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2005-05-28 - 11.25pm previous entry next entry
Arthur's first sign!! Woohoo!!!!
Thank you for the nice guestbook messages! I don�t think I said that last entry, so thank you to everyone who has been leaving me supportive messages re. sleep and food! ;) And, Eiluned, I am curious to know why you always call me Cariad?!! I�m getting more and more curious about it, so I thought I would ask at last! *hugs* to Heather, who is going through similar sleep troubles. I am so bad at signing guestbooks lately. But I mostly still find time to read my favourite diaries!
I am so excited!!! Arthur signed �milk�!!! Yay, clever boy!! Two days ago I saw him making the milk sign with both hands at the same time, and he was staring so hard at his hands. I couldn�t tell whether he was just playing with his hands and watching them intently, or trying hard to make the milk sign, sort of practising. He did it twice that day, morning and late afternoon. Each time, I made the milk sign back to him and asked him, �Do you want some milk?� and nursed him immediately. The first time he was hungry, the second time he took it but he didn�t seem overly hungry. The clip in the link above shows the milk sign being done with fairly open fingers. Most of the illustrations I see show the fingers closed together whilst making the sign. When Arthur made the sign with both hands, he had open fingers, so I wasn�t sure if he had meant it. It�s less neat and obvious I guess. He was definitely making effort at doing the sign with his hands.
Anyway, today was just wonderful!! I nursed Arthur for his nap at around 9am. After his nap we played with Daddy and he started to get sleepy after an hour or two (lots of play!). I guess it must have been around 12.10pm when I picked him up and held him facing out, in front of the big mirror, because he loves to look at �us� together (so cute!). After a short while he suddenly looked me straight in the eye (in the mirror) in such a pointed way that it completely caught my attention. When he had it, he raised one arm from his side and made the most perfect, clear milk sign I have ever seen, thumb up and closed fingers! He made two �pumps� with his hand, and then dropped the arm back to his side, still looking at me! Wow. I made the sign back, saying, �You want some milk?!� and told him he was a clever boy, then took him upstairs to nurse him, calling to Neil, �Oh my Bob, Arthur just signed milk!!!� hehe! I wish Neil had seen it. He was putting something in the loft at the time. I nursed Arthur straight away, and made the sign again for him just as I got my breast out and settled down to feed him. He was HUNGRY and nursed vigorously! I am so proud of him! :) His first sign!
Neil was thrilled to hear about it, and he smiled because he said I was all flushed. Of course I was!! I was so excited. But the thing that I think made me so flushed was actually emotion, much to my surprise. It feels like such a milestone, and such a �grown up� thing for my little baby to be doing. He deliberately communicated with me for the first time, in a way that didn�t include crying or general ways that babies get their needs across to their parents. He learned a type of language to express a specific need, and aimed that communication directly at me. It felt like we communicated for the first time in some way, and it brought a sudden surprising wave of emotion. I felt quite tearful! But good tears. My clever boy :) I am so pleased that he has started signing so young! I knew it was possible of course, because I read Mia, whose babies signed milk at 6 months too. She�s why Arthur is even signing at all, because otherwise I don�t think I would have thought to do find out more about it a couple of years back, and do it with Arthur. Thank you Mia! :) All the books and websites, etc, say you can start signing with your baby from six or seven months, and after a few months your baby may make a sign back to you. I think babies are capable of understanding signs way earlier. As soon as Arthur could focus on my hands and show interest in what they were doing (around 2 months old I think), I started to sign milk. Other places say that once your baby can clap, wave goodbye or point, they are THEN capable of signing. Arthur can�t do any of those yet, but he can sign. I am starting to sign �more� straight away. The other one that is most common to start with seems to be �eat�, but I don�t think that�s so relevant for us just yet. I want to introduce �up� soon, because Arthur often gets antsy in his highchair or on the floor and I�m sure he wishes he could ask me to pick him up. He doesn�t lift his arms to be picked up, I�m not sure why. Anyway. Also I like the idea of teaching him the signs for �mummy� and �daddy�. But I don�t want to give him too many at once. I�ll do �more� for now and see how we go. It�s so exciting!!!
Arthur is doing well at the moment, sleep-wise. I�m not sure why! I think I told you on Wednesday that he had a 2hr 15 minute nap in the afternoon?! Yay! Then on Thursday we were going to my grandparents� house for lunch, so I was hoping Arthur would nap well in the morning, because otherwise I would have to try putting him down for a nap in the travel cot while we were at my grandparents�. But he napped for exactly TWO HOURS from 9 till 11am, without me even needing to resettle him!!! Yay! So he was perky over lunchtime and we had fun with my grandparents. He got sleepy around 2.30pm so I took him into the living room (at their house) and drew the curtains and set up his travel cot. I nursed him to sleep and put him in the cot, but he woke after 5 minutes. I was just so tired out that I felt yucky and unwell, so thankfully Arthur was happy to lie there with the vibrating mattress switched on (!!) and the tinkly music playing � I love that travel cot! It�s a distraction for him if nothing else. I gave him a soft rattle (the one Nathan loves!) and he was happy playing in there on his own for 20 minutes. I lay on the sofa about a foot away from the cot, and he could see me there if I moved about, through the mesh side of the cot. When he seemed to stop playing and �call� me or look around a lot, I started to sing along quietly to the music, and then he seemed reassured and continued playing. Later that afternoon, around 4.30pm, he started trying to eat my t-shirt in the general region of my breasts (!) so I nursed him and he fell fast asleep. He even stayed asleep on my lap, uncomfy though it was! My grandparents and I chatted away normally while he slept, and he didn�t stir for 40 minutes, so that was good.
Then yesterday he napped for an hour from 9 till 10 (very easy to drop off and no resettling!), and then took another 2 hours in the afternoon! Yay! The doorbell rang and everything, but he didn�t stir. I was so pleased!!
Thursday night was a good night for us. Neil was out all evening (till 10.30pm) playing cricket. It was a one-off thing at work and he was soooo excited all week, because he loves to play cricket. He can�t play in his league anymore because he has bad knees, so he was excited to get a chance to play again just for a night. So I put Arthur to bed when we got home from my grandparents� � we hit traffic on the way home and Arthur got too hot in his car seat and cried :( So we didn�t get home till after 6pm. He always needs to go to bed around 6.30pm. Usually he is showing sleepy signs from 6pm, even if he has napped till 5. So usually he is in bed between 6.15 and 6.45, and he is usually asleep by 7 if I nurse him to sleep. Lately I have been letting him roll away still awake to let him get a feeling for dozing off by himself, so the whole process is taking a lot longer. He doesn�t really manage to sleep by himself � only occasionally. If I persevere, eventually he will drop off, but only after I�ve nursed him and let him roll away, then nursed him again when he�s angry about still being awake (!), about 3 times over or more. This takes at least an hour so sometimes I just let him doze off on the breast. I take him off though, and he usually opens his eyes briefly or rearranges himself before falling asleep properly, so that�s good.
Anyway, I did this on Thursday evening and he was finally asleep around 7.30pm. Then the most amazing thing happened � he did not wake again until 12.30!!! That�s a FIVE HOUR block!!! He stirred twice during the evening, and both times I crept in and stood by the bed so as to be there to resettle him before he got too awake. But he resettled himself! The second time he even opened his eyes, but still went back to sleep! Yay yay yay!! I was so thrilled! We went to bed around 11pm but I was so sure he would wake at any moment starving hungry, that I just couldn�t go to sleep. I can�t believe I ended up awake for an hour an a half!!! Tsk. I could have slept. But it was very unusual. Then after he nursed at 12.30, he next woke at 4.30! Yay again! He never nursed for very long and he was quick to fall back to sleep. I slept with him the whole night. It was so lovely. He finally woke at 7.10, full of the joys of spring! I felt almost human that morning :)
Last night he did well too. It is so hot and humid here. Arthur has never had summer weather before and he hates it just like I knew he was going to. He�s just like me. He sweats and moans and hates it completely. I gave him as much time as I could yesterday with no clothes or nappy on, and when he was sticky I washed his little feet and face with a cool cloth, which he loved! He giggles when I wet his feet or blow on their soles :) We had the fan on last night, carefully positioned in the hallway, not the bedroom, so that it wouldn�t be toooo cool on him. There was just no air last night. Ugh. He just sleeps in short pyjamas at the moment, no sleeping bag. It�s just toooo hot. Roll on winter!
I slept all night with him again last night. He went to sleep around 7.30 again and woke once during the evening to be nursed. Then he woke twice more (I think) in the night, but I can�t really remember how many times because I was sleeping next to him and didn�t really wake up enough to be sure. He woke for the day at 6am. Yikes. Neil had had a pretty good sleep so he took Arthur while I got some more sleep :)
Then today he has napped for a straight hour from 9 till 10, and I put him down after nursing him at about 12.30. He went to sleep on his tummy with me rubbing his back and shh-ing. That is good! He slept only half an hour though, but this afternoon he took almost 2 hours, and I resettled him after the first 30 minutes. I slept with him for that nap, and for another half hour afterwards because Neil took him downstairs to change him. So I had some extra sleep today :) So the sleep seems to be improving a little! I hope it lasts!
Tomorrow we are going to see my SIL who is 38 weeks pregnant!!! I am soooooooooo excited about her baby being born! We don�t know if it�s a girl or a boy, or what their name ideas are. They are being all secretive, hehe! It�s actually so much fun with the build up to the birth, not knowing anything about the baby, that I�m wondering about waiting to find out myself on our next pregnancy. But I think I would lose all my willpower the instant I found out I was pregnant. So hmmm. But it�s fun to not know, and to have everyone else wondering! Anyway I can�t wait to see her tomorrow. I hope Arthur�s naps work well so that we can fit in the trip without it affecting his day sleep too much.
Did I mention that it�s humid?! Ugh.
Today we have made a little more progress on babyproofing the house. It�s going so SLOWLY, it�s driving me crazy!! Arthur is constantly poised to crawl, and I feel positively twitchy about the state of the house! It�s such a tip, and he can�t go a couple of feet without me having to pick him up and prise something out of his closed fist which was on its way to his mouth, saying, �Ohh that�s not for Arthur!� or something similarly annoying for him! And this is BEFORE he can crawl! He moves around so much these days. He rolls and rolls to move around the room, and can drag his body around 180 degrees in just a few seconds if he�s really eager to turn to something. He also pushes himself backwards on his tummy, with his arms. If I put him down on the fleece thingy, a minute or so later he has moved 2 or 3 feet directly backwards! Today he got both his knees up under his tummy while he had his head down to chew the edge of his changing mat (!), and I�m sure he�s going to realise they are there someday soon and push on them, and off he�ll go! Today we got lots of things stored away up in the loft, and Neil took down the changing station and put it up there too. I sorted and put away my fabrics on the shelves, and made room for a blanket box to go where the changing station was (next to the shelves full of fabrics), which will now contain more of my sewing stuff. And make the room look pretty and less cluttered :) It used to have the TV on it downstairs. We sooo need to clean this house. It feels so scummy.
Arthur likes my grandfather�s beard. He stared at it for several MINUTES (a long time for Arthur!) in absolute fascination! Then he slowly reached his hand up and started fiddling with it and stroking it! Hehe! It was so cute. Grandoug was so pleased to have such nice attention from his favourite (and only) great-grandson!
Let�s see, what else? I�m sure there were more things I wanted to waffle about, but my head is too hot and tired and everything is eclipsed by my wonderful son signing to me that he wanted some of my milk!!! Heeeee!! I�m really excited and happy about that! So I can�t think of much else. Oh I still have my period. It was a good old pre-pregnancy one at last. Blah. But I know that�s good though.
Okay I am sitting here with furrowed brows, trying my hardest to think of what else I meant to write about, but it�s not there. So I think I will go to bed and get some sleep (hopefully) before Arthur wakes for his next feed. Ohhh but we finally got him through the night with one nappy!!! A large fuzzi stuffed with FOUR BabyKicks hemp inserts (that�s 24 layers of hemp jersey!!!!!!!!!!) and one microfibre insert (which is 3 layers of microfibre terry). Wow. That is one heavily stuffed fuzzi! And it worked. He went 12 hours in the same nappy, and Neil said he was just starting to get a touch damp around the edges when he changed him! Yay!
Arthur is starting to show signs of teething AGAIN. When will this tooth ever come through?!! He has only had like a week off from teething pain since he was 11 weeks old, and STILL no tooth to show for it! Poor boy. This time he has had 3 days since the last bout of teething died down. He his biting sooo hard today on everything and anything. He left a dent in my finger � a DENT!! � with just his gums. Poor baby. He also has nappy rash � the worst I have seen on him yet. That might be to do with teething, but it�s so hot and sticky and horrible that it�s probably more to do with that. Also maybe the all-night-nappy didn�t help. He has had a few hours today without a nappy or clothes on, and he loved that, but his poor botty looked just as sore after that. We are using Burts Bees diaper ointment on it. I hope it clears up soon.
Ohhhh I know what I meant to add!! Photos!! I have a few to post. I took them all yesterday. Arthur loves to play �Boo!� in the highchair. I duck down below the tray and say, �Where�s Mummy?!� and things like that, and I see from his legs that he is leaning forwards over the tray to see where I went! Then I pop up suddenly and say, �Boo!� He loves this, and giggles, and then just smiles at me expecting more! We play it every time I put him in there, which isn�t every day, but quite often. Here he is just after the giggly bit when I had popped up :)
He also loves to watch the nappies go round and round in the washing machine from his highchair:
He can spent ages sitting with that expression on, watching the machine! I love watching him watch things. He�s so interested in everything, and so cute in his earnest expressions!
Here is a photo of me and my cutie boy on our bed. I am doing what I spend MUCH of the day doing � kissing his squidgy little cheeks!! He�s so gorgeous. I could eat him, sometimes. Aren�t his eyes dark? I love them. Neil and I don�t have dark eyes so that makes them extra special!
I will leave you with this last one of Arthur sitting up on the bed, just wearing a nappy (size 2 Kissaluv, which we have just rediscovered, as they fit him soooo beautifully now his legs are so chunky! And a bummi super whisper wrap. Size large!). Look at his rolllllls of chub!! He has four rolls just on his arms!! Edible, I tell you. He is just scrumptious. My mum keeps on saying we�ll eat him for Christmas instead of turkey or goose. Heh. Of course I won�t let her. But I do understand why she sometimes says it! ;)
Okay, bedtime. Back soon!
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