Month 8

Nico’s personality has started to come through. Every time he is playing with something and he drops it, or if you take it from him (and by you, I mean Benji), he throws a fit! The minute he gets whatever it was back, he gets happy.

He is Benjamin’s number one fan. He laughs at everything Benji does and communicates with him every way possible. He loves it when Benji gets in the crib to play!

He has recently discovered his tongue, so he likes to stick it out and makes all kinds of funny faces and noises. He is for sure finding his voice, and it is not a quiet one. He likes to babble a lot and carries on little conversations. He hasn’t said an official word, although he does say “mama” when he is in distress. 

He’s been waking up at 3am more consistently lately… could it be teething? Could be a growth spurt? Who knows. All I know is that he is super fast at nursing so we are up for about 15 minutes and then everyone back to bed.

He has turned into an excellent eater! His favorite savory food is pumpkin and his favorite fruit is apple sauce with cinnamon! He also loves puffs… he can pick them up one at a time and bring them to his mouth all on his own! Benji likes sitting next to Nico to feed him puffs... one at a time...

Although he is not officially crawling, he does get around by rolling. Just yesterday he was lifting up his little booty and scooting his knees, so it won’t be long before he starts chasing after everyone. 

Nico is such an easy-going baby. We had several folks over at the house for Christmas and he was happy as ever being passed from one person to the next. He gets super serious at first, but then starts handing out smiles and giggles to all! Just like in this picture!

Testing Boundaries That Melt Hearts

Benjamin is in that stage where he is constantly testing boundaries. All day every day. For the most part we have firm boundaries and he knows them, or quickly reacts when we remind him that he has crossed them. Bedtime, however, is a completely different ball game.

We have allowed bedtime to drag on. Maybe because it is the end of the day and we are tired and willing to do whatever it takes to make bedtime happen at a reasonable pace, at a reasonable hour and without meltdowns. We try to keep boundaries through bedtime but we are just not successful, therefore the 32lbs little person has control of about 75% of the process.

Bedtime involves things like "I need to pee" "I need water" "I need water from special cup" "I hot" "stand at my door" "scratch my back" "I need to poop" "I no want socks" "my pull up-hurts" "turn my light on"...

Last week Norm went back to work nights, which means that I am on my own to feed two children (and myself), do bedtime, finish work, clean up the kitchen and try to catch up in whatever needs catching up (which is a whole lot lately). Therefore, I cannot allow Benjamin's bedtime to be a 2 hour process.

Tonight, we did our regular routine: brush teeth, pee, bath, read a story (which was the toy store Christmas catalog...), say prayers and good night kisses. I left his room and it started:

B: "Stand at my door"
F: "Benjamin, I am not going to stand at your door. I am going to be in the other room. It's time to go to sleep"
I put him back in bed and step away. 

He gets up:
B: "I need water"
I get him the cup that's on his night stand 
B: "I need water in special cup"
F with a firm tone of voice: "This is the water we have up here, so if you want water, you can drink from this one"
I briskly put him back in bed, kiss him and step away. 

He gets up:
B: "I need water in special cup"
Without saying a word, I grab his hand, take him to his bed. Almost like a robot. Give him the same cup from before. Put him in his bed, kiss him and step away.

He gets up:
B: "Mami, come stand at my door"
I don't say a word. And in my robot fashion again, I grab him by the hand, walk him to his bed, lay him down, kiss him and walk away. 

He gets up:
I see him in the monitor so I get up to meet him determined to keep putting him back in the bed with little to no interaction until the point is proven.
I get to his room and he slowly comes to me:
B: "I sorry Mami"
F: speechless................... I get down to look him in the eye and say "what did you say?"
B: "I SORRY Mami!"

Then my heart pretty much melted.

We had a brief chat about listening to parents and going to bed and staying in bed when it is nighttime. He said okay, walked back to his bed, I gave him a kiss and stepped away. About 10 minutes later, he was out:

Quick reminder that toddlers are not evil and that they do have a good heart. I say that now... we will see how bedtime goes tomorrow night ...