SLEEPING - this kid has figured it out! He sleeps like a champ....on most days. Right now he wakes up between 7 and 7:30, takes naps at 10:00 and 2:00 or 3:00, and goes to bed between 7:00 and 7:30. For a long time (until 2 weeks ago), we would feed him to sleep while rocking him. It was an "easy" way to get him to settle down. Most of you know that Caden is just a little firecracker! He always has SO much energy, so getting him to sleep was tricky at times. I was starting to get worried that he would never be able to fall asleep on his own if we didn't start training him soon and Justin was more than ready for Caden to be a little more independent in this area:) After Christmas we started reading him a story while feeding him to get him to settle down. Then we would lay him down in his crib, AWAKE. For the first week, we stayed in the room, either rubbing his back (me) or just putting a hand on his back so that he wouldn't be too squirmy (Justin). Then after story time we would give him a hug, tell him it was time for sleep, lay him down, and leave the room. For the first 2 days he cried a little (maybe 2-3 minutes off and on), then fell asleep. Now he just chatters to himself a little and falls asleep. AMAZING!!! Seriously, I never thought we would get here. I HATED the cry-it-out method. We tried that and it just didn't work for us. Caden had too much stamina and it was very stressful for me! He would cry forever, getting more upset as time wore on. I read so many books about sleep and they all had different advice. We decided to mix some suggestions that we felt most comfortable with, and it worked like a charm:) I know better than to get too excited because babies change all the time, but we will enjoy it for now!
Playing on the touchpad with Dad
EATING - Caden is still getting mostly breast milk. Hard to believe we have been at this for 10 months! He eats A LOT.......Caden's eating schedule:
7:00 AM - Nurse
9:00 AM - Fruit/Oatmeal
10:00 AM - Breast milk from a bottle
12:00 PM - Lunch (Meat, cheese, vegetable, fruit)
2:00 PM - Breast milk from a bottle
4:30 PM - Formula from a bottle
6:00 PM - Dinner (meat, cheese, vegetable, fruit)
7:00 PM - Breast milk from a bottle
We started the bottle of formula last week because I am only pumping twice a day and we are working through our little back-stock in the freezer:)
We feel very fortunate that Caden eats pretty much anything that we put in front of him. We have tried a wide variety of meat, fruits, and vegetables and he gobbles them up every time! He usually eats little pieces of whateverwe arating at his meals. It's SO cute to watch him grab with that little pincer grasp! It's been realy fun to watch his finger dexterity develop:)
Drinking some of Dad's protein shake (look at those teeth!!!)
"TALKING" - Caden has been babbling/jabbering for a while now:) It's SO cute to hear him chatting! I love when he says something to us, and waits for a response like we understood what he said! He is really good at "Da-da", "Ba-ba", "Ma-ma", and "Dat". At this point he still uses these words indiscriminately, but we love that he says them:) Every once in a while he will string together words that sound like a sentences. We can't get enough of the "conversations" with Caden! He shrieks with excitement and giggles like crazy:) We are still very blessed to have a super happy baby who doesn't fuss or cry much at all.
MOVEMENT - Caden is still crawling at lightening speed. He LOVES to stand up on anything that he can get his hands on (furniture, walkers, our pants/shorts/legs) and move around while standing! He can stand for about 20 seconds on his own, but then wants to move so he plops down and crawls away. We try to practice walking by allowing him to use our fingers for support.......He will play along for a a few minutes but then just wants to be let free!
OTHER - Caden started clapping around 9 months and still LOVES it! He also likes to wave bye-bye, which consists of his entire arm waving:) He makes a modified kissing sound if you blow kisses, and likes to make a "vroom" sound while driving his cars around on the floor. He started blowing bubbles while we were on a walk a few weeks ago and gets a kick out of himself when they pop! Caden has what our doctor called a "very social" personality. He LOVES other babies and he smiles and laughs at anyone who will make a funny face or play peek-a-boo with him:) Caden enjoys pointing to objects or people, then speaking gibberish as he names them.
There have been so many changes in our lives over the past 10 months, but we absolutely love parenthood! We adore our son and all of the smiles and challenges that he brings:)
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