Emilio - 2.5 years

Emi, Emi, Emi...! You are a handful!!! You have always been very intense, but the last little while has been full on toddler energy!  and it hasn't always been easy, but the hardships definitely don't even begin to define your sweet, happy, smart and vivacious self.

No doubt you are the life of the party when you are happy. You are affectionate, full of joy, a chatterbox and super sociable. You give, hands down, the BEST hugs in the universe. You are so affectionate and such a sweet heart, you just can't hide it. You are also so enthusiastic about everything, you always want to be in the middle of the action, and the words "exhausted", "rest" and "quiet" mean nothing to you. You are just not interested in being calm or taking a break. Instead, you want to be part of all the action at all times, and that 90% of the time means being near your brother and sticking your nose in his business at all cost.

You are also a super strong, athletic little guy. You are like a tiny body builder. Your physical ability is impressive, people always comment on how fast, strong, and coordinated you look for your age. Your fine motor skills are also amazing, and the things you are able to do with your little fingers blow my mind.

All this energy and personality, however, sometimes seem to come at a high cost, ha! don't get me wrong, you are so cute and sweet it hurts just to look at you. But I think toddlerhood sometimes is just such a miserable time for little guys, with all its frustrations and inability to communicate them verbally, it just makes ground for perfect storms in a lively guy like you. 

One of the challenges we deal with on a daily basis is that, added to your strength, you have developed the most annoying and loud screams on earth. Meaning every time you don't get what you want, how you want it, you just go ballistic, and I have a hard time coping with that, sometimes for an entire hour, on and off throughout the day. If you wake up in a bad mood, you can be a pain all morning and not compose yourself really until after nap time. 

Some nights you don't sleep so well and you wake up crying as if in terrible pain, or have night terrors that make you act like crazy screaming and rolling around all over the floor, and nothing will make you stop.  We haven't quite figured out what is going on there. And sometimes it happens night after night, to the point we are starting to think there might be a food allergy involved. Those days you are no fun to be around during the day.

Too many bubbles...

This brings me to breastfeeding and why we, or I, haven't built up the courage to wean you completely. You still nurse to have a nap and to go to sleep at night, and when you wake up through the night (which is still often). I am so ready to stop nursing, since you are now pretty demanding and you just like to treat my body as if  I am made of Playdo, which is not very enjoyable. But I am just scared of your reaction if I just refused to nurse you :S. I am also so afraid you are going to be heart broken, but I guess everyone feels like that...

Other little quirks you have developed are having a banana every morning, but it has to be an unopened one (even if you have already had part of one minutes before), and you have to say when, where and how we opened it, or else we will have to pick out a new banana and start over. You are following Paulo's steps in the quirks department, as you start to demand milk a certain way, in a specific bottle. You also hate wearing shoes and sweaters (which makes for INTERESTING morning routines), and you are OBSESSED with the word "dangerous/peligroso)" as well as actual dangerous objects which you want to always have, such as blades, knifes, screwdrivers, etc. 

Last, some of your favourite things are eating, running wild, watering plants... and your brother. You guys are on each other all the time, but you are just crazy in love with your brother. You have to say all the same things, imitate everything he does, wear the same clothes, to the point you want to wear his clothes even if they don't fit. You always want to sleep in his bedroom at bed time, right until the last minute when you bail and just come to your own bed to nurse. And when you two do get along and play, you play SO WELL. You giggle and run and jump around so much, my heart could explode.

I could go on and on for pages so I will just stop here. I love you more than I will ever be able to say. You are my little bichito :).

Emilio - 2 Years Old

Emilio, bichito. I have been trying to write a post about you since you were 1 and a half, but you have kept me so busy, it turns out this one is going to have to be about your 2nd Birthday.

I just cant believe we are at this stage of your life. I have vivid memories of when your brother turns two, just before you were born. He seemed like such a big boy, or at least that's how I remember it. Yet I see you at this age and you are still sort of a baby. Except you can cause soooo much more trouble, ha! I look back at when you were born and it feels like you were born in the middle of a whirlwind. Your daddy had just started a new job, your brother just started staying at home with me, I had two jobs, one part-time job in downtown and another contracting job at home. We were moving across the country with this family and a tiny little baby, we were going to Mexico for a month!

Phew, then we finally managed to move here to Ottawa and that first year of your life was SO TOUGH on me. Living in a new city had not much to do with that. But just the amount of craziness I had to deal with being at home with you, a brand new baby, and your brother, the two-year-old. 

Last year your brother started school and you instantly became my little sidekick. You are such a sweet heart little boy. You have become quite the trouble maker lately (which I will talk about in a moment) but in essence, you are such a sweet boy. 

Superficially, you are just over the top handsome. You turn heads everywhere you go and people always comment on what a beautiful boy you are and what a knock out you will be when you grow up. You have the widest, brightest eyes, and the most beautiful smile, with all teeth but half a molar in it. 

You are such a happy, loving little boy. If you wake up in a good mood, which used to be almost every day, you just run around, you dance, you scream and jump in happiness. You light up a room. you are a loud and cheeky little monkey. You are also VERY affectionate. You give the best kisses, cuddles and hugs. You are the most affectionate with me, and will come up to me and just give me a big kiss in the mouth. you are so sweet. You have also become quite attached to your daddy in the last few months, and you love giving him big hugs, climbing on him and just rough housing in general. But when you are tired or hungry, you want no one but mommy.

Speaking of tired and hungry, you are still nursing, mostly at night. You always nurse to nap, and sometimes when you wake up cranky. You always nurse to sleep at night and still wake up tons in the night. You have gone through months of terrible teething pains and that basically destroyed my sleep and sanity, since you were latched on to me every minute of the night, scratching my chest and just doing all kinds of annoying things that drove me to the point of deciding to night wean you. We started to try and it was so tough, and then you got sick with pink eye and a cough and it all went out the window. At the moment you are going through some bad days again and I am just anxiously waiting so we can start over with the night weaning. 

Your latest most annoying quirks (besides the fact that in general, you entered the terrible two's full force, as if you didn't have a strong head already) are that you HATE wearing a diaper at night, to the point that if I put one on: a. you will cry and scream so loud you could probably throw up b. you wake up every 30 mins of the night pissed off because you are wearing a diaper. 

The other annoying thing about you lately is that you have decided that you HATE winter and everything about it. You want nothing to do with going outside, getting bundled up, and on top of it, you want me to stay inside with you at all times. I cannot tell you enough what a pain in the butt you have been in the last month, ha! 

You started Playschool in September and had a rough start, but now you are used to it and I think even enjoy it, except for the fact that I am not there. You were handling it okay until this recent bad phase you are having, and now you are having huge separation anxiety issues, even with your Nana!!! who you had no problem staying with before.

On good days, you will  wake up around 7 a.m., sleep no more that 1 hour and 15 mins, from about 11.30 or 12 to 12.45 or 1.15 p.m. and then go to sleep around 7 or 7.30 p.m. 

You are definitely very different that your brother in your likes and dislikes (even though really, you want to do EVERYTHING your brother does), which makes sense because you have had basically the life of an older boy, following your brother around. 

some of the things that describe you at 2:

- Your language skills have exploded!!! you were kind of a late talker compared to Paulo, but once you did, about 6 months ago, your just made yourself very articulate and understood right away.

- You are a very domestic boy (probably from being around me all the time at home). You love sweeping, dusting, cleaning things, "fixing" things with your tools; you love babies and loving on people. Your favourite games involve shopping carts, dolls, strollers and pots and pans. Besides anything physical such as running or jumping on beds.

- You LOVE animals, especially cats, which is what comes more available here.

- You are not much of a book reader, unless you are alone with me or your daddy. If your brother is around, you are just not interested.

-Your physical skills are over the top, insane, You are fearless, you are strong, coordinated, meticulous, refined with your hands.

- You are Paulos absolute, loyal, #1 fan. Even though like a typical 2 year old, you are starting to make your voice heard and have become a bit aggressive lately, you just love getting your brother's attention, doing everything he does, the way he does it, and just bend over backwards to get a laughter out of him.

- You are amazing at sharing. Sure sometimes you just wont share. But most of the time, if people ask you politely, you will share.

- You are a very polite little boy. EVERYTHING is please and thank you and bless you with you.

That's about everything I can think of right now about you. We love you so much it hurts little guy. I am so glad you will always be my baby boy.

Emilio - 1 Year!!



Emilio,

it is unbelievable that you have joined our family a year ago.... wow, it is amazing how fast you have grown! it is also a little sad, that my little baby is gone, that you are a full on toddler now, and soon you will start becoming a little boy. Despite the sadness, however, I can honestly say that I have really enjoyed this year with you, and that I have (successfully!) made an effort to appreciate every moment. Even when it has been really hard taking care of  you two, I have always reminded myself that in time I will remember these moments and cherish them.

I want to talk about your sleep before anything else and just get it out of the way. Your sleep has SUCKED big time for the last... month? Two months? I cant even remember when was the last time you had some decent sleep, but I don't even really care to figure it out. I know (hope!!) it's all a phase and that you will have to sleep better one day. It is funny that in general you seem to be a much better sleeper than you brother, and still at this age he was already sleeping through the night. You, in turn, are not even close to that. You nap incredibly well (from about 12 to 3), and in general you go down fairly easily, now nursing to sleep again. However, at night (when you sleep from around 8 p.m. to 7.30 a.m.) you have started to wake up tons, and in the last month, you wake up really angry, screaming and arching your back, kicking and rolling all over the bed until I nurse you back to sleep. I think the latter may be related to your 4 molars coming in at the same time... God I really hope that is it! and if so, I know all I can do is basically wait it out.

I have also started to think about weaning you. First I was toying with the idea of nursing you until YOU were done with it, basically because I am in no rush to wean you. However, after meeting with some friends who are still nursing their toddler well into his 2nd year and seeing what that was like...um, I think I'll pass. As great as I think that is for some people, I just don't think it is for me. We will see. At the moment you only nurse once during the day (before your nap) and then before bed, and numerous times throughout the night. So it really does not bother me at all, but it would be nice to have some uninterrupted sleep. Especially when I first lay down exhausted and you wake up because I'm there. For these reasons, I have decided to move you to a mattress on the floor or another sleep surface in an attempt to see if your sleep stretched get longer.

Other than that, now you are:

•  walking everywhere like it is no big deal, although you still prefer to hold somebody's hand while you do it.
• You absolutely LOVE music, and every single song or melody (even the church organ!) makes you dance, bending your knees and waving your arms up in the air, so cute!!
• You have started babbling more and more words. For instance, you now say "Ta Ta" every night , meaning "bye bye", when you go to bed. Or else during the day while waving good bye. You also say "ta taaa" when you mean to say "gracias!", "gaaa" for "Gooool" when you play ball, and "ta ta" for Dada.
• You still eat up a storm, although your teeth sometimes take their toll on your meals.
• You love having baths.
• You most certainly know what you want, and you know how to scream up the top of your lungs when you don't get it.
• You still absolutely HATE the car seat.
• You still smile away at everybody and everything. You have the silliest laughter, and although you've learn to put up a fight with your brother, you still love being with him and he makes you laugh like no one else.

Emilio, no doubt you are the friendliest, happiest baby I have ever seen. You have an amazing temperament and the sweetest smile on earth. Smile on Emilio, we love you so much!

 

Emilio - 11 months

Emi! It is now January 2nd and i am just getting around to writing your 11 month old post. We have been on vacation since December 7th and with the change in routine and lack of consistent internet, it has been difficult to sit down and write.
But here I am. Late, but will try to write a bit down before you turn a year old.
Your most amazing milestone this month is still your ability to walk. You are still eager to walk everywhere, although you still lack the confidence to do it all on your own. You typically have to hold on to someone or something, but are so happy to do it, you cry when we pick you up. You are definitely more and more confident, although the hard floors in Mexico have put a pause on your learning, primarily because we're all terrified of you falling on t eh concrete floor. It has also been difficult for you to crawl because you're always wearing shorts he and it hurts your little knees when you do. So in terms of mobility, it hasn't been your best month.

Other than that your speech is definitely improving. You can hear the intonation in your made- up words, like you're trying to imitate everything. Some words that I can tell you say consistently well:
Mama, Dada, ball, gracias, " ai ta" ( ahi esta), alla ( while pointing your finger).

This month your potty habits have gone out of whack. Mostly because our eating schedule has been changes around with our  lunch being our main meal here, and because there are so many people looking for you here, that I'm just not so in tune with you. Sometimes you go potty in the toilet, but there have been many times when you just go in your diaper.

Your eating habits have also suffered a bit while in here, because we don't have a proper high chair to sit you on, and you hate being restrained, so you always end up eating while standing up.

Emilio - 10 months

Emilio - 10 months



Emi, you are 10 months now! Incredible how little you have left before your first birthday!

It has been an incredible month, filled with a little bit of everything. LOTS of teething!! There is drool everywhere, and unfortunately your sleep hasn't been great at all. That, paired with a lot of sickness being brought home by your big brother, has made nights a living hell for this mama. But now you seem to have passed both the sickness and teething phase ( for now)  and you are sleeping beautifully. I think in the last 2 nights you have only been up once and back to sleep.

Speaking of sleep. I think you are starting to need your own space, because when you wake up and touch me in your sleep you start complaining and kicking and pushing me... It will be interesting to see what our next sleeping arrangement will be, but I keep reminding myself I will not worry about that until you are at least a year old.

Another thing waiting until after a year is to see what will happen to breastfeeding. At the moment you are still nursing about 5 or 6 times during the day and a couple (?) of times at night. You are sooo interested in your brother's bottle, that it almost makes me want to pump just so I can give you your own. You are always distracted and if it is not quiet and still, it is really hard to nurse you. Sometimes I think you wouldn't care much if we dropped some sessions. But then sometimes you do enjoy the cuddles and I can tell sometimes you just need the comfort and security. But like I said, I will divert any related thoughts until after a year. Sofar I am just glad we have made it this far.

Other things you can do now:

- crawl SUPER fast

- say mama more consistently, and you are definitely immitating more sounds. I think you try to say Paulo and papa but you just say "ba!"

- climb the stairs UP and DOWN, the latter being new

- climb off the bed, feet first

- climb shelves :s

- drink from a sippy cup with help

- YOU CAN CLAP!! Which is super cute

- you dance to music and I think you try to sing along

- you can sit, with your feet tucked under your bum

- play alone for long periods

- " walk" while holding on to somebody's hands or furniture

- the cutest thing is when you crawl close to daddy or Paulo and throw yourself on the ground yelling "AAhhh!" because you want to "wrestle" hahaha.

Emilio, you are still the cutest baby and all smiles. We love you chiquitino!

Emilio - 9 months

 

 

Emilio, you are 9 months today! Every month it has felt so surreal that you are whatever age you are, and this month is no exception -- time has flown by!!

 

 

 

This month however, it feels like you have all of a sudden become a super baby over night. You have gained unbelievable speed and confidence in your crawling. You cruise holding on to furniture more and more often. You climbed up one whole flight of stairs at an unreal speed, and then down. You have started to coo in more coordinated syllables, and Im even suspicious you may have started to say " hola" and maybe even " no,no no" ( you say " na, na, na" but always in the same context, when you are annoyed or upset"). There is a very obvious sudden fascination with all things tiny, which leads me to think there might be some visual milestone around this age, because all of a sudden you focus on the tiniest things, and therefore have perfected your pincer grip. This is great when you eat, since now you can eat things such as grapes, rice and cut up carrots and peas on your own. The downside to that though is that you find the littlest pieces of who-knows-what in the carpet and take them right into your mouth. You have also started to sit up completely unassisted with your feet bent under your bum.  And the mother of all milestones of the month, today I saw you stand on your two feet alone, while distracted grabbing a fork from the dishwasher door with your two hands. You stood for maybe about 5 second without even noticing, and then held on to the door again.

We have now mastered the poop in the potty now, and you haven't gone poo in your diaper  except for once in the entire month ( the first morning your Abuis arrived from Mexico and she was looking after you) . I am really pumped not to be washing any poopy diapers anymore!!!

Another great thing this month was that I ordered a Little Frog woven wrap from Poland this month. I still use the Maya ring sling a lot, but you have become pretty heavy and you had really outgrown a

comfortable carry for several months now, and that was destroying my back. I had been looking for an affordable wrap when I read about Little Frog. So since I got the wrap I have been wrapping you in a ruck carry every day, first with the help of your Abuis and now I have definitely gotten better at it. It has been a huge success. You look very comfortable and happy in it, and for me it is a world of difference to carry you on my back. The most amazing thing? You fall asleep within 10 minutes max if it is time for you to nap. I just go about my business while wearing you and bam, you're out!

 

 

Some of your favourite things this month:

- playing/ fighting with your brother

- Eating - you just go NUTS over food

- baths

- Itsy bitsy spider ( you now try to follow with your hands)

- emptying the cutlery from the dishwasher

- getting wrapped

- climbing stairs

- turning the TV on and off

Things you hate:

- the car seat

- getting your diaper changes/ lying on your back

I can't wait to see what awaits us this month!

Emilio - 8 Months

Emi!! Why are you in such a hurry to grow up?? You are 8 months now... Wow, as always, your being one months older comes as such a shock. Also a shock is how tall and heavy you are. As per your checkup this month, you are above the 97th percentile for height and just above the 50th for weight. You do indeed look like a really tall baby!

 

I had talked before about how increasingly mobile you had become and this month wasn't the exception. You are definitely happiest either standing holding on to something, climbing stairs, crawling ( a proper crawl now) or anything BUT lying on your back. Which takes me to the following picture:

 

 

Haha, not a happy camper when you lie on your back, and diaper changes have become a witch!

 

 

Elimination communication is still going strong. Sometimes it surprises me how good you are when I take you pee and we can last a good while without a diaper. However, I still haven't ventured to take you out of the house without a diaper, since your poops can still take me by surprise from time to time.

You have also started to make more coordinated sounds, like maybe the beginnings of syllables. Sometimes I even think you are trying to imitate the word "Hola" . I think maybe you have also started to waive, but that one is still a bit inconsistent.

 

 

You are still nursing a lot during the day and even more so at night, but I'm not really keeping track. You have certainly lost interest a little during the day and most times you just nurse for a minute or two and then get distracted by something else, usually your brother. At night though, you still wake up pretty frequently, about every 2.5 or 3 hours, but since you are sleeping with me I just nurse you in bed and you quickly go back to sleep.

 

Speaking of sleep, in the last month your sleep patterns have been... pretty awful. The last week or two we hit rock bottom when you started waking up super frequently, screaming and unable to be settled back to sleep. I thought it was because you had caught a little cold from your brother, but I just noticed you have two big teeth breaking on the top, so that explains it all.

 

Finally, you and your brother are starting to interact a bit more, although I am afraid not always in the best of ways. Your brother still has a hard time sharing his toys and his parents with you, so every day is full of little battles, but you are pretty good at defending yourself considering you are only 8 months! I am afraid for what is to come!

 

Emi, we love you, my little baby. I am grateful everyday for you, and for watching you grow.

A Good Eater.

A very wise friend once said to me:  "Children are either good sleepers or good eaters. But they are never both". Her words sounded so true. My sons have always been great eaters.

It sucks that I have finally ended up writing a sleep related post. I have been so reluctant to do it, because I always get to be  the mom that always listens to people complain about their kids who only sleep 11 HOURS at night and have the audacity to wake up TWICE a night and only nap for 2 hours uninterrupted. Everybody is outraged when they listen to things like that. Meanwhile I am hiding in a corner hoping, praying, begging that no one will ask me how my kids sleep. Because that would be embarrassing.... beyond embarrassing, pitiful!... borderline shameful. So, I took it upon myself to never ask somebody how their kids sleep. Partly because I want to spare myself from confirming once more how badly my kids sleep, but mostly because I don't want to be the one who gets to make them feel better about their situation.

The first year of sleep with Paulo was so bad, that  I thought this time around I'd be redeemed. I would have the perfect sleeper who would effortlessly fall asleep in my arms without me even noticing. Ha! yes, I am that naïve.

Actually, sleep wasn't so bad the first months with Emilio, but now that he has reached 7 months, and specifically in the last week or two, something seems to be happening. In the last few days he has been refusing to sleep like it is his job. he goes to sleep for about 10 or 15 minutes while I nurse him when I am putting his older brother to sleep, and when I take him away to lay him down, he wakes up and looks at me with a smile bigger than batman's joker. I try to get him back to sleep, rest, try again, and so the circus continues on and off for up to 5 or 6 hours when I finally give up. And yes, he is pissy the rest of the day because he hasn't had any sleep since the morning.

I have tried rocking him, nursing him, putting him in the stroller, in the sling, leaving him alone in the crib, rubbing his back, you name it. It. doesn't. work. I don't know if he just doesn't want to go to sleep or if there is something deeper going on, like maybe he's teething and in pain or maybe his schedule is changing to one nap a day? although Paulo didn't do this until muco older, and I really don't think he would make it all morning without a nap....

AAARRGGG babyhood.... I seriously do NOT enjoy this part of the 1st year. I thought it was supposed to be easier this time around... oh well, I know he will outgrow this phase eventually...

And then what do you know? he fell asleep in the sling while I typed this while standing up... sigh....

Emilio- 7 months

Emilio - 7 months

 As I type this I am thinking I better get this finished quickly before you wake up from your nap, or else it could be another month until I actually have time to sit in front of the computer uninterrupted.

The last month has definitely been a tough and long one, to say the least... It seemed like you were back to napping for 2 hours straight on your second nap, which was great, but the last couple of days have been very tough, with you not wanting to nap at your regular time and even refusing to go to sleep after being awake for up to 7 hours straight! It gets ugly when I am trying to nurse you or rock you to sleep and you just kick and scream your lungs out... sigh... it has been really tough on me (and my knees...and my feet... and my back...) and daddy because he worries so much about me.

Your first nap has been better these days though, as you can sleep for an hour or 1.5 at a time, while I play with your brother outside waiting for you to wake up so we can go about our day.

Night time, however, has pretty much sucked in the last month, I hate to tell you. You wake up so often and immediately start crawling... I am not sure if this is related to teething pain or you are just eager to try your new moves, but man it is exhausting! So I have just totally given up on trying to have you sleep in the crib and just let you sleep in bed with me and nurse you while lying down so I can get some sort of decent sleep.

Speaking of new moves... you have been extremely mobile in the last month. You are still not quite crawling a "proper" crawl, but you're getting much faster at the army crawl/ inchworm style you have going. You have also started to lift yourself up on stools and steps and anything you can find to lean on standing up. In the last couple of days you have even started going up on the stairs! it is crazy, and you would probably get at least half way up the stairs if we let you, but so far we don't let you go up for more than 3 steps. Needless to say, we will need to get some gates for the stairs this weekend.

Standing!

Sadly, this month has not been all about smiles like all the previous ones. Separation anxiety has definitely kicked in, and you HATE being alone or left behind while I take your brother bathroom or need to leave the room for even a second. That combined with the teething pain, you have been a pretty miserable baby in the last month... however when you do show your smile it is as sweet as ever and you drive strangers, neighbours and family crazy with that sweet little smile.

Speaking of teeth... you have had both upper teeth coming in for about 2 or three weeks now and they have FINALLY broken through. I am sad to see your gummy smile disappear, but am eager to see your new little smile.

You also continue to go potty when I take you, and you have lasted up to a whole morning dry when I take you to pee constantly. However poos are still hit or miss, although we have definitely seem much less poopy diapers in the last month thanks to your schedule being a bit more predictable.

As for your eating solids, you are CRAZY about food and can't control your enthusiasm when we sit you at the table with us. You go absolutely nuts if we don't pass you any food as soon as you sit there, which is both funny and annoying, ha. But I am sure glad to see you so enthusiastic about eating.

Brothers

You still nurse about every 2.5 to 3 hours, and I would say at least 3 times at night, sometimes maybe more (I'm never sure because I always nurse you in bed in my sleep). When you are awake though, nursing is SO DIFFICULT with you. You just won't stop fidgeting and you want to follow your brother around EVERYWHERE and ALL THE TIME, which is... well, unpleasant. I always wonder if you will even miss nursing when we do stop. I am often tempted to wean just because it is really such a hassle to get you to be still, and going to a quiet place when your brother is around is just not an option. BUT of course that thought only lasts a minute, since I really do hate preparing bottles and I do really believe you are getting so many benefits from nursing (i.e. you have only been kind of sick ONCE since you were born!)

Emilio, I'd love to stay and write more about you in the last month, but I have to wake your brother up before you do too. I am sorry if I have been impatient with you in the last month, but I am trying my best to be the mom you deserve. You are a little angel and I will always love you with all my heart, same as daddy, and your brother.

Love that smile!!

Emilio - 6 months (!)

Emi- 6 months

Alright, stop with the growing!! how did 6 months creep up on us??  Sure, you are still a baby, but you are speeding your way through all these milestones and my mind just can't keep up. You are still following your brother everywhere with your eyes, and now even trying to ACTUALLY follow him around...on your hands and knees!  Seems to me you are still too young for any of that, but it seems it isn't something random that you've done once or  twice, but rather a skill you are determined to master soon. you definitely get on all fours no problem, but once you're there you start balancing back and forth trying to figure out what to do next. Most times you end up sort of leaping forward with both legs, like a frog, which almost invariably ends up with an ugly face plant and you getting frustrated and angry. But all that said, it all does get you places! I am convinced you'll probably be crawling in about a month from now.

Another huge milestone is you getting your two bottom teeth!! the first one showed up about two weeks ago, and the second followed about 3 or 4 days after. Not a surprise because you've been super drooly for quite a while now, and waking up with strange cries, and even been kind of cranky during the day.

Speaking of teeth, you are also well into your first solid foods. We started you on solids a good two weeks ago or so, and you seem to be really enjoying trying all those new flavours and textures. You definitely seem to get excited when we all sit at the table - you start kicking, screaming and reaching for food if we don't hand you some of our food quickly. We are trying "Baby led weaning" or self-feeding this time and it is amazing to me how much more enthusiastic you are with food than your brother ever was with traditional feeding methods and purees. Your dad gets very nervous with this method (and to be honest I kind of freak out a little too when you gag!), but I do notice that your ability to chew and move your food around your mouth is definitely improving.  So far you've tried orange slices (which you love and happily devour in no time), bread and butter slices, cantaloupe, mango, waffles, avocado, banana, strawberry and one of your favourites, sips of water.

Eating Strawberries and French toast

As for potty, I mean to write a more detailed report on how that's going. However, I'll say that we are still progressing and feeling great about it. We stopped all together for a few weeks so that I could observe your patterns and refocus for a while, but I've started taking you consistently after you wake up and after naps, and we have barely seen any poopy diapers in the last few weeks!

Sleep is still I guess our only "issue" this month, mainly because I haven't managed to kick you out of our bed yet, ha ha. Sleeping with you was getting very uncomfortable for your dad, who is a major bed hog, and honestly it is kind of bugging me as well that whenever you turn around and bump into me, you want to comfort nurse. I tried putting you in your crib several times but you immediately wake up 3 minutes after I've laid you down, and honestly, I'm too exhausted to persist, so I just take the easy out. And whoever wants to slap my hand about that (including your Abuis) is more than welcome to put you sound asleep any day. So, what I came up with is putting a little mattress top next to our bed so I can lay down and nurse you to sleep. It is working pretty well and you sleep for a good 4 or 5 hours the first stretch of the night, and when you wake up I'm always too groggy to have any will power or discipline, so I just pick you up and bring you to bed with us until the next morning. You are now sleeping about 1o or 11 hours at night (from about 8.30 or 9 p.m.) and sleeping 3 naps during the day of about 3-4 hrs in total).

Finally, I haven't taken you for your latest vaccines yet so I am not sure what your weight is, but my back can tell you must be getting pretty heavy. I took you and your brother to the playground while wearing you on my front, and I swear started thinking I wasn't going to make it back! I somehow hurt my back while carrying you, and my knees and feet were soar for days!! soooo, I can say our days of baby wearing might soon be over, which is a bummer because you nap so effortlessly in the sling, I can go anywhere with your brother and your napping schedule is never an issue.

Other than that baby boy, you are ALL smiles as usual, and you get more adorable by the day. I love you, we love you, and I am so blessed to see you grow little man <3 <3.

Emilio - 5 months

5 months and quickly approaching the half year mark. I just can't believe it has been five months since we had you in our hands the first time! Since daddy caught you as you made your incredibly fast way into this world. 5 months since you spent your first night in our bed... incredible.

 



Emilio - 5 months



I just took you to your 5 months check-up and vaccinations. You weighed 17.5 lbs/ 7.9 kgs and measured 71 cm. You are 60th  percentile for weight and about 99th for height, which is not surprising considering how long you feel when I carry you and how long you look when I see you lying down from the distance.

 

As one of our friends once said, babies are either good sleepers or good eaters. That was true in your brother's case and has been true with you as well. You sleep well in the sense that your naps and bed times are very predictable and consistent, and when you wake up it is only to nurse and you go right back to sleep. However, you do still eat ALL.THE.TIME, and this means you wake up often at night.

 



Happy Feet

 Honestly, I can't actually tell how many times or how long you sleep at night, because I have you with us in bed for most of the night and whenever you start being fussy I just nurse you lying down and don't really wake up, so most times in the morning I can't remember how many times I was up or how long your sleep stretches were. I have been making an effort to let you sleep in your crib more often. You now have most of your naps in your crib at least until you wake up to eat. Then I feed you and put you back in our bed. However, at night I put you in your crib for the first stretch and you usually wake up shortly after I go to bed, and I am too lazy to try and make you go to sleep back in your crib. You certainly resist it, and usually at that time I am too tired to insist, so I just put you in bed with us for the rest of the night.

 

This month you have been consistently rolling from back to front, like it's no big deal. You start kicking your legs really hard and manage to push yourself inch by inch. You have pretty big head control and you have also started to make a lot of noises, as if you are trying to talk, especially in the morning. You usually go to sleep somewhere between 8.30 and 9.30 and you seem to always wake up around 6.30 or 7 a.m. , waking everybody up with your little noises. If I take you away you will go back to sleep about an hour later, but usually you brother wakes up a minute after you've gone back to sleep and he comes barging in, being too noisy for you to sleep through that, and too excited to see your little idol walk in the door.

 

Brothers

It is amazing how much you follow your brother around with your eyes. You look at him and you just seem to smile in awe. He has been much better with you as well, being a lot more affectionate in the last few weeks.

 

Most days you are either lying down somewhere, in your car seat as we drive somewhere, or being carried around in the ring sling. However, you are definitely getting waaay to heavy for that thing and my back and shoulders don't appreciate it that much anymore, so I've been putting you in the stroller now, which you seems to enjoy okay.

 

I had your Aguis buy you a real rebozo in Mexico and I am excited to see how that works out to carry you in my back. You love being carried around so much. People turn their heads all the time to see you, and they ALWAYS get a smile from you and ALWAYS comment on how content and quiet you look. It is true, you are by far the happiest, most content baby I think I've met. You almost never cry, except for when you're tired or hungry, which is not often.

 

Little Emi, cosita, little chubby cheekers, little Emster, we love you so much. I am so excited to see you grow and can't wait to have more adventures with you.  

 

The best smile in the world!

 

 

Emilio - 4 Months

Holy cow, 4 months Emi! Where did time fly by so fast?? It has been perhaps the 4 busiest time of our lives. I think we constantly get confused thinking it is you and your brother making us busy, but I think our move and setting up the new house in Ottawa has got much more to do with it than anything.

 

It is hard to believe it has been that long since you joined us out here, but I can tell by seeing you,, you've grown so much!! you are for sure much heavier than before. Although I haven't taken you to a check-up for about a month, I can see your little chubby legs get chubbier by the day, and my back and shoulders  are not so keen on you growing like a weed.

 

Emilio - 4 months

I mostly carry you on the sling for most of the day, and although you are getting a bit too heavy for it (you are also getting too curious and always want to be facing all directions), you are the happiest being carried around in there right next to me.

 

Most days you have 3 or even 4 naps a day still. You sleep for about 45 minutes about an hour or two after waking up. Usually you are in the sling because if I put you down you wake up almost immediately after. Then you wake up for about half an hour and go back to sleep for an hour. Then you wake up for about an hour and go back to sleep at the same time as your brother around noon or 1 p.m, and have a longer nap of 2-3 hours. Finally at about 4.30 or 5 you have another mini nap of half an hour to 45 minutes, and you go to sleep at around 8.30 p.m.

 

At night you sleep for about a 4-5 hour stretch, and then wake up exactly every 2 hours -- not so good for me :/ .

For now you are still sleeping in your crib in our bedroom, and I bring you to bed with us at about 3 a.m. I am still not sure when we will change you somewhere else since your brother sometimes cries at night in his sleep and you still wake up somewhat often.

 

You have definitely started to master your tummy time and head control. Sofar you have turned from your front to your back on a couple of occasions but I think you still don't know what on earth just happened. You also work hard now on controlling your hands and you love reaching for objects and touching everything around you, including my hair.

You are also definitely very aware of your surroundings. One of the sweetest things I've seen is the way you look at your brother Paulo --- it is so sweet! you follow him everywhere with your eyes and if he is still, you just stare at him with this mini grin on your face. It is the cutest thing ever. And if he touches you to pat your head or slightly touch your hand or to kiss your face (even though he can be...well.. kind of rough) you just don't complain at all. But if your brother starts one of temper tantrums where he screams at the top of his lungs, you join right in with the crying (which I am not a fan of :( ). I wonder if you are scared or just sad for your brother.

 

 In general though, you are such a happy baby. I think being carried around in the sling has a lot to do with that. But you are always so content. In the mornings you are ALL smiles, and if you see a new face, and especially somebody who talks to you, you are the happiest. You just smile away with your big smile and happy eyes. I feel as if I could count with both hands how many times you've cried since you were born. Everybody (even strangers) always comment on how happy and content you always look. The only things that make you really cry are when you get really tired (right before bedtime) or having a bath also made you panic quite badly, although fortunately you have seemed to be over it in the last 2 weeks.

 

Your brother is still a bit jealous of you and not so keen on letting you play with basically ANY toy, haha, but he is getting better and making an effort to be nicer in that regard. I do from time to time catch him holding your hand or touching you gently as if by accident. But I am sure you two are going to be a happy giggly pair later on.

 

Emilio, you are such a sweet baby I love you so much, my heart could burst any minute <3.