This child has been an absolute delight lately. He is in the middle of another developmental growth spurt and I just love it. Literally, every day I wake up and think "what exciting new thing will I see Elijah do today?" For example, last week in one day I witnessed him learn how to walk using his walker toy, repeat "up!" after I prompted him to say it (it sounded more like "ut!" but I knew what he meant), touch the iPad specifically to make a desired action happen, and pretend to drink out of a cup in the bath. It was just one thing after another. Daniel and I looked at each other with delighted grins every time he demonstrated a new skill. Walking with the walker toy was particularly exciting. In the morning before we left for school/work, I supported him under his armpits while he walked and held on. That afternoon, I tried again only this time I let go and he just took off. He's been going ever since. I can tell that he doesn't really need the walker. He is barely leaning on it. If he did lean on it, it would just topple over because he's so heavy. He just uses it to balance, and for confidence. He really likes it because he gets to walk independently (well, without holding onto us). He spends much more time upright these days. I think it will be a matter of days or weeks before he takes his first steps.
We are working much more on verbal skills these days. We ask him to say "up!" instead of screaming while lifting his arms up to be held. I spend a lot of time repeating words and naming objects, even though he still hasn't spoken his true first word yet. I know he's absorbing it all and very soon he will be repeating after us. We downloaded a new game for the iPad that teaches farm animals. When Elijah touches the barn door, it opens and there's an animal inside. You hear the animal make a noise and then a voice says the animal's name. Many times it sounds like Elijah is trying to imitate the animal noise. It's pretty adorable.
We are also slowly introducing milk and trying to wean off the bottles. This past weekend we started mixing 1 ounce of whole milk with 4 ounces of formula. And we cut him down from 5 bottles a day to 4- when he wakes up, 1 before each nap, and 1 before bed. I think it will be fairly easy to keep cutting down one at a time, but we'll see. His naps have gotten shorter and it seems that he can go much longer without getting cranky, so I think the transition to one nap will come very soon as well. He's only napping 1 hour in the morning and 1-1.5 hours in the afternoon. And he's sleeping about 7 or 7:30pm-6 or 6:15am. So 10.5-11 hours at night. This is much less than he was sleeping just 6 or 8 weeks ago. But he is a very happy boy overall, so I feel that he is getting enough.
I get less and less of the cuddle time I crave. But when I do, it is just precious. Last night while he drank his bottle, I tickled his face accidentally with a lock of my hair. He giggled softly and reached up to play with it. I encouraged it and let him stroke my hair and giggle. Daniel was there too and he just smiled and laughed along with Elijah. It was such a beautiful moment. I truly feel that times like that are the rewards for all the hard work of being a mom. And it is worth it one hundred percent.
No comments:
Post a Comment