass, and a pad and pen so I could document the event. I tried to put on my 'scientific observer' hat and to be honest I think that mind set helped me cope.
Everyone who I talked to who has been through this said it was never as bad as they thought, and that turned out to be true for us as well. I thought for sure Colin would be way worse than the 'textbook' case of 40 mins of crying on night 1, and hour on night 2 and about 20 mins on night 3. I was prepared for him to go on for at least 2 hours on night 1. Nope! 20 minutes! Night 2, I was again prepared for a marathon thinking we just got lucky with a very tired baby but Colin only cried for 2 minuets! He didn't go right to sleep but he wasn't upset. He even said 'bye bye' to Sean as he was turning off the light.
The author suggests giving him two weeks before repeating the routine overnight if necessary. The first night he woke up twice before getting up for the day around 6:15 and last night he slept straight through until 5:30 (which was probably a little early for him to wake up because he wasn't exactly happy about it but eventually he committed to waking up and was fine.) We will have to wait and see what his new wake up time will be.
Sean wants to do the routine himself again tonight to make sure Colin is solidified in it before I try. We are pretty sure he will give me a bit more trouble, but I was also sure he would cry for a long time so I guess we will see.
We aren't though the woods yet, but so far we have all handled this remarkably well. I have more to say about my fears going in but I'll save that for another post.

at 7:55 AM | 3 comments    
Labels: Colin, sleep

Colin's new buddy Carter Fredrick Cool was born to Brian and Kristeen on November 1st 2009 just after 7:00pm. This little guy put Kristeen through the ringer, at a hefty 8lbs 7oz and 21 inches long. To top it all off he was 18 days early! While I think Kristeen and Brain would have preferred a couple more weeks to prepare, Carter really wanted me to be home for the big event. A few weeks ago I put in my request for a Nov 2nd birth so I am being blamed for his early arrival, which is just fine by me.

at 8:13 AM | 6 comments    
Labels: friends

at 8:54 PM | 7 comments    
Labels: Colin, holiday, pictures

Sometime in September I realized I had un-intentionally posted (at least) one video every month since last October when I posted the first (post-natal) video of Colin. Now that I know that, I'm feeling the pressure to get videos up every month... Here is this months installment.

Colin says a lot of things, but many of his 'words' would be unintelligible to everyone but Sean and I. Here are some of the words Colin says oddly. See below the video for my attempt to spell what he says. Some of the words he signs too, which is how we even knew what he was saying in the first place.

Colin-ese 1 from Rebecca Berry on Vimeo.

Hi- Hi
Water- Ba
Banana- Na (I forgot to have him say milk which is Ma)
Juice- tse
grapes-pts
open -o
up-ap
baby-bebey
baby signing time-baby ti
no-nah
bye bye-buh buh


And here is another video because I remembered some other funny words later. This is by no means all the words he can say (let alone sign), just those that came to mind as words Colin says oddly.

Colin-ese 2 from Rebecca Berry on Vimeo.

Thank you- dih dih (not to be confused with dada)
shoes- chtoose
socks- cocks
garbage- bage (not to be confused with bus)
Bus- bus
train-tete

Now you too can understand what Colin is saying!!

at 5:53 PM | 3 comments    
Labels: Colin, video

For those of you who are worried I want to ease your mind and tell you Colin has responded very well to the steroid and has been breathing easy since about 9pm last night. He was sleeping so well I even put him back in the crib where he slept soundly from 3am-7am (I of course did not sleep as well since I kept waking up to make sure he was still breathing easily.) He even took a 2hr 15 min nap today and woke up happy.

I have some videos to upload to stay tuned for that.

at 4:52 PM | 4 comments    

**Updated** see below:

I haven't updated you since we went to the doctor for Colin's 15 month appointment. Here are his current stats:

Height: 32.5" 94%ile
Weight 24lbs 13oz 77%ile.

So he is about the same percentiles as last time. Very tall for his age, but closer to average weight. He fits solidly in most 18-24 month clothes and I don't expect that to change for awhile. He can actually still fit his waist into his 12 month pants from last March but they are quite short on him.

We were supposed to get the MMR vaccine but didn't. After discussing our options with the pediatrician we decided he would get the regular flu vaccine first since there is a more immediate threat and then we will catch him up with MMR a little later. He will need another flu shot in a month since they only give kids a 1/2 dose. However, we both decided against an H1N1 vaccine. Colin is not in any high risk category for complications from H1N1, and so far the cases she has seen are no worse than a bad cold so there is no reason to give a controversial vaccine for a bad cold. Additionally with a confirmed case of Mumps in NJ she didn't want the MMR further delayed because of H1N1 vax.

Sounds all well and good right??? Well, three days after getting the flu vax, my perfectly healthy little boy has croup. Guess what one of the causes of croup is? The parainfluenza virus! Surprise surprise! Sean also gets sick every time he gets the flu vax, even though they say it isn't possible. I'm not sure we will get the flu vax again after this year!

Colin does pretty well during the day but has had a couple of terrible nights that have required Sean or I to sleep with him in the spare twin bed in his room. He seems very disturbed by the coughing and difficulty breathing (for good reason) so he needs some extra reassurance that he will be okay. To be honest, since Sean took the overnight shift in Colin's room last night I slept solidly from about 10 until 4 which is actually pretty good for me! Although that means I'll be taking the hit tonight! It is what it is.

**Update:**
I took Colin back to the dr early this evening because his breathing was worse after he got up from his nap. The dr put him on an oral steroid for three days and we will return to her on Friday morning to see how he is doing. The steroid is supposed to help his airways open back up. She also said he is likely to get worse before he gets better and if he seems to be restless and unable to breathe to go right to the emergency room. She was glad to hear we were sleeping with him to monitor him overnight. She assures me he couldn't have gotten this from the flu shot.. (that's what they all say) but even still, his immune system was probably compromised by the response needed to handle the flu shot. Whatever the reason, my poor boy is very sick. =(

at 10:17 AM | 3 comments    
Labels: doctor visits

at 11:10 PM | 4 comments    
Labels: adventures, Colin, pictures

Every age has its joys and challenges, and for me one of the challenges of having a 1yr old is keeping him content and happy while we are out and about, shopping, attending church, driving long distances etc. Colin is generally a happy child, but he is definitely active so being confined to the car seat, stroller, shopping cart or pew can be met with some resistance. This edition of "Favorite Things" will outline my 'secret weapons'. The items I turn to when Colin starts to loose interest and patience with his current activity but the situation doesn't call for changing activities just yet.

Baby Einstein: Look at Me! Mirror Discovery Cards: I could have said flash cards in general but this set has really captivated him a lot recently so figured I would give it top billing. Colin loves books, but when we are out and about books are sometimes cumbersome or require too much participation from me. He is much more independent minded with flash cards right now, so I can participate for a moment and then go back to what I was doing (like picking the right peanut butter) without much complaint from him. I particularly love the cards that are attached with a ring (these aren't) because he can't drop each and every one when he is done looking at it, but different situations can handle different types. These, for example, work well in the car because aside from looking at the card he also enjoys taking them out of the box and then putting them back in (although if he can't get one to fit things can go down hill quickly.)

FruitaBu Organic Smooshed Fruit: My next few items are food related, which honestly at this age is a GREAT distraction. While he has mostly mastered feeding himself, this item is delivered like fruit-by-the-foot and therefore is not something he actually can eat without help. Therefore this is my current go-to, in church. I rip off a piece and give it to him and he goes back to people watching for a varying amount of time (depending on how interesting the people are) before requesting more. And can I tell you, I failed to recognize that signing would be so advantageous in church!?!? He can communicate with me without actually making a peep! It is great.The best part is that there is enough to last quite some time as long as I don't make the pieces too big.


Pirate's Booty : This was introduced to Colin by my sister, or more accurately by my nephew. If you have never eaten them, this particular type (Aged White Cheddar) is a hybrid of a cheeto (the puffy kind not the crunchy kind) and a piece of popcorn. The perfect size for Colin to get in his mouth in one bite. The best part is that there are no artificial ingredients or preservatives so while it isn't exactly a 'healthy snack' it also isn't a cheeto! The 1oz bags are the perfect size to open and hand him while he is in the shopping cart and he happily munches away and watches me shop. We have almost gotten to the point where he doesn't ripe open the entire bag and sprinkle the contents on the floor or in his lap, but I have been know to run back to the produce section for a plastic bag because he destroyed the original bag while I wasn't paying attention.

Toddler Mum-Mums: This one we don't get to use that often because I havn't found them in NYC but Colin really likes them. That will change now (probably both the 'not using them often' and the 'him really liking them' parts) since I just ordered them in bulk from Amazon (along with a new snack we'll be trying out..hey I had to get free shipping! right Julie?) Colin used to enjoy the baby mum mums but once he got a taste of these guys the baby ones were no longer acceptable. These have a strawberry flavor but still have that great Mum Mum texture that dissolves quickly and breaks cleanly with less crummy mess. We call them cookies for Colin's benefit but with only 1g of sugar they are more like a cracker. No guilt when I had these over that is for sure!


Open the Barn Door : This has been a great distraction tool since Colin was able to sit up. We have clocked countless hours with this one while in church. He will literally ask to read it over and over and over and over again (to the point where we have resorted to reading it upside down for a little excitement.) There really isn't much to it other than the lift and see flaps (that are surprisingly sturdy) with animals hiding underneath. Sean or I usually end up whispering the "Who says XYZ" part while Colin attempts to lift the flap to see who is hiding. This book is at least part of the reason Colin knows his animal sounds, even if most of the time this was read at a whisper. While looking this up on amazon I saw what looks like the zoo animal equivalent and added that to my mum mum order. I'll let you know if he enjoys that one as much.

So that's it for me. What are your secret weapons for getting your toddlers to behave? I can't wait for some new ideas.

at 11:09 PM | 1 comments    
Labels: favorite things

So where are we now? We have seen the specialist twice. At the first appointment he hadn't had any symptoms in about a two weeks so they thought maybe it had resolved itself. The very next day it started draining again. So we went back and again, they didn't see much but they did put dye in both eyes to see how the drainage compared. They checked at five minutes and only saw a moderate difference between the eyes, but decided to refer us to the surgeon because it was clearly still an issue even if they aren't seeing the evidence of it. Of course the entire way home Colin was getting strange looks on the subway because he was 'crying' (he wasn't actually crying) orange tears out of his left eye. Our appointment with the surgeon is in mid-November. That gives Colin one more month to heal himself, and then we will schedule the surgery. In an adult, you would put your head back and be told to hold still while a wire was inserted into the duct to open it. Obviously, you can't hold an infant still and reasonably stick a pointy object near their eye. So he will have to be put under anesthesia for the procedure which is really the riskiest part of the whole thing. He will not have to stay overnight.

So that is the scoop. It's a little scary because someone is going to come at my baby with a pointy object with the intent of poking a hole in his eye! I'm trying to remember that this is no big deal in the grand scheme of things. There are parents who have dealt with a lot more serious illnesses than this. I'll keep you posted.

at 9:52 PM | 1 comments    
Labels: Colin, doctor visits

While we were visiting my family upstate over Columbus Day weekend, Sean really wanted to find some fall festivities to take Colin to. We ended up at Critz Farms and had a great time. Here are some of the photos that resulted from the trip. A few of them were taken by my mother on her new Canon Digital Rebel XT ( just to give credit where credit is due.)

at 11:00 AM | 3 comments    
Labels: adventures, family, holiday, pictures

Wow, 15 months! We have a doctors appointment this month but we haven't had it yet, so when I get his height and weight info I will update this post. This is also MMR month, and even though I've done the research, I know the risk is low, I still worry. There are mothers who are convinced their children were normal until they got the MMR vaccine, and it is those voices that keep me worried. I've done everything I think is reasonable at this point, so I'm just going to breathe and we are going to get through this. I will be very happy to be on the other side of this vaccine.

So lets get on with it shall we?

Sleeping: We are mostly in a holding pattern (Do I saw this a lot?). Colin's nap routine has been in flux this , he used to nap well from 11-1, but the nap was getting shorter and putting him down was harder so we have been trying to push him to nap from 1-3. It hasn't been easy and I've been wishy washy because I wasn't confident he was ready. I'm confident now, and we are doing a little better the last few days but I'm still not getting two hours out of him, and who knows maybe I won't get two hours anymore. Overnight isn't getting any better or worse, but Colin is refusing to put himself to sleep the way he was. It has been very difficult on everyone and we've had to put the training on hold until the nap routine is worked out. Hopefully things will get back on track shortly luckily he isn't doing to badly overnight.

Likes:

• My hair: This is definitely not new this month but I'm not sure if I've mentioned it as much as it deserves. Colin is seriously obsessed with my hair, it seems to be his 'lovie', the thing he is attached to, the thing he wants to cling to when he is scared or hurt or tired. The downside is, it drives me freaking NUTS and it hurts. it is the little sensitive hairs on the back of your neck that he gravitates to and he just pulls them right out! I've tried to substitute stuffed animals with hair-like fur but so far no luck. I probably say "Colin, don't pull Mommy's hair please" about 100 times a day.
  
• Climbing: He climbs on anything and everything and so far he hasn't taken any major spills but it is likely inevitable. This child is all boy.
  
• Rough-housing with Daddy: I wish I could bottle the sound of his laughter when he is playing with his Daddy. Every afternoon around 5:30 our living room turns into a hallmark or maybe chase bank commercial.
  
• Being read to: I always hoped Colin would love reading, but I wasn't prepared for him to carry a book around and hold it up asking to be read to SO OFTEN. It doesn't matter what else I'm doing, it is time to read, because how can you refuse to read to a 15 month old!? Although after reading DOG for the hundredth time, I have been heard saying "Maybe Daddy would like to read it now."Not actually a book but you get the idea
  
• Go-go-going: Oh man, Colin is a major fan of leaving the apartment. No 'go' is a bad word in our house because if we use it for anything, Colin will ask to "go-go" for the next three hours. So forget saying " I'm going to go to the bathroom" or "Let's go get dressed" because all he hears is "go." It doesn't matter if we just got home either, he wants to go again. Honestly, we could be out and he will still ask to go!

Dislikes:

• His Halloween costume. Uh-oh... not quite sure how this will play out but Colin is afraid of his costume (and it isn't scary in the least.) We may end up having to make some last minute adjustments...
• The giggle ball. I brought it out the other day...yeah he still hates it. (and it is still freaking hysterical)
• Having his sleeves pushed back. With the chilly weather we are wearing a lot more long sleeves, this means dirty sleeves after meals. So I try to push them up to keep them out of the way...Colin isn't a fan but he is getting used to it.
  
• Being told 'no' by anyone other than his parents. This one I find funny. If anyone other than Sean or I corrects Colin's behavior by saying "No", his little lip comes out, he looks down at the ground and tries for about 5-10 seconds to keep it together but eventually out come the sobs! It is actually very cute to watch for anyone other than the person who just said no. Any other phrasing used for correcting behavior works fine but somehow, NO is a trigger word for crying. Sean and I only rarely get this reaction.
  
• His bibs. Lately Colin has decided he doesn't like wearing his bibs and rips them off mid-meal. Erin mentioned her boys did this but I figured we were in the clear since he never touched it before but no. The power of suggestion I guess. Might be time to look for non-Velcro bibs.
  
  
  Hugs for daddy.
  

New Things:

• Colin really likes doing his animal sounds. Aside from cow, cat, goat, sheep, dogs and ducks he now has sounds for monkey, hawk, pig and lion. He uses these sounds to identify the animals. For example someone left a little monkey doll out and he picked it up and started making his monkey noise.
  
• Colin makes a new whining sound that is not exactly pleasant I'm not sure I can describe it but it is the sound made when his whine gets too high pitched to make the sound without screaming. It is sort of like a whispered growl.
• Signs: This is getting harder to list since I can't remember what is new or remember what he actually signs. But I think the following signs are new this month. Carrot, corn, cookie, bus, hurt and banana.
• Teeth: #13 was the last molar (his upper left) and #14 was the upper right canine. I'll say it again. Can we have a break now please?
  

The end

at 8:24 PM | 2 comments    
Labels: Colin, Colin is X old, pictures

I wanted to get Colin's 15 month post up today but it is only about halfway done and I'm too tired to finish it so it will have to wait...Tomorrow is a busy day and we have our second doctors appointment with the eye specialist on Monday morning (about the clogged tear duct) so hopefully I'll get it done by Monday night. At least I took the photos on time this month!!

at 11:31 PM | 2 comments    
Labels: blogging

I just want everyone to know that I, ME, the one who hates food, yeah me, actually made and ate and ENJOYED, chili this evening!! Now, unless you are from Ohio, you may not consider this 'REAL' chili because it didn't have any beans. However, it was made with chili powder and hot sauce so it totally qualifies! Next time I might even put the full recommended amount of chili powder in it (I got nervous and only used 1.5 TBs instead of 2..) I've started to like the idea of chili recently, since I enjoy slathering things with cheese and sour cream so I thought I would give it a whirl.
Here is the recipe I used. I followed some of the reviewers suggestions and used Worcestershire sauce instead of red wine vinegar and the above mentioned adjustment (which totally wasn't necessary) but otherwise kept to the recipe. Oh wait, I'm lying, I used ground turkey because we rarely eat beef (and there was more than 1lb in the package but I went with it.)

Here was the result... I made Nachos count as dinner folks, how cool is that!?! (You can tell mine from Sean's because it is buried in cheese)

....and guess who else wanted in on this action?!? You guessed it, 'the one who hates food jr'. At first I thought it was just the tortilla chips but he wouldn't eat them alone so I guess not. He did eventually catch on that there was meat (okay poultry) in this dish and was sucking the sauce off and spiting out the turkey.



P.S. I have lots of pictures to share from our weekend upstate but I came home with a little head cold so this is all I can muster right now.

at 8:05 PM | 2 comments    
Labels: Colin, food, pictures, recipes

Someone please stop this *$%# express train I would like to get off!! I was mentioning to Sean the other night that we must have switched kids in Miami because the Colin we brought home was not the same Colin we left with. He has just been very clingy and whiny for days, on and off with no apparent cause, until I once again am changing his diaper and notice more flashes of white. His upper left molar popped through last night and this afternoon I see the tip of the upper right canine bearing its ugly head. Well no wonder he has been in "a mood". I guess when he wasn't spiking a fever, or waking up screaming like a banshee I failed to recognize that he was teething. I just sort of figured since the first canine wasn't all the way in yet it was still giving him some discomfort. HA. I guess Colin just is handling the pain better this time since it is only TWO teeth instead of three at once.

My poor baby. We are all feeling a little run down today after Colin being awake from 2:20-4:45 last night. I thought he was having issues with a gas bubble in his intestines the way he was fine for a while and then writhing and then fine again ::repeat 12 dozen times:: I guess it was probably a little bit of both.

This was the only thing that made him happy today, so despite being horribly dangerous, I allowed him to do it. (With close supervision, and actually it looks worse in the picture than it does in real life.) He is saying "People of Jackson Heights I am your leader!!" okay no, actually he is saying "bus!"

The silver lining is that we are almost done. Assuming the 2yr molars wait there freaking turn and don't come until he is actually two (fat chance) we only have two more teeth to go.

at 6:40 PM | 3 comments    
Labels: Colin, pictures, teeth

I've been slacking a little with the blog posts but mostly because I have spent nearly every day of the past month either traveling, packing or unpacking! The plans we had to travel to Albany this weekend, for better or worse, were canceled so we had a relaxing weekend at home (which means I took Colin out to Long Island on Friday night for a high school football game and we went to a baseball game on Sunday afternoon.... I think I may have a problem staying put!) Here are some highlights from the past two weeks.

For the first time ever, Colin stayed with a babysitter during the day for six hours. That babysitter was my mother so it isn't like he was with a stranger. For most kids this isn't a big deal, but for Colin, we were a little nervous. He has stayed with Sean's mom a couple of times before but it was later in the evening and he would generally cry on and off until he fell asleep. However, since they were always in a hotel (so Sean and I could attend weddings) and it was very close to bedtime, this wasn't exactly a recipe for success. During the day and in his own house he did really really well. We all (Sean, Me, my Mom and Colin) left at the same time and Sean and I split off (after saying goodbye) and Colin and my Mom went for a walk. Colin spent the rest of the day playing with my Mom with only a minor protest when he got back and realized we weren't around. Here is a photo of him having fun with Grandma. I guess we now know how to manipulate (for lack of a better term) the situation to make it easier on him. However I should note that I 'paid' for my absence quite a bit over the next week or so with a very clingy baby who thought I was going to leave him at any moment.

The very next day after the babysitting, we left for Miami to visit Chris and Oana. We had a great time, and even when to Land Shark Stadium to watch a Mets v. Marlins game. Colin even got to run the bases after the game! Here are some photos from our trip.

at 7:48 PM | 3 comments    
Labels: Colin, family, pictures

As promised some videos from the last month.

This is one of Colin's first attempts to dance. Please excuse my silly dancing song...

Colin Dancing from Rebecca Berry on Vimeo.

This was was recorded just a few days ago while we were in Miami. Colin started doing a silly kick while swimming. I only caught a little bit of it at the beginning, but its cute.

Colin kicking from Rebecca Berry on Vimeo.

at 9:23 PM | 2 comments    
Labels: video

1. I got my happy joyful baby back for a little while this evening. He was just so sweet and playful, I almost forgot how amazing he is when he isn't in pain. =)
2. I am 'haunted' by an experience I had this afternoon. Colin had a doctors appointment in Manhattan (more about that later) and after wards we went to meet Sean at work. On the way, I was walking past a child about two and a half being pushed in a stroller, but he wasn't buckled in and he went to stand up and climb out but his mom didn't know. I couldn't warn her in time and he fell out of the stroller and his chin connected with the side walk with a very loud crack. I don't think he broke anything but he is going to have one heck of a bruise on his chin tomorrow. I get an awful feeling in my stomach every time the scene replays in my mind. Just wanted to pass on the reminder to always buckle your kids into the stroller, even when they seem to not need it anymore.
   

at 9:32 PM | 5 comments    
Labels: life lesson

From here forward this past month will be regarded as "the month of TEETH" I wasn't wrong when I said that three were coming in, while they didn't pop at the same time they did pop out in rapid succession. Colin has been more miserable than I have ever seen him, Sean and I have even joked that he is developing 'colic' at 14months old. Nothing seems to help him for very long, we even went to the doctor to make sure it wasn't something else, but all we learned was that he might have a bit of a sore throat too (rapid strep test was negative, full strep culture results expected tomorrow but we expect that to be negative too since he no longer has a fever. Update: no strep, his sore throat was likely just from crying.) I honestly thought molars were as bad as it got, I was wrong. This first canine has been much worse. After this we only have four more teeth left to cut (Thank God for that!) This is also the first month where the pictures for this post weren't taken on the 17th. It just didn't happen that day, so I'm posting pictures from 'around the 17th'.

So what is new this month?

Sleeping: Yeah I don't even want to discuss it. We had been making good progress getting Colin to put himself to sleep on his own in the crib (we actually had three days in a row of him laying down in his crib and falling asleep at both nap time and bedtime), then we started this teething marathon and we went away for a week so everything is all messed up again. (I will proudly say that today he was successful again at going to sleep without being held, but today is technically for NEXT months post). It is hard to sum up the month because it really started very well, we had a few nights of only one maybe two wake ups but now he is pretty much up every hour after midnight or so, and is in a lot of pain, even Motrin doesn't seem to help right now. Sean and I are doing what we can to survive this bump in the road. Thankfully, reinforcements (in the form of my mom) are coming later this week before we head to Miami (to visit Chris and Oana) for a long weekend (and we thought life would slow down after we had a baby.)

Likes:

• "go-go-go"ing. Colin can sign and say "go-go-go" very well now and does it often. His favorite thing in the world is when the front door opens and he gets to go out. Even upon returning from a walk he gets out of the stroller and immediately says "go go go". He can't get enough, this doesn't bode well for the coming months as it becomes harder to go outside. I think we are going to have to become members at a nearby indoor pool.
• Swimming. Still a favorite, he now loves the water.
• Bathing. This is a new favorite, he has been pretty wishy washy (no pun intended) about baths, but lately he really is enjoying them. We can thank cousin Lukas for helping him get over his fear of running water. Lukas loves to have the water running play in it. Now Colin enjoys it too. We now have trouble getting Colin OUT of the tub.
  
• TV. Sean and I aren't thrilled about this but we have been allowing more TV this month (particularly in the last week or two) to help him zone out when he is at his crankiest due to teeth. It does seem to take his mind off the pain. He will basically just sit on one of our laps and snuggle while he watches a tv show or video. His favorite is baby signing time, but he also enjoys our new preschool prep Meet the Shapes video and a couple shows on Noggin. We have been changing the channel to a boring station after his show now and to let him loose interest in the TV rather than turn it off. Otherwise he can spiral out of control again.
• Books. Thankfully he does love his books as well! This are also great tools to help distract him from his pain. He loves to have the same book read over and over and over and over and over.. it can get kinda dull for us but if he is happy we are happy right now.
• Playgrounds in general, slides in particular. See below. This is still a double team activity (meaning two adults to one Colin) since he doesn't quite grasp the concept that walking off a 'cliff' will result in injury.
  

Dislikes:

• Sand sand sand. This is just comical. It might as well be hot lava. If his toe so much as touches a grain of sand he starts to get upset and begs to be picked up. Here is Sean carrying him around because he wouldn't stand on his own.
  

• When someone leaves without him. This month Colin has started really getting upset when Sean leaves the house in the mornings, but I honestly think it has more to do with the fact that he isn't 'go-go-go-ing' because I get the same reaction when I take the garbage out and then come back and close the door behind me.
• Teething. I'm probably don't have to mention this one but it is a big one.

New Things:

• This month Colin has really been working on locomotion. He is now climbing, jumping and dancing with wild abandon. He has almost no regard for gravity so we really have to watch him to prevent major falls. Today he climbed into his stroller and was standing by the time I turned around. That would be a pretty significant fall, so we have to fold that up now. His walker is now is favorite thing to climb on. Luckily it if super stable to there is no chance it will fall over, and it isn't so high off the ground that he would break something if he falls off. I am trying to give him the room to grow and develop this skill by allowing him to climb on safe things, but still being within catching distance if he decides to take a tumble. Here are some climbing pictures. I will hopefully get a dancing video up in the next few days.
  

• Colin can now identify his nose, mouth, eyes, ears head and belly with about 75-80% accuracy (not counting the times he flat out ignores the question, which is probably about 30-40% of the time)
• We have been working on color signs and Colin can sign and identify red, but unfortunately the other color signs are very similar and he doesn't really have the hand dexterity to differentiate them yet. Even Lukas had trouble re-creating the signs so I might not push this one for awhile.
• He has added animal sounds for cats, ducks and the occasional goat.
• Oddly he has started snorting intentionally this month, (this is unrelated to animal sounds) I think he did it accidentally at some point and thought it was hysterical so he does it now intentionally, although not very often.
• He also makes a dog panting noise in relation to the DOG book. I had no idea what Colin was doing but I guess Sean started panting when he read the part about the wet dog shake shake shake, so now Colin pants every time we read that part.
• Teeth: Tooth #10 was his upper right molar, #11 was his lower left molar (I think it is nearly through the gum now)and #12 is his lower right canine, which only has its tip through the gum. If he doesn't get a break after this I'm going to have words with whomever is in charge!!
  
  

at 8:59 PM | 1 comments    
Labels: Colin is X old, teeth

There has to be a great caption for this photo, but I can't come up with anything right now. You try! In a week or so I'll pick a winner, and maybe, just maybe there will be a prize!

at 7:33 PM | 10 comments    
Labels: photo

I remember when I first saw a child on a leash, I was about 18 and in an airport. The child was running away from his mother and when he got to the end of the leash he got angry and threw himself on the ground and proceeded to have a tantrum. My first thought was "Hey, if you want your children to act like animals, treat them that way!" I am starting to revisit this hasty and ignorant conclusion. I still feel like using a leash, or harness or backpack, whatever you want to call it isn't exactly a respectful way to treat a child, but recently the following points have made me think these might actually be an important safety tool and have their place.

We live in a small apartment in a big city. No yard, not a whole lot of grass, and much of the grass that exists has large signs saying to KEEP OFF. If Colin needs exercise, I have to walk him around on the sidewalks. This creates a couple issues.

1. Safety: At any time while we are walking ,Colin is less than 6 feet from traffic and he obviously is below the sight line of most drivers. So far he isn't much of a 'darter' but people tell me this is probably because he isn't 2 yet.
   
2. Comfort: Colin holds our hands very nicely but Sean and I are both tall and thus his little arm is straight up in the air. I know from holding the subway rails, this is tiring. He often asks to be picked up but will happily walk around more when we get inside the gated courtyard. So I don't think his legs are tired I think his arm is!
3. Walking alignment: While holding hands, he can't balance as well and he trips often. Yes he is a new walker so he trips, but he trips much more when holding hands.
   
4. Dislocation Risk(?): When Colin trips, the instinct is to yank quickly on his arm to keep him standing. I often feel like I'm going pop his shoulder out of socket. I have no idea if this is a real risk or not, but I certainly think about the possibility of it happening.

As of right now Colin is great in the stroller, as long as we keep moving he is happy, therefore that is my first line of defense for keeping him safe. However, sometimes he NEEDS to walk. As an example, the other day, Colin got up around 7:00am and was in the high chair for breakfast from 8:00-8:45. By 9:15 we were taking a walk around the neighborhood and returned home at 10:00am for his snack. From the snack chair we went into his room to read some book and prepare for his nap. He slept from 11:00am-1:00pm. He groggily played in the living room until I fed him lunch from 1:20ish-2:00pm (yes he does sit that long for a meal.) After that, we got ready to go grocery shopping so he was in the car seat, the shopping cart and the car seat again until 4:45. Then comes dinner, back to the high chair. At this point it hits me, Colin has been sitting on his butt all but maybe 90 mins ALL DAY LONG. So after dinner out we went to walk the neighborhood for an hour. Sheesh, and I wonder why he doesn't sleep well!?!? Or why I have to restrain his legs sometimes to get him to fall asleep!! The kid has energy to BURN but no way to burn it. Our building does have a playground but if I take him there 1) he goes right to the swing and won't budge for a while (not burning energy) 2) He tries to walk off 4 foot high platforms on the jungle gym and I can't be everywhere at once. This isn't the solution.

So maybe walking Colin around the sidewalks with a leash is a worthy solution to consider. However I still worry this might cause more problems for us later. Some people say this is humiliating for children, I'm not sure Colin has that level of self awareness yet but an older child might, I don't know. Others say it will teach them that they don't have to hold hands. Still others say maybe it does teach them how to stay close by providing a physical limit for the distance they can go from mom or dad (like an invisible fence boundary does for dogs.) In some cases I think harnesses are a useful safety tool, particularly with multiples or when parents are handicapped and not able to chase their children. I obviously don't fall into either of those cases, but maybe their are other situations when they are useful as well.

I invite comment, in fact I encourage it!! Kids or no kids please weigh in. I have not purchased one, but am seriously considering doing so. What is your opinion? Have you used one? What do you think of them?
At first sight I was horrified by them, then I had a child and my view of many things changed. I have certainly became less judgmental of other parents.

at 2:45 PM | 16 comments    
Labels: parenting