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| Do you see the ladybug's two teeth? We're still waiting on the top ones. |
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| Rose was a little overwhelmed at first... |
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| ...but then she quickly warmed up to Andrew and kept caressing his beard and giving him hugs! :) |
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Happy Halloween (again)!
We celebrated Halloween this evening by trick-or-treating at two houses in our neighborhood: Sue and Brian's (basically the only people we know on our block), and Marcy and Andrew's.Unfortunately Marcy wasn't home, but at least we got to see Andrew!
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween!
Monday was the Halloween festival at Rose's school. Have you ever seen a cuter lady bug?!?
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| She's even eating an apple - this girl never breaks character! |
Monday, October 29, 2012
sleep training: night 3
Success!
I was really nervous about it since we had messed with our evening routine by going to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. Rose was grumpy from being tired and she fell asleep in the car (at 6:30) and slept until we got home at about 7:15. Normally she's in her bath at 6:45, in pajamas at 7, and asleep ay 7:15 (give or take). So we woke her for a super quick bath and then put her to bed around 7:30. I fully expected this change in routine to destroy her sleep, but I was happily mistaken! As far as I know, she didn't make a peep until 6:10 this morning. Yay, Rose!
P.S. Of course, I was so anxious about her not sleeping well that I keep waking up to look at the clock. But hopefully this will be a new routine that I will gratefully adjust to. The prospect of uninterrupted sleep is so, so amazing to consider!
I was really nervous about it since we had messed with our evening routine by going to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. Rose was grumpy from being tired and she fell asleep in the car (at 6:30) and slept until we got home at about 7:15. Normally she's in her bath at 6:45, in pajamas at 7, and asleep ay 7:15 (give or take). So we woke her for a super quick bath and then put her to bed around 7:30. I fully expected this change in routine to destroy her sleep, but I was happily mistaken! As far as I know, she didn't make a peep until 6:10 this morning. Yay, Rose!
P.S. Of course, I was so anxious about her not sleeping well that I keep waking up to look at the clock. But hopefully this will be a new routine that I will gratefully adjust to. The prospect of uninterrupted sleep is so, so amazing to consider!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
27 weeks!
The theme for this week is that Rose has opinions! She is, after all, the daughter of two pretty bull-headed people, each of whom comes from a long line of stubborn folks - and she's learning how to communicate those opinions with us!
After our photo shoot this morning we walked over to Byerly's to pick up a few staples for the week. Then Rose watched a bit of football (please don't tell the parenting police on us!) before we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. Rose was pretty exhausted from her wakeful night last night, but she eventually enjoyed playing with her cousins. She also enjoyed snacking on the hors d'oeuvres (she enjoyed the guacamole even though she hasn't been enjoying plain avocado too much, and she loved her first tastes of shrimp*!) and chowing down on the dinner (mmmm...double baked potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and chicken with cream sauce!).
Then we tried to take a photo for Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas card. It was a little bit like herding cats to try to get the four grandchildren to be smiling at the same time. I don't want to give away the one nice shot we ended up getting, so here's one of the outtakes. Okay, two of the outtakes - I couldn't resist. They are cute, aren't they! :)
Have a great week, everyone!
*for the record, back in 2008 the AAP recommended not delaying any potentially allergenic foods past 4-6 months (they used to recommend waiting until past one year to introduce those), because it turns out that delaying those foods doesn't actually decrease allergies!
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| "I like to see Daddy play peekaboo through the doorway!" |
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| "And when he leaves, I get grumpy!" |
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| "Now all is right again in the world." |
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| "If I'm not sure I like a food you've given me, I'll just hold my mouth open until I'm sure I like it." |
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| "But sometimes I decide that I just want to feed myself!" |
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| "That's more like it. A whole bowl of oatmeal and pears, just for me!" |
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| "Hmmm, hand or spoon? Hand or spoon?" |
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| "I want this end of the spoon, and don't try to tell me otherwise!" |
After our photo shoot this morning we walked over to Byerly's to pick up a few staples for the week. Then Rose watched a bit of football (please don't tell the parenting police on us!) before we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. Rose was pretty exhausted from her wakeful night last night, but she eventually enjoyed playing with her cousins. She also enjoyed snacking on the hors d'oeuvres (she enjoyed the guacamole even though she hasn't been enjoying plain avocado too much, and she loved her first tastes of shrimp*!) and chowing down on the dinner (mmmm...double baked potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and chicken with cream sauce!).
Then we tried to take a photo for Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas card. It was a little bit like herding cats to try to get the four grandchildren to be smiling at the same time. I don't want to give away the one nice shot we ended up getting, so here's one of the outtakes. Okay, two of the outtakes - I couldn't resist. They are cute, aren't they! :)
Have a great week, everyone!
*for the record, back in 2008 the AAP recommended not delaying any potentially allergenic foods past 4-6 months (they used to recommend waiting until past one year to introduce those), because it turns out that delaying those foods doesn't actually decrease allergies!
sleep training: night 2
Ugh. Well, they said it would get worse before it gets better, and they were right.
Last night Rose started crying around 10:30. (Seriously?!?) I had already been asleep, but her crying was loud enough to wake me up despite the two closed doors between us and despite the white noise machine in our bedroom. Mike waited 10 minutes, then 15, then she was asleep before the 20-minute check. Whew.
Mike came to bed around midnight, and then Rose started crying again some time after that (but I didn't look at the clock, so I don't know when it was).
"Is she okay? Do we need to check on her?" I asked him.
"She's fine," he replied.
It felt like the crying went on for hours and hours, so I asked Mike again, and again he reassured me that she was fine. I figured he was taking care of the nighttime checks so I eventually fell back asleep myself, assuming that my sense of time at night just must be grossly off, and hoping that I was just dreaming about crying and that it wasn't actually happening.
Well, this morning I asked Mike when she woke up an how long she cried and he had no idea what I was talking about! Not only did he sleep through her crying (with the monitor on his side of the bed), but he also slept through our conversations! Poor Rose.
We'll see how it goes with sleep tonight.
Last night Rose started crying around 10:30. (Seriously?!?) I had already been asleep, but her crying was loud enough to wake me up despite the two closed doors between us and despite the white noise machine in our bedroom. Mike waited 10 minutes, then 15, then she was asleep before the 20-minute check. Whew.
Mike came to bed around midnight, and then Rose started crying again some time after that (but I didn't look at the clock, so I don't know when it was).
"Is she okay? Do we need to check on her?" I asked him.
"She's fine," he replied.
It felt like the crying went on for hours and hours, so I asked Mike again, and again he reassured me that she was fine. I figured he was taking care of the nighttime checks so I eventually fell back asleep myself, assuming that my sense of time at night just must be grossly off, and hoping that I was just dreaming about crying and that it wasn't actually happening.
Well, this morning I asked Mike when she woke up an how long she cried and he had no idea what I was talking about! Not only did he sleep through her crying (with the monitor on his side of the bed), but he also slept through our conversations! Poor Rose.
We'll see how it goes with sleep tonight.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
photos
Apologies for the sleep post earlier today that didn't include any pictures! Hope this makes up for it :)
We went to Ikea today and bought basically all the "Mula" toys for Rose for Christmas. I much prefer wooden toys over plastic toys with batteries, and Ikea has great prices. But we couldn't resist giving her one of the toys now. Yes, we are total suckers. But we are trying hard not to spoil her too much. :)
Then it was time for dinner. Rose got some leftover oatmeal from breakfast, plus some pears. Then we gave her a small sample of crushed wild rice and she loved it! After she basically finished eating, we let her work on her fine motor skills to try to feed herself.
Isn't she good at looking cute?!?
Sleep well, Rose!
We went to Ikea today and bought basically all the "Mula" toys for Rose for Christmas. I much prefer wooden toys over plastic toys with batteries, and Ikea has great prices. But we couldn't resist giving her one of the toys now. Yes, we are total suckers. But we are trying hard not to spoil her too much. :)
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| She also got a little help with it from both Daddy and from Lucy! |
Then it was time for dinner. Rose got some leftover oatmeal from breakfast, plus some pears. Then we gave her a small sample of crushed wild rice and she loved it! After she basically finished eating, we let her work on her fine motor skills to try to feed herself.
Sleep well, Rose!
sleep training: night 1
Well, we survived. Not sure why Rose slept through the night for three nights during the week but then decided last night to wake up at 4am. But we had already decided that we were officially going to "sleep train" starting on Friday night, so that's what we did. Let me give you a little background before I tell you more about how "night 1" went for us.
So there are 3 basic methods for sleep training:
1. The first is to turn off the monitor and just let her cry until she falls back asleep (aka "cry it out"). Tempting in theory, but there's no way I could actually do that in practice! We've worked so hard to help Rose trust that we love her and are there to meet her needs, and that approach just seemed antithetical to our parenting style. Besides, what if her arm was caught in the crib again, or she had lost her lovey, or she needed reassurance after a bad dream? Besides, most doctors don't recommend this approach simply because it's so hard for the parents to administer consistently, and consistency is key with sleep training.
2. On the other end of the spectrum is the "Pick-up / Put-down" (aka "no cry," aka "camping out") approach. Here the parent camps out next to the bed and picks up the baby when she cries, then sets her down. Then picks her up if she continues to fuss, then puts her down. Pick up, put down. Over and over and over. Definitely tempting to have a "no cry" solution, but the drawback is that it can take hours and weeks for this system to work, and it runs counter to the approach we've already been doing (and that has been so effective at bedtime) of letting her cry/talk/fuss for 10 minutes before we go to her.
3. So that brings us to our preferred method: the "modified cry it out" (aka "controlled comforting") approach. It's explained in more detail here and here, but basically it involves giving baby a brief reassurance at progressively longer intervals, in the hopes that she will learn we are still there but that crying at night will not "earn" anything more than a brief check-in. Kind of like we had been doing with bedtime from the very beginning.
The specifics of our plan were as follows: we would wait 10 minutes before going to her room, then Mike (not me, since she associates me with food at night, and thus I could just upset her more) would go in to check on her, give her a lovey, and tell her "I love you, Rose, but it's nighttime. It's time for sleep. We'll see you in the morning" and then leave. Then we'd wait 15 minutes before the same reassurance, then 20 minutes, the 25, then 30, etc. Whew. We had a plan.
Last night Rose woke at 4:20am. Mike and I shared a brief "seriously?!?" moment, then settled in with the clock. The first thing I learned was that I think I'm waiting 10 minutes before going to her at night (I know I definitely do that in the evening, and just assumed I was in the middle of the night too), but since I don't usually watch the clock I definitely wasn't actually waiting that long. Sigh. Her cries got more frantic, then...silence. After 9 minutes she stopped crying. Hallelujah!
Mike and I both drifted off to sleep, relieved that our first night of sleep training had been relatively painless for all.
And then the screams started. I looked at the clock and it was now 4:35. Ugh. So now what? Should we start over again at 10 minutes? Should we wait 15? Should we consider this the same "episode" and just check on her immediately? We made a split-second decision to wait 5 minutes before proceeding.
It was torture! At 4:40 Mike went in to check on her (arms in the crib? check!), give her the lovey (check!), and tell her the short message we had previously decided on. She quieted a bit, then started howling again after he left the room and it was clear that he wasn't going to feed her.
Fifteen minutes later (4:55), he did it again. It was torture. Torture, I say! At that point we turned down the monitor until we could barely hear her.
And then, at 5:05, we heard blessed silence.
I laid awake for quite some time, worried that we had scarred Rose for life (despite my knowledge of recent research in this area) and berating myself for being a cold, heartless mother. But eventually my snoring joined Mike's, and it lasted until Rose woke up at about 7am, as per usual. I bolted up and into her bedroom, and she was usual chipper self. Whew! Yay, Rose! What a relief that she didn't seem to be bearing any immediate grudges.
So we're one night closer to having effectively sleep trained. Consistency is key, especially since crying can be worse on the 2nd or 3rd days (i.e., an "extinction burst"), so please send good sleep vibes to the three of us! I'll keep you posted about the next few nights...
So there are 3 basic methods for sleep training:
1. The first is to turn off the monitor and just let her cry until she falls back asleep (aka "cry it out"). Tempting in theory, but there's no way I could actually do that in practice! We've worked so hard to help Rose trust that we love her and are there to meet her needs, and that approach just seemed antithetical to our parenting style. Besides, what if her arm was caught in the crib again, or she had lost her lovey, or she needed reassurance after a bad dream? Besides, most doctors don't recommend this approach simply because it's so hard for the parents to administer consistently, and consistency is key with sleep training.
2. On the other end of the spectrum is the "Pick-up / Put-down" (aka "no cry," aka "camping out") approach. Here the parent camps out next to the bed and picks up the baby when she cries, then sets her down. Then picks her up if she continues to fuss, then puts her down. Pick up, put down. Over and over and over. Definitely tempting to have a "no cry" solution, but the drawback is that it can take hours and weeks for this system to work, and it runs counter to the approach we've already been doing (and that has been so effective at bedtime) of letting her cry/talk/fuss for 10 minutes before we go to her.
3. So that brings us to our preferred method: the "modified cry it out" (aka "controlled comforting") approach. It's explained in more detail here and here, but basically it involves giving baby a brief reassurance at progressively longer intervals, in the hopes that she will learn we are still there but that crying at night will not "earn" anything more than a brief check-in. Kind of like we had been doing with bedtime from the very beginning.
The specifics of our plan were as follows: we would wait 10 minutes before going to her room, then Mike (not me, since she associates me with food at night, and thus I could just upset her more) would go in to check on her, give her a lovey, and tell her "I love you, Rose, but it's nighttime. It's time for sleep. We'll see you in the morning" and then leave. Then we'd wait 15 minutes before the same reassurance, then 20 minutes, the 25, then 30, etc. Whew. We had a plan.
Last night Rose woke at 4:20am. Mike and I shared a brief "seriously?!?" moment, then settled in with the clock. The first thing I learned was that I think I'm waiting 10 minutes before going to her at night (I know I definitely do that in the evening, and just assumed I was in the middle of the night too), but since I don't usually watch the clock I definitely wasn't actually waiting that long. Sigh. Her cries got more frantic, then...silence. After 9 minutes she stopped crying. Hallelujah!
Mike and I both drifted off to sleep, relieved that our first night of sleep training had been relatively painless for all.
And then the screams started. I looked at the clock and it was now 4:35. Ugh. So now what? Should we start over again at 10 minutes? Should we wait 15? Should we consider this the same "episode" and just check on her immediately? We made a split-second decision to wait 5 minutes before proceeding.
It was torture! At 4:40 Mike went in to check on her (arms in the crib? check!), give her the lovey (check!), and tell her the short message we had previously decided on. She quieted a bit, then started howling again after he left the room and it was clear that he wasn't going to feed her.
Fifteen minutes later (4:55), he did it again. It was torture. Torture, I say! At that point we turned down the monitor until we could barely hear her.
And then, at 5:05, we heard blessed silence.
I laid awake for quite some time, worried that we had scarred Rose for life (despite my knowledge of recent research in this area) and berating myself for being a cold, heartless mother. But eventually my snoring joined Mike's, and it lasted until Rose woke up at about 7am, as per usual. I bolted up and into her bedroom, and she was usual chipper self. Whew! Yay, Rose! What a relief that she didn't seem to be bearing any immediate grudges.
So we're one night closer to having effectively sleep trained. Consistency is key, especially since crying can be worse on the 2nd or 3rd days (i.e., an "extinction burst"), so please send good sleep vibes to the three of us! I'll keep you posted about the next few nights...
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