Silas at 20 weeks

Silas has just passed the 20 week mark!  He continues to be a joyful, adorable, extremely curious, adaptable baby, and he’s getting more and more fun as time goes by.  He usually has a big, open-mouthed smile on his face - “catching flies”, as Grandma Susie says :) His big grey eyes (possibly becoming hazel or an unusual blue color?  We’re not sure) attract constant compliments and attention.  He’s often shy in public, but sometimes he smiles at strangers and of course that’s always well received.  Silas is still very big for his age, and everybody comments that he is extremely alert, as they have since he was newborn.

His favorite activities at this age include standing on the bathroom counter to look in the mirror and play in the sink, babbling and cooing at puppets, looking at brightly colored books, playing with spoons, watching other children at playgrounds, playing in his jumper (he bounces a little, but the main attraction is standing without our help - he’s THRILLED), sipping water from a cup, listening to us sing, being tossed around and bounced, and many other things - there’s a lot he enjoys!  He is extremely good at rolling now, and often rolls over in the middle of diaper changes.  Unless something exciting is going on (listening to us sing, playing with a spoon or rattle, etc.) he rolls to his belly immediately.  Sometimes he really enjoys being on his belly, but mostly he’s still desperately trying to crawl, and he does get frustrated after several minutes of trying with no progress. We can no longer leave him unattended anywhere but a mat on the floor, and he can only be left there for 30 seconds or so.  I think we’ll have to buy a playpen so there’s SOMEWHERE safe to put him.  He still enjoys his bouncer, but he tries to lunge forward to sit up straighter, and we think he might actually pitch out, so we can’t leave him unattended.

Silas is showing many signs of readiness for solid food:  he sits up unassisted for up to several minutes (though we constantly hover in case he topples, which still happens frequently), he expertly puts objects of many sizes in his mouth, thanks to increasingly sophisticated wrist and finger control, he is fascinated by any and all food and drink and tries to grab it constantly, he chews all kinds of objects (with his teeth - he actually managed to mangle some board books before we noticed), and so on.  Although guidelines in the US suggest waiting until 6 months to add any solid food, we will probably be starting around 5 months (5.5 months adjusted) because Silas is big, developmentally ready, and VERY VERY EAGER.  We’re really looking forward to it, and we’ve been debating what his first food should be - I’m voting for roasted sweet potato, but we’ll see.  I also feel a little mixed about giving him solids before 6 months because I have been DETERMINED to breastfeed him according to all WHO recommendations, even though pumping is a serious chore and it’s a big commitment (and forces me to eat lunch in supply closets while pumping, etc.), but honestly, I think delaying solids for another full month might actually be ignoring Silas’s cues.  I understand gut closure happens around 6 months, but he’ll be nearly 6 months adjusted age, and he’s clearly so ready - time to trust my own observations of him, I think.  We can’t wait to include Silas at mealtime!

He has been sleeping in his crib in his own room for a little less than two weeks now, and while it hasn’t been a magic bullet, he hasn’t had any absolutely terrible nights (8+ wakings), which is a big improvement.  We are pretty sure that we were waking him up with our movements when he was sleeping right next to us, and so even though it made us nervous, we moved him into his own space. Last night he woke only TWICE, sleeping peaceful 4-4.5 hour stretches.  We kept him up from about 3:00 PM until 7:30 PM with only a very brief 10 minute nap, going against all the baby sleep advice saying that overtired babies will sleep poorly.  He didn’t get cranky and he slept far better, so perhaps he simply hasn’t been tired enough at bedtime…  He’s had good nights like this before, waking just twice, but never more than 2 in a row, so we’ll see how tonight goes.

(Addendum:  it didn't last.  He sleeps in his bed for about 2 hours and then comes into ours, where he wakes up every 45 minutes, usually. I'm honestly not sure how we'll continue to bear it.)

Silas’s bedtime routine is still in place, and he still uses his lovey, sometimes a pacifier, and his special sleep song, Spirit of Life.  He still usually soothes himself to sleep, and we’ve gotten serious about making sure he ALWAYS soothes himself to sleep at bedtime, since it seems to set a tone for the rest of the night.  We’re pretty sure that he needs to eat 1-2 times every night; this is sustainable and just fine with us.  We don’t need him to sleep through the night at this point.  (It’s just waking every hour that we can’t handle!)  Brian has been attending to quite a few night wakings in the past month (I pump immediately after waking if Silas has taken any expressed milk), which has relieved my sleep deprivation significantly, and if Silas continues to sleep in 4.5-hour stretches, I will even be able to “take back” my evenings!  I have needed to go to bed at 8 PM in order to cobble together enough sleep since Silas was born, and I will be relieved when I can stay up for another hour or so without risking dangerous sleep deprivation.

A few the sleep problems of the past are fading away:  much less crying in his sleep, less early-morning grunting sessions waking every 15 minutes.  Phew.  Also, significantly, about a week ago Silas suddenly started taking naps longer than 45 minutes, which he has NEVER done without being in motion (Ergo, stroller, car).  This has made his naps significantly less predictable, but it’s also a welcome change - now it’s actually possible to get some things done while he’s sleeping!

Here are some things Silas DOESN’T like: very bright light in his eyes, certain loud noises (but not all loud noises), having his little training cup taken away (he REALLY loves the cup), being too hot, being put down on his own when he’s tired (even for a second), being on his belly with an interesting toy just out of his reach, not having something interesting to do, and not being allowed to chew on books when they look so very very tasty…

Silas now uses some consonant sounds!  Mostly M, B and D.  He sucks his bottom lip in and makes all kinds of funny fish faces, and he blows bubbles -  all in all, he is using his mouth in more sophisticated ways.  Sometimes he makes extremely long, inflected and loud strings of vowel and consonant sounds with a serious, effortful expression on his face.  It really seems like he’s having specific thoughts that he wants to tell us about!  We can’t wait until he can talk.

It’s still pretty easy to take Silas out with us!  He continues to love being in the Ergo, and we have expanded our baby wearing repertoire to include the hip carry, which allows Silas to look around a lot more.  Being carried always results in a nap if he’s tired, and it’s comforting and calming for him.  The Ergo has quickly become one of our favorite and most used tools.  We can usually get out the door in just a few minutes these days, since we don’t have to bring Silas’s whole bag unless we’ll be out for a long time, and he no longer needs a coat.   Silas does quite well at restaurants, although more recently he’s been frustrated that he can’t eat our food.  Not for long!

Silas reserves especially excited greetings for those he knows well, and he is extremely enthusiastic when Papa comes home from work, making squealing sounds and flapping his arms around and giggling.  He is quiet and serious around most strangers, and afraid of a few - two very nice electricians came to the apartment recently and for no reason that I could determine, Silas was terrified of them and screamed. 

Harriet “takes care” of Silas whenever possible, cuddling up next to him and trying to groom him.  He smiles and laughs when he sees her and usually reaches out to pet her - sometimes gently, sometimes with some grabbing.  We constantly demonstrate and explain gentle touching, and we hope it will pay off.  Sagan has started nuzzling and cuddling with Silas more, as well.  We’re very pleased, and we hope Silas will grow up with a real relationship with the cats, who are really amazing creatures.

About a week ago we switched to using cloth diapers with Silas, a change we delayed after he seemed to HATE them as a newborn.  Now he seems perfectly happy to use the cloth diapers, and they are much softer than the paper ones.  Since Silas only poops once a day or once every two days now (down from 8-10 times a day as a newborn!), it’s really no harder to use cloth diapers than paper ones.  So far both the BumGenius and SoftBums Omni diapers have worked just fine for him.

Grandma Marsha has been taking Silas to the playground, which he has really enjoyed (especially the swing!), and we have been inspired to take him to playgrounds, too, where he has met several other babies and we have chatted with other parents.  Since we don't know any other parents, it's been quite a nice experience.

This has gotten quite extensive and rambling, since I hadn't written an update in a while.  I've been working on it for 3 days now, getting interrupted all the time, and I think that if I try to go through it all and do any editing I'll never get around to clicking the Publish button, so here goes...