Sleep Training, Part Deux

I have to laugh at the fact that just a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how sleep-training had worked and all was well...because...after a week long trip to DC, it seems that Holden forgot how to sleep in his own bed.

Not during his naps, mind you, just at night, for some odd reason. And since we had gotten so used to him going to bed without any trouble, we haven't adjusted very well to his new sleep problems, and have been falling into old habits.

So we're finally facing facts and getting our act together, and are starting to sleep train all over again. Unfortunately for us, Holden seems to be much more stubborn this time around (read=cries longer). Once we get this figured out, we'll be sure to write up a post, since I know there are at least a few of you out there who've been following this aspect of the blog rather closely.

Holden Survives His First Tornado Warning

Today was a bit of an exciting weather day here in St. Louis, when we were graced by a sudden Tornado Warning (for us here, that's when the sirens go off and some people go to their basements while others go out into the streets to see if they can find any tornadoes). It's awfully early in the season for such severe weather and the threat of tornadoes, and that added to the surprise.

I was home with Holden when the TV went red and buzzed for the warning, followed by the sirens blaring across the city. Just to be safe, we joined the group of those who headed for their basements (I mean, who wants to be the idiot on TV the next day explaining why he did NOT get to the basement under the threat of an impending tornado ... not me, and certainly not with Holden). Overall, the weather event was somewhat anticlimactic, although it did hail some and it rained so hard that water came pouring into our basement under the back door. And in terms of tornadoes, there actually was one not too far away in a St. Louis suburb, and then others reported in surrounding areas -- and a decent number of tree branches, and a even a few trees, down in our neighborhood.

So Holden survived his first Tornado Warning here in Missouri, and without any need to nickname him "Tumbleweed."

This is us in the safety of our basement (standing in water, of course).

He Eats!

While this was a few weeks ago, I have been meaning to post a short update on Holden eating his first solid food (if you would call it "solid" -- it's mostly mushy, milky rice cereal stuff). We were experimenting to see how he would do with it, and he seemed to like it a lot (but his digestive system was not quite so keen, so we went on hiatus from solids for a bit).

Here is a short video of his first attempts at solid food. Messy, but cute:

What will be Holden's first word??

One of the big milestones of any baby's first year is that first word, and I must say that I'm getting anxious for it. In fact, I had a dream last week that Holden's first word was "Madonna" -- don't even ask where that one came from ... the unconscious mind works in mysterious ways. I mean, I think "Lady Gaga" would have made a lot more sense ; )

Anyway, I guess I'm wondering what his first word will be, and whether it will really be a first word, or just some utterance that mommy and daddy think sounds like a word. We've been working pretty hard on getting him to say "cat" as his first word, which I think would be funny. However, it seems rather common for babies to say "Dada" as their first word. According to some scientifically-precise public opinion research done at YouGov.co.uk, about 40% of babies say "Dada," "Daddy," or "Dad" as their first word. Even Maggie Simpson (of the longest running TV show ever, The Simpsons) said "Daddy" as her long-awaited first word. The "da" sound is apparently easier for babies to make than a "ma" sound. Fellow bloggers at DadWagon recently wrote:

"A (female) relative suggested that dads have adopted the term because their children could say it so early, and I agree with her. If a typical first word were “turnip,” we fathers would all be naming ourselves after root vegetables."

I agree, too. Probably very true, and funny to think about. Well, this turnip is still rooting for Holden to say "cat" as his first word. And in case you're wondering, "cat" is the first word for 2% of babies ... so I like our chances.

Not that Holden is going to burst out his first word any time soon -- only 27% of boys say their first word before 9 months old [not sure why I'm into so many statistics today]. We'll certainly let you know when it happens.

2000 Miles, 6 New States, and the Letter "B"

At barely over 5 months old, our recent trip to Washington, DC, had a lot of new experiences to offer our little buddy, Holden. Bryna, Holden, and I headed out to DC last week for a conference I needed to attend for work in Baltimore, so the whole fam came along so we could all spend time with our friends in DC -- and so they could meet the little fella.

First, it was by far the longest trip of his life thus far, and the most time spent away from home yet. The 17 hour drive to DC and the 15-hour drive back were grueling, even for us adults (I'm still exhausted from the return trip yesterday). Holden got to visit 6 new states, quadrupling the number he has visited in the first 5 months of his life (those were Iowa and Missouri, and now we've added, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virgina, Pennsylvania, and Maryland ... yeah, I know, these are not the most exciting states in the Union, but they count nonetheless). And in addition to the long trips to and from DC, we also spent 1 night in Columbus, OH, and 4 nights in DC (staying at 2 different places while there, too).

So how did the little guy sleep given all these miles and new places to visit? Well, I'd have to say that he's truly a ROCKSTAR!! Not only did he sleep in the car very well, but he slept perfectly at the hotel in Columbus (we stayed at an Embassy Suites so we had a separate space for him), he napped great every day in DC except the last day, and he slept pretty darn well each night in DC (sleeping through the night twice without waking up). He fussed some during 2 of the nights in DC, but one of those nights there were a bunch of people eating Thai food and hamburgers downtairs and the other night he was competing for attention with two 3-year-old girls in the room next to his (I think the girls won).

Overall, Holden had a great time visiting DC. He got to meet everyone there, and I think he especially liked meeting Zoe (our friends' 3-year old daughter). Holden got some hugs and kisses from Zoe (very cute!), who is expecting a little brother of her own very soon (so she had to practice her baby kisses). She got to hold "Baby Holden," as she referred to him, and make him giggle with some good old-fashioned "booga-booga" baby talk.

Oh, and on his last day in DC, Holden decided to begin working on the "B" sound, which he practiced all the way home. He ever got out several "Br" sounds, which makes us think he's working on "Bryna" as his first word ; )

While the trip was long, and a bit rough at times, it was well worth it! I hope we have opportunities in the future to bring Holden back to DC (and maybe actually go to the District to see the sights next time).

Sleep training: Two months later

It's officially been two months since Mike and I decided to sleep train Holden. If we started it anxious about the process and nervous about the outcome (and how long it was taking!), we now consider ourselves total converts to the sleep-training way of parenting. Holden can go to sleep at naps and night with nary a fuss, and if he feels like blowing off some steam he cheerily babbles to his mobile (which is hilarious to witness through the monitor). That said, I think that its important to note that sleep training is not a simple "3 night" solution, as many of the books suggest. Like all things related to parenting, its a process of continual adjustments, and there are always bad days here and there. It took us a while to realize this, but once we did it was smooth sailing. So for those of you out there contemplating (or going through) sleep training, here's a few things we learned:

The books don't really define what the mean by success:
Sure, our kid started sleeping through the night within the magical "3 days" they advertise, but he didn't cut down on the bedtime crying for a week. And then he still would fuss for 5 or 10 min--sometimes more--for several weeks thereafter. We had to make our own little adjustments throughout--on the routine and the timing--and we had to consistently trust the process. Then one day, he stopped crying at all. Suddenly, we knew all of our work had paid off.

It's hard to figure out the timing:
It took us a while to figure out that if we moved Holden's bedtime 30 min earlier, he would stop all that fussing. And there are still days when it's hard to figure out just when Holden needs a nap. And I know that this will constantly change, because he'll keep growing, maturing, adjusting his own need for sleep.

There will always be bad days:
Sleep training does not mean the baby will always go down without a peep and will not wake up until the next morning. Sometimes he/she will, for some reason, wake up or fuss. Maybe its teething. Maybe he's having a mini-growth spurt. Maybe something's just bugging him. Once we made peace with this fact, everything began to run more smoothly.

It will change the way you think about crying and sleep:
There's a philosophy out there that if a baby's crying, it's because they need you. I agree with this to some extent, but I don't fully buy it. After weeks of working on this sleep thing, I think that sometimes--often in fact--babies cry because they're overtired. We've learned that if you protect their sleep, they cry a lot less. Which brings me to my second point: Mike and I have now become fierce advocates of sleep. We protect his nap times as much as we can, to the point that I think it probably drives some of our friends nuts. But it pays off big time. Holden is happy, active, and bright eyed, and (in my obviously biased opinion) intelligent. His naps have gotten longer over time, and he can stay up a little longer--all because we've continued to make sleep a priority.

And the best part, we now have time to ourselves:
Now that Holden goes to bed before 8 pm, Mike and I have time to work on projects, watch TV, and just relax. During the weekends Mike is able to garden outside during Holden's naps. And I can work on my school projects in spurts throughout the day, because I can almost always count on the fact that Holden will nap at least 1 1/2 hours in the morning, and at least an hour--sometimes 2-- in the afternoon. And it's my firm belief that happy parents make a happy baby!

Five months and fabulous

Yesterday our little "hot dog" turned 5 months old. This month seemed to speed by, and with every passing week Holden seemed to have a new trick to show us. This past month the little guy has mastered the art of rolling, only to decide that what he really wants to do (but can't) is crawl. So he promptly rolls himself over and starts doing baby push-ups. He also has a new noise to try almost every day, which thoroughly entertains us. Just this past week, for instance, he's decided that car rides would be the perfect time to practice his vocal intonations, interrupting the radio tunes with weird (but adorable) crooning or babbling sounds.

What I like best about this age, though, is the thrill and enjoyment Holden seems to get out of just about everything around him in this world. His eyes light up every time a cat walks by, and he's entranced by just about anything Mike and I do. Because of this, it seems spring couldn't have come at a better time in our little guy's development. Going outdoors where the breeze blows, the birds sing, and everything is becoming more and more colorful seems to be heavenly for him. While I can't wait to hear his first words and see his first steps, I'm loving watching him at this stage, as Holden, like a sponge, takes it all in.

Sometimes you just need an 'Ode to Grandma'

I realized that I hadn't posted many pictures of Holden with his Grandma (my mom), so I thought I would remedy that -- especially since we have some nice photos from the past 5 months. So I'll let this be more of a "photo essay"-style post, and let the pictures speak for themselves (it also gives me another excuse to post more photos of Holden when he was such a tiny fella -- the first picture is still at the hospital).