Henry... Today you got weighed and measured and I remembered that I have a blog and should be updating it more often so that I can keep track of you're milestones! You are now 10 months old, weigh 22 pounds, and are 30 inches tall. And if you can't visualize how tall 30 inches is... here is the most recent photo of my little guy.
Yes, you can now reach the knobs to turn the gas on for our stove. When I posted this picture online people told me to either purchase a cover for them or just take them off. I think instead I will teach you "NO" because you won't ever be in the kitchen unsupervised anyway, and you already know what no means. But lately you have been testing me.. when you do something that I don't like (i.e. pull on cords to tv or computer, take daddy's video games out of the tv stand, try to go in the bathroom and unroll the toilet paper) and I tell you to stop, you usually stop for a moment, and then while we are still looking at each other, you start doing it again! Just to see how I will react! You have done this enough times that I know its no coincidence, you are seeing if I will just give up and let you have your way. :) Oh Henry.
Holy Cow!! Why does it seem completely impossible for me to keep up with this blog?? Henry is now eight months old. He is turning into such a big boy. I suppose I should write about his first Thanksgiving and Christmas but I really don't feel like it.. I'll keep it short - he ate turkey and green beans on thanksgiving, he opened presents xmas morning (we all spent the night at the Schu's), and for New Years he slept while mommy and daddy stayed up til midnight and shared some champagne.
Elimination Communication - a toilet training practice in which a caregiver uses timing, signals, cues, and intuition to address an infant's need to eliminate waste. Caregivers try to recognize and respond to babies' bodily needs and enable them to urinate and defecate in an appropriate place (e.g. a toilet). Caregivers either use diapers (nappies) as a back-up in case of misses, avoid the use of them altogether, or do a mixture of the two. EC emphasizes communication between the caregiver and child, helping them both become more attuned to the child's innate rhythms and control of urination and defecation. The practice can be done full time, part time, or just occasionally. The term "elimination communication" was inspired by traditional practices of diaper-less baby care in less industrialized countries and hunter-gatherer cultures.[1] Some practitioners of EC begin soon after birth, although it can be started with babies of any age. (got that from wiki)
So of all Henry's new accomplishments, the one I am most excited about by far would be the fact that we have started this form of infant potty training. He is seriously rocking it!! And it is so much easier than you'd think! The first couple days I was extremely skeptical, but still hopeful, as I'd just watched a thousand youtube videos of babies peeing in little potty chairs or toilets! I was excited, especially because I had an adorable potty chair sitting in my bathroom that'd been there since I was 7 months pregnant. Honestly the first few days didn't go so well and I thought that it was too late and that I'd trained him to wet himself, but by the third day I really think he started to 'get it' and understand why I kept putting him on this strange little seat!
I started experimenting with this just before he turned 7 months old and now he goes potty in his little potty chair EVERY single morning and usually at least two more times throughout the day. It has become part of our routine. So I figure I have half of "potty training" over with! He knows what his potty chair is for and goes potty usually right away when I set him down, so the other half I guess would be teaching him that the potty is the ONLY place he should 'go'.
A couple more reasons I love EC right now: poops are WAY easier to clean up when all you do is dump & flush down the toilet than having to wipe it off there butts after they've squashed it all up into their baby chub creases... and I feel like I'm doing my part to "go green" by saving a couple diapers a day, without having to spend a ton of money on trendy cloth diapers. I don't think I could ever do cloth diapers, and I'm not saying that as an uninformed person. I have plenty of mommy friends that use them and attended a cloth diaper mommy meeting to see them all... but the problem is that you have to see the poop/poop residue more than once. With disposable, they poop, you wipe them and throw it away, but with cloth, no matter what kind you get you still have to wash it later. And I am bad enough with laundry as it is!
Ok, kind of went off on a tangent there... Anyway, I have only been EC'ing occasionally. I mean, I do it every day, but its not like I sit in the living room staring at him trying to guess when he is gonna go pee! I have things to do! So I run errands, meet up with moms, and just try to make sure that I always put him on the potty whenever he wakes up for the morning, when he wakes up from naps, and when we just get home from places (because usually he sleeps in the car). And by doing this something else thats super awesome has happened! He used to pee through diapers EVERY SINGLE NIGHT no matter what brand or style or position he was laying in... now he holds it until I put him on the potty chair. He doesn't wake up after 10 - 12 hours with a dry diaper, not even close to that yet, but it is only wet (never poopy, never leaky) and he always pees and poops immediately in the morning on his potty while I start some coffee.
Henry learned to clap by watching me clap every time he went potty in his potty chair! Didn't even know I was teaching him, lol.
Well, hope that this post was informative!! I will post more Henry updates soon on his other recent accomplishments!
Just another casual conversation I had with my mom a moment ago on facebook chat. Thought I would share.
Katie Dwyer:
moooooomm
mom mom
mom
Mary Schumacher:
what
what
whaaaaat?
Katie Dwyer:
ahh THERE you are
Mary Schumacher:
you are just like gracie
she says Mom a hundred times too
Katie Dwyer:
and correction ** GRACIE is just like ME!
I came FIRsT1
Mary Schumacher:
oh, ok, you are first. you can be the leader of the whiners
Katie Dwyer:
ugh you have no clue how bad i need to wash my hair!
Mary Schumacher:
haha, um, gross.
Katie Dwyer:
the rest of me is clean at least, haha
im freakin hungry!!!
Mary Schumacher:
one day Fenna was brushing Libby's hair and Fenna said "you have something in your hair"
and Libby said "it's ketchup"
Katie Dwyer:
LLOL
Mary Schumacher:
hahahahaha!
Katie Dwyer:
WHY!
Mary Schumacher:
I know! Libby was so casual about it. It's ketchup.
Katie Dwyer:
i love fenna. i think she has to stay
did you tell her mom that you're keeping her??
Mary Schumacher:
I should. I think we should keep her too
Katie Dwyer:
my baby boy will only nap ON me.. and its so cute that I dont even wanna put him down and actually do like.. dishes and sewing and whatnot
(gotta sew a couple things for andrew)
Mary Schumacher:
:) they don't nap on you forever
but there will forever be dirty dishes and laundry
Katie Dwyer:
LOL oh mama
Mary Schumacher:
screw the housework, enjoy the snuggle
Ok, I am going to cave and totally steal a brilliant idea from a friend! She writes her blog as if she's writing to her baby girl, and since Henry seems to be the ONLY thing I talk about, I might as well be saying all of this directly to him. Right?
HENRY! Oh my goodness, look how BIG you are! I can't believe how much you have been changing the past few weeks. To my surprise, you dont have any teeth that are actually showing yet! They are still JUST below the surface. I feel when they finally come through, you'll probably get many of them within a short time. You've sure been active lately. Maybe its all the solid food that you've been eating! Avocados are your favorite! I haven't given you any citrus fruits or meat yet, and I don't plan to for the next couple weeks (you'll get them once you're 6 months old). You had bananas and liked them but, the first time you threw some of it up, the second time you had a mild diaper rash, and the third time you got a rash on your face!! Not trying those things again for a couple months!
We went to Murrieta with Daddy to visit your gramma, grampa, and all your aunties. And Charlie, your cousin, of course. You had so much fun and gave Aunt Gracie BIG kisses. Aunt Lexie and Aunt Gracie were helping you learn how to crawl. You were pushing off Lexie's hands to get to Aunt Gracie. It was very cute and you were so happy to have people on the floor playing with you. They did such a good job that now you have been picking your entire torso off the floor, so that you're up on your hands and knees!! It shocks me EVERY time I see you do it! Its still hard for me to believe that my tiny little baby is now strong enough pick himself up.... Its only a matter of time until you teach yourself how to move your arms and legs so that you're able to crawl. Tonight you were on the floor with Daddy showing him how strong you are, scooting backwards! I think you were trying to go forward though.. you'll figure it out eventually!!
Today we went to the pumpkin patch because it's Halloween. We went with your friend Mathew Rippey. He is a month and a half older than you are, and you seen to get along pretty well. His mommy and I took LOTS of pictures of you boys, and he tried on your Halloween costume so that he could get some pictures being a dragon too! Look how funny you look in your costume :)
We had a good time. You were a very good boy, even though we skipped a nap! You are so lucky to have a mommy and daddy that love you as much as we do!! But I must admit, its pretty scary how strong and determined you are getting! You also have very long limbs for a baby.. I just can't imagine what it will be like once you start crawling all over the house. We're going to have to get a very tough baby gate for the top of the stairs and permanently attach it, so mommy doesnt have to put the other gate across the entrance to the hallway and hop over it a million times a day!
Love you so much, Hankymuffin, and I will be blogging again soon about all our adventures to come.
After many, many nights of sleeping with my wiggly baby pasted against my back in my & my husband's bed (he is under water in a submarine), I decided to try the Ferber method, aka "cry it out," because I need Henry to start sleeping by himself in his crib. The transfer from bassinet to crib has not been easy... My goal is to be done with this by the time my husband gets home in a couple weeks. I am hoping to have Henry sleep-trained by then so that I can at LEAST put him to sleep at a decent time! Even if he still wakes up in the middle of the night, it would help if he went to bed at a normal baby bedtime instead of 10 or 11 or sometimes even midnight! Lately he has been going to bed between 10 and 11.
Yesterday was the first night of "cry it out" at the Dwyer house. It went better than I thought it would!! He cried for a total of less than 30 minutes and fell asleep before 10:30pm! I checked on him 4 times, and the 4th time he was sleeping! Tonight we will do this together... I will document what time certain things occur! Here you go:
9:36pm - i put him in his crib & gave him goodnight kisses
9:41pm - finally realized I wasnt coming back & started crying
9:46pm - crying stopped... afraid to check on him!
9:54pm - still quiet. checked on Henry - HE'S ASLEEP!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!
Holy crap! I am in complete disbelief... I am wondering if he will wake up and start crying again in the next couple minutes. I am going to finish this episode of The Office and check on him again... if he is still asleep I will re-cover him with the blanket (he kicked it off, didn't want to take a chance) and go to bed myself! WOW. Who knew!? I feel like this is too good to be true.
If he wakes up in the next few minutes I will take care of him and then edit this post!!
This is an email that I sent to my husband (he is underway right now).
Copy & Paste is so much easier than writing an entire blog about what I just wrote in an email!
Enjoy!!
"Cant sleep! Writing another one...
Our little boy is officially 5 months old!!! Well actually.. not for
another 16 hours... but anyway, I just wanted to go over some
accomplishments with you! Hank has grown so much going from 4 to 5
months old.. it just really amazes me every day!
Lets see, he did lots of "firsts".. first flight (and second too),
first wedding & reception, first tooth.. but i actually dont know if
it counts because you cant see it! I can feel it every time he bites
on my finger but its just a corner of his tooth and its barely poking
through (he hates when i try to look at it)... anyway, he also has had
several play dates and made some baby friends, he now likes Sesame
Street and The WonderPets (as opposed to JUST yo gabba gabba), he can
roll from back to tummy AND from tummy to back, he can almost SIT by
himself!! I can prop him up and he can sit by himself for a few
seconds until he decides to go for a toy or wiggle when he is excited!
I cant wait to show you how close he is to sitting by himself! Its
amazing (and scary, we might need to do more baby proofing)! He can
even scoot and rotate himself on the floor. He can easily transfer
toys from one hand to the other. He can jump in his bouncy jungle
thing for like, 30 minutes and not get frustrated or tired! He can
munch on his toes (and he does.. ew). He is very strong. He can
support all his weight on his legs easily, he stands up holding my
hands several times a day, it has become part of play time. He LOVES
to hear me count slowly to five! even if I dont do anything when I get
to five! Lol. Loves being tickled on his sides & ribs! Loves to play
peek-a-boo when he is in his jumpy thing and "where's mommy" when he
is in his crib (i duck down where he cant see me). Loves being "super
baby." First turd! I know talking about baby poop is weird but he has
been pooping actual turds (stinky ones)! And thats because he has had
his First Solid foods! He has eaten rice, peas, squash (his favorite
by far), and today avocado! I am going to have to find some organic
squash somewhere! I took a video of him eating avocado today, its
cute. First story time at a library (that was fun)! First time being
babysat by someone he didnt know at all (jenn when i went to the
casbah). First time getting sick :( First time going to the ER :(
(hopefully the LAST! ..yeah right). He can say more consonants and
can blow spit bubbles. He only eats about every 4 to 5 hours now!
Its pretty awesome. I can get several things done sometimes before he
is hungry again! Took his first bath with other kids in there with
him (aunt gracie and aunt libby). And now I HAVE to give him an
interesting toy when I change his diaper or else he will get very
upset with me for blocking him from his toes. He also tries to roll
off the changing table now. He has a "bedtime routine."
His bedtime routine:
- eat dinner (baby food)
- quiet play time (we sometimes skip this one, depends what time it is)
- bath time, then pajamas
- mommy milk
- crib for the night
Well, you got a pretty good Henry update! I think you now know about
as much as I do! I just feel like I need to tell you a lot because
"just turned 4 months old" Henry is so different than "just turned 5
months old" Henry is!! I need you to be prepared when you get back,
or at least I want you to know what to expect. We both love you so
much. Goodnight sweetheart. I am up way too late now..."
And an update on myself - I have lost all my pregnancy weight with the exception of like, 3 pounds. But pretty much all my old clothes fit, so yay!! I am just picky about shirts since I am still breastfeeding my little one. I started training as a DOULA!!! I am REALLY excited about it. I really think I will be good at this. Maybe I shouldnt have said I'm "training" ...I am reading. Just reading. But in November I have some classes and after that I will be a "trained birth doula" and can start attending births to get my certification! It feels good to be working toward a career goal. Especially a flexible one like becoming a doula. I have always been spontaneous, I think I can handle being "on call" for pregnant women all the time, just as long as I have a babysitter! I will update you on my doula stuff once I've taken the workshop classes.
I don't have much time to write full blog posts lately. So I've decided that I will copy and paste information from emails to my husband, facebook messages, and online chats with my mom (like this one) so that I can still keep this information and update you (whoever you are) on baby Henry! Good idea?
So just so you have some background.. Henry is now 4 months old and I am finally admitting that he is too big for his bassinet. :( I've started trying to have him sleep in his crib in his own room, which is right across the hall from mine. ...This is how its going so far:
[Me]
ok seriously i am having issues with the whole crib thing!!
he doesnt like it!
:(
gahhhh
he is crying right now... i am REALLY hoping he'll just go back to sleep
[Mary Schumacher]
oh no
[Me]
it really sucks.
[Mary Schumacher]
what if you sleep on the futon while he falls asleep
[Me]
.... why would that make any difference
[Mary Schumacher]
then you'd be in the room while he falls asleep and he'd sense you are right there
[Me]
LOL
idk mom..
i put him in his crib to fall asleep. he fell asleep, then woke up 10 min later and started crying.
i rocked him to sleep and put him back
he is now awake again crying.
is this going to just continue forever?? i rock him to sleep, set him down and 15 min later i am doing it again??
[Mary Schumacher]
give him your sweaty tshirt to sleep with
then he'll smell you and feel comforted
[Me]
YOU HAVE THE MOST RIDICULOUS SOLUTIONS!
[Mary Schumacher]
LOL
people do that!
[Me]
i hold him and he's instantly sleeping again
grrrrrrr
[Mary Schumacher]
oh just sleep with him. He'll move to his own bed in a few years.
Gracie and Libby sleep in their own beds now. (sometimes)
[Me]
LOL
uuugh...
& just so you know I really did give him a tshirt.. not sweaty, but i wore it! Wish me luck!
