Tonight was another story.  He was clearly tired.  He even said "night night" which usually means he is ready for bed.  We did the whole bedtime routine, but then I didn't give him the binkie.  "Beebee?" he asked me, looking at the spot on the edge of his crib headboard where we usually put the binkie when he is not in bed.  I explained to him that he was a big boy now and that he didn't need it.  I told him that we had put it away and that I knew it would be hard, but that he could fall asleep without it.  He seemed troubled but wasn't crying.  I rocked him for a little, but when I laid him down, he started to cry.  He ended up crying for about 10 minutes, at which point I came back in.  After a diaper change and some more hugs he calmed down, but as soon as I put him back in the crib, he started crying again.  N and I agreed to let him go for 10 minutes before we went back in there.  By the end of the 10 minutes, he was calming down and by about 15 minutes he had finally fallen asleep.

I know this will be hard, but I think the older he gets, the harder it will be.  Hopefully this will only take a week or so.  We'll see how it goes.  Now we have to find other ways to soothe him in public too.  It will undoubtedly be an adventure.

Daycare is closed this week.  Wish it meant I could spend more time with Max, but alas, no, it is not to be.  I just don't have the vacation time yet, (even though I'll be in tech for the next 3 weeks and working a TON of OT).  We had a friend watch him on Monday and N stayed home today.  Poor Max hit his face while crawling next to the coffee table and now has a bruise on his cheek.  It looks horrible, but his doesn't seem to mind it too much.  Maybe it's better we don't send him to daycare - what would they think!

Max is crawling everywhere and standing up on everything - furniture, walls, the tub, you name it.  It is amazing how fast the transformation has been.  The last 2 nights have been tough going to bed too.  I don't know why sometimes he just rolls over and falls asleep and other nights he cries and cries.  He gives the best hugs, though.  it makes it all worth it.

Once again, I have to do some work this evening so that's all for now.

[	Tags	|	max	]
[	Current Mood	|	nostalgic	]

Ok, so I am having trouble posting on a regular basis.  Life is so busy during the day and then I seem to veg out at night...

I started this blog as a way to keep track of Max and his milestones so I am going to try and remember some of them in this posting.  I guess this is mostly for me so I won't forget.

Christmas - moved from sleeping in Pack-n-play to sleeping in his own crib.
Jan. 14th - I went back to work
March (5 months old) - started supplimenting with formula
May (7 months old) - switched totally to formula
May (7 months) - Max got his first two teeth, (bottom center ones) and they came in within days of each other
May (6 momths 3 weeks) started eating solids.  First food - rice cereal, then butternut squash
May - Sits up on own unassisted
May 26 - Max gets to kneeling position on his own
June- starts rolling over a lot in preparation for crawling
Mid June - eats whole rice cake on his own..  
June 17th - eats in restaurant (in highchair) for first time.  (Father's Day Weekend)
End of June - took away infant tub.  Bathes in big tub.
End of June - claps his feet (on his own)
July 4th - able to go from lying on tummy to sitting position.  Max starts to crawl backwards.
July 6th - first time in kiddie pool
Mid July - crawls forwards
August 6th - gets to standing position on his own for first time.   Starts making quacking noises.
Aug. 8th - First time in baby pool at JCC
Mid August - stands up in crib, can sit back down from standing position
August 20 - 2 more teeth break through.  Top teeth on either side of center.  Center ones look like they are going to break through soon.
August 21 - Stands up on his own from sitting position.  Took first "furniture walking" steps on coffee table (reaching for TV remote)  

That brings him up to date.  I'll try to remember more and add it as I think of it.
It is amazing how fast he is growing up and how quickly you forget all the little things.
We'll have to take some more photos and videos soon.

It's been forever since I have posted.  The new job, lots of family visits, the 4th of july holiday, tons of Max milestones...  Too much to keep up with it seems.

First - the new job:
It is going well, I think...  I feel like I am making some good decisions and that they are being received well by others.  The feeling is SO different than my last job.  We still do theatre, but it's a really different group of people and a different process.  The shop guys are different than my last shop too.  Skilled, but with different outlooks on the job and the process.  It is making me think a lot about what worked at the G and what didn't and what works at CTC and what I think we could improve over time.  It is nice to be a dept. head. Nice to be able to just make decisions and go forward.  I have been working a lot with my assistant too, to make sure that relationship goes well.  I think we are working through things and am hopeful for the future.  We have had some good conversations about process and how we feel we can work together.  I hope it continues.

Tons of family came over the last few weeks.  It was great to see them all.  My mom and Nate's Dad and stepmom came over 2 different weekends.  I actually had some days off around the 4th of july holiday, something which rarely happened at my last job.  We had a little bbq get-together at the house.  The weather was very nice and cooperative too!  Max dumped a plate of blueberry pie all over me and the blanket we were sitting on - what more could I ask for?

Max is growing so fast!!!!!  He is now, officially, on the move!  Max has mastered crawling.  Look out world, here he comes.
It is quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen.  He went from just sitting, to rolling around from back to front and front to back, to being able to get to a sitting position from his tummy, to crawling backwards, and now he can go forwards too.  It all happened in about 2 weeks.  N and I have installed the necessary baby gate at the top of the stairs in the house and done some baby proofing now that he is mobile.  We aren't going to go nuts with it, but we do want to at least lock up the poisonous stuff (like dishwasher detergent) and we tied up the cords for the blinds.  He's going to get into stuff, I am sure.  I think it's our job to watch him and make sure he's safe.  He's gotta learn about this stuff sometime...

Max also can (sometimes) wave bye bye.  Actually, he waves his whole arm, but it is done with purpose.  I have seen him make the sign for milk too, but not for a few days now.  We are still experimenting with foods to give him.  He can eat a rice cake on his own now, as well as some toast.  If I give him too much, though, he stuffs it all in his mouth and then doesn't know what to do with it, and then cries.  I suppose he'll learn about that in time too.  I must get some more veggies and fruits for him to try.  It is hard to introduce new stuff though, when I am trying to wait 3 days before introducing something new (to check for allergic reactions) and I don't want him to get something new at daycare for the first time.  I suppose in time he'll taste it all.  His 9 month checkup is in a week and a few days, so I'll check with the doctor about feedling him too.

Max is still experimenting with sounds.  He can now raspberry.  Lovely.  =)  
He still says ma ma and da da, but I am not sure he associates them with us yet.  He also has a wonderful laugh, and will laugh back at you if you start to laugh.   He is starting to have more trouble going to sleep lately.  I think it's separation anxiety.  He is just fine, but when I leave the room he starts to WAIL.  Even if I stay in his room, he cries, which is rather disheartening.  We are trying to let him work it out a little, but going in there to soothe him after 15 minutes.  It is hard to let him cry but I keep telling myself that this is for his own good.  I know there are a lot of views on sleep training.  I don't know which is totally right for us yet, which probably isn't good either.  We need to be consistent for Max so he knows what to expect.  We'll just do the best we can.

Ok, I have to do some calendar work now for CTC.  I feel a little like I am operating in crisis mode and not planner mode.  Hopefully I will get on top of things soon!

[	Tags	|	max	]
[	Current Mood	|	content	]

Time flies so fast with Max.  He has done so many things recently.

This morning, he made a hand motion that could distinctly be called "waving hello"!!  I didn't catch it at first, but the 2nd time he did it, I realized that he was making a waving motion, opening and closing his fingers.  I wanted to show Nate, but he was asleep and Max doesn't really perform on cue yet.  I am sure he'll do it again!  I don' t think he has associated the motion with "Hi" or "Bye" but he is getting the idea of using his hands for a purpose (other than grabbing toys).  He looked at his fingers and then moved them.  It was SO cute.

I took some more photos of him this weekend.  There are a few that are just so cute you want to just laugh.  His eyes are the size of saucers in some of them.  It's just adorable.  Ok, I know, but he's my kid so I am allowed to think he's the cutest thing on the planet.

We had dinner with one of Max's daycare friends (his BFF) and her parents this weekend.  It was so nice.  Her parents are lovely - really great people.  I hope we can get together with them again soon.  The kids had a great time, rolling around on the floor together and playing with each others toys.  It is so cute to see Max and the BFF trade toys and grab at each other.  

He is starting to really move around more now.  He is getting much better at reaching for things that are sitting around him when he plays.  He kind of scoots a little as he leans over to get the toys.  He also now reaches so far forward to get things that he ends up on hs tummy.  I am sure it is only a matter of time before he starts crawling.  Time to get a baby gate and secure off the railing in the house.  

He is eating well too.  So far he has tried squash, peas, carrots, zucchini, rice cereal and oatmeal.  I think today we'll try yams.  He has eaten it all - no refusals so far.  We also moved him to 2 meals a day over the last 2 days.  Now he eats at 11:30 am and at dinner time right before he goes to bed.  I got some green beans at the store yesterday.  I think we'll try those next.

Max turned a real corner with his sleeping too.  In the last week he has made such huge strides in falling asleep at night without 20-30 minutes of crying.  I spoke to Sam at daycare about how he was napping there and what they are doing.  I learned some things that they were doing that seemed to help, so we tried them at home.  Now, we have our routine (dinner, playtime, story, change diaper, into bed) and I give him the binkie, drape his lovey diaper over his eyes and turn on the little nature noises from his pack-n-play module.  Then I say "good night Max" and he sacks out.  It is so wonderful!   I am sure we're not completely out of the woods - he still wakes up sometimes in the middle of the night crying, but I think he's learning that it's ok to fall asleep and we'll still be here in the morning.

Today we're going to look at some more strollers.  We'll see what we find...