jonathanhickman.com

Like night and day

I can’t believe this, but I’m going to have to wake the Bug too take her home.

For weeks, we’ve been struggling with getting C to sleep at the office. She used to sleep here very well, but that suddenly stopped a few weeks ago. After then, she’d sleep only if you held her - obviously impossible in an office setting.

So Katie recommended creating a new napping room for her. We set up a bed, covered the windows (I’d tried this before but not so deliberately) and made sure there was white noise. We put a chair in there to use for getting her in bed easily - and back in bed easily if she were to wake up prematurely (which she did).

The Bug has now been asleep for two hours, and her father is about ready to clock out for the day. With any luck, I can get her straight from her isolation chamber to the car without really waking her.

This is a Good Thing.

Why oh why won’t she sleep in her bed?

The baby has stopped sleeping in her bed (read: pack n play) at the office. She can be dead asleep, but if you try to put her in bed, she wakes screaming and won’t stop.

She still sleeps in her bed at home - even for naps on weekends. Why won’t she sleep in her bed here?

When to turn the car seat around

Unbelievably, the Bug is going to be a year old in just a few weeks (three weeks from tomorrow).

I’ve been looking forward to being able to turn her car seat around on her first birthday; the minimum for front-facing is one year and twenty pounds - and she’s definitely more than twenty pounds.

So I started looking around this morning, and it hit me that the one year mark is as I said - the minimum. Although having her face forward would be great in many ways - she’d be able to see me and I’d be able to see her - it also puts her at more risk.

The Bug does have a rather large head - most babies do. I don’t want to think about what would happen to her neck in a wreck. And then there’s the fact that she was born four weeks early, so should the one year car seat mark really be set at thirteen months?

Katie checked the car seat manual, and it will hold her backwards until thirty-five pounds, but I sure don’t want to wait that long.

Decisions, decisions.

Running amok at the office

Heh.

I was sitting here at my desk, trying to “work,” while letting the Bug do whatever she wants around my mostly childproofed office. She was happily playing by herself at the other side of the room, and I got buried in my work. After a few minutes, I startled to feel something against my foot.

The Bug had crawled cutely over to me and was playing with my shoe.

Oh, the cuteness.

Yeah, that could work, too

Since about three o’clock, the Bug has been on the fuss bus. Nothing could make her happy. We went for a walk, we played, we read books, but no matter what I tried, she screamed. And while screaming at home is bad enough, screaming in an office is terrible. And on top of that, I could see the piles of work on my desk growing deeper.

Finally, at four, I gave in and took her home. If she’s going to be fussy, I’m going to be at home.

When we got here, the Bug just wanted to be held. After a while of just sitting in my lap, she wanted down … to fuss some more. And fuss she did.

Finally, Katie called to let me know she was running late. She could hear the stress in my voice - and the baby’s screams. She asked “why don’t you try feeding her?” The thought had not occurred to me.

She’s still in a pretty fussy mood, but clearly she was starving. I guess it’s a developmental thing. All I can say is I’m glad people grow out of screaming whenever they’re unhappy. That’d get really old by the they got to middle school. And it’d make job interviews really uncomfortable.

What, me sleep?

It all started on Friday. The Bug had a good nap in the morning, lasting about 45 minutes. Then when I tried to put her down for a nap in the afternoon - she was already asleep - she started screaming when she touched the mattress. I got her back to sleep on my lap and tried again the transfer to the bed, and once again I got screams. C and I ended the day on Friday sans nap.

This morning I tried to look past Friday’s lack of naps. The Bug fell happily asleep in my lap around 10. I did what I always did; I picked her up and put her gently down in her bed.

Screams.

I tried getting her back to sleep, but she was now wide awake. A new tactic was required.

I gave up on sleep for the moment and took C for a nice, thirty minute walk around the neighborhood. When we got back, I gave her a bottle, and she drifted gently off to sleep. She was down for the count. I waited about ten minutes, and tried again to put her in bed.

Screams.

She’s now playing happily at my feet (perhaps she doesn’t need sleep so much right now?). She loves the board books.

Well, at least we’re making progress with “no.”

I wish I had my camera

The Bug today has enjoyed standing and babbling at my window. Very cute. She must’ve stood there for fifteen minutes this morning, just babbling at the window and the occasional passing car.

A whole new world, indeed

Now that the Bug has learned to crawl, the world has indeed changed. No longer can we put her down and expect her to be in the same place ten seconds later. No longer can we sit and watch her play at a spot on the floor.

And at the same time, my childcare at work has gone on a two week vacation. While I’m used to having the Bug here three days a week, she usually spends most of that time with my mother. On the average work day, I can usually hand her off when I need to, and I generally only have an hour or two a day (not including commutes and nap times) when it’s truly one-on-one.

But I wasn’t able to finish this post without getting up and moving C out of her pack n play and into another neglect-o-matic. It’s going to be an interesting two weeks.

This time last week

I know she’s just learning, but

The Bug is playing with different sounds. She babbles, she jabbers, and she generally makes adorable noises left and right.

But one of the noises gets me out of my chair each time I hear it. She’s been playing with making noises while sucking in air. It makes her sound like she’s suffocating or choking or wheezing or some such, and every time I hear it I freak a bit.

Yikes.