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!

My Baby Book List

What does a mother do when she needs to raise a baby in a new city, away from her mother, her family or any close friends known to her? She reads books. And that is what I did when I had Paulo and with him came all those questions that keep a mother awake at night and eat her alive during the day.

Ideally, I think I should have read these books before I had my babies. Some parents seem to have it together and know what kind of parent they will be or what kind of parenting philosophy will guide them through thick and thin. I didn't. I had no clue there were even parenting philosophies. I thought parenting was parenting and that was it. Oh boy was I ever wrong.

From the list I came up with below, one can see that I found my comfort in Attachment Parenting. These books below are not all the books I've read, but they are those that resonated with me and made a lot of sense. And through those books I sort of navigated my way to all the others. Now I find that these are sort of my rocks, my solid foundations. Have a look:

The Baby Sleep Book - Dr. William Sears - pretty much Im a fan of Dr. sears, just become Attachment Parenting resonates so much with me and who better to learn from that a man with all the professional experience, plus, lots of kids and a wonderful family to back the theory. I loved the Sleep Book though because in a world ( or society?) where there is so much pressure to let baby cary-it-out like its the only way and to become a detached parent, and a world which is filled by books written by quacks with no real research or data to back their advice, this book sounded so non-judgemental to me and at peace with my feelings as a mother and baby. Simply loved it.

The Fussy Baby Book - Dr. William Sears - similar as the above, except this one I found very useful

when I had Paulo, because he seemed to be so high needs.

The No Cry Sleep Solution, Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night - Elizabeth Pantley    - Excellent read, I think self described as a compromise between Dr. sears's " martyr" approach and something different. Not crying it out. At the time it felt like it didn't ally offer me a solution to a baby who never slept through the night, but looking back I think Pantley does offer some good, gently, baby friendly tips.

Diaper Free: The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene - Ingrid Bauer - this book was my

BIBLE for Elimination Communication. I cant say how much I loved this book. It is written very clearly, uses examples, describes the process step by step. It is just an excellent book for people interested in EC.

The Happiest Toddler on the Block- Dr. Harvey Karp - i enjoyed this book and definitely gave me

some useful pointers and information. More than anything, i loved the leads I got for other gat books from its resources. It is also a very gently book that really urges you to be patient and understand how a toddler's mind works. It felt to me that a lot of this advice sort of comes from personality- clearly he is very good with kids and I feel like it could be hard to mimic that, but nonetheless a great resource.

Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent- Meredith F. Small - this is by far, THE BEST, AWESOMEST, MOST INTERESTING, FASCINATING book I've ever read. It is not a how-to book, and my husband even called it "obscure" and "ivory tower". And it does talk a lot about the science behind babies behaviour and development, from evolution to biology to anthropology. There is a lot of talk about primates and species and cultures around the world and how they raise their babies and why. But that's what I loved about this book. Even though it is not meant to teach parents how to parent, through scientific facts it becomes very obvious that western parents are for the most part...well... Screwing up big time. If you are considering letting your baby cry it out, feeding him on schedule, putting him to sleep alone in his own room, after reading this book you would have to be either really ignorant, really selfish, or I dont know what to still do it. And although it is all based on science, it is very easy to read and just captivating.

Sleeping with Your Baby: A Parent's Guide to Cosleeping - Dr. James J. McKenna is the world's most knowledgeable sleep guru. He is the head of a mother-and-baby sleep research facility in Montreal, which makes him pretty much an authority in the baby sleep department..ummm quite literally. So, if you are going to read a book about baby sleep, why not read a book that contains the actual truth about what is best for baby?? Don't read something just because it makes you feel better about using a method that makes you feel like you are doing something wrong or you are being mean to your baby. If you feel like you are doing something wrong or bad to your baby, chances are, you are. So, read this and people who work with this man. And forget what the rest of the world (including you mom!) says.

Beyond The Sling - Mayim Bialik PHD - This book just blew my mind. It is centered around Attachment Parenting and portrays what the life of one Attached Parent looks like. Now, I know Mayim has sadly gotten divorced recently, and this kind of puts a huge question mark on this book. That's not to say we should question Attachment Parenting, in my opinion. A parenting philosophy itself does not make people get divorced. And divorce issue aside, I still respect Mayim Bialik immensely for being an amazing example of somebody who "walks the talk" on all aspects of her life. Anyway, I think what she writes in this book of course, like any other book written by someone who's intimate life we don't really know, should be taken with a grain of salt. But I reiterate, in my opinion, this book is good stuff.

Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods - and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater -  Tracey Murkett, Gill Rapley - This book is about a different feeding method for introducing your baby to solid, alternative to the typical purees that we are all used to. I am just going to say two things: First, this book makes sense because it is what many people in the world do, or used to do when we didn't have any blenders, Nestle rice cereal and baby magic bullet. Second: I tried the traditional method with my first son, and this method with my second son. My Second son at 9 months old is such an amazing independent eater it is not even funny. Having basically the same diet, it is amazing how much Emilio LOVES food with a passion, and how much he enjoys sitting down to eat. And I mean, Paulo was a great eater and still eats pretty well. But the difference is incredible in terms of what a better eater Emilio is.

 

 

And that is all sofar, I still have some great books in my future list, so I hope I will be writing about those soon!

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.