24 hours of no crying at 24 Weeks

Dear Hailey,
You've been here with us for 168 days. Today is the first day in your life where you have shed no tears! This is the best. birthday. present. ever!  The first 3 months it was the car seat and colic that caused many tears to be shed. And then at 4 months, there has always been some crying before bedtime.  This week while talking to another mom about how you are as a baby, the answer just came out of my mouth and subconsciously, I had an "Aha! Moment."  I've been putting you down for sleep too late, missing the window of sleepiness, causing you to be overtired!  (one day, you will find out that it's extra tough for babies to fall asleep when they are overtired.) I was thinking this whole time that you needed to be put down after 2 hours of awake time, but really it's more like an 1.5 hours after a short nap, or 1:45 after a longer nap. I remember reading somewhere that I needed to build up a sufficient sleep deficit for you to sleep longer. Nope. Sleep begets sleep. This ancient piece of wisdom holds true for you.

This has also been spring break for Nathan and Hannah, so I took advantage of not having to be anywhere to figure out how to get you to sleep better, tear-free. After a few days of experimenting, I've finally figured out a "sweet spot" during your awake time to put you down for a nap. (Of course this will be different in a few weeks) but I'm just now starting to be able to read your cues.

Other things you are doing:
Chewing on your fingers. It seems like you have your fingers in your mouth 70% of the time. I'm thinking you have some pearly whites that are working their way through.

You are a champ at holding up your head. I like this picture below. It's your model pose.

You also love sucking on your toes, especially during diaper changes.

And you are more aware of your surroundings now. You are always grabbing things and making a scratching motion with your hands to feel the texture? You often "scratch" at my skin when we are nursing. A good reminder for me to file your nails more often.

For the past week after I've put you down in your crib, you will immediately roll over on your back, cry a bit and then fall asleep on your back. But earlier this week, you've figured out how to roll back onto your tummy to sleep and since then, if you roll onto your back, you will eventually roll back onto your tummy to go to sleep. I sigh a big sigh of relief because you tend to be able to fall back asleep after a sleep cycle when you are on your tummy. 

You've got eczema on your cheeks from drooling while you sleep, but that goes away quickly if we moisturize and use a little bit of hydrocortisone. Overall, you are a very happy baby. You laugh at yourself when you look in the mirror, and you smile back at most strangers when they give you attention.

You are definitely showing more interest in food because we have had several close calls where you are grabbing at my plate or bowl when we are sitting at the dinner table together.

Dear Hannah,
It must be so tough living life as a 3 and a half year old. There's still a lot that you are trying to figure out these days and we are all trying to be as patient as possible with you. You are definitely our stronger willed child and everyday I am trying to figure out how to channel that positively, while careful not to squelch that spirit.

You really are just grumpy when you are tired or hungry. It seems like you are always hungry, so days when you are literally propping your head up with your fingers as you haphazardly grab and shove food into your face, all the while with your eyelids drooping, tired, it can be a bit frustrating for us.

But normally, you are determined and very independent. You want to do everything on your own (except when you are tired): dress yourself, put your shoes on, put jacket on, etc. Sometimes I question your taste in outfit choice, but most of the time it is cute to watch you pair all the items of clothing you think are pretty together. Pretty + Pretty = Extra pretty, right?

Recently you've graduated from using plastic cutlery to rounded edge Cutco knife. You were very determined and cut baked tofu into pretty uniformly sized pieces.

Earlier this week we had daylight savings time. In the past we would move your bedtime up 5 minutes every 2 days starting a week before the actual time change. This time, we just adjusted everything in one day and you all did great. I, on the other hand, had a more difficult time adjusting. One day, I just had to take a nap. So, I turned on a movie and fell asleep on the couch with Hailey while you both watched Cinderella. When the movie was over, Nathan went upstairs and you announced that you were hungry. Groggily, I told you to go get an orange or apple because I knew you could peel or eat those independently. I heard you dig around the fridge, and then you walked over with a mango in your hand. I told you to let me sleep for 5 more minutes and I would help you slice up the mango. You immediately responded with,
"Well, if you are not going to help me now, I'm going to do it myself." Mostly awake at this point, I decided to humor myself and let you have at it while I rested a bit longer on the couch.

You finished, came over with mango juice all over your face, so I asked you to wash your hands, which you did and then you ran upstairs to join Nathan. I get up to see the damage:

I was surprised to find that you had put a cutting board on top of a placemat at your seat and did a great job at slicing up and eating up the mango. The table wasn't even sticky! You are only 3 and half years old! Wow. Oh, and get this. One day, you randomly announced that you wanted to become a scientist. You can imagine how giddy I got to hearing this. You even drew a picture of "science" and then asked me how to spell "scientist." I dictated the spelling and you wrote it all out by yourself. Totally so proud of you! 

So, like I mentioned earlier, we have pretty much stayed at home this week. This past weekend, we attended 2 birthday parties in the neighborhood and then on Monday, we had another friend from the neighborhood come over for a play date. 

Oak pollen has started to creep up on the radar, so we've been staying outside for only a bit before my nose gets itchy. So, I'm thinking we only have a few more days of playing outside before we have to quarantine ourselves for a few weeks until the oak trees drop their pollen pods.

Today a friend invited us out to the Thinkery. We had not gone in at least 5 months and we were pleasantly surprised to find a new exhibit there.

Definitely much cooler than the exhibit it replaced. After 5 years, they've finally changed things up a bit. I may reconsider renewing our membership there so Hannah and Hailey can play while Nathan is at Kindergarten next school year.

**Also super proud of myself for surviving the Thinkery/Bao'd Up/Ranch Market 99 outing solo with 3 kids.

Dear Nathan,
I don't know if its being cooped up with 3 girls has gotten to you, but this week, you've shown to lack anger management skills. The smallest things would cause you to show an angry face, growl, and throw objects within reach. I was at my wits end on what to do because Daniel Tiger's song, "Stomp 3 times and you'll feel better." was not working. So it worked out perfectly that the Super Why episode a few days ago talked about "Compromise." I sat and watched it with you guys and I've been finding ways to reinforce that concept. I think it's helped. You have been a much more reasonable kid since then.

Another milestone that Nathan's slowly developing is the ability to read. Daddy's been doing storytime with you guys so there's been days when I finish with Hailey during storytime and as I walk by your room, I hear you reading a book out loud to Daddy and Hannah. This is pretty exciting!

Well, this week has been a week of accomplishments. I'm looking forward to many more. This weekend we have Auntie Momo visiting us and maybe the Renaissance Festival. Until next week,
Love,
Mommy