Day Twenty Nine.

Little boys who nurse their baby dolls make me smile.

Day Twenty Eight.

7 Months.

What a girl she is!

1- Crawling!
2- Standing!
3- Talking! (Swears daddy...who claims she says Dada...I'll let him have it).
4- The smilliest, happiest, giggliest baby.
5- She is SO full of life. She is just so happy to try anything new.
6- She is starting to get a little bit shy with strangers. She will visit for a few moments but prefers to be with Mommy or Daddy. She will always share a smile but is now quick to glance at me quickly and then bury her head in my shoulder.
7- Ella eat everything! We call her the little goat! I have dislodged numerous interesting things from her mouth. The boys have to do a carpet sweep now before I set her on the ground.
8- Ella knows her name and understands lots of words.  We are going to start signing with her, I suspect she will pick it up pretty quickly. I think she has lots to say!

We love you Ella. You have made this last 8 months such a happy time. You have brought a tremendous amount of joy and love to our family.

Day Twenty Seven.

Ben is such a great kid.

I am also biased but correct when I say how very gifted and bright he is. His Grandparents all agree. So it must be true.

Ben soaks up knowledge and facts. His memory is incredible. Unless I ask him to go upstairs to get socks. He will come down with my sweatshirt.

He has a gift for numbers and spacial problems like puzzles or building things. He loves to create and build. He is good at drawing and colouring. He has very nice printing and has taught himself to read. Yes. He taught himself. He copied words over and over. He would ask me what the next word was and then start again until he has built up about 200 sight words. Then he asked for some more "early reader" books since he could read all the old ones. Now he has moved onto regular children's books.

I signed him up for a science class this week. He wants to know how everything works...so I thought this would be a good fit for him. I watched him through the window for a bit...he was so tiny. The class was for children older then him but I was surprised how much bigger they all seemed.

"How was it"?
"Oh it was fun. TOO much fun!"
"What did you learn about?"
"Colours, and prisms".
"oh ya?"
"Ya. Those big kids thought when we mixed the colors together we would get black but I told them that they are PRIMARY colours and so they would make all the other colours if they were mixed right".

Well yes. That is Ben.

He wants so badly to do well. He is cautious and thoughtful and precise. Except for when he is totally acting his age and having a hissy fit over the wrong...whatever... and being impulsive and sensitive.
But those moments are getting fewer and far between. He is really growing up.

I am so proud of him.

Jon and I marvel at what he knows and laugh at how he innately just loves superhero's and  Star Wars. He is obsessed but we have no idea how he knows all about any of it. We are debating letting him watch some of the first Star Wars movie. though I maintain that it is too violent (Jon protests...I say...we'll see....)

He loves to try new things but sometimes needs to hang back and observe for awhile before he feels comfortable enough to engage.

He loves food. He will eat until we just won't let him anymore. He never seems to be full...nor get past 38 pounds. He also never stops moving...so that could have something to do with it.

He is looking forward to riding his two wheeler this summer and learning to tie his shoe laces. His pants are purpetually falling down and "Pull up your pants Ben!" is heard 20 times a day.

He loves to tell jokes. They are not funny. He thinks they are though. So does Jacob.

He adores his siblings. The three of them get along so well. Jake and Ben play together all day everyday. They rarely fight, they protect each other and both are crazy about their sister.

I am the luckiest mom in the world.

I really am.

I want to remember all these little things about Ben as he is at five and a half. He is a boy to be proud of. And we are. He is an amazing kid. 

Day Twenty Six.

My 57 step plan to get your baby to sleep without crying almost through the night by 6 months has been successful! (Should I write a book?! I may have to work on the title...)

The short version is...

Newborn-4 months Tight swaddle in a miracle blanket. Papasan swing (or any sleeping surface that doesn't keep the baby, with a curvy spine who has never laid stretched out, flat...they are uncomfortable in this unnatural position and will wake up more...a bouncy seat will work too). Next to Mom, of course. I tried to get Ella and Jake to take a soother so they wouldn't want to nurse to sleep. Well actually that part is fine...it is the transferring part that was hard. With a pacifier I can stop nursing and pop that in and they stayed asleep. Noise machine on. Newborns are not used to quiet. It is loud inside...whooshing noises are comforting. All these things together got 6 hours of straight night sleep from the very first week. Co sleeping works too...but that never worked very well for me, I couldn't sleep very well.

4 months- Introduce security blanket or stuffed animal or whatever you want it to be.
Naps start at predictable times (a schedule... yippeee!!)

5.5 months- Move swing into babies room. Nothing else changes.

6. months- Stop swaddling.

6.5 months. Move to crib. Baby can roll around and position themselves for comfort. Ideally they can also put pacifier back into their mouths and security blanket is having desired effect. Noise machine stays on. Lots of positive sleep associations...always go in if they cry but wait for 5 minutes first. Often they are still sleeping, just transitioning into a different sleep cycle.

One week before 7 months old Ella is sleeping 12 hours in her crib with 2 short feeds. She naps for one hour in the morning and 2.5 in the afternoon. WHAAAAA HOOOOO!

I am logging this so I can remember in case I am ever lucky enough to be again in a possession of sleep resistant baby or pass it onto my grandchildren. Oh who am I kidding...there will melatonin drops then, or forth trimester fetal incubators to keep babies in so they can come out at 3 months old when they should... Either way. Sleep has once again, thankfully, returned to this family. 

Day Twenty Five.

There is a reason that at 6 months old Ella is crawling, standing and pulling herself up on things. She has a personal trainer! Ben takes personal delight in all of her accomplishments and has taken on "talking" as his next goal for her.

Day Twenty Four

Ella LOVES food. She is a foodie like her brothers. She hasn't tried anything yet that she doesn't love to eat...and smear all over herself.

Day Twenty Three.

Photobomb.
Love these two!