sleep progress

Again just for the record and for those people whose common question it is to ask, and because I said that I would keep you posted after daylight saving - here is a sleep update.

Where we were at was that we were trying to put things a bit later so that the shock of daylight saving wasn't too shocking. Well. Just to change more than one thing at once, we decided to have another go at not waking Eden up for his late feed. Some babies you see, are sleeping around 12 hours at this stage. Grandma had persuaded us to try this at Christmas time and he got us up at 2:am when we were all in the same room yay. We tried it again when Grandma was staying last month - same thing. We've been meaning to try again some time on a Friday night when the old man of the house won't be too grumpy.

Anyway, Friday before D day, Eden slept from 7pm until 7am whoopee doopee do. I'd like to say this carried on after daylight saving Saturday night but 7am turns into 6am which is Ok ... But pretty much every day since that time it has been 5:30ish which is a bit of a pain but cannot complain. We miss getting him up in the evening but he never had gotten used to it and actually seemed to be finding it harder and getting more grumpy. So I'm sure he's happier.

I'm cured

No not from my feeding problems (although I have found that my own idea of always feeding from my 'bad' side first has meant that I have had no problems since - why did no one else have this idea??)

No from TradeMe.co.nz. I have had a spate of spending quite a lot of time brousing and buying:

1 teether for $2
bag of random bibs for $2
bulk lot of Eden clothes for $9
3 items of Eden clothes for $1 each
182 plastic and wooden blocks for $4
2X pairs of baby shoes for $4

Not great to get addicted at the same time that we have had to slice our family budget significantly. The 2 things that have been doing my head in, watching the auctions etc are a high chair and a playpen. On Saturday I bowled up to the biannual (whatever the word for every 6 months is) Plunket secondhand sale. I wasn't supposed to be spending very much but I came back home with

1 good highchair for $40,
4 items of Eden clothing for $1 each,
5 pairs of booties/socks/mittens for 20cents each,
2 teethers and a battery operated toy cellphone - all together for 50cents.

Whoopee. I was cured. No more TradeMe. Just for the playpen.... The only question I am asking myself now is - why didn't I buy more? There are days (like today when it is wet and windy and you can't go for a walk) when we both get completely bored of all of his toys and books! And he has plenty.

It is better to live more simply and creatively. I have gotten out our plastic picnic set and Eden has enjoyed sitting in his new high chair banging the cutlery and plates around. I figure he can get it out of his system before there is food involved!!

fads

Duncan is a real fad person - he gets it from his mother. Fads can last from a few days to a few weeks, months, years. I'm getting like it as well. (I've somehow inherited my 'opposite heart burn' problem from my mother-in-law too so we have been known to compare notes on symptoms and remedies).

You may have noticed that I had a short lived fad a few weeks ago for blogging every day or so. I am sorry it did not last long. I think about it often - especially when Eden has another 'first'. I don't have a baby book like my mum had for me so I feel a duty to record somewhere the wee milestones.

On that note, lets get Eden's 'firsts' out of the way. Bullet points I think shall suffice:

* The Einstein look went last week with his first hair cut. I just snipped a few bits but then got a bit carried away... Please email me if you want before and after photos as Duncan says it is too complicated for me to put them in here...

* We have been having a taste of solids once a day since Monday last week; baby rice, kumara and new today: pumpkin. It has started off as being a bit of a game but I think we're getting the hang of it.

* Head discovered - pulled his hat off this morning for the first time.

* 'Button pressing' I'll call it. Last week was the first time he visibly touched banged, pressed bits on toys to get a sound out of them.

* He got himself in the giggles (he smiles a huge lot but doesn't laugh very often at all) a couple of nights ago, we think with the peekaboo thing. But it has been a oncer since then. He seems to only get giggly when he is very tired.

* Wore his first pair of jeans on Sunday (got on TradeMe for $1 fab). (Who would imagine that the seller was in the street where Duncan works - easy + no postage!)

* First time in the new car seat yesterday. Jolly jolly pain though. He is too big for a capsule one but too small to be forward facing so we have to thread him through this jungle gym of anchoring straps to get him in or out!

* For those who like a bit of stats, he is 8.3 kilos now and is in the 75th percentile for everything (according to plunket of course).

* He is now choosing to sit balanced upright or leaning forward to play with a toy instead of leaning against whatever is behind him. Can't trust him yet not to fall backwards at some point though.

* If he drops a toy now, he will feel around for it and pick it up again rather than it being as if it doesn't exist anymore.

Right, that's enough for now. He is still a very happy and settled little boy. He is in pretty much the same routine that we came to when he was about 9 weeks old (through parental coaching and his own habits). During the day he is generally up for 1 - 2 hours then sleeps for 1 - 2 hours unless I keep him awake longer because we are out and about. So that's either 2 or 3 sleeps during the day. We then put him to bed around dinner time, get him up just before we are going to bed and give him a feed, then he sleeps until 5:30/6:00am. We are trying to do everything a bit later this week anticipating daylight saving (4:30am waking does not appeal) so we'll see how that goes - I'll keep you posted.

I have to say that in the last wee while (since Duncan came back from Canada) there has not been one occasion where he has cried when he has been put into bed. He has always enjoyed the bye bye ceremony - even when he was first smiling, bed time gave me the most smiles. We have a song, a giggle, blow raspberries, sometimes a prayer etc. I don't think I'll ever know what triggers the odd occasion when he is grumpified - you always just guess and put it down to something or just shrug your shoulders and think "oh well, crying will tire him out sooner or later."

Must stop - we're getting onto stream-of-consciousness prose so I'll quit it (see my English 101 was good for something...)