Get ready for a long blog! Hayden is asleep on my chest and I have a ton to talk about! I have to write a lot at once these days so I can spend my free time playing with Hayden.
It seems unreal that six months have passed since Hayden was born. It is true that time seems to fly by once you start a family. The past month alone has been crazy! Hayden is developing so quickly…it doesn’t seem fair! I want to soak everything in and really experience it but then he is on to the next thing. H will be quite the go-getter I think. In the past two months he has started all kinds of things:
- Really crawling! He wants to crawl so fast all the time that he gets little bruises on his knees, poor guy!
- Pulling himself to a standing position and reaching for things that he wants! He has pulled down a couple of water glasses off the coffee table so far; then I learned and didn’t put them there any more, haha!
- Making letter sounds! He is saying “Goo” “Dadadadada,” “Mamamamamama,” “Babababababa”. I know he is just making a new sound, but I like to pretend he is saying Momma and Daddy.
- He wants to drink out of cups! Most of the time we just let him think he is drinking when he is not actually getting anything. But this past week we gave him some water in his sippy cup and he LOVED it. It makes him feel like a big boy, especially if he gets to have his cup at dinner time when we all sit together.
- Veggies! He has started eating some sweet potatoes and squash this past week! He loves it! It is a challenge, because he wants to feed himself, but also very fun. We put food on the spoon and then put the spoon in his hand and help him guide it into his mouth. FYI – he HATES peas, hahaha! We will have to try those again later.
- Communicating. He is an excellent communicator. He has particular signs he makes when he wants certain things. We have decided to start learning some sign language so that we can encourage this type of communication.
- Teeth! His two bottom teeth have popped out! For some reason, I expected all kinds of fussing and fever, etc. But all that happened was a ton of drool for two months and then one day I felt teeth. Crazy!
Hayden is a very social person. He needs to talk to people throughout the day. He doesn’t have to be held constantly any more, but he does want you close by while he is playing on the floor so he can converse with you. He is very unhappy if he can’t have a hug or a personal conversation with some good eye contact every so often. We are so happy with how he is developing his independence. I firmly believe that he is doing so well now because we followed his cues when he was younger and didn’t put him down if he was against it. We taught him that he can trust us to be there when he needs us.
This carries into bed time as well. He still wakes up to eat a few times a night, but that is expected because he is breast-fed. He sleeps next to me still and now he just sort of serves him self when he is hungry at night. I don’t even have to open my eyes and neither does he so we get wonderful sleep. Because of this, Hayden loves bedtime. He goes to bed every single night at 8pm; all we have to do is play his good night music and lay him down for sleep. And in the morning he wakes up completely happy and rejuvenated! He talks to us the most in the morning; I wonder if he is telling us all about his dreams, haha! I know a lot of our friends are against bed sharing, but we don’t smoke or drink or take any kind of medication so we are not considered high risk for sharing a bed and in fact we are lowering the risk of SIDS because we nurse throughout the night during sleep. This is what works for our family; the rest of you can do what works for your family whether it is the same or different and we will all be happy!
Hayden is also moving to a new day care on Monday. It is a bittersweet transition for us. Hayden loved his friends and teachers at his current school (La Petite Academy), but we wanted him in a different type of environment that is more in line with our family values (Mission Montessori School). At Mission, we will be able to use cloth diapers (which we use at home now), glass bottles instead of plastic (this is important when it is 140 degrees in the car every day), we wont have to deal with Hayden getting rashes from harsh detergents, or worry about pesticides inside the building and outside in the play area. Additionally, Mission will allow us to provide Hayden with expressed breast milk for as long as we want (there was a limit at LPA). This is very important to us. There is also a difference in the environment. They keep the lights low, play soft music, and don’t have any bouncy seats or saucers where they put the babies. They have tunnels and mats all on the floor instead. We will see how it goes. The new school website is here:
http://www.missionmontessori.com/OurSchools/Infant/tabid/768/Default.aspx
I think I will give it a break for now. Hayden has been sleeping for the past hour and I am sure he will wake up soon! These photos were taken by Debra Sorensen.
