September 29, 2010

Watch out world!

By: Heather
When M entered our world almost two years ago it felt comfortable.  He went with the flow, he loved the people around him, slept through almost any noise, and he ate what was given to him.  It took him a little extra time (by our standards) to figure out sleeping well through the night, but by 3 months he was doing quite well in that department.  His naps were long and consistent.  His feeding times were predictable.  We knew all along he was very mellow, especially when he didn't walk until 17 months!  But it was all OK.  Ryan and I felt like we had kind of figured out the baby thing, generally speaking.

THEN CAME S!

I have been trying for the life of me to schedule this one.  For those of you who know me, you know life is a schedule for me.  Everything must get done and the way for it all to happen is to schedule it all in.  Well, try teaching S that things should happen around the same time each day.  I think I would even find the flexibility to feed her at different times and put her down for naps at varying times if at least it would help her sleep through the night (then of course I would have the energy to complete my schedule)! And she is 5 months old! 

Now for our previous four children we were nearly the poster family for night sleepers.  I have been asked for advice on this subject many times. I have suggested, "work on the daytime, and the night will follow".  Then there is the "feed her closer together during the day" idea.  And many, many more.  However, none of these are working.  I keep her up until 9pm, I wake her up at generally the same time in the morning, I wake her up from naps, and on and on....

It is very clear to us that she has a super fast metabolism like Z does.  We could feed Z all day and he would still have his ribs sticking up a good two inches above the rest of his body when he does a back float in swimming lessons.  He really does look nearly mal-nourished sometimes.  But both he and S come by it honestly: my grandma used to put a cookie jar on my dad's desk to try and put 'some meat on him'. 

So, I am now tackling her food needs with serious determination.  We are feeding her cereal in the evening and now adding in bananas with cereal after lunch.  And sweet potatoes are out waiting to be cooked and pureed. She has been eating cereal for about 10 days and the bananas for about 4 days.  We did have one glorious night, but we have a ways to go.  But the real story here is her style of eating. 

Of course, I have fed four other children their first solids.  It is never neat or tidy or even somewhat smooth.  But never have I felt like I just stepped off of a roller coaster after every feeding like I do with this one.  She has no objection to her food at all, no sirree!  In fact, she is often trying to shove the spoon into her mouth and down the throat.  But the coordination of a 5 month old is not very fine-tuned.  Her arms are flailing happily, she is talking up a storm, she is moving her head forward and back, all the while her eyes are dancing in fast forward speed. It is exhausting, hilarious and ridiculously messy. My hands and wrists are pasted, her whole face is spattered, her neck is dripping and oh, never mind the bib.


This girl is going to give us a really good run for our money, if I had my guess.  She does crunches while laying on her back, has been trying to crawl for two months, will scoot for something she wants, has been rolling for two months, and doesn't hardly make a peep when used as a stool this morning by M.  Then there are her vocal abilities.  S is not big on crying or screaming, except at night when she is hungry, but she can talk in paragraphs with up to possibly a hundred fluctuations. We are not talking about little baby 'cooing' here, people.  She has things to say!  She is BUSY and INTENSE about life! But don't get me wrong: she is a very happy little person within it all. 


I realize that God is teaching me about ten different things with this little firecracker right now and they are all fairly evident in this post.  But I have to admit that I am a little scared of the lessons He has in store for us later on down the road with her.  Hopefully we will be able to teach her to use her vibrant and chaotic way of living life for His glory.

3 comments:

Diana said...

Heather, You may not have been trying to be funny, but you give both Rob and I a good chuckle with this post. I was wishing you had a movie camera so you could "capture" it all. :-)

I feel for you wanting a good night sleep.

It is good that you know in part what God is trying to teach you [and others] so that you can start working on it now and not when she is 16. Some parents don't even get it then!

I have great confidence in you both of you, with God's help, you will help her to live her life for His glory.

Jessica-MomForHim said...

I know what you mean about having a hard time scheduling #5--we are going through the SAME thing with our #5! Try as I might, we cannot schedule the day or the night. It has been frustrating, especially when I found out that another friend of mine had her #5 scheduled to every 4 hours and sleeping through the night at TWO MONTHS! Argh... baby J is now 4 1/2 months.

We did start her on some cereal (weight gain issue--all my babies spit up a lot), so I was hoping that would help with the scheduling or the sleeping, but not yet. Please let me know if you find something that works!

Feeling for ya,
Jessica

liltleli said...

She sounds like a lot of fun!!!