Over the last couple of months Jack has been making this weird dolphin-like noise (like you're sucking in your breath). He does it when he's feeding (yes, that can be embarrassing) and he does it when he's excited. It's very cute, but very strange at the same time.
We've noticed that he has become very interactive. He responds to us really well. When he hears my voice or sees me, he flaps his arms, smiles, giggles or makes his dolphin noise. There are certain toys with which he particularly interacts. He has a cow which sings and he giggles or talks to it when he hears it make a noise. When we make his toys talk to him, he giggles at them. He also has started to play games with us. A couple of days ago he started to play Peek-a-Boo. It is absolutely gorgeous to watch.
Jack is also responding to his name now. When I want his attention, I just have to say his name and he'll turn his head towards me.
Sleeping
Jack's sleeping has gone back to normal - yay! He's sleeping really well and very rarely wakes up during the night. He doesn't cry that much before going to sleep anymore - that was getting hard to cope with. He may cry a little bit when we put him down, but once we leave the room, he's got his thumb in his mouth and he's fine. His day sleeps are still fairly erratic, but he is still having three naps (a couple of times he's had two naps). I've stopped wrapping him completely - the wrap is gone. I don't think he was that bothered by not having the wrap. In fact, I don't think he even noticed (it was all probably in my head - ah, well).
Illness
We are all over our colds now - yay!
Wake Time
Jack's wake time is usually 2 hours still, but every now and then, I have been stretching it. Sometimes he's up longer because he doesn't seem tired or I'm going out and I want to put him to bed when I arrive at my destination, rather than have to wake him up to go. He seems to cope quite well with being awake for 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 hours. He manages being awake longer than that, but he's pretty whingy.
Sitting Up
Jack's sitting up is so good now. He very rarely falls over and if he does, he manages to fall in a way that prevents him from hurting himself. He moves his legs around (kicks them, stretches them out, etc.) and he doesn't lose his balance. Jack sits up in the bath really well as well. This has made bath time a lot more enjoyable for him. He loves having baths. It doesn't matter how cranky he is, once he's in his bath, he's as happy as can be. He plays with his toys and sucks on the washer (not sure whether I should bother stopping that or not) and makes lots of happy noises.
Crawling
No real improvements here. He tolerates being put on his hands and knees, and he'll rock a little bit, but after a while, he'll just slide down on to his belly. I've tried moving his toys out of his reach to encourage him to move, but that doesn't work. He just gets frustrated or he'll find a crumb on the floor to play with instead. Once this week he moved from sitting up to his knees to get inside his toy bucket, but he fell over pretty quickly. I guess that's an improvement.
Solids
Well, this has changed dramatically. It was like something just "clicked". One day he was not interested in eating and then the next, he happily ate. It was weird. I was breastfeeding him and towards the end of the feed, he was crying a bit, but he didn't want any more milk. I thought that he may still be hungry and that my supply was getting low. So, I got him some porridge and he gobbled it up. He was opening his mouth and was very keen to eat. I suspect that he has figured out how to swallow properly now. The food doesn't move around his mouth as much as it used to. This was upsetting to him, but now he's figured out how to chew it up and swallow it.
From that day on, he's been a champ with eating purees and finger food. It has been great. Meals are no longer stressful. It's really nice now. The three of us will sit down and eat the same thing for breakfast - porridge with apple and cinnamon or scramble eggs on toast or just toast. During the day, I'll give him some pureed vegies (by themselves or mixed in with rice or cous cous) or fruit, and for dinner, he'll have the same thing that we're having. Sometimes he'll have rice with the sauce; other times I'll blend up a small portion of our dinner so it's easy for him to eat it, but still chunky; other times I'll just mash up the pasta so it's easier for him to eat it. We had a Moroccan lamb casserole the other day and he loved it.
Jack & Daddy Time
Over the last couple of weeks when I've had bible study Dave has been home. This has meant that I can leave Jack at home with Dave rather than take him along to bible study. This has been great. I can be a lot more focused at bible study, I don't have to wake Jack up to take him with me and Dave gets to have more one on one time with Jack. I was so excited when we first did it. Jack will take the bottle, well, sort of. He'll drink some milk, but he won't have much. Luckily, he's having solids, so if he doesn't have any milk, the solids will tie him over until I get home.We've also arranged for another Jack and Daddy time. One morning I got up to feed Jack, but then I "tagged" Dave and he got up and I went back to bed. I've been hanging out to have a sleep in so I thought this would be a good way for me to get it. It was so nice snuggling up in bed knowing that Dave was looking after Jack - getting him his breakfast, cleaning up after breakfast, changing his nappy, getting him dressed, entertaining him, putting him down for a nap - and I didn't have to worry about a thing.
Discipline
Well, this is very interesting. There have been a couple of instances where we've had to say 'No' to Jack. We're pretty sure he hasn't worked out what that word means yet :-) For example, when he's having some solids, he lifts up his bib (which is a plastic one with a pouch that collects food) and tries to pull it up to his head. Obviously, I don't want him to do this and this is what happens:
Jack: pulls bib up
Me: puts hand on bib, stopping Jack from lifting it up, saying, "Jack, no."
Jack: looks at me and giggles
Jack: pulls bib up
Me: puts hand on bib, stopping Jack from lifting it up, saying, "Jack, no."
Jack: looks at me and giggles
And on it continues....until I get fed up and take the bib off.
Routine
Our routine has been fairly stable over the last few weeks. Here's what a typical day looks like:
7:00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
9.00am - Nap
10.00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
12.00pm - Nap
1.30pm - Wake, feed, solids, play
3.30pm - Nap
4.30/5.00pm - Wake, feed, play
6.00pm - Dinner with family
6.30pm - Bath and stories
7.00pm - Bed
The times vary each day, but I do try to make sure that we eat dinner at 6pm and he's in bed by 7pm. I think the bedtime routine is pretty important so I stick to that as much as I can.
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