February 17th Joseph’s top right tooth finally broke through. It had been swollen for a week and we were all happy when it finally came!
I finally overcame my fear of Joseph choking on food thanks to YouTube. I’d heard of “baby led weaning” from an acquaintance here and was intrigued but scared that if you gave a baby a piece of food big enough for him to hold he could bite off a dangerous chunk and choke. What finally pushed me over into trying it was that Joseph has been unhappy during meal times and very interested in our food. I did a little research and watched a few six-month-old babies handling food on their own on YouTube, which calmed my fears enough to try it. I brought up the high chair and Joseph sits very happily with us at the table munching on and experimenting with whatever we give him. We’ve been doing this for a week or so and I’ve really calmed down about it. Joseph handles the food like a champ and loves it! He’s eating a whole orange wedge (Feb. 13), though usually he just sucks the juice out. He loves oranges and it’s the best for teething! He’s also gotten bread crusts, onion(! He loved it!), tomato, couscous, and whatever else we’re eating that isn’t too spiced (the doctors concern when I brought up table food was that it had too much salt). His diapers haven’t gotten too interesting yet, but I’m sure they will. ;)
For quite a number of weeks now Joseph has remained dry during naps and peed on the potty right after waking up. We are thrilled and amazed at this ability. On the other side of things on the 9th he peed on me while on my hip for the very first time and then did it again later the same week. Maybe I’m over-confident or maybe I’m missing the cues. In any case, we have ups and downs but are still glad we’re doing diaper-free time.
That’s it for now!
Jan. 6th was Joseph’s six month appointment at the doctor. He didn’t like the shot, but did well anyway. He weighed in at 9250g, was 69cm long and his head had grown to 45.5cm, if it’s at all accurate. He was crawling all over the place so it was hard to pin him down. The doctor was pleased with his motor skills, but he didn’t see the half of what Joseph can do. He had some diaper rash I got in trouble for, but our routine got all messed up over the holidays, so that’s my excuse. We made sure to have lots of diaper free time after our guests had left, but we’re still fighting it. :(
Mom came with us to the appointment, which was fun!
Jan. 12th Joseph successfully peed in the potty after having refused to do so for several days (by peeing on the floor right after sitting on the potty). He celebrated by jumping up and tipping the potty all over the bed . . .
Later that day I saw he’d found an individually wrapped Toblerone in the basket on the table. I watched his second cousin Quin’s video of her grabbing a duck and then checked on Joseph again. He’d opened it and was happily sucking on the chocolate! He was not happy when I took it away. So much for not giving him sugar . . . and then a few days later on Bappe’s watch he got a hold of a sample Laeckerli package and opened it, too! No matter how vigilant you are he always gets into something!!!
Jan. 13th Joseph successfully pulled himself up to standing position using the rocking chair. This means he grabs the support bar and then the seat while the chair this rocking back and forth. This was the first thing he did that morning and completed the task while I was in the bathroom. There are surprises every turn!
Jan 16th Joseph found a lid and entertained himself a long time by picking it up and letting it drop to the floor as he watched it wobble and settle down again. I find this fascinating for some reason.
He likes dirt better than banana (that’s for you, Gina). Couscous isn’t so bad. Of course chocolate beats all . . .
He appears to remember a bit of what is not in sight. In any case, he repeatedly heads down the hall for the plant he likes to climb up on and eat. We don’t let him do this that often, and maybe that’s why he always goes to it.
Today we had PEKiP for the first time in four weeks. All the babies have grown so much and now there are three in the group who are crawling (the two 8-month-olds and Joseph). Joseph climbed the foam steps like they weren’t even there so at home I tried him on our steps by placing his feet two from the top and his hands one from the top. Once he was interested enough, he crawled up and into the hallway with little difficulty. Now if he only knew how to break a fall . . . but the PEKiP teacher did show me other ways to help him come down from standing in a way that will hopefully guide him to do it himself soon.
When we first got home from PEKiP I noticed his diaper was dry and since it had been over an hour I put him on the potty. He’s been peeing on the floor right after sitting dry on the potty lately, so this time I determined to sing and play with him until he went. At one point he chewed on my finger and I felt a tooth! Somehow this is very exciting. I think it’s on the lower right, but he won’t let me look.
We were still on the potty 15 minutes later and he started to get fussy and no pee had happened. I gave up and let him stand holding onto the hamper. I put the bowl on the floor next to him thinking “I know he has to go. Maybe he’ll start as he’s standing.” Sure enough a few second later, and much to my surprise despite thinking it might happen, he started peeing. I aimed his hose at the potty and he was a bit surprised at the noise and the stream (he had a partial view) but kept going a full amount. He’s such a boy! We both had a good laugh about that.
If placed in a sitting position (tripod) he can hold it for a while.
In the other news, Mom showed me how to bake bread while she was here. I’ve been experimenting and made Zopf for the first time yesterday. The husband approves, so I say it was a success. I’m excited to bake more!
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!
The past two weekends our family has gone to France for rehearsals for my gig this Saturday. We haven’t seen much of Strasbourg as we arrive and leave right on the edges of the four hour rehearsals. While it hasn’t been easy, it’s worked better than I had thought it would. Daddy and Joseph usually did well without me and I was able to focus on my work. It’s nice to play and it’s nice to have at least one paying gig after three years of such a random study. The group is very nice and a pleasure to play with. After four hours I’m ready to be back to being a full-time mommy. I wouldn’t want to be away for much longer than that.
Otherwise life continues in a somewhat normal fashion. Well, the house hasn’t been cleaned in a few weeks and it’s starting to drive me nuts, and I haven’t been able to fit any runs in, but I suppose there’s a season for everything. ECing has had it’s ups and downs – or should I say catches and misses. It felt like Joseph went on potty strike yesterday as he’d refuse to pee and then go almost as soon as I took him off the potty. Today, however was encouraging because I decided to brave the walk to PEKiP without a diaper – for Joseph, that is. I wasn’t too surprised that both ways he held it in and I didn’t get a drop on me. On the way home he went on the potty as soon as took him out, but when we got to PEKiP he was first of all asleep for a while and then there were too many interesting things to look at to bother peeing in the potty. I’m also a little uncomfortable putting him on the potty while in the group, but I caught one out of three pees and so I count it a success. I’m still not sure what I think of the whole thing. I’ve tried nearly a day without a diaper and it worked rather well but also took more time. I suppose it takes less time as you get used to it, but it’s still nice to just have him in a diaper and not think about it.
Last night the family went indoor rock climbing with church friends. We each got enough climbing in to make us happy and Joseph did a wonderful job being passed around. He is now strong enough to hold on to my thumbs as I pull him from lying onto his back to standing and he takes on more of the work when I lift him up so he’s hanging. In a few years I’m sure he’ll be itching to climb the walls as well! If it weren’t such an expensive hobby, I’d be tempted to do it more than every two years.
I'll leave you with this mini-story. As the ladies of the nursing home where our church meets filed out of their church service I stood with Joseph facing them and they all enjoyed that. Of course I got the usual dose of free opinions and I found it super funny that one lady said "Oh, he has cold hands!" and the very next lady said "Oh, he has such warm hands!" I suppose that should teach me not to take everything everyone tells me too seriously.
Despite being a few minutes from the French border I hardly ever set foot in the country. Numerous attempts at learning the language have failed and I have a comfortable life right where I am. Yet having accepted a gig near Strasbourg I needed to go buy a railway discount card and the tickets for the first rehearsal. It was surprisingly difficult to figure out the busses and prices to St. Louis, but despite “mommy brain,” as my sister calls it, I did come up with a plan and the reason why I’m blogging about it is because I executed it flawlessly and in the award-winning time of 2 hours. I say two things in French besides “yes” and “no” and it’s “I don’t understand French” and “Do you speak English or German?” The latter let me get what I need at the ticket counter using my German and this trip I decided to use a smile instead of the former when greeted by friendly bus companions.
I wasn’t sure if I’d bought the right tickets, but against all odds our tickets were checked and I wasn’t given any trouble. Hurrah for Momma! This little excursion reminded me that I’m not a particularly experienced world traveler. I’ve just been in Switzerland long enough to go for many days comfortably without having an adventure. It’s time to be more adventurous!
Joseph slept peacefully during his entire first trip to France.
Speaking of the sweet little guy, he also had his first trip to a bar yesterday evening. He was awake and content for over an hour despite the noise and live music. Thanks to Basel’s new smoking ban, we were able to celebrate Richard’s birthday bit as a family.
In the potty news, I missed a really huge one this morning because I thought Joe was complaining about his stuffy nose. It surely makes me appreciate the times we do catch it! Also, I had read that when babies are being carried in wraps close to mama or papa they don’t like to pee and will wait until they are out. The recommendation then is to give the baby the opportunity to go before and after being in the wrap. Usually I’m too focused on trying to keep him sleeping from wrap to bed so I can get something done, and besides I found it hard to believe since when his diaper is off he’ll go three times in an hour. Today, however, he woke up as I took him out of the wrap so I put him on the potty. It’s not too surprising that he peed, but what amazed me is that his diaper was completely dry after 2 ½ hours in the wrap! It’s funny how despite the success we’re having, I still somehow don’t believe what the EC say is true. Just think what we could do if I actually believed in what we’re doing! I’m too insecure and concerned about what I think everyone else is thinking about me . . .
Hm, I suppose that’s one way to have more adventures.
So, it’s good observation time, but won’t be good for support. I need to find a Swiss EC group. I wonder what EC is in German.
Yesterday Joseph had his 2 month appointment. He’s still at the top of the charts for weight (6.780 kilograms, 59.5cm, 41.5cm head at 10 weeks). (That was quite obvious at PEKiP this morning. He was one of the bigger babies but one of the youngest! The babies are between 2 and 4 months.) The doctor asked if we’d cut Joseph’s hair. I said “no” and he said “It looks funny.” Other than that he was very encouraging and impressed with Joseph’s progress, especially with head control. And his hair does look funny . . .
Last night he went to be around 8 and only woke up to feed at 1am and 4am. I got two three-hour stretches of sleep! He was up around 6 with a wet, but clean diaper and proceeded to deposit a massive amount of waste right into the potty while breastfeeding (Mommy’s figured out a thing or two about how to work it). It’s soooooooo nice to know that there’s one more diaper explosion I don’t have to clean up after. In general we catch at least one pooh a day but I’ve not made much progress in identifying signals of need. I’m fine with that. The most important thing for me is that I don’t stress about it but take it as it comes. I hope to get better at reading him, but if you focus too hard on it you can’t see anything. Being more relaxed about this and other various aspects of baby care help me to enjoy Joseph and the time we have together much, much more. What blessed parents we are!
