He's walking!

Now, I realize I've announced this before but tonight, for the first time, he went tone by himself in the kids' room and started walking across the room. He didn't realize we were watching him.

And why I say "he's walking" is that for the first day, he's walked and then falls or gets down to crawl and also gets back up to walk again. Usually he'll stay down to crawl. He was also carrying things in his hands as if to transport them somewhere. It was first, a Minnie Mouse purse, and then later a magazine and then a plastic bag.

So, we'll see tomorrow if he keeps it up. Last night he got up just once and slept until 5.45am, but the night before he slept from 6.30pm until 5.30am. I would have left him until 6, since he was talking quietly and not crying. BUT! He was talking to his sister and I wanted to let her sleep.

We'll have to figure out some kind of curtain system in their new room.

In other news, my girl has been very supportive and loving with her brother. She's really like a little mommy by encouraging him to walk and allowing him to borrow her toys so readily. I'm very proud of her.

They're both much happier to go to the part every afternoon since it's finally warm enough now. Phew! Spring made it?

Walking around, talking and getting up a lot

For anyone who has ever had a baby or is involved with a baby, you'll know that it wasn't a surprise that the baby didn't continue to sleep through the night after that first, wonderful night. And then a few days later he got a cold (new tooth runny/stuffy nose!) and couldn't sleep through the night since he couldn't breathe. And now he isn't sleeping through the night because he's hungry or wants to be held or pooped. Getting up twice to have a bottle and sometimes an extra time for a burning poop. And sometimes it's up for the day at 5am and sometimes 6am. It isn't a regular schedule so I know it's not going to stick. Honestly, I'm just holding my breath for this to end. I just have to trust the baby that he knows what he needs and it'll go back to the path of an older baby, soon.

In other news, the kids are sharing their room nicely. Poor Carolina is being disturbed by these  wakings and is tired. So her naps are daily and at least 2 hours. She's actually being really great about sharing the room. I'm hoping that we can do some nice changes to their new room so that they are both happy and feel like it's each theirs.

So, he's been walking a lot more and talking up a storm.

 Walking:

 Talking:



He's even gotten even more indignant about wanting what he wants when he wants it. It started about 2 weeks ago and it's both funny and frustrating from my point of view. I remember this from Carolina, it's similar but different and, luckily, like Carolina you can distract him fairly easily still.

First conversation and first night without waking up

To be completely frank, yesterday was a big day in Ismael's life thus far.

First, he took his nap and went to bed without me having to hold him or wait until he fell asleep. In fact, he clearly was not interested in me holding him after his bottle. He just laid there and fell asleep. He even slept through the night. He was very tired and I tried to get him down by about 5.30pm but couldn't and so he was asleep around 6pm. He didn't wake up until 5.45am this morning and he clearly only woke up because he pooped. He wasn't all that interested in being awake. He didn't cry out, he didn't need a bottle. He just slept. I think he just graduated from baby to toddler.

Second, last night at dinner he was very chatty and so was Carolina. She wasn't happy I gave her homemade chicken nuggets for dinner, she had expected the store bought popcorn chicken when I said "chicken nuggets". Since she wasn't going to eat much of it, I cut them up into smaller pieces and put them on the baby's tray. He ate them up happily. I gave Carolina a lot of strawberries for dinner and she was happier. (She had just eaten nearly a whole apple on the way home from the park so I wasn't surprised she wasn't very hungry. I did get her to eat a few small pieces of chicken, too.) I then cut up some elbow pasta for the baby and some broccoli, too. He ate all of it. Then while I was talking to Carolina I noticed that the baby was playing more with this food rather than eating it and had slowed down putting food into his mouth.

I asked him, "Do you want more?"
He just smiled
I asked him and with sign language, "More? Do you want More? or All Done? All Done?"
He says, "Duh."
I smiled and asked again (also with sign language), "All done or More?"
He says, "Ah duh. Duh."

I cleaned off his face and hands and picked him up and he seemed very pleased with himself. I was so excited he just spoke with recognizable words that I had to call his papa immediately.

After yesterday, which was his 11 month "birthday", I have to say, it was a good day.

Today is Carolina's school picture day, and she was excited about. We'll have a nice photo of her (I hope) to share soon.

Big day in baby news: More teeth! No reflux! Better naps!

Fourth tooth broke through yesterday.
Doctor confirmed, today, the reflux is gone.
Took his first nap without needing me to hold him until he fell asleep AND didn't cry when I left the room.
Woke up once for a bottle last night and slept until 6am. (He's been doing this more and more.)

And he's great at waving and saying "Buh buh", even if he means "Hello".

Super, super awesome!

Much more talking and a trip to DC

We just got back from a trip to DC to see the cherry blossoms. There were only about 3 trees that were in bloom with flowers, the rest were still buds. None had pink flowers yet. It's been too cold for too long. Even yesterday morning when we went it was about 30 something. It was going up to 50 something, and there were tourists walking around in shorts and shirts in the morning. One girl was so cold in her little shirt and skirt that her goosebumps were clearly visible from a few feet away. She looked miserable. I was sorry we didn't have anything to give her to keep warm. Young and in love, she looked like she was going to just deal with it. :)

Anyway, the baby slept most of the time out since I  carried him. He was my heater. And Carolina had a LOVELY time with her cousin Marisa. She just loved going around with her and having an attentive audience for anything she wanted to say to Marisa. She did quite a lot of walking and some time in the stroller. It was a LOT of walking from the Metro to the Jefferson Memorial, back to the Air & Space Museum and then back to the Metro. Both our little people fell asleep in the car on the way back to Aunt Karen's house.

The baby has been talking more and more. Just last week he started to say "Pop Pop" or "Bop Bop" it's a sound somewhere in between. Sometimes he would say it at my dad, so maybe it's "Grandpop" he's trying. He's also saying "Nuh Nuh" which I think is sometimes just a sound, sometimes saying my "No no no" and sometimes trying to say "CaroliNA".

He very quickly figured out how to climb up the stairs in Karen's house. They are the first stairs he's been near. We have some in the building but we only use them to go between floors when we are doing laundry. Otherwise, he doesn't see stairs and never is on the ground near them. This morning at about 5.30am (yes, it was an early one) he crawled away from me and toward the stairs and took the first two very quickly while saying "Nuh, Nuh, Nuh, Nuh". I thought maybe he was repeating the "No no no" that I tell him when he's doing something I don't want him to do, especially since he stopped at the second stair and looked back at me with a mildly naughty smile. Then later I was thinking maybe he was trying to tell me "Carolina" since she was still sleeping upstairs.  Whatever it was, he's becoming very chatty.

Friday night he was very tired. His naps were all over the place while we were traveling. He actually napped more while we were in the car; I think it soothes him into a slumber even if he's not very tired. Well he had slept some on the way back from the B&O Railroad Museum but not enough for a real nap, maybe about 20 minutes. But then he woke up as soon as we got to Karen's house and couldn't go back to take a nap. I put him down for the night at about 5.30pm. I didn't get a lot of support for that idea but I could tell he was DONE, and trying to keep him up any longer was just cruel. He slept, without waking up, until 5.30am the next morning! No bottle in the middle of the night, nothing. Hooray! Well, 5.30am is still too early to get up, but that was a nice stretch of quiet and sleep.

Now that we're back home, we're still keeping Carolina in our room until we know he can sleep until 6am, even if he gets up for one bottle at night. If he can't, then he's going to learn that I won't go get him until 6am. Cry all he wants. It's a tiring habit of super early rising, and one that Carolina shouldn't have to deal with since she goes to school.