Monday, March 17, 2008

Week 43

Sorry I'm a day late in posting. I've been swamped with freelance work and having to do some late nights to meet deadlines. Starting to feel like I'm in college again! Fortunately, Hayden has been sleeping GREAT! I almost hate to say anything for fear of jinxing it, but he's been sleeping from about 7:30pm to 7:30 am STRAIGHT almost every night for the past 2 weeks. Only maybe 2 nights in the past 2 weeks he woke up around 3:30am for a quick nursing and as usual went straight back to sleep.

I actually think Daylight Savings Time kind of threw him off a little and it helped him to have an "earlier" bedtime and naps a little later. He's had some great napping patterns too: two good 1.5-2 hour naps every day. He's still struggling a bit to fall asleep, since all he wants to do is stand up (and jump on the squeaky spot) in his crib. But sometimes after about 15 minutes of jumping and babbling (or his new favorite - high-pitched screeching, an old return from his pterodactyl days!) I go back in his room, make no eye-contact, lay him back down, and walk back out (a tip from Supernanny!). Then he finally falls asleep and he takes a good nap. I guess all that jumping wears him out! Sometimes I don't need to go back in his room and he falls asleep on his own.

He's also been doing great with babysitters. No sign of separation anxiety or stranger anxiety. Phil's mom has been helping me out once week so I can get a good chunk of concentrated design work done. Hayden really loves his Grandma Doris and is always an angel for her.


He had a bit of a rough day at church on Sunday because he hadn't had his morning nap yet and just got way over-tired. It has been tough to make it to church at all. It was only his 2nd time in the nursery without one of us. Phil was scheduled on set-up crew and both of us were scheduled for Preschool teaching so we had no choice, but it was really hard on Hayden and the workers in the nursery. They had to come get me because he was crying so hard and wouldn't take his bottle and nothing would calm him down. He was SO TIRED. Phil ended up bringing him into our preschool class and holding him in his lap the whole time. He calmed down and thankfully took a long nap once we got home (as did Phil and I). I don't know how often I want to repeat that ordeal! I'm frustrated with the kids' conditions at our church as it is. Since our church meets in an elementary school, we have to set up and tear down church every week. We have the preschool kids at one end of a hallway and the babies in a little alcove area halfway down the hall. Not ideal. That's partly why I don't make more of an effort to go to church with Hayden too. I know I'm just being an over-protective first-time mom, but some of the conditions worry me. I'm just not comfortable with Hayden in the nursery, let alone that it totally messes up his naps and the entire day!

We got all our safety gates up on the stairs. Here is a video of why it was such an urgent matter:

Yup, that's right! Hayden can climb stairs! He can go up to the halfway landing in about 1 minute with no help. Of course I'm right behind him when he's doing this, because he has no concept of going DOWN the stairs safely, so the gates are essential.

He's standing SO WELL. Sometimes he even lets go of what he's holding onto for a split second.



He really loves books. He has learned to turn the pages one by one and sometimes points at things on the page and I say what they are. We read 2-3 books before every nap and about 5 other books throughout the day. He really loves a book called "If You Were My Baby" from Gramma Susan. It is not a board book so I was worried about him tearing the pages, but he is very gentle with it and listens to each page carefully.


Changing his diaper has become like wrestling an alligator. He absolutely HATES lying flat on his back now. Also, he has discovered his private parts so not only am I trying to wrestle him down, but also trying to keep his hands from touching any poop!

His favorite thing is looking out the window. He loves to watch the cars and we wave goodbye to Phil when he leaves for work in the morning.

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