Milestone - Crawling and sitting up

Maybe it wasn't today, maybe it wasn't yesterday, but sometime this week he learned how to crawl and then sit up on his own.

I think it was Sunday, actually.

Or maybe not.

Parent brain!

(And parent joke, by calling it "parent brain")

-ND

Milestone - Crawling (4 real)

This actually happened a week or two ago, we just haven't had time to blog about it...because we've been chasing that boy all over the house.

You'd think if you just crawl, you can't get very far.

Well, you'd be wrong.

-ND

9 Month Birthday - Milestones

Happy birthday, baby boy.

So we made it 9 months.  What milestones has he reached?

1. ALMOST crawls.  It's getting scary.

2. Six teeth, gnashes chunks of fruit.  LOVES whole persimmons.

3. For the past few days, he slept from about 6:45pm to 5am or 6am.  

4. Drinks 10-15 oz of breast milk a day

5. Throws balls.  Loves doing it.

6. Stands - with less assistance than before...

Favorite books include:

1. Cow Moo Mee
2. Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?
3. Goodnight Gorilla

Listens to:

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Greatest Hits
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits
Lullaby albums

The kid still loves the dog, and even likes the cat.  God knows why.

-ND

Milestone - Crawling...sort of.

Today, the boy crawled for the first time.

It's about to get real.

It was a slow crawl, and he's much more comfortable rolling.

But it's still about to get real.

10 Things to Learn BEFORE You're a Father

This builds on a previous post How To Prepare for a Baby - Tips for Guys about to be Fathers, but you're probably fine just reading this one.  Probably...

About to be a new dad?  Don't sit around twiddling your thumbs for nine months.  Get ready for the kid by doing these 10 things.  Some are harder than others, so start today.  (Seriously, TODAY.)

1a. Learn to sing

Singing can stop a baby from crying - it is one of the best skills you can have as a parent.

1b. Memorize 25 GOOD songs

You'll be singing a capella to the baby, so know those songs by heart...and preferably have slowed-down "nighttime" versions of all of them.

2. Get in shape

Carry a 15 pound medicine ball around with one hand as you do your daily chores.  Switch hands often.

3. Learn to dance

Your kid will love it, and you'll always have that toy in your toolhouse, so to speak (Hint: YOU are the toy.)

4. Learn to play the guitar  

Another tool.  Plus, they say music is good for kids.  Memorize 20 upbeat songs. Skip Cat Power, unless you want to make your kid cry.

5. Fix up the house

Make sure everything in the house and yard are as automatic as possible.  Get sprinklers if you don't have them.  Sprinklers EVERYWHERE.

6. Take acting classes

Because when the kid slams his head against something and it looks really painful, if you play it cool, he won't really cry...that much.

7. Learn to juggle

It will impress him.  For at least 5 minutes.

8.  Buy a good camera and PRACTICE with it before the baby arrives

Everyone loves baby pictures.  By "Everyone," of course, I mean, your immediate family and maybe a few friends.  But you'll probably take a lot of them, so they might as well be high-quality.

9. Learn  photography

Because now that you have a new camera, you're in charge of photos for the family.

10. Get some sleep

Because you're not going to as soon as that kid arrives.

Seriously.

Good luck to you all, my new dad brothers.

-ND

Eighth Month Milestones

We totally forgot about his eight month birthday.

We only remembered when neighbor M texted about it.

At first, New Mom didn't know who sent her that text.  Guess that's how close we are with our neighbors - they aren't even programmed into our phones...

Also though, celebrating birthday's by months is a little tough.

So, we may forget his nine month birthday as well...

But we won't forget that 1 year b-day!   I promise, son!  :)

Oh, milestones.

Hmm... Almost does the sign for "more," which is banging his hands together, so he might just be trying to clap.

How to Sleep Train a 6-month-old Baby

In my hastily written 7 Month Milestones post I forgot our baby's largest milestone: He now goes to sleep within 10 minutes of putting him down.

I'm aware that by writing the above, I may be jinxing myself to a kid who never sleeps again...and yet, by writing this disclaimer, and by noting that I'm not writing this to brag about our situation, but to benefit others, that the jinxing gods will have mercy on us. HAVE MERCY ON US!!! (You can't be too superstitious when it comes to the baby sleeping.  Seriously.)

So, how did we do it?

How do you sleep train your baby when they're six months old?

Well, here's how we did it.  I believe it's call the Ferber method, but basically it was the first method we read about int Baby 411.  That's a book.  Look it up if you like.  Or keep reading, because in the end, it doesn't matter what the method is called, it freaking works.  Here's what we did:

1. Establish a bedtime routine.

We did this early on - around 4 months - by giving him a bath around the same time, then reading and winding down.  And yet, we still ended up holding him and bouncing on the fitness ball for at least an hour while he slowly cried less and less.

So every night, even while we had established a routine, it took us over an hour to put him to bed.

2. Put him in the crib, say goodnight, and walk away.

It ain't easy, but it must be done.

3. Let him cry/scream for 5 minutes before checking on him.

4. Check on him, but very calmly, very lightly.  Then leave quickly.

5. Listen to him scream for 10 minutes, then check on him again.

6. Repeat step 5 until the baby falls asleep.

They say it can take up to 2-3 hours the first night.  We got LUCKY and he only wailed for 40 minutes.

And ever since that first night, we put him down for naps or bedtime, and he screams/cries for only about 5-10 minutes, then falls asleep on his own.

The TOUGHEST part, of course, is listening to the baby scream after you check on him.  I mean, he freaking GOES CRAZY, so I recommend either ear plugs, or, if you have a large house, DISTANCE yourself from the nursery.

But set a stop watch.  I used my wrist watch so I could see how long he had cried.

Of course, this may not work for everyone, blah blah blah, disclaimer, dischlaimer..,

But, it worked for us.

If you have NOT tried any sleep training, and your kid is at least 5 months old, I highly recommend this method.

As always, good luck, parents. Sleep training is joke, and I pray to the Jinxing gods (see, I haven't forgotten about you!) that you're successful.

-ND