Silas Jones: Details, Schmetails

I have a tooth! Huzzah!

I'm thinking this will be a boring post that no one will enjoy except Silas's grandparents, but, because this blog is essentially Silas's baby book, I wanted to be sure that I was recording certain details of the Buddy's life somewhere.

Current nicknames: As you saw above, he's often "the Buddy," as well as Silasaurus, SiJo, SDJ, and Smilas.

Teeth: We've got one almost-tooth. It's cut through the gums (lower left side), but has pretty much just been sitting there for about 3 weeks or so now. The rest of Silas's gums get swollen and appear very tender from time to time, but so far, we just have the one tooth.

Naps: Hallelujah, we have finally graduated past the 30 minute cat-nap stage. In the last month, Silas has finally discovered the joy that is napping for at least an hour. Instead of four 30 minute naps, we now have 2-3 45 minute - 1 hour and thirty minute naps each day. Given that Matt is now home basking in the glory of these amazing 90 minute naps (and often napping himself), I'm thinking I may have gotten a raw deal.

Crawling: Not quite, but SO. CLOSE. He wants it so bad. He can get up on his hands and knees and rock and occasionally rock so violently that he scoots himself forward a bit, but he hasn't quite grasped the concept of moving his hands and knees in a coordinated fashion. After a bit of rocking, he generally slides down to his belly and whines about the injustice of it all. He's also started trying to pull himself up, which is terrifying. We finally lowered his crib mattress this weekend to avoid having to clean his splattered brains from the floor in the nursery.

I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

Eating: Still eating like a champ. He's still nursing (and I'm still pumping at work). I hoping to wean him around a year, but my working mommy guilt is pretty significant and I'm a little worried that if I stop nursing, he won't love me anymore. He's eating everything we put in front of him. Spinach, mangoes, cauliflower, blueberries, waffles, green beans (even raw!), bread, chicken--so far this kid has not met a food he does not like. He eats pureed foods we've made for him and he's really into finger foods now too. We haven't tried any dairy yet, because he still appears to be allergic to cow's milk protein based on what I eat (man, I miss cheese), but we're going to ask his pediatrician what our next steps should be on the dairy-front at his 9 month appointment.

Hey, lady, you got any more of that chicken?

Sleeping (night): Not the greatest. I'm not sure if it's the teething or the almost-crawling, but he's been waking up a lot at night. He goes down for bed around 7:30 and gets up for good around 7:30 am. Generally, I refuse to nurse him until 4 am, so Matt has night duty until then. He may wake up 6 times in the night or he may wake only once for his usual "breakfast" time around 4 or 5. It's completely unpredictable... and EXHAUSTING. We may start letting him cry it out soon, but, for now, we're the trained monkeys in his nightly circus show.

Thanks, Dad. I just needed that 2:30 am snuggle.

General temperament: He's still super happy and adaptable. His favorite place on earth is the emergency day care at my work, where he's spent a few days here and there lately when Matt has to go to work for meetings. He loves any type of musical toy--play drums, piano, etc. He "sings" a lot, which generally sounds like a long, drawn out, high pitched moaning or keening and often worries strangers and passers-by, but we've decided it's singing... and he's, therefore, very TALENTED. He loves dancing and he and Matt have at least a couple of dance parties every day. He's also a big fan of the baby swing at the park and ripping all of the fur off of our cats.