We did it! We made it to three months! Hurray!
Contrary to everything I read and was told, things haven't magically changed at the three month mark. That's OK. Although I hoped he magically wouldn't be so high-needs at three months, I figured it wasn't likely. Last night was his worst night for a long, long (long) time. He got up no less than six times. Later, I read his baby book. It's crazy to think that, just a short month ago, he was sleeping 10 hours at night, only getting up once. I miss that uninterupted sleep!
The difficult night was preceded by a very difficult evening. He cried and wailed like he used to, and he was only contented by nursing. I think he's teething, and I think he has been for about four or five weeks. Really, that's the only thing (I think) that explains the drastic shift in sleep and behavior. Besides, he's been a drool machine for weeks (he sops through his clothes every hour if I don't diligently wipe his mouth). He gnaws on everything. Also, he's been wanting to eat every hour again instead of his usual 2.5 hours. I discovered this morning that he's contented by sucking on my finger. Still, I don't see or feel any teeth. Hopefully, they'll come soon.
In other sleep news, he's letting me put him in his infant seat for naps! OK, so he doesn't fall alseep in there on his own much (he's only done that a handful of times), but he no longer wakes up screaming as soon as his back touches it. This is allowing me to get a few things done around the house. On the down side, his naps don't last that long (half an hour or so) because when he wakes up, he wants to be picked back up right away. Hopefully, he'll learn to extend that out because I read somewhere that babies don't get through a full sleep cycle unless they sleep one full hour.
This month, Oliver has both forgotten and re-learned how to drink from a bottle. I freaked out for a few weeks that I'd never be able to leave home for more than two hours, ever, but Andrew jumped in and taught our boy how to drink from the bottle.
Also, he's started to watch TV! He loves it. I hate that, to be honest. I used to watch TV while nursing him, just to pass the time. A couple of weeks ago, he started craning his head back to watch, too! So now I keep it off.
Of course, there have been many positive changes and developments this month as well. He's really starting to sit well! One of his favorite things to do is sit on the counter while Andrew supports him. Seriously, Andrew can support him with two fingers. He just sits there, looking around, looking like a big boy.
He's also getting closer to rolling over, and he's finally letting us put him on his tummy for short stints. A couple of times, while he was on his back, he's flipped himself onto his side. However, he doesn't have the strength yet to push himself over his shoulder. I think it'll be a while because I need to help him a lot to get him over that hump! Maybe he'll learn to roll front to back this month. We'll have to wait and see!
He's getting really, really good at using his hands. He grabs his animals on his bouncer and turns them around, studying them. He also grabs and holds onto the animals in his gym (I call his play mat his jungle gym). Although he has to put a lot of effort in, he can use his hand and go straight for objects; he no longer has to do general sweeping motions to catch his toys. And, of course, he's completely mastered sucking his hands! He's always been good at it, but he used to have to pin them down to get ahold of them. Now, he goes straight for his mouth!
Oliver's been talking so much, too. In addition to his vowels, he's using a lot of consonents. His favorite is the letter "H," but he also uses "N" and "G" a lot. He's used "M" and "L" and "Th" and "W." His most recent sound is "Buh," but he doesn't use that much.
He can entertain himself for periods of time, too. He'll sit in his bouncy chair, playing, while I shower. He'll also sit and play with his favorite toy, Froggy, in the mornings while I eat a bowl of cereal. These changes have allowed us a little more freedom. This month, we took him to the store for the first time (he's gone to Costco and Safeway). He's gone to the post office a few times, and he lasted a full hour at Starbucks (and even then, he didn't throw a fit; he just got fussy). Yesterday, I took him to Andrew's work to show him off to all of his coworkers (they loved him, of course!! Ollie was so good), and then we went out to eat for the first time ever with Oliver. We went to Chipotle! Oliver played for about 10 minutes on his own while we ate. Just as we were finishing up, he started fussing. We wolfed down the last of our food and left before his fusses turned into cries. It felt really great to go out to eat, the three of us.
At three months old, these are Oliver's likes:
*Nursing
*Sitting on the counter
*Froggy
*Raffi the Giraffe (It's the most creative name I've come up with for any of his toys)
*Playing in his "jungle gym"
*Pulling on the lion in his bouncy chair
*Being naked
*Talking to us on the changing table
*Sucking his hands
*Watching the ceiling fan
*Watching TV (unfortunately!)
*Being read to (sometimes, he turns the pages! I think that's an accident.)
*Taking baths (I think. It's hard to tell, but he never cries and always splashes)
*Watching us eat
*Apples (I let him gum at my apple, and he loved it! I'm trying to be good and not do that again)
*The stove vent
*His reflection
*Going upstairs
*Babbling
*Outside (we walked to the mail box once, and he dug it)
Dislikes:
*The car seat
*Hats (although it's getting much better)
*Pants (although that's getting better, too)
*Red stoplights (keep driving!)
*Going downstairs
*Getting his diaper changed at night
*8pm bedtime (he always wants to go to sleep earlier and earlier!)
*Wet diapers
*Daddy holding him facing inwards (it's OK for Mommy to, though)
Contrary to everything I read and was told, things haven't magically changed at the three month mark. That's OK. Although I hoped he magically wouldn't be so high-needs at three months, I figured it wasn't likely. Last night was his worst night for a long, long (long) time. He got up no less than six times. Later, I read his baby book. It's crazy to think that, just a short month ago, he was sleeping 10 hours at night, only getting up once. I miss that uninterupted sleep!
The difficult night was preceded by a very difficult evening. He cried and wailed like he used to, and he was only contented by nursing. I think he's teething, and I think he has been for about four or five weeks. Really, that's the only thing (I think) that explains the drastic shift in sleep and behavior. Besides, he's been a drool machine for weeks (he sops through his clothes every hour if I don't diligently wipe his mouth). He gnaws on everything. Also, he's been wanting to eat every hour again instead of his usual 2.5 hours. I discovered this morning that he's contented by sucking on my finger. Still, I don't see or feel any teeth. Hopefully, they'll come soon.
In other sleep news, he's letting me put him in his infant seat for naps! OK, so he doesn't fall alseep in there on his own much (he's only done that a handful of times), but he no longer wakes up screaming as soon as his back touches it. This is allowing me to get a few things done around the house. On the down side, his naps don't last that long (half an hour or so) because when he wakes up, he wants to be picked back up right away. Hopefully, he'll learn to extend that out because I read somewhere that babies don't get through a full sleep cycle unless they sleep one full hour.
This month, Oliver has both forgotten and re-learned how to drink from a bottle. I freaked out for a few weeks that I'd never be able to leave home for more than two hours, ever, but Andrew jumped in and taught our boy how to drink from the bottle.
Also, he's started to watch TV! He loves it. I hate that, to be honest. I used to watch TV while nursing him, just to pass the time. A couple of weeks ago, he started craning his head back to watch, too! So now I keep it off.
Of course, there have been many positive changes and developments this month as well. He's really starting to sit well! One of his favorite things to do is sit on the counter while Andrew supports him. Seriously, Andrew can support him with two fingers. He just sits there, looking around, looking like a big boy.
He's also getting closer to rolling over, and he's finally letting us put him on his tummy for short stints. A couple of times, while he was on his back, he's flipped himself onto his side. However, he doesn't have the strength yet to push himself over his shoulder. I think it'll be a while because I need to help him a lot to get him over that hump! Maybe he'll learn to roll front to back this month. We'll have to wait and see!
He's getting really, really good at using his hands. He grabs his animals on his bouncer and turns them around, studying them. He also grabs and holds onto the animals in his gym (I call his play mat his jungle gym). Although he has to put a lot of effort in, he can use his hand and go straight for objects; he no longer has to do general sweeping motions to catch his toys. And, of course, he's completely mastered sucking his hands! He's always been good at it, but he used to have to pin them down to get ahold of them. Now, he goes straight for his mouth!
Oliver's been talking so much, too. In addition to his vowels, he's using a lot of consonents. His favorite is the letter "H," but he also uses "N" and "G" a lot. He's used "M" and "L" and "Th" and "W." His most recent sound is "Buh," but he doesn't use that much.
He can entertain himself for periods of time, too. He'll sit in his bouncy chair, playing, while I shower. He'll also sit and play with his favorite toy, Froggy, in the mornings while I eat a bowl of cereal. These changes have allowed us a little more freedom. This month, we took him to the store for the first time (he's gone to Costco and Safeway). He's gone to the post office a few times, and he lasted a full hour at Starbucks (and even then, he didn't throw a fit; he just got fussy). Yesterday, I took him to Andrew's work to show him off to all of his coworkers (they loved him, of course!! Ollie was so good), and then we went out to eat for the first time ever with Oliver. We went to Chipotle! Oliver played for about 10 minutes on his own while we ate. Just as we were finishing up, he started fussing. We wolfed down the last of our food and left before his fusses turned into cries. It felt really great to go out to eat, the three of us.
At three months old, these are Oliver's likes:
*Nursing
*Sitting on the counter
*Froggy
*Raffi the Giraffe (It's the most creative name I've come up with for any of his toys)
*Playing in his "jungle gym"
*Pulling on the lion in his bouncy chair
*Being naked
*Talking to us on the changing table
*Sucking his hands
*Watching the ceiling fan
*Watching TV (unfortunately!)
*Being read to (sometimes, he turns the pages! I think that's an accident.)
*Taking baths (I think. It's hard to tell, but he never cries and always splashes)
*Watching us eat
*Apples (I let him gum at my apple, and he loved it! I'm trying to be good and not do that again)
*The stove vent
*His reflection
*Going upstairs
*Babbling
*Outside (we walked to the mail box once, and he dug it)
Dislikes:
*The car seat
*Hats (although it's getting much better)
*Pants (although that's getting better, too)
*Red stoplights (keep driving!)
*Going downstairs
*Getting his diaper changed at night
*8pm bedtime (he always wants to go to sleep earlier and earlier!)
*Wet diapers
*Daddy holding him facing inwards (it's OK for Mommy to, though)
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