I don't think I've written about Luke's sleeping challenges very much on the blog...I've talked to many of my friends and co-workers about it...Luke has had difficulty sleeping all the way through the night in his crib since he was about 5 to 6 months old. For the last 6 months, every night has been a battle - he either ends up in our bed or Luke and I end up falling asleep in the big black chair in the living room for most of the night. I have known for awhile that the time would come when I would have to put my foot down and stop this terrible habit (that is my fault for creating). Now that Luke is only nursing right before bedtime and I no longer have to worry about whether he is hungry in the middle of the night, I decided it was time to toughen up and face the challenge head on.
On Monday night, Luke slept all night in his crib for the first time in months - it was almost like he knew what was coming. Then, on Tuesday night, he went back to his old ways - around 1:15, he woke up and started crying. I let him cry for about 15 minutes and then decided to make sure he wasn't wet. I went to his room, checked his diaper, rocked him for about 15 minutes, and then laid him down in his crib. As soon as I left the room, he started crying, and crying, and crying. I didn't go back in...I did dishes, I fixed my lunch for the next day, I did laundry....but I didn't go back in. He cried off and on for about an hour...pretty hard for about 10 to 15 minutes and then, all of a sudden, he laid his head down and to sleep he went. After it was all over, I started crying and crying and crying. I felt terrible. I know this will help him in the long run, but, man oh man, this is hard.
Thank goodness, Luke has slept all the way through the night every night since then. He will wake up and whine for about 15 to 20 minutes each night but will soothe himself back to sleep without getting too upset. I haven't even went in his room since Tuesday night. I am so thankful for overcoming this hurdle and hope that he continues to do well. Now...as Lindsey would remind me...there's another hurdle coming soon. :) (Side note - thank you to all of my Fair Grove co-workers for encouraging me, praying for me and Luke, and for not giving me a hard time when I'm making decisions after, um, 3 hours of sleep.) :)
Now...on to some fun things...our day times around here are great! Luke continues to do well physically - he can now kick a ball. He will actually put the ball where he wants it and then kick it. He just learned this yesterday. He will also give me a "high 5" after he does it - it's so cute to watch him put his little hand up to hit mine.
Luke has always loved to dance and loved music. You probably remember me posting a video of him doing the "knee bend" bounces to music a long time ago. Well, now, he's added to his dance moves. He will stomp/tap his feet to music. He will also stick his arms out to the side and turn in circles to the music. He started doing this after I showed him what an airplane does. :) I will try to get some of these things on my pink video camera so I can easily upload for everyone to see. I have a ton of video on my camcorder but it takes forever to upload.
Luke is getting better and better at telling us what he wants - not so much with words yet, but with actions. When he wants his music on, he goes to the CD player and points. When he wants milk or juice, he goes to the refrigerator and points. When he wants to watch his baby Einstein DVD's or his sing along nursery rhymes, he points to the TV. I, of course, tell him what words go with these actions, so I hope he will one day soon vocalize what he already clearly understands. I've already tried a few baby signs for these things, but, Luke doesn't seem to care anything about those.
Luke also amazes me at how he has minimal stranger anxiety. I worried about his social skills because he is not at a daycare and is home with either me or his mammaw a lot. But, so far, he has no problems. In the pictures, you will see a play date with my friend Heather and her baby, Silas. At her house, he crawled right in her lap and he rarely sees her. At Wal-Mart yesterday, I saw a friend of mine that he has never seen and he went right to her. Then, last night, my friends Mark and Melissa came over and he went right to Melissa. I'm very thankful that he is not super clingy to me and seems to trust people in general. The only negative - if he continues to be this social, I will have to teach him early about a true stranger.
Well, enough of the writing...now, on to the pictures...
The first two were taken by me as Luke and I played on our day off on Monday. Please ignore how bad I look - there was no need to get all dressed up just to sit and play in the floor all day. :)
Look how fat Luke's belly is...it's so fat that he has to rub it...
There he is telling me what he wants.
This is his serious face after he knocked down a huge tower of blocks...check out the tower a few pictures down...
The tower was built by mommy.... :)
Here are the pictures from our playdate with Heather and Silas...
oh yeah...and we cannot forget Elsa (the dog) :) She loved cleaning up the extra puffs and goldfish that the boys didn't eat. :)
Luke was moving so fast that I missed the picture that I intended to take; however, I included this one anyway because, by accident, I got a great picture of Luke's little curl. I will have to get his hair cut before long and his little curl will probably go away (or, it will be the piece of hair that I save from his first hair cut). Until then, it's so cute!
The last TON of pictures were taken last weekend right before Luke's bedtime...I was getting ready to put on his pajamas and off he went, in his diaper...he went wild in his diaper for about 30 minutes...I love pics of babies in diapers so much that I took a ton...enjoy them!!
As you can see, not only was he wearing only a diaper but he decided to play in his diaper rack.
Can you tell it was close to bedtime? This is what he does when he starts getting tired?
There's his horsey friend that he loves!
I love that face!!! :)
Did you find Luke????
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