IrishOboe

Joseph seems to be making leaps and bounds and sleeping to recover from all his work.  That makes for a happier momma as I’m finally starting to feel rested after sleep sometimes!  He’s not sleeping through the night yet, but he’s waking up less often and sleeping until 7 or so and not just 5 or 6.

But that’s not the news you want to hear about!  This morning I put a naked Joseph down on his tummy and after fetching my breakfast I came back to a Joseph with his cannon pointing upwards!  He seemed chill but after I heaped praise on him he seemed very proud of himself.  I wish I could have been there to see how it happened.  We learned at PEKiP that often babies will achieve milestones during the class because movement is easier without clothing so they simply have a better chance when they are naked in class.  I keep him naked sometimes to try to figure out this EC thing, but I suppose it’s also very good for his development.  I looked into the development charts to see when that’s “normal” but not surprisingly they only mention back-to-side and back-to-tummy movements.  I wonder where it used to be in the charts.

Later on in the day I had him on his back playing with his mobile and wearing only a folded cloth held together by a Snappi when he rolled onto his side and back a few times.  So much in one day!

He’s discovered his feet, though mostly by feel and not often by sight.  Daddy was the first to see this discovery.

He has a stuffed dog named Scout that has a USB connection to the computer so he can be minimally programmed.  The other day he managed to reach out and push one of Scout’s paws so that bedtime music would play.  He did this five times that day!  I’m not sure bedtime music is what he’s after, but the other functions are on the upper paws – poor Joseph!

He doesn’t just scoot his arm forward now, he can lift it off the floor to reach for a toy (this is all when he’s on his tummy).  He can really lift his chest and head well off the ground and is mostly happy on his tummy, though he does still get tired sometimes.

I finally had the courage to try the wool diaper cover.  Somehow the idea that cloth was water resistant didn’t sound like a recipe for success, but it works really well.  The cloth diaper can be quite soaked but the wool cover doesn’t wick any of it out onto the bed.  I haven’t tried it overnight, but it works quite well for daytime purposes.

And speaking of caring for the lower end, just when I think EC is more bother than it’s worth I have a good day.  This morning I made myself get out of bed when he woke me up at 7am because I thought he had to pooh.  Often I figure I’d rather change a dirty diaper then get out of bed when I’m so tired, but this time it paid off.  Also during the day I noted that after eating he will pee every twenty minutes 3 times.  This pattern happened twice and each time I managed to catch one of the three pees each time and I feel like I’m starting to see some signals and understand when he is too distracted to pee on the potty even though he has to go.

Feeling brave fresh off these discoveries I decided to go grocery shopping with Joseph in the sling without a diaper.  I meant to bring a towel along, but I forgot . . .

Joseph went on the potty just before we left at 1pm and he stayed dry until I took him out at 2:30!  He went a little on the potty but not much.  A little while later I tried again and he went the full amount.  I was proud to catch that one!  But enough of pee.

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned that he can hang from my thumbs on his own for a few seconds now.  Sometimes his hold is very strong and I can hold him up for 5 seconds or so!  He loves pulling himself up from lying on his back and seems to enjoy hanging well enough.  My PEKiP teacher suggested I do the same with a wooden spoon and after getting him used to the idea of gripping it he can now use it instead of my thumbs for standing and he even hung from it for half a second.  Okay, Joseph is calling me.  Time to play with the little guy!