Baby King

Archive for the ‘milestones’ Category

Yesterday I washed two bottles and a sippy cup that had had breastmilk in it and thought, “This is it.”

Remember how in March I said I was going to stop pumping at work around Little Prince’s second birthday (which is at the end of this month)? Well, it happened last Thursday.

At daycare, Little Prince had started asking for milk less and less. In March I started sending only 5-6 oz. As he wasn’t drinking all of that, I started sending only 3-4 oz. I dropped my pumping time at work to only 10 minutes.

In April I nervously asked his daycare teachers to always offer water first but to give him milk if he asked for it. Some days he did, and some days he didn’t. Toward the end of April his sippy cup that I sent with milk was always coming home as full as I sent it. About two weeks ago we started hiding the cup of milk in the big fridge at daycare so he wouldn’t even see it. Since then, he’s never asked for it.

Last Friday I was really busy at work and totally forgot to pump. I didn’t even notice, which any breastfeeding mom can tell you is a big deal, because if you need to empty a breast, you notice. So this week I decided to stop pumping and stop sending milk. I was really scared that on Monday Little Prince would randomly ask for milk again, but he hasn’t. And it’s so liberating not to have to pump, esepcially since I got to stop two weeks “ahead of schedule.” After about 9 months of pumping twice a day and almost a whole year of pumping once a day, it’s amazing to get the time back. And I’m really proud of myself for being as committed as I was and doing it for as long as I did.

We still have a small freezer stash (just in case) and if I’m away from Little Prince for a significant amount of time, I may need to pump a bit, but in general, I am DONE PUMPING! Hurray!

And now, in honor of the new Star Trek movie coming out this week, here’s Little Prince yelling “Khaaan”:

Well, it looks like we’re actually on the path to a nice natural slow baby-led weaning.

6 months or so ago Little Prince was still breastfeeding/taking milk at daycare a good 8-10 times a day. I’d say 3 months ago it was still 6-8 times a day. Now we seem to be down to about 5 times a day. He’s also eating more, which is probably partially just growing up and partially getting in his molars with canines not that far behind (oh our night times are fun these days!).

About six months ago Darius and I encouraged a bit of night weaning using the Jay Gordon Method (modified). Instead of picking a middle of the night 7 hour stretch, we picked from when he fell asleep (usually around 8:30-9) until 2am to be the time that “milk was asleep.” It hasn’t always been easy. Sometimes, like when he’s sick or teething, we add a few more sessions back in. But most of the time this gives Darius and I a bit of evening time to ourselves and at least a few hours for me of uninterrupted sleep (before we started this, Little Prince was waking up every 2-3 hours to nurse… the joys of reverse-cycling). Sometime around the holidays I noticed that sometimes 2am was more like 3am, occasionally even 4am. But there would be a long long feed or three before it was time to get up for the day. Just recently I realized that the number of feeds overnight has seemed to drop to a 2 or 3am feed and then a 5 or 6 am feed. We’ve generally dropped a night session. I was going to start encouraging this in April (after the March craziness died down), but it looks like LP is starting to do this on his own.

Back in late January or early February, Little Prince’s awesome daycare teacher informed me that he was not drinking all the milk I was sending with him each day; he was starting to ask for water instead. So I started sending about 6oz instead of 8oz. Yesterday I found out that he’s not even drinking all of that. So now I’m going to start sending about 4-5oz. It was funny because she seemed so remorseful when she told me, but I was super excited that he was making this choice on his own. I think next month I’m going to ask them to always offer him water first instead of milk, because I plan on stopping pumping at work around LP’s second birthday. While we still have some freezer stash left, it’s not what it once was and I’m definitely pumping less milk than I was three months ago.

A few weeks ago I noticed that over the weekend (when Little Prince use to nurse about five times from when he woke up until when I put him to sleep), he had dropped the mid-morning and mid-afternoon nurse.

Ever since I started work, when Little Prince was 11 weeks old, we (almost) always had a reconnecting nursing session when we saw each other again. When he was a little, little one, this was a 45-60min nurse-nap session. As he’s gotten older, it’s been more like 10-15 minutes. In the past few months it’s been “Couch, mommy, more milk…more milk, other side.” He says it “meelk” which is super cute. But in the past week or so he mostly hasn’t asked for milk when I’ve gotten home. It’s kind of bittersweet for me, because I liked that reconnecting moment. That time where I could put aside my work day, relax, and become mommy again. But I’ve been getting a huge hug from him instead, so it isn’t all sad.

Of course I still breastfeed him when he gets hurt or surprise-hurt. Sometimes he even says “hurt, ouch, milk” through his tears. I guess I’m doing (mostly) don’t offer, (mostly) don’t refuse. I still offer at bedtime and weekend nap time. And sometimes I’ll try distraction/other food/water push off to see if he’s more interested in that.

As for going to bed at night, I still offer every night and he still nurses in bed, but sometimes he doesn’t fall asleep from it. Lately he’ll alternate asking for milk and for water. Sometimes I think water is a distraction/I don’t want to go to bed technique. And the whole daylight savings time thing really threw us off. Still, I guess it’s time to start figuring out how to get him to fall asleep on his bed and without milk, other than walking him, which always works but I really don’t want that to be the only way he’ll ever fall asleep.

This morning when my Little Prince woke up, we did our normal weekday routine of him asking for “more milk” and me gently letting him know that it was time to get up and go to daycare and he could have milk there. Then I scooped him up and brought him to the bathroom where I took off his pajamas and overnight diaper and sat him on the little potty in there.

We’ve been doing the “sit on the potty” thing for a little while now. They do it at daycare twice a day just to get the kids use to it. So we started doing it at home right after he wakes up and right before his evening bath. He sits for a bit and sometimes reads a book. One time he stood up and peed on the floor right in front of it.

However, this morning when I took his diaper off of him, I noticed that it felt rather dry. This has been happening on and off for a little over a month now. Sometime mornings it’s full and some mornings it’s not. Anyway, we were sitting for a bit and he started holding with his penis, saying “penis, penis*” then all of a sudden he let it go and started peeing right into the potty. I was so excited for him. When he was done he seemed a little freaked out by the whole thing and wanted to cling to me a bit. I praised him and told him how proud I was of him for peeing in the potty. As I got a new diaper on him, I started wondering what I was to do with the urine in the potty. I hadn’t expected anything like this to happen for a little while still, so I was still somewhat unprepared. I ended up bringing him back into the bathroom and showed him how the urine goes in the big toilet to be flushed and then I rinsed out the potty.

So I have no idea if it’ll happen again soon or happen with any degree of regularity, but it’s a start and that makes mommy really excited.

* After saying “penis” at home for a while now, he finally said at it daycare earlier this week. His teachers informed me of this the next day. I let them know that I knew he knew the word and I was just glad he wasn’t calling it “belly” anymore.

Our Little Prince turned eighteen months old last week. That’s a year and a half of this awesome little person being in our life. We had our 18 month check-up and while the pediatrician said he looks like he is “filling out,” he’s still a tiny guy: height 30¼”, weight 19lbs 12oz. So in six months he’s grown about 2 inches and put on almost 1.5lbs. Somehow it seems more reassuring that he is growing when I look at it like that.

Here’s a bullet list of 18 things about LP at 18 month, interspersed with a whole bunch of pictures and videos.

• Lately he’s been putting words together with alarming regularity. We have “cold outside”, “school bus”, “Ernie eat”, “That’s a kitty”, and my favorite, “Mommy made apple pie.” He’s also hitting the “my/mine” stage full on.

• At daycare they’ve started sitting him on the toilet twice a day. So we got a little potty and LP really loves to “sit on the potty.” Hasn’t “used” it yet, but we’re getting the idea.
• He loves to help around the house. He’ll stir stuff in a pot, wash dishes, and sweep the floor.

• There were a ton of leaves in our front yard so I raked them into a pile and we played in the leaf pile for a while. Yes, he’s wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I’ll take my 100° summers to have 80° in December.

• He loves books, Star Wars/R2D2, Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Ernie. He also went nuts when we showed him some of the Aristocats because he could identify the animals and had to tell us about them.

• We are working on being the very best nerd-parents/totally messing LP up forever. He can say “die” and “dice” which is cute in general, but when he turns to me and says “mommy, die” it’s a little weird out of context. Although when he said “tante, die” while we were Facetiming with my sister it totally made my night!

• We’ve also taught him to clench his fists and yell “Khaaaaaaan” which is just super adorably cute. (Still working on getting video of that one).
• He’s still nursing a ton, although the “milk is asleep” from when he falls asleep until 2am is working out pretty well. Sometimes when he wakes up before 2am and I tell him that “milk is asleep” and he gives me this “No” wail that reminds me of Luke being told that Vader is his father.
• He’s also eating more. I try not to be worried when he’s not interested in food at dinner time, but it can’t always be helped. Then I remember that he eats well at daycare and he has a snack on the way home from daycare and also breastfeeds for a bit when we first get home.
• He still loves apples more than just about anything. He also likes sweet potato fries, sweet potato puffs, crackers, turkey (but not chicken as much), pasta, blueberries, and strawberries.

• LP can go up and down stairs. When he says “up the stairs” it kind of sounds like “apple juice.”
• On that note, he had a big tumble down the stairs the other day. I thought he was at the bottom of the stairs, I turned around, turned back and he was half way up them. Then he turned around to see me, and lost his footing. He rolled down about four stairs sideways before I got to him. Picked him up and assured him he was fine. Breastfeed him for a bit, and then we went down and up the stairs again to make sure he wasn’t afraid of them.
• He currently has four top teeth, two bottom teeth, and a third bottom tooth is part way in.

• He loves slides. At the playgrounds he’s figured out how to go up the stairs, over to the slide, and go down it.
• Like his father, he’s a “reaction junkie.” If I react to something he does and he finds my reaction funny, he’ll do it over and over again to try to get the same reaction. He loves to blow raspberries on my tummy. The other day he tickled my knee and when I squealed (I’m super ticklish) he did it again and again all night.
• His favorite game to play with us is “boo/hi.” He’ll hide behind something, such as the couch or a wall, and then jump out and say “hi” or “boo.” It’s so cute!
• We’re trying out All-in-Ones/Pocket diapers again because a. I’m tired of using disposables when we go out and b. he doesn’t need to be changed as often as when he was 3 months old and will tolerate a wet diaper more. So far so good. We’ve purchased a couple of the very nerdy diapers over on Seams Geeky, because who can resist Final Fantasy and glow-in-the-dark Tron diapers?
• I currently have four baby carriers in the house, but one I don’t use any more (the Moby) and one I’m borrowing from Austin Babywearers. There’s another one I’m lusting over. I may have a small problem. But he likes to be worn and I still like to wear him.

In closing, in case you are thinking about getting him anything for this holiday season, here’s his Amazon wishlist. Clothing is also always appreciated. He’s at that stage where he’s in between the 12 and 18 month sizes.

Darius has been mentioning to me for months that our Little Prince’s hair was too long and it should get cut. I kept protesting (and making some sort of “against my religion” claims…which are only partially not very not at all true). However the other week I actually pulled the start of a dred out of it. And it was starting to look straggly and get pulled easily.

I finally consented that it needed some trimming and a shaping. So after asking some of my local mommy friends, two weekends ago we took LP to Pigtails and Crewcuts for his very first professional haircut (instead of a mommy hacking at his bangs after a bath cut). There was a long wait when we got there, so we added our name to the list and then played around in Half-Priced Books for a while. LP pulled a Star Wars book off the shelf, which made mommy proud, but it was an Episode I book, so I had him put it back. After a while we went back to the hair salon and he played with the train set for a bit.

When LP’s name was called, we got to pick the seat. We went with the Taxi seat. As soon as the stylist put the robe on him, he got upset, and instantly there were bubbles and toys, The Jungle Book on a TV, and snacks offered. We were really impressed at how well they were able to calm him down. The stylist cut his hair and then asked me and I said it was okay to cut a bit more, but we wanted to leave the curls, just get a good shape. She was awesome and did a very good job. We got the “First Haircut” package, which included a picture and a lock of his hair as a keepsake.

After the haircut we went out to lunch. I’ve been really happy with how his hair has looked since the haircut. It still has the curl and some of the wildness, but the shape is so much better. And he doesn’t get mistaken for a girl quite as often now. We will totally bring him back there the next time he needs a haircut.

I have this problem when blogging where I feel like I “ought” to blog something or I’ll want to write about a specific topic or I’ll feel like I need to complete X before I can get to the post. And then the moment passes, but I still feel like I “owe” people/readers/the blog the post I haven’t done yet, so I don’t post because until I can post what I “owe” I shouldn’t post anything else. Well, I’ve decided that that’s dumb and I should just blog what I want when I want. So there.

To that end, here’s a catch-up on a whole bunch of stuff that’s happened since my last post in July.

• Darius and I bought a house in the suburbs. It’s huge and we love it. LP loves it too as do the cats. We’re very happy here (even if we’re still not unpacked)
• I had to take a business trip away from LP and Darius for several days. Everyone survived. I came home with over 70oz of pumped milk.
• To that end, we’ve been working on a slight bit of gentle night weaning, based on Jay Gordon’s method. This really deserves it’s own post, but in case I never get to it, it’s going okay… most nights.

• LP is still on the super tiny side of things (at his 15 month checkup he was 9% for height and 2% for weight)
• He has 6 teeth (4 top and 2 bottom)
• He’s becoming a bit of a picky eater, especially at home

• He has more words than I can count, still signs, and is picking up more every day
• He’s really into any word that has a hard K sound at the end: snack, sock, clock, milk, book, and duck are favorites.

Overall I’m really really enjoying this age. He’s moving much better (almost running), climbing all over everything, loves to giggle and laugh and play. He talks a ton and babbles even more. Sometimes he says the word babble. He also just picks up new things so quickly. The other day I taught him to do the Tarzan beat chest and go “ahhhhh.” It’s hilarious.

And life in the suburbs has fallen into a routine of come home, nurse, make/eat dinner and then go outside and play with the neighbourhood kids, then bath and bed. We even got him his own scooter-bike to play on.

Which isn’t to say there aren’t problems. He still doesn’t eat a ton, especially at home. I think it’s partly because he doesn’t always get the healthiest food at daycare and partly because he always wants to nurse when we get home and dinner isn’t too far after that and then he’d rather nurse than eat most of the time on the weekend. I’m trying to not freak out about it. I know he’s growing and healthy and hitting all of his milestones (surpassing many) and since he doesn’t have molars yet it’s not like it’s super easy for him to eat everything, but I still worry. And of course, like all toddlers he is very fond of the word “no” and will occasionally “have big emotions.”

But overall he’s a total joy and makes his mommy and daddy very happy.

Our Little Prince turned 7 months right before NYE. At his Doctor’s appointment the day before, he weighed in at around 17lbs (they didn’t take his length).

I feel like LP is currently existing in a state of in-betweens, not-quites, and almosts.

He’s almost crawling. He has flipping both ways, getting on all fours, and moving from sitting to all fours and back down pat. He’s doing the rock back and forth and the push the his butt into the air (a la downward dog). He’s also really good at going backwards. Unfortunately, he really wants to go forward so this will eventually upset him. He hasn’t figured out that he could turn around and go backwards and get to where he wants.

LP is almost pulling-up, standing and walking. He can pull up with fingers and his daycare has said that he can pull-up in his crib there. But he’s not pulling up on furniture at home. When standing, he can stay up for a little while and sometimes even balance for a few seconds with one hand. And in this past week he’s actually taken a few steps forward when we hold his hands, which seriously surprised both Darius and me.

Because of this our LP is in between the Infant A and Infant B rooms at daycare. He’s still officially in Infant A, but he spends time in Infant B (with the crawling and walking children) getting use to that room and the teachers there.

LP is not quite eating solids. So far he’s not a fan of sweet potato. He likes avocado, but mostly as an item to play/make a mess with. He has gotten some in his mouth and seemed to enjoy it. He also likes to suck on apples, either ones I’m eating or if I put a chunk in a mesh baby feeder, but he’s not interested in apple sauce. He also takes sips of water from a cup if Darius is drinking, because he wants to be like daddy. We’re not worried. We’re letting him explore at his own pace.

LP is currently in-between clothing sizes, diaper cover sizes, and disposable diaper sizes. Hitting all of these at once is annoying me. The clothing he was wearing (0-6/3-6/6 month sized for the most part), fits fine with a small tug over disposables, but needs a few tugs and sometimes a bit of pulling to be put on over cloth diapers. The 6-9/9 month sized clothing is too long for his arms and legs, but fits torso and around cloth diapers. When it comes to pajamas, the 6 months are pulling on him, but he’s swimming in the 9s. As for our diaper covers, the Thirsties Duo Wrap size ones are starting to not fully cover the pre-folds and the sometimes the velcro pulls off a bit. So we got some of the size 2s (snaps) and snapped all the way down, they fully cover his pre-folds with a bit of extra room. Talking about diapers, the size 2s are getting small, but not too small, on him (he is getting a bit of a plumbers crack in them sometimes, but there is so much room in the size 3s that it’s ridiculous. So you can see why this is all very frustrating. I wish he’d just grow already so I can put away all of the smaller sizes.

Over the holidays, LP had his first big cold with a wet cough and a runny nose (of course he got it when he wasn’t at daycare). He had it when he went in for his shots, so the doctor listened to his lungs and declared it just a cold. However, driving 10 hours in a car with a baby who has a cold and got his shots the day before was not fun. We got through it though. And it was nice to be at my mother’s house where there were extra people around to help take care of LP and our sanity. Also, around that time LP and I developed thrush. We’re treating it and seem to be doing much better, even if he hates taking his medicine for it.

Lastly, here is my favorite picture that I’ve taken recently. I call it “I’m using this one now and I’m saving that one for later.”