New school!

Back in November or December, when Bennett was still just 8 or 9 months old, I had been chatting with a friend of a friend who lives nearby about where she sends her toddler to daycare/school. She said that they use a preschool called Four Seasons Community School that they adore. She said that they utilize Reggio-Emilia and Tools of the Mind methods and were similar in style to a Montessori program. Having attended a Montessori preschool myself with wonderful memories of it and having done a big project in college on the Montessori Method, I've always been interested in having Bennett attend a Montessori program. There's a great Montessori school very close to our old house that several friends of ours have used, but their rates are incredibly high, more than double our mortgage on the old house and still more than our current mortgage in the new house! While Bennett's education and intellectual well-being is extremely important to us and obviously a huge priority, we just couldn't justify spending that kind of money when he was so little and just starting out with childcare. That led us to Norma, the in-home provider half a mile away from our new house. We really do love her and she is a sweetheart and takes great care of "her babies" and for the most part we were really happy with her for the year that Bennett was there. But when I started looking into Four Seasons Community School, I called them and learned that they were hoping to open an infant room sometime around June. They originally just served children 18 months and older in one small school in a house that was converted to a school, then later added a second school also in a house in Round Rock. As they grew and the parents of their students started having more babies, they decided that they needed the infant room and their plan was to purchase a third house for this, but they ended up getting one much larger building about six minutes away from our new house that used to house a corporate chain daycare. They moved both smaller schools into this building and did a lot of sprucing up and renovations (and are still working on some things) and opened the infant room at the end of May. We decided to jump at the chance to enroll Bennett there while they had some spots in the infant room, knowing that this way he will be able to move up into their "Pre-Primary" and "Primary" classes and be guaranteed a spot there until Kindergarten. If we had waited to move him there a bit later when he'd be in one of the two older classes (either at 18 months or 3 years), we'd probably end up on a waiting list and not necessarily get a spot. I agonized about leaving Norma and must have rehearsed the "break-up" conversation with her in my head a hundred times, but in the end I knew that this was a great opportunity for our family and the right decision. I have always felt that if I cannot be home with Bennett full-time, I want him to spend his days learning and having a full, enriching day. While I felt that he was happy and safe at Norma's and well-loved, I didn't feel that he was getting that enrichment there. She would often have cartoons on in the mornings in the daycare room (her converted garage, which is a good space for it), or she'd have the news on at pick-up on days when something particularly crazy and disturbing was going on (the Sandy Hook school shooting, Boston Marathon bombings, etc--not something that the kids should be hearing about.) The kids read books there, but they are not easily accessible throughout the day and she doesn't do many (or any?) organized, structured educational activities throughout the day. She talks to the babies a lot, but probably not nearly as much as we try to do at home and she doesn't sign with them, which I have always been big on. She makes a homemade, healthy lunch every day that Bennett always loved (things like soups and stews, baked chicken, etc.) and serves lots of fruits and veggies but would also serve some snacks that we're not big on him having on a regular basis like Goldfish crackers. So while I think her home was a great place for Bennett for his first year when having him close by, safe, and well-cared for was the priority and there were only minor things that we weren't 100% happy with, now that he is a busy and curious toddler with a natural love for exploring and learning, this new school is the perfect place for him and we are so excited about it. The owner/director has a really solid education and background in education and from what I can tell she has done an amazing job with the school in the few short years they have been open and they have gotten to the wonderful point they are at now very quickly. They really just reinforce what we are trying to do with him at home as well as introduce many new things and new experiences--things like Spanish classes, dance classes, working in an outdoor garden, learning about being eco-friendly, riding tricycles, meetup field trips...too many to list! We have talked about the fact that we would definitely consider starting a second baby out with Norma for the first year or so if the timing worked out right for that, since overall we were happy with her care of the young infants and her rate is so amazing and so close by. BUT, if the timing worked out so that there was a spot in the infant room at Four Seasons that we would need to take to avoid being waitlisted, we'd probably end up going that route to have both kiddos in one spot. We'll cross that bridge if/when we get to it, I suppose!

Bennett started there the Tuesday after Memorial Day, so today is his 11th day and already we are SO happy with how it's going. Because the infant room is so new, he is one of just two babies at the moment! The other is a three month old boy who has an older sister at the school. There are several other moms who are expecting and will enroll their babies there within the next few months and I think there are a few open spots still and a few families have been touring the infant room. In total they will eventually have 8 infants and two teachers in the room and they are trying to keep it to a good mix of four younger infants and four older who are between 12 months and 18 months, with one teacher kind of focusing on the younger group and one on the older group but all in the same classroom. Bennett's teacher, Miss Katie, is a total sweetheart and she has some great experience with babysitting, being a nanny, working at a corporate daycare in the infant room, and having younger children in her family. She also has a degree from UT and the school only hires teachers with degrees, which is not terribly common for many childcare centers. I would imagine that this helps keep the turnover rate low, and it seems that Miss Katie and the other teachers are very happy there. Miss Katie signs with Bennett as much as a I do and also throws some Spanish in, and right now with just the two babies she is able to give him a ton of one on one interaction. Somehow she has gotten Bennett to take many LONG, wonderful naps in his crib, sometimes even two a day. I'm talking two and three hour naps. She must be a baby nap whisperer and makes me feel like a total failure at the nap thing since obviously Bennett is capable and in need of naps like this but doesn't do it at home. (But in reality, I think that she just gets him calm, puts him in his crib, and stays nearby while telling him to lie down until he falls asleep, which is what I do too. ???) One thing that is new to us that I adore is that throughout the day she keeps track of his eating, sleeping, and diapering schedule on a tablet using a Google document that I can view whenever I want. I love checking it to see what and how much he is eating, when and how long he is napping, and how many times a day he is pooping : ) With Norma, I would always ask her about his day at pick up but I usually got very vague answers. Like this:

Me: "Did he nap well today?"
Norma: "Yes" (said with a smile)

Norma: "He poops a lot!"

Norma: "He eats like a farmer!" (a lot)

So I was always guessing as to when/what he ate, his nap routine, etc. With 12 kids under 5, I know that she has a lot going on and is juggling lots of schedules, but I was always hungry to know more about his day, and now I have that info literally at my fingertips. Miss Katie's really good about updating it as things happen, too, and I can even watch on my screen as she is typing in the info. It's awesome. This way also I feel like I am not pestering Miss Katie with questions when I pick Bennett up. She's very willing to chat about his day but I know that when they do have a full room she won't have as much time to discuss everything as much as we do now. They also have a private blog that the teachers post on to let the parents get a glimpse of what the children are learning and doing throughout the day. Here are some photos I stole from their blog:

getting lots of rest after all the learning and playing!

painting

Another new thing with the change in schools is that we send his lunch, whereas Norma provided everything. I was kind of nervous about this at first but I think I'm doing okay with it. I've looked on Pinterest and blogs for inspiration for "toddler meals" and I just try to send a fairly well-balanced assortment of things from our fridge and pantry that I think he will eat. I try to do one source of protein/meat which is usually in the form of leftovers or cooked chicken that Michael always has around for his Paleo eating, a few types of fruit, at least one type of veggie or mixed veggies, and sometimes some grains, cheese, muffin, or other snacky items. The school does provide snacks but so far I think some of the things they serve to the older children might still be a little bit over Bennett's head, like cashews or granola, so I just send plenty of food and he has been snacking on what I put in his lunch, and I think that he's eating pretty well. It's still a bit of a guessing game as to what and how much he will eat and sometimes he'll refuse things that I know he has loved in the past, but I'm not too worried about his weight or anything and I know that if he's hungry, he'll eat. The school provides organic whole milk and water, which is all he drinks at home, too, and they do healthy, well-balanced snacks as well. They are also very eco-friendly and use practices like composting and providing a cloth towel in the bathroom for each child rather than paper towels and they use "green" products, which I am all about as much as possible.

Bennett has cried every day at drop off, and a few times he's even done the open mouth, closed eyes silent cry, which breaks my heart, but I know that he settles down pretty quickly after I leave and is having a great time. Heck, he even cries when I leave him with his Dad at home and go into the next room, so I know that it's no indication of any kind of unhappiness there and is more about the newness of it and the extreme clinginess to Mommy that he has going on currently. Also, I think that part of it may be that it is just so quiet in the room with no other kids his age there as a distraction when I leave. I am sure that given another week or two to settle in and as they get more babies the drop-offs won't be so bad. Bennett's been doing art projects most days and both Fridays so far we have brought home two adorable works of art. I'll have to find a place to display everything and devise a storage system for saving it all!

It's probably a little tricky for Miss Katie with Bennett being so much older than the other baby (who seems so tiny compared to Bennett!), but it seems like throughout the day they try to get out of the classroom a bit and they go and watch the older kids (or "friends", as they call them there-love that) in the science or art areas, and they do go outside once or twice a day. They have one of those enormous stroller carts that seats a bunch of babies but obviously right now that's not practical to use with one 14 month old and one 3 month old so Miss Katie just carries the little guy and lets Bennett toddle around. They will eventually add on a little patio right off the infant room just for that class but this is still in progess, so for now they go out back where all of the other children play. I have been told that Bennett often goes up to either the door leading out of the classroom or the door adjoining to the next classroom of 1.5-3 year olds and he will bang on it, indicating that he wants to go visit the older friends or go explore the school. Since there are only two babies right now, Miss Katie says that sometimes she obliges but when she tells Bennett no, that it's not time to leave the room, he's not too happy about that! He's also already spent some time with Miss Sara, who will be his teacher when he moves into the Pre-Primary room in the fall, and she seems great as well. She has told me that he is very charming, so I like her! She has also said that he does great with the older friends in her room and is "very confident" in his interactions with them. : )

The infant classroom itself is awesome. It's spacious and brightly lit with a sink area and some cabinetry, a little alcove that's gated off for a fridge, brand new top of the line cribs and gear, and lots of colorful, adorable Ikea stuff and toys and books for the full age range of infants. All of the toys and books are brand new and are stored in the Montessori way at the child's level and neatly organized so that they are able to choose their activities and help clean up and what not. At Norma's, most of the toys were stored on high shelves near the ceiling or in a spare pack and play and she would just get some out and rotate them but the kids don't have direct access to help themselves, so I am sure that Bennett enjoys the newfound ability to access whatever he wants. In fact, usually when I pick him up he has many things out. : ) Miss Katie requested a picture of our family and a picture of Bennett to display in the room, so it's great that he gets to have things like that around the room to make him feel comfortable.

One thing that will be a little trickier is that since it is an actual preschool with a curriculum rather than just a daycare, they have some staff development days throughout the year and some other closures that are in line with public schools, like a week during the summer, two weeks for Christmas, etc., so this will mean taking a little more time off from work on those days but it is manageable and I am sure that I won't mind having the excuse to get to spend a little extra time with Bennett here and there. I've also considered seeing if Norma can watch him on a drop in basis on days that FSCS is closed and she is open if she has a spot, and she said that she could do that, so we'll see. They are closed the first week of July, but we will be going to NY on the 3rd anyway so that works out okay, and my parents will be here for the holidays again and can help those days.

We are so excited for this new component of our lives and to see how it all goes and all of the amazing things that Bennett will do and learn at school!Already I find myself more relaxed and content with dropping him off and not so antsy to get him at the end of the day, since I know that he is loving it and getting so much out of it. I feel like I can get more out of my work day, too, and be more efficient myself knowing that his time at school is well-spent and that he is in such a great place.

Bennett at 14 months

It's probably high time that I record a little more about what's going on with our boy these days. Every single day Bennett is changing and he is such a toddler all of a sudden. He officially took some first steps on a Sunday morning, May 5th, just past 13 months. Michael was convinced that it was never going to happen and considers this to be quite late, since he was a very early walker and has always had high/unreasonable expectations for Bennett in the motor milestones department : ) Within a week or so he was very steady on his feet and was walking full time. In fact, after he took those first steps, I think he only ever crawled again a handful of times, like when I would pick him up from daycare and he wanted to get to me as quickly as possible. He never really did the zombie walk with arms stretched out while learning to walk and instead he kept them up and bent at the elbows. We have noticed with Bennett that he may take a little while to come around to something, like crawling or walking, but once he does it he masters it extremely quickly.

 Kind of along those lines, he's extremely quiet, observant, and reserved in unfamiliar places and around new people, but once he warms up to the new environment he's back to his usual noisy, outgoing, confident self. Now that he is walking, he loves to cruise all around the house from room to room, gathering random things and redistributing them in odd places. He's really into things that are not toys of course, like my Neti pot and salt packets under my bathroom sink. Ha ha! He will get in there every single morning while I'm in the shower.

Bennett is talking up a storm and I think that we've counted about 30 words that we easily recognize. By 13 months he was saying ball, balloon, book, dog, cat, banana, daddy, mommy, keys, bye, that, vroom vroom, done, bird, up, down, again, and yum yum, and was signing milk, all done, and again. By 14 months he also had hi, cheese, duck, uh oh, food, cup, moo, and please, and he signs bird, more, book, food, and please. I nearly die from the cuteness when he signs and says, "please", and it's almost impossible to say no to whatever he is requesting. I guess I'll have to get over that, because obviously he does need to be told no occasionally! His most commonly used word is definitely "up", which comes out as "bup". He follows me around all day and night with his arms outstretched repeating "bup, bup!" SUCH a mama's boy, but also crazy about his dad. For some reason he rarely says "mommy" but without fail when he sees Michael he says, "Dad!" He also loves to say "bah/bye" to Dad every morning and at bedtime while waving over the banister or at the window. (Although, despite the fact that he is in the extreme mommy phase, he's also very independent and confident and doesn't hesitate to wander away for a while when he's in his comfort zone and knows where to find me, which I love. It's so much fun to watch him toddle away and then go to find him and discover him sitting at his little table or getting out some toys.)

He is obsessed with books still and his favorite thing to do is bring one to you, plop himself in your lap, and say "book" or "please". Or, if he's requesting a book from Daddy and Daddy is lying on the floor, he reclines on the floor with him and drapes himself across Daddy's neck and nearly suffocates him while Daddy reads. He loves to point to the pictures and identify the things he recognizes, especially balloons. After you read a book that he particular likes, he will sign and say "again" until you have read it many times, or until he gets bored partway through and goes to get another one. At night he loves to lean over the side of his rocking chair and take every single book out of the pockets on the chair and hand them to me one by one.

Other things Bennett's into: dancing, going down the street with Mommy to get the mail in his wagon then sorting through the mail and tossing it on the floor piece by piece, being outside, gathering random sticks and leaves, the dogs (any dogs for that matter), balls, falling asleep in his new toddler carseats, going to the grocery store and Costco with Dad (sometimes they allow Mom to come along), banging on computer keyboards, giving kisses, making a mess of piles of laundry and emptying drawers, crawling/running away during diaper changes, climbing up the stairs, climbing anything, but especially the ottoman at the bottom of Mom and Dad's bed, playing with and eating toilet paper, being naked and investigating his boy parts, pooping in the bathtub.

Dislikes: when Mommy leaves his sight or can't pick him up when requested, diaper changes, school drop off, getting strapped into the carseat (sometimes), the skin on green beans, naps at home.

He now has four molars either partway in or all the way, one in each quadrant of his mouth. For a while he had just the three top front teeth but finally now he has all four of those. Still just the bottom two in front but he's working on the third and fourth down there and they are giving him a bit of trouble.

Sleep is still a bit frustrating. I think Bennett was finally sleeping through the night consistently around 10 months or so and it is rare now for him to wake up at all during the night. If he does, he might cry for a minute or two but he puts himself back to sleep. He goes down very easily around 7 pm after the routine of a pretty long bath, jammies, playing in his room with mom and dad, reading books, then turning on his noise machine and nursing. He either falls asleep nursing and then easily transfers to the crib and rolls onto his tummy and crashes, or if he doesn't fall asleep nursing I can put him down awake and sit next to the crib for a few minutes and he will chat and sing himself to sleep. He's had a few nights where he has had me laughing by running from corner to corner of the crib, putting his blanket on his head, sticking his feet through the bars, etc. until he finally crashes and passes out. I really wish we had invested in a video monitor cause I'd love to be able to see what he's up to without being in the room. Unfortunately he is quite an early bird and his night time sleep usually maxes out at about 10 hours and he wakes up anywhere between 4:30 and 6 am, usually in the 5 am hour. Even if we keep him up a bit later than 7, he's still awake before dawn. Sometimes he will go back to sleep nursing in our bed but more often than not lately he's up for good. This makes for one tired mama, especially since I'm not good about going to bed as early as I should and am usually not asleep until 10:30 or so. Plus I just don't sleep nearly as well as I did before having him and I feel like I'm awake several times in the night and sleep very lightly, which I NEVER would have said in the past.

Naps at home are also still a struggle. He just can't stand to nap in his crib on the weekends and it is a battle of wills. If/when he does finally go to sleep in his room, he's usually awake and crying again within an hour. Most days at home he's getting a total of a one hour nap, making for a somewhat cranky boy. I'm really not sure what we are doing wrong here or why he wakes after such a short time once he is asleep in the crib. I try letting him cry it out a bit when he does wake up after a short time, but it never seems to work and he just gets really worked up. I follow the same routine that I do at night with the book, dark room, noise machine, and nursing and try to put him down awake, but it still can take him upwards of an hour to fall asleep, if at all.

Bennett's a pretty decent eater most of the time. Breakfast is typically some scrambled egg with fruit--usually blueberries, raspberries, or banana, or a combo. Sometimes I'll mix it up and offer him something extra like a little waffle or muffin. He loves cheese, fruit, and carbs. Michael has adapted a Paleo diet (no grains or dairy) but Bennett and I still eat pretty much anything. We just try to eat a balanced diet of healthy foods and avoid anything highly processed and junky and we buy as much organic as we can. Bennett hasn't ever had chocolate or ice cream and we really limit things that we consider to be treats like graham crackers/cookies/etc. He's kind of hit or miss with snacks/lunch/dinner at home as far as how much and what he will eat. Sometimes it takes him a bit to warm up to the meal and he'll get off to a slow start and then end up eating more than you think he will. He's still nursing several times a day and requests it any time he's remotely tired or bored. He drinks cow's milk at school and will drink a little bit at home, but usually when I give him a cup of it he'll have a few sips then put it down and sign for milk to nurse. I'm mostly okay with continuing to nurse for a few more months but I really would like to cut out the daytime sessions sooner than later. We don't really do juice and he's a great water drinker. He will say, "bup" for cup when he wants a drink and will also frequently grab our water bottles and help himself.

We did about 6 swimming lessons at the YMCA this Spring and had fun with that, and try to make it to our neighborhood pool at least once every weekend. Bennett is pretty happy in the pool but is also just as happy cruising around out of the pool and people/bird watching. There's a ton of bird nests and babies under the shade cover in the baby pool area and he is fascinated by watching them come and go. I'm hoping that by the end of the summer when he's closer to 18 months he'll really be loving the water and will be jumping in, going down the baby slide, etc.

This is such an awesome stage and I find myself constantly staring at Bennett and watching him intently, trying to memorize every facial expression and all the little details and mannerisms that make him who he is right now, because I know how quickly he is changing and I already struggle to remember what he was like as a newborn, a crawler, a brand new walker. I loathe being apart from him for any length of time because I know how fleeting this time is, and in all honesty I am just about as needy of his time as he is of mine!

Spiffy new 'do

Our boy Bennett has been blessed with some pretty great hair. It was considerably darker at birth (more of a dirty blonde) and for a while he had a bit of a toupee thing going on with a lot on top and not much on the sides. It started getting pretty shaggy fairly early on...around 6 months or so? For quite some time his hair was fairly long in the front and I was constantly brushing it to the side out of his eyes, but was really balking at the idea of cutting it before a year. I don't know what it is about the one year mark that made me want to wait, but it took me a while to come to terms with the fact that my tiny baby wasn't so tiny anymore and might need yet another big "first" crossed off the list sooner than later. My mom trimmed his bangs when he was maybe 8 months, which was a bit terrifying but did the trick for a while. But recently it started getting out of control again and my mom's back in Florida, so I decided to bite the bullet and take him to real salon for a trim. I took him to a place nearby called "Kids Are Our Specialty" or "KAOS" for short. They had tons of TV's with the movie "Cars" playing. (We waited for a few minutes and Bennett was literally laughing watching the movie.) They have some cool car and motorcycle chairs that the kids can choose to sit in and also regular salon chairs, which Bennett used with a booster and Bumbo. I told the stylist, Barbara, that I didn't want a lot taken off the top or back, just a little off his bangs and over his ears. Before I knew it she was chopping away and Bennett had an all over hair cut! (I suppose that this is probably what had to happen to avoid having a weird super top heavy thing going on). My heart was literally racing and I nearly lost it watching my big boy sit there so calmly and patiently, just taking it all in and occasionally cracking a little smile. Barbara couldn't believe how well behaved he was and said that they have kids who are much older than him who don't behave nearly as well. She also thought he was pretty cute. I liked her ; ) She put some of the cut hair in a tiny plastic baggy and filled out a certificate for his first hair cut. 15 minutes and 18 dollars and my big boy and I were on our way!

before...lots of hair!

during...so proud of my good boy!

all done!

after

And now for a look back on the evolution of Bennett's hair.

newborn hair (so tiny!)

slight mohawk

looks so dark looking back!

much lighter, quite voluminous (5 months)

7 months

long bangs!

time for the very first trim

terrifying for all except Grammie

all trimmed up!

random curls

crazy after bath hair

It will be fun to see if he keeps the blonde like mommy or goes dark like his dad!

9 months old

Unfortunately as per usual I have not been great about documenting in real time and keeping things updated here, so this might turn into a big information dump about everything Bennett has been up to over the past several months. I could write all day and still have more to say. He's changing so fast all the time and we have been so busy with the new house, the holidays, travel, etc. that it's a bit of a blur despite my best attempts to relish every moment. But it really is time to be better about writing things down. At least I have been really good about writing something down almost every day on his calendar!

sadly, we are missing the 2 month shot due to Daddy's busted hard drive : (

 Bennett had his nine month check-up on 1/4, technically at nine months and one week. He has dropped on the growth charts quite a bit since his six month visit. His stats this time around were 20 lb, 4 oz/44th percentile (down from the 60th), 28.5 inches/56th percentile (down from 72nd), and 46.2 cm head circumference/74th percentile (up from 70th). Of course Daddy was immediately concerned that he's turning into a little shorty like his mama but the doctor assured him that it's not a significant enough drop to be concerned about and growth spurts happen pretty erratically so they are not a great predictor of future size. And no matter what size Bennett ends up, he'll always be our big boy and will be just perfect in our eyes : ) It was a great appointment as usual and Bennett was a champ during the blood draw when they pricked his toe and squeezed it for a while to fill a little tube with drops of blood. He just watched it happen and tried to reach for the tube. He wasn't too pleased about the Hep B shot but he always gets over those pretty quickly after being picked up and hugged a bit. (In general, he is extremely easy to soothe and even the hardest bumps and falls are quickly forgotten in mommy's arms!) We talked with the doctor a lot about the weaning process and nap issues.

waiting for the doc

The fact that Bennett is 3/4 of the way to one year old has hit me hard lately. I can't believe that he has already been here for nine months and is closer to being a toddler than our tiny newborn boy. This is without a date the most fun stage to date and I'm sure I will feel that way about whatever stage we are in going forward. After a few spurts of tiny bits of crawling, Bennett finally started crawling consistently this past month (on December 9th) and is now quite fast and adept at getting wherever he wants to be. (He also loves to "dance" and wave his arms in tune with music as you can see).

He started pulling up just a few days after he started crawling on December 14th. It was such a shock to find him standing up in his crib the first time! It's pretty dark in his room and he had woken up and was crying and when I went to feel for his head to pick him up I realized it was a lot higher than usual. Crawling and pulling up are such game changers! It's so much fun though to just sit back and watch Bennett motor around and decide where to go and what to do next. He loves to go for the coffee table in the family room and will pull up, sit down, and pull up again over and over and over.

Unfortunately the standing up negatively affected his night time sleep and he started to stand up and cry anytime he woke up, which led me to the decision to attempt "sleep training", aka "crying it out". I have been pretty adamantly opposed to this in the past and like most good mamas can't bear to hear my babe crying, even for a moment. BUT, when he was waking multiple times a night and wanting to be nursed and rocked back to sleep at nearly nine months old, I decided that something had to change. The first few nights my willpower was not quite strong enough and I would give in and didn't truly let him cry till he fell asleep. Then for three or four nights however I went in strong and despite the overwhelming urge to give in to his cries, I pushed through. He went down from 30-40 minutes of screaming to about 25 to falling right to sleep and even chatting a tiny bit first! Twice he fell asleep sitting up slumped over against the crib rails : ( From what I have read, most people find that it only takes a few nights of hard core crying before the baby finally gets it so I am glad that I persevered and we made it through. It really does make sense in that when they cry and you go to them and pick them up, they learn that they get what they want by crying and they have total control, whereas when they cry themselves to sleep a few times they learn that they can and should go to sleep on their own. It is funny though how for a few months (around the time that he was 3-5 months?) he did put himself to sleep easily in the crib and then developed the habit of nursing to sleep and needed to be broken of that to get back to good bedtime habits again. I think that the start of teething was probably the start of the nursing to sleep business.

I've also created a nap monster by nursing Bennett down at naptime, usually in our bed. I've tried letting him cry in his crib and once actually spent a few hours trying to get him to nap in there and we both just ended up physically and emotionally drained and traumatized (at least I was...). Of course there are some who say that crying it out raises cortisol to dangerous levels and causes long term damage and is pure evil, etc. However, most of what I have read says that though it's difficult in the moment, crying it out is not truly traumatizing to the baby. I am still terrified of what harm I could be causing him by not going to him when he wants me. For now I just don't think we're ready to cry it out for naps, and it doesn't seem to be causing any issues for night time sleep. For me, this has been one of the most difficult aspects of parenting so far. I take 100% of the blame for it though and wish that I had been better at having him nap in his crib from the start and not using the swings for naps and not nursing him to sleep at all. I really do love nursing and snuggling my little man to sleep, though, so it's going to be tough on mama when it's no longer a part of our routine at all.

snoozing in Mom and Dad's bed

 When he does takes naps, either in his crib or in our bed, he tends to only sleep for 20-30 minutes and will VERY rarely take an hour or two long nap. Miss Norma reports that he doesn't nap great at daycare either and there have been days when I have picked him up early at nap time and he will just be crawling around and playing while every other kid is sound asleep. This no nap thing means that he's pretty drained by 4 or 5 pm and always asleep by 7 or shortly thereafter. Sometimes he'll even doze off for a bit while nursing after getting home from day care or in the late afternoon on weekends, but it never seems to affect bed time at all so usually I let him do it.

Speaking of teeth, Bennett cut his bottom two teeth the day after we got back from Jamaica in early November and then this month his top two came through, the left one on the 18th and the right one on Christmas! He has bitten me while nursing a few times now, but only when nursing on my right. I find this strange since that's the side that has always been my least favorite and least comfortable nurse to on. Obviously nipples are pretty sensitive, tender things and having yours bitten HARD by four tiny razor sharp teeth hurts something fierce and pretty much every time we nurse on that side I am on edge and truly terrified the whole time. Bennett also has taken to biting my shoulder when he is hungry or tired and wanting to nurse. He's definitely a "booby baby" and anytime he is the least bit tired, bored, or fussy, he is clawing at my chest and pulling on my shirt like a wild animal, and will even root around and head butt my sternum until he gets what he's after. Usually distracting him with something else or a change of scenery will stall him for a few minutes but before long he is back at it again. He'll then nurse for a few minutes, pop off and sit up grinning from ear to ear, and be perfectly happy and content again for a while. It's like nursing gives him a second wind and a burst of energy. Occasionally if we are really busy or distracted he will go 3 hours without nursing and on one occasion went 4 hours but more often than not he's asking for it sooner. I've been signing the word "milk" to him when we nurse since he was a newborn and about a month ago he started to understand what it means and will get really excited when I do sign "milk". I LOVE breastfeeding Bennett and am beyond grateful that it has been so easy for us and has gone so smoothly, but being a working, nursing mother has been a huge source of stress and frustration for me. After discussing it with the doctor and Miss Norma, I think we have finally reached a point where Bennett will fairly consistently take three bottles at daycare, but for the most part up to now he has been taking four six ounce bottles every day, usually between the hours of 8:30 and 4:30 or 5:30 at the latest. That's a lot of milk in not a lot of time. 24 ounces is a lot to have to pump every day and the fact that I don't have a desk job and am running around throughout the day makes it tough to fit in enough pumping sessions at the right times. I have definitely mastered pumping while driving and have done that quite often in addition to pumping on one side in the morning and on both most nights before I go to bed in order to maximize my total output each day. Over the holidays while I was off work I was able to freeze some more milk to add to the stash that I had left and am pretty pleased with the fact that I have about 90 ounces still. Hopefully I can match with pumping what Bennett consumes at daycare from here on out and make it to the year mark without depleting that, especially if we get to a point where he is only taking 2 bottles like he did today! At his nine month check-up, Dr. Albert said that he should only be having four nursing or bottle feeding sessions at this point so we do need to work on cutting back.

Bennett had a slow start with finger foods but finally got the hang of it this past month. He definitely was not the type of baby who could just dive into baby led weaning at 6 months and do mostly finger foods from the start. He loves carbs like his mama and goes crazy for bread, crackers, rice cakes, etc. He's also a big fan of scrambled eggs and peanut butter and I'm very glad that he doesn't seem to be allergic to either or anything else that we have tried. He pretty much hates veggies other than spaghetti squash, broccoli and pickles, if they count as a veggie. At Norma's he has been eating three full jars of food at lunch time since he started solids at six months and at home he will literally suck down two or three pouches of purees at a time plus whatever finger foods we give him. The pouches are great though since we usually go for the blends so that he does get some veggies in. He's definitely not a fan of the ones that are purely savory without fruit. Recently for dinner we had salmon and he couldn't get enough of that and he also went pretty crazy for his first pasta dish. He has started to really ask for what we are eating by bopping up and down and saying "ma!" with crazy eyes while reaching for our food. We are making an effort to eat dinner together before he goes to bed which was really easy over the holidays but on work days it's tough since we're usually heading up for a bath by 6:30 at the latest and that doesn't give Michael much time to get home, settled in, and get dinner on the table. Bennett loves Daddy's cooking though!

Daddy's gumbo!

pulled pork at the County Line with Mama, Grammie, and Grandpa Ben

The past month or so has been one of many physical and intellectual developments for sure between crawling, pulling up, clapping, dancing, waving, sleeping through the night, and just recently understanding the meaning of "mama" and "dada". Bennett is just so observant and deliberate and loves to watch and learn new things. One day recently I was spinning a nut in the shell on the counter like a spinning top and he was trying to spin it too after watching me do it. It's amazing to see his little mind working and I could just watch him all day long. He is so sweet, friendly, and sociable and I love seeing him interact with the world and people around him. (This past weekend we stopped by the hospital to meet the brand new baby boy of some friends and Bennett smiled the sweetest smile at the little guy. And when I drop him off at daycare he makes a bee line for the other crawler to pal around with. Too cute!). We are so in love with this little guy and so excited for everything to come.

happy, happy baby and mama

5 months old

Dear Bennett,

I am actually writing this somewhat on time this month, only four days past your five month birthday! Unfortunately we lost a lot of photos of you when Daddy accidentally dropped his laptop in NY (everything from birth-four months that he had on his computer). I had some of the photos on mine and on facebook, but not everything, so that's a big bummer. A data recovery person is working on getting some of them back off the busted hard drive, but that may not be possible and if it is it will cost a pretty penny. But it's totally worth it because to us, those pictures are priceless. Anyway, the point is that I'm not sure if I will ever do backdated posts for the monthly updates that I have missed, but going forward I'm really going to try to keep up with this (I know, I've said that before...). I so want to remember all of the small details of our lives right now and of your amazing little personality and have them documented to look back on. (You are currently snoozing next to me in your swing and may wake up soon, so this particular post may take a few writing sessions to be completed since there is so much to talk about right now!)

swing napping with the taggy blankie Aunt Kyle made you

You continue to be the most easy going, laid back, happy little guy. I don't know if it has anything to do with me and your dad or if it's all just your nature, but we feel like you are just about as close to a "perfect baby" as it gets! That might  sound arrogant or braggy to others, but it's really true! Even Miss Norma, your daycare provider, says so. And she has certainly been around lots of babies in her thirty years of childcare experience. Miss Norma adores you and that make Mommy so happy. Every day when I pick you up she raves about how good you were and how you didn't give her any trouble, and she is so happy to get her hands on you every morning. This weekend is Labor Day, and yesterday when I picked you up she said that she will miss you so much! You seem to love her too. On Wednesday when I came to get you, you were sitting on her lap in the big comfy chair she uses to feed all you babies, and you were cracking up as Miss Norma told you, "Your Mommy's here!" You also really like her helper, Miss Maria, and smile at her every morning when we arrive. Miss Maria has five kids of her own, so she has plenty of experience too. She speaks some Spanish to you and Mommy loves that. In fact, her English is not so great, but that's okay! We also think it's pretty cool that Miss Norma is from Jamaica, where Mommy and Daddy got married and where we will take you for your first international trip. You have been in daycare now for almost 10 weeks and overall it has gone very, very well. Miss Norma is very willing to use your cloth diapers and is happy to feed you the bottles of pumped breastmilk that I send everyday (most of the other babies take formula, which she provides for free). She thinks it's funny how much you poop compared to the formula fed babies. Most days you get to daycare between 7:30 and 8:30, depending on how quickly we are moving in the morning. Mommy usually picks you up between 4 and 5:30, depending on her work schedule. The new house is only half a mile from daycare, so that will shave a lot of time off our day and Mommy is hoping to walk to pick you up sometimes when the weather is good.

When you first started daycare you were taking four 4.5-5 ounce bottles, but eventually Miss Norma said that you seemed to still want more, so now you have 6 ounce bottles. Most days you will have four bottles but some days if you sleep a lot or are at daycare a shorter time you only take three. Mommy always sends four just in case. That's a whopping 24 ounces I have to pump everyday and it's not easy! Mommy still has over 200 ounces of frozen breast milk from pumping once a day during maternity leave. We are having to use a little bit of that each day to keep up. You will be starting solids in less than a month, so most likely your breast milk consumption is as high as it will be right now and will taper off a bit once you have other sources of nutrition added in. You seem to be ready for that already as your head control is great, you are close to sitting up, are fascinated by watching Mom and Dad eat, and love taking your liquid vitamin D at night and "help" by grabbing the dropper and shoving it in your mouth! I think we will wait until you are 6 months old to start solids since that's what Dr. Albert recommends and we will (hopefully) we moved into our new house by then. As far as nursing, you usually still want to eat every 2 hours but sometimes will go 3 or even 4 if you are sleeping or are very busy doing other things. You are getting to be a bit distracted by your surroundings when you nurse and will pop off to have a look around when you hear Daddy's voice or see him walk by, or when one of the dogs jumps up to sit near us, or when Daddy turns the TV on, etc. You also get very smiley and sometimes giggly when you are very alert while nursing. Mommy thinks it is the cutest thing ever when you look up at her while nursing with a big gummy smile! You also have really started to reach for Mommy's face, hands, and hair while nursing and your tiny hands are always busy. After you nurse you love to put your little head down on Mommy's chest to cuddle while being burped. And your burps? They are something else! You are definitely a Hohwald in that regard.

The new house deserves a blog post of it's own, but Mommy is very excited about the fact that next month we will be doubling our space and will have tons more open space for you to crawl and eventually run around in! Our small living room now is completely dominated by your Rainforest Jumperoo, your swing, and your playmat. You still love to take naps in your swing (just like your cousin Sophie), though Mommy is gradually trying to get you to nap in your crib. At night you put yourself to sleep in your crib so easily (without any sort of "sleep training" on our part), but you fight naps in your crib whereas in the swing you are out in just a few moments and stay asleep for anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes. You're great at sleeping through noise and the dogs barking. Night time sleep is going really great! For a while you were all over the place, sometimes sleeping 11 hours straight and sometimes waking two or three times wanting to nurse. I think the more frequent wakings had to do with a growth spurt or you working on the milestone of rolling over. Now that you have achieved that and do it easily, you are consistently sleeping through the night at least 8 hours and sometimes 10 or 11. You seem to need a pretty early bedtime lately and are asleep by 7 or 7:30 most nights, then you usually wake anywhere from 3 to 5 am to eat, then fall back to sleep until 6 or 7. Sometimes Mommy sneaks you into Mom and Dad's big bed for that last bit of sleep and you sleep like a rock.

super blurry, but a good shot of your crazy hair and sleeping position. it's crazy how much you move around in your crib.

When you do wake up, either in your crib or the big bed, you let Mommy know by chatting to yourself, whispering, and squealing happily. Even when you were a tiny baby, you never cried upon waking and would just grunt. You are just not a crier. I think that you might have cried for a total of an hour thus far in your life! Although, the other night Mommy had a 6:00 visit for work and left you with Daddy for a bit. You woke up from a late nap just before Mommy got home. When I pulled up to the house, the dogs went crazy like they always do, and apparently it really scared you this time. I heard you wailing as soon as I got out of the car and ran inside to find Daddy trying to comfort you, but you were pretty worked up. I scooped you up and as soon as you were in my arms you calmed down. I love that you are a little mama's boy right now! You do love your Daddy, too and light up whenever he comes into the room. Lately Daddy has been really sick, though, and hasn't been able to spend a lot of time holding you or playing with you. More on that in another post, I think...

snuggly Mama's boy

You are chatting and cooing up a storm lately, though some days you are a little quieter than others. You can also be quite giggly at times, and other times very serious. Here's a cute video of you giggling (you were really going before Daddy came in with the camera).

You continue to be very observant and watchful and love to be carried around while we cook, clean, get the mail, feed the dogs, etc. You are also very content to play on your own for a while in your Jumperoo, bouncer, or on your playmat. You love to roll onto your belly to play and grab at the floor, your mat, your toys, etc. Of course you put everything in your mouth and I think you are becoming a thumb sucker. You've always been fond of putting your thumb in your mouth and chewing on it a bit, but lately you are doing the closed fist and really latching on to that thumb and sucking for real. You roll over both ways very easily and are getting really good at sitting up with just a little support from someone else or with your hands on the floor in front of you. No signs of teeth yet, though you do drool a lot. I think that Miss Norma uses bibs with you, but we don't at home. We just let you slime us and your clothes.

We haven't been nearly as good as we should be about spending time with Aunt Kyle and Sophie lately, because both of our families have had a lot going on. But when we do see them, you grin at Sophie and talk to her and the two of you reach for each other and touch each others' faces. It is the cutest thing ever and Mommy can't wait to watch the two of you get to know each other better and become little playmates.

Sophie will be hanging out with us four Saturdays this fall while Aunt Kyle and Uncle Israel work at UT football games, so we'll get lots of playtime then. (Mommy usually works games too but decided to skip it this year to be able to spend the most time possible with you, and to be able to spend weekends getting ready to move and setting up the new house.) It is fun to see the differences in you two babes. Sophie clearly has a lot of her dad's personality in that she is quite energetic and busy much of the time. She's pretty noisy, too! Sophie was crawling by six months and pulling up to stand very shortly after that. Now at nine months she gets around very easily by cruising furniture and is even starting to stand unassisted for five or ten seconds at a time! She might be an early walker. You, on the other hand, are much more mellow and quiet and not quite as "busy" as she was at your age. It will be interesting to see how you guys are as you get bigger. Also, Sophie went through a chubby stage but now is right around the 40th-50th percentile with her stats, and you have been in the 75th-95th, so you are gaining on her quickly and the two of you are nearly the same size!

Out to brunch after the Home and Garden Show, before we got caught in the rain and Daddy had to go for the car with the umbrella of your stroller over his head!

 Some things you are really into right now: chatting with Mom and Dad while on your changing table, trying to drink from Mommy's straw on her water cup, holding your own bottle, watching Mommy sign and sing the ABC's, grabbing the cup Mommy uses to rinse your hair in the bath right out of Mommy's hands, the bath cups Aunt Kyle gave you that rain water down on you, watching Daddy do things in the kitchen, any toy we hand you, Mommy's iPhone, being read to and helping to turn the pages, nursing/eating/sleeping, and walks in the stroller when it's not too hot (which it usually is, but hopefully not for much longer!). You are very ticklish as you have been since birth and you also like a gentle, relaxing tickle on your backs, arms, and legs like Mommy does. You like to sit in your Bumbo, both at home and at daycare. There was a big recall on them this month so Mommy ordered a safety strap for ours and Miss Norma's and got those installed, even though we never leave you in the Bumbo unattended on an elevated surface.

you love this toy that Mommy got at her baby shower. the mom who gave it to us knew you would cause her baby loves it too!

You also enjoy tummy time on the Boppy.

Your hair is getting even longer and is pretty wild, and has some wave to it like Mommy's. Your eyes are still blue and you have features of both Mom and Dad. We've both been told that you look just like us! Your dimple on your left cheek is still quite prominent. We think you get that from Grammy Debbie.

Uncle Robby was in town for a few days this past month. He is done with his regular baseball season and is still in Colorado for a bit but had a few days available to drive down  here to visit. Unfortunately it was during the week which makes it hard to get a lot of quality time together between Mommy working and you being tired by the end of the day from daycare, but we did get to see him a few times and he enjoyed watching your night time routine one night after he was over for dinner along with Aunt Kyle, Sophie, and Abigail. Unfortunately Uncle Robby's nice camera was stolen recently so he wasn't able to take any pictures of you this time and we failed to get any of his visit with our cameras. Definitely should have done that. Also this month Daddy went out of town for the first time since you were born to spend time with two of his college friends. He missed you a lot! We Skyped with him one night and you recognized his face and voice and looked right at the computer screen and gave him some big smiles. This month Mommy took you to Walgreens to have your passport photo taken and Mom and Dad took you to the Post Office to apply for your passport for our Jamaica trip! You were tired when he had the photo done so it's not terribly flattering, but it will work : ) We haven't done a whole lot this month since Daddy has been sick, yet we have been very busy with things related to the house, jobs, pets, etc. and next month is sure to be even crazier with the big move!

You are so much fun and the biggest little sweetheart, Bennett. We love you SO much!