Crying It Out

Maureen asked how letting Abby “cry it out” has worked for us, and I have to say it’s been a great success. There was one night where she cried for about an hour, but most nights it was no more than 45 minutes. Before CIO, she would wake up fussy 30-45 minutes after falling asleep. She’d also wake up several times during the night. The very first CIO night, she woke up once, and has since only woken up once or twice a night. She cried for a little over a week before finally stopping. Now, she may fuss for a few minutes, but that’s it. And, she’s no longer waking up right after she falls asleep. We have had a couple setbacks, though. Friday and Saturday nights, she woke up in the middle of the night and would not stop crying. We ended up bringing her to bed with us Friday night. Most nights have become so easy, though. Last night was the best night yet.

Nap times have gotten much easier too, since Abby started sleeping on her tummy. She will fuss half-heartedly for about 10 minutes before falling asleep. She’s consistently taking 3 naps a day for at least an hour each.

If you do decide to let Connor CIO (he’s so adorable, by the way!), I highly recommend “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.” It’s a great sleep book in general, but Dr. Weissbluth does push “extinction,” as he calls crying it out.

Solids

We took the plunge on Saturday, and started Abby on "solid" foods. It wasn't nearly as messy as I'd expected it to be, and she seemed to like rice cereal. The new textures of the cereal and the spoon were a bit strange to her at first.

Abby slept through the night last night! She slept from 8 to 7:30 this morning. She did wake up once around 1ish, but she was back to sleep by the time I had a bottle ready. We haven't fed her cereal since this first time because I got busy with homework yesterday, so I don't think it's related to that.

First bite


"Daddy, WHAT is Mommy feeding me?!"

Sunny Days, Chasing the Clouds Away....

It's been cloudy and rainy for about awhile, and the day or so that has been nice has been super windy. It finally cleared up yesterday, so this morning Abby and I went for a walk. We had to take advantage of it because it's supposed to start raining again tomorrow, I think. Hopefully the weather will hold up, though, because we are planning on going to Manito Park tomorrow.





I think Abby looks like my mom in this photo.

Damon's Worst Fear

Damon is so scared of Abby sleeping on her stomach for fear of SIDS. She's old enough now that she's rolling over that it's ok to let her decide how she wants to sleep. Besides, there's not a whole lot we can do about it. Plus, when we were babies, parents were told to put babies down to sleep on their stomachs because of the fear of choking. Abby's been sleeping on her side a lot lately. It's pretty funny because she will have both of her arms straight out in front of her (one on top of the other), and her legs look like an open pair of scissors with one way back and the other way forward. She only rolls over completely when she wakes up and gets upset. This nap is the first time she's rolled over on her stomach to sleep.



It used to be that I could lay Abby down on a blanket on the floor, and load the washing machine real quick without her going anywhere. Today, she rolled from her back to her stomach to her back to her stomach again, ending up halfway across the room! Well, maybe not that far, but she rolled off the big blanket I laid out.

I'm grounding Abby until she quits growing. Every day it seems she discovers something new, and I just can't keep up with all the changes. She rolls over from back to front with ease now, and she gets her arm out from under her so she's flat on her tummy. She also has no difficulty rolling back onto her back once she's on her tummy. But wait, there's more! Now that she's mastered rolling over both ways, she is starting to bring her knees in and push her tushie up in the air for a second or two. Next thing I know she's going to be on all fours, then all hell will break loose because SHE WILL START CRAWLING! She already wriggles around so much on her tummy that she ends up scooting backward. It's time to start childproofing the house.

She also figured out what to do with all that drool she makes. She's constantly blowing raspberries now. So cute! All day long I hear "bbllllllzzzzzzzz." It's so funny when she does it while upset. It's hard to take someone seriously when she's playing with her drool. She thinks it's hilarious when I do it back to her.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day came early in our house. We decided to celebrate yesterday instead of today because tomorrow is the #1 busiest day of the year for restaurants (dads don't cook). I was surprised to find that out when I worked in a restaurant. I always thought New Year's or Valentine's Day would be the busiest, but it's Mother's Day. That's why I would prefer to stay far away from any restaurant today. It didn't matter much anyway because we decided to stay home instead. Abby has been really crabby the last few days thanks to her teething.

I got a couple of great presents yesterday. Damon and Abby gave me an awesome digital camcorder, so expect to see more movies in the future. Abby also gave me a present herself. She rolled over back to front unassisted! She did it several times and she would get her arm stuck under her, but she did manage to untuck it once. She even rolled back onto her back once!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms, grandmas, and great-grandmas out there!

Odds and Ends

We decided to let Abby “cry it out.” We started last Friday thinking that neither of us would get much sleep, so it was best to start on a weekend night. It has worked really well so far, despite being the toughest thing we’ve had to do as a parent so far. The most she has cried is an hour. From that very first night on, she has only woken up once every night around midnight, with 2 exceptions. Tuesday night she woke up twice in the night, and last night she woke up at about 10:40. Last night, she fell back to sleep at 11pm, and slept until 5:30am! She hasn’t even been really crying in the middle of the night after I put her back down. It may take her 15-20 minutes to settle down, and she sometimes whines a little, but that’s it.

Abby is constantly grabbing at her feet now. The first thing I see when I go to her room in the mornings is 2 feet straight up in the air. A few days ago, she seemed to discover what she’s been grabbing. She’ll grab one foot with both hands and pull it forward enough for her to inspect it, as if it’s the most amazing thing she’s seen. Yesterday, it finally made it into her mouth.



I tried to take a picture of her putting her foot in her mouth, but every time I tried, she’d become distracted by the camera. This was the best I could do.



She’s also getting better at sitting up without being propped up. She can only stay sitting for a few seconds at a time, but it’s progress.



“Look, Ma. I can do this one-handed.”



When we bought her car seat and Exersaucer, we also bought kiddie bowls and spoons, and a couple sippy cups. We experimented with the sippy cup, but she’s not really interested in it yet. She’d only hold onto it if I put it in her mouth, but then she wouldn’t suck, just play with it in her mouth.