William's update at 2 years old

Just a quick update on the previous post:

 

At his 2 year check up last week, William was 86cm tall, weighed 12,390 kg and was shown to be healthy and happy, curious and persistent. 

He understands absolutely everything we say in both English and French and has about 20 words under his belt but is making good progress now that his ears are unblocked and that we have finally found a product that helps them stay clear! Also this is considered as being ok for a boy growing up in a bilingual family environment so no worries as long as he keeps progressing with his speech.
 

His motor skills are great and he loves wearing a hat (this is very unusual as most kids rip them off first chance they get in my experience). He has also started taking an interest in his clothes and is very stubborn about wearing his dinosaur socks or his car t-shirt when that's what he wants to wear. He also loooves yogurt and tomatoes, cheese and chocolate cake. 

His vocab currently includes:

1. egg
2. come
3. Maammy
4. Aaamma (Emma)
5. Papa
6. no
7. haan (which uses to mean yes)
8. up
9. take
10. coco (chocolate)
11. cake (he loves!)
12. caca
13. pipi
14. baa (bath)
15. baike (bike)
16. choo choo
17. train
18. car
19. grrr (for the lion)
20. shushu (shoes)
21. ko (from the French "encore" - more) 
22. draauuw (draw) 
23. cheese
24. house (which he sometimes pronounces as "how" but only sometimes)

All the important stuff right?

Will is nearly 1

William is nearly a year old. A lot of people have been telling me how fast time has gone and how they feel as if only 5 minutes ago I was still hugely pregnant. But for us, well, the first 7-8 months were forever and so tough with the lack of sleep and the stress. Since January things have improved immensely and - truth be told, although we loved him since day one, we do like him and enjoy him a lot more now!

So what is William up to on the eve of his first birthday?

Communication

• He is now reaching out his hand to show he wants (to see/touch) something or wants us to go there (if I am carrying him)
• He goes "bye bye" with his hand. It's not exactly a wave as he scrunches his fingers up and opens his hand again but the meaning is definitely there. We do this to say bye to Daddy and Emma as they leave for kindergarden in the mornings.
• Still no real words. More like "bah" "stah" "ahh" "mam-am-am" "bah-ba-bah" "bdaaaah!" "duh, duh, doy" "bbbbrrr" (he blows bubbles) and a lot of grunting and banging his arms to show frustration. He is very expressive with sounds and facial expressions.

Physical & mobility

• Weighs 10,6kg! Wearing 86cm clothes.
• He is crawling faster and faster, still not walking alone but pulls himself up as soon as he can using me, a table, a pram, a chair, shelves, etc.
• LOVES playing and climbing outside!
  

Favorites:

• He likes having his teeth brushed.
• Pulls the grass out of the ground in the garden.
• Likes playing with balloons.
• Stays still when having his finger nails cut (this is amazing to me as he is very rarely still!)
• Crawls off to see other kids and adults at play-dates or when picking Emma up from kindergarden.
• Loves dogs!
• Loves discovering and trying things (even putting his hand in the toilet & going for the toilet brush yuck!)
• Enjoys being carried and being high up.
• Loves playing with doors, banging on the washing machine door when it's washing, opening boxes and spilling and pulling out all of the contents - noisily if possible
• likes it when you stroke his head with one finger when he is tired/falling asleep
  

Character

• Doesn't cry much when he hurts himself.
• Is stubborn/determined as can be.
• Laughs easily and loudly. So lovely!
• Seems very independent yet likes to be in the midst of things and does not like being left alone much.
  
• Absolutely hates it when you walk past him as he crawls towards you!
• always wants to climb out of his high-chair - even as he is eating
• Is constantly arching his neck to see what else is going on
  

Sleep

• Sleeps nights from 7pm to 6 or 6h30 am.
  
• Naps were from 10am-11h20 in his bed (with a little help to extend after 30 minutes) and again at 14h40-15h20 (on bed or pram). Now that we are on summer time naps take place 11h-12h30am. Then just as Will wakes, it's just about time for Emma's nap around 1pm for about an hour. So we have 3 different nap times during the day! How fun are our week-ends?!!

Keeping us on our toes

William sure knows how to keep us on our toes and keep himself busy!

Climbing out of a box

emptying drawers (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom...) and book-shelves

pulling on curtains so hard that they fall to the ground

standing on his high-chair so as to check out more stuff

paying close attention to what is going on in the washing machine and dryer

Luckily he does not mind company in his adventures

or discovering new places (here in a café)

and the winner is - as it was with Emma - the remote control!

And he goes!

First childhood disease for Will

William is ill for the first time. Huge fever. He soaked his pajamas thoroughly last night. He's on ibuprofen when the fever exceeds 39° (which improves his mood) and is drinking lots quite readily. Also, for once, his naps exceed an hour. In fact today, he napped for 2,5 hours for the first time since he was a week old! Poor darling is, totally understandably, quite miserable.

According to the dr. it's probably three day fever which is also the first childhood disease Emma had if my memory serves me correctly.

Also, I have stopped brestfeeding him. It's been 3 days now (after 8,5 months) and I am still leaking a bit but all in all quite happy to wear matching lacy undies again as opposed to the immensely practical but not most beautiful) breast-feeding bras.
Another step ahead in the right direction. ;-)

Ah, ... and it's raining spring-like rain at 9° C! If only winter were really over... but I'm quite sure another bout of cold and snow is just around the corner.

Good-bye 2010 - update on the kids's progress

The best news to end 2010 with was that Emma pooed in the toilet! Finally!!! Not once, but now that she has done it four times, I think we can assume we are rid of her nappies! YAY!! We made a huge fuss, took her out to buy a doll I had promised her she would get when she pooed in the toilet, and applauded and cheered (every time!). She even says bye bye poo as she flushes and likes using the toilet brush.

Also, we left the kids' dummies to Santa Claus alongside the cookies on his plate by the Christmas tree. The first few nights were tough for Emma as she would cry and ask for her dummy saying she didn't like Santa and wanted her "lolly" back. But every bed-time got easier and after 5 nights things were pretty much back to normal. William couldn't care less.

Will has been sleeping through his core night and waking around 6am most nights and now has 3,5 teeth out! (2 on the bottom and one and a bit from the top). He puts absolutely everything he can get his hands on in his mouth and loves things that squeak or beep back at him.
He has also become very agile at swinging from sitting to lying on his tummy and back shuffling both on his bum and on his tummy. He swirls and turns on his tummy and swings and sways backwards and forwards when on his knees and hands but no crawling yet. Basically, we better get all cables and wires clear soon as he is moving around quite well and as curious as can be!

That's all for now!

Strong as a bull!

William under the table, pulling the chairs, how fun is that?



Not crawling yet, but moving about and sliding backwards while on his tummy. Loves discovering new stuff.

thank-you Santa

On November 25th, I started a post like this:

"Dear Santa,
for Christmas I would like sleep filled nights for William, Emma, Steph and myself. We really are getting desperately tired."

Today is December 14th, and William has been sleeping full nights (like 11 or 12 hour nights!) for the past 10 days or so. The last time we actually had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to help him re-settle was December 4th.

Yay!!!!! Woudn't you say?

Without a doubt, the cranio-sacral osteopathy has helped tons! In fact, William's first full night was just after seeing her for the first time on Tuesday November 23rd. He then had some really bad nights, but the general trend was positive.

After he skipped the 3 am feed on November 28th on his own and for the first time, we decided he might be ready to do without so we upped the quantities of banana and apple in the day-time and stopped feeding him at night.
The first 4 nights were a bit tough with a lot of screaming and he had no prop to help him out since, as per the sleep consultant's recommendation, we had removed the swaddle and the dummy. All we did was shh and pat his back for 2 minutes before leaving him to re-settle.
I have to say, for a couple of nights I had to brace myself to stay in bed so as to not react too quickly. Steph was actually much better at this than me. (I have to say though, that following an experts instructions makes it easier because you don't keep doubting whether what you are doing is the right thing and so you feel more serene and I think that babies feel that too.)

Whatever! The key thing is we are now sleeping again! I cannot tell you what a difference this is making in our lives, our energy levels and our general mood. We have a lot of catching up to do (in sleep and other things) but I feel wonderful and grateful that we have finally started!

Also, after going totally wonky due to the increase in night time sleep, now William's naps are improving too. Although he is definitely does not need nearly as much sleep as Emma does, (je sleeps around 2-2,5 hours a day when she was sleeping at least 4 at this age!) we are gradually getting into a predictable routine which means that hopefully Emma and I will be able to have some play-dates in the afternoons (which I won't need to cancel) and that I might even get some baby play-dates with Mums and lattes! How great is that?!

Finally, it also means that we can start to leave Will with a sitter and go out in the evenings for dinner and a movie!!!

So YAY! to sleep filled nights! Thank-you Santa, thank-you B. the osteopath and D. the sleep expert. Thank-you and Yay! William!

And oh! please! please, don't let this little post jinx it all!
Oh, and Santa Baby, now if you could also help out with Emma... the nappy thing, you know? It would be great if she would finally feel comfortable enough to poo in the toilet -not in a nappy while sitting on the toilet.

Thanks!

Sleepless in Vienna - 3

Today William is seven months old. 7 months. 7-months-of-sleeplessness. Ouch. My head hurts a little more when I actually say it.

After a fantastic night on Tuesday (he actually slept the whole night waking only for his 3am feed and I actually had to wake him at 7 am!!! oh, what a dream!) last night was the worst it has been in months.
He slept from 7pm-9pm and then from around 10h30-12h20 and then from around 3-5am. I am exhausted! I am fed up! I want him, need him to sleep. He needs to sleep.

To make matters worse, he seems to be preparing for another tooth (or two) to come out, as he is dribbling galore and has a bit of a fever.

On Tuesday we saw the cranio-sacral osteopath (just before the fantastic night's sleep) and she said he was a little tense and so she "tuned him down a little". We go back next Tuesday.

I have not yet started him on the baby consultant's plan as I think we need to do that when things have settled a bit and I want to give the osteopathic treatment a chance.

On the positive side, the workmen who were re-doing the bathrooms of the flat above ours seem to have vanished. I so hope they are done!

On the positive side 2: we have finally managed to remove the swaddle from William (or William from the swaddle?); it was becoming really dangerous as he could unswaddle himself and then there was this big bit of cloth he could get all knotted up in with him in the cot.

Sleepless in Vienna

For the past 3 months William has been waking 6 or 7 times a night. His naps have been as short as 27 minutes and very rarely (maybe about 3 times) as long as 2 hours. His average total day-time sleep is about 2,5-3 hours (way below average for his age!).

We have reached the end of our rope. No amount of routine, patience, feeding, nursing, singing, teething gel, by the minute timing and hawk like observing has seemed to improve the situation. To the point where I have hired the services of a baby sleep expert- yes you can laugh! - (she is based in Canada and our first consult will take place Thursday evening on Skype) and I'm taking William to see a osteopath (craniosacral) on Tuesday next week.

Then, last night, for a reason that remains a mystery to me, William only woke for his dream feed at 11pm (that doesn't even really count as a waking!) and then for his 3am feed. Other than that, he miraculously slept from 8pm to 6h25am. I am in awe. And I'm not even afraid of jinxing it anymore as it's probably a one-off.

The worst of it is that we have absolutely no clue as to what might have contributed to this wonderful sleep filled night.
And now, this morning, after a short 45minute nap, the banging started.
I ran up to the first floor and rang and rang a doorbell. The workman explained that he needs to demolish and reconstruct the bathroom entirely! How long will this last? Oh at least a week!
Oh nooooo!

Still, you never know, Will might actually do an encore... (oh, yes, please!!!) just so the logs I sent the baby sleep specialist are totally obsolete by Thursday (today he only did 45 minute naps and had 4 of them) and to show us that we were wrong to give up hope .

Tune in tomorrow to find out what our night was like.

Jumping William

These are Will's first jumps!

And did I mention that his 2 bottom teeth have come out? and that he can sit (although he still topples over after a while) and that he has the smelliest farts ever???

Dear blog reader,

I'm sorry I have been so absent from this space where you visit me, but I'm finding it really hard to blog at the moment. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I'm finding it really hard to find the time and energy to do so. When I do have some time after all the broken nights and energy voracious days with my two little ones, I prefer to shower, sleep, do Pilates, call my Dad who is ill and in hospital, read someone else's blog, read a magazine, zonk out in front of the telly or be with my husband when he is home.

There. Now you know.

Why so tired you ask?

Well, after 3 weeks of :
-William sleeping in increments of 45-60 minutes and thereafter finding it impossible to settle
-me finding it impossible to rest and to eat enough (yes actually have the time to prepare a nutritious meal and eat it) except when we were on holiday and I enjoyed those cevapcici and kelj and potatoes with lots of garlic and olive oil (so yummy! The day I get stinking rich I will hire a cook just so I can eat great food and only cook when I want to and have the time)
... Now, finally, I think we are gradually getting back on track (and thank-you Baby Whisperer ladies and thank-you my dear husband who can bear crying more than I can!)

Having said that, I still get up at least 3 times a night in between midnight and 7 am so it's not time for Champagne quite yet!

Still, he is the charming one, all smiles when not screaming ;-)

Thanks to the ladies on The Baby Whisperer Forums we realized William was actually pendulum swinging from overtired-to undertired and that is why he was constantly waking and looking like he was basically on coke (the blue circles around his eyes were scary!)
This happened because he had been sleeping in his pram a lot (traveling, holiday, taking Emma to kindergarden and then doing food shopping with Mum) which was fine until it was no longer so and he would only sleep enough to make it through another hour of being awake. Then, sleeping in bed became difficult too and naturally he wanted to be strolled around 24/7.
Not his fault.

Anyhow, now we are doing our best to make his naps longer and help him re-settle when he wakes (I am trying to get him to sleep-in until 7h30 which means that I have a little more time with Emma in the mornings and can get back from kindergarden in time for his nap without him falling asleep on the way back and being woken up as we get home. Fingers crossed and good vibes please!)
Also as a consequence, his night time wakings are briefer and less frequent.

Although now the poor little bear has fever due to teething so that's another hurdle ahead.

Oh the joys of motherhood!

Thankfully Emma is being a darling - sleeping again at kindergarden because she got her dummy back after I decided that I needed her to be functional and happy in the afternoons more that I feared an extra hour of dummy dependence (especially as she already uses it to settle in the evenings).

I try to get to the park every day and see a friend of hers at least once a week.

It was fascinating to watch them roll out the grass as they re-did the park. In fact Emma did not want to leave until they were done! Luckily for me, they had not brought enough rolls with them that day to finish off!

Also, we have been doing some creative things which we have hung up in our art-room/guest room and the children's bathroom:

Emma's colourful hand-prints

Hama bead duck, dog and heart

Emma really likes making pics with Hama beads but her current favorite is making cakes (and lots of other stuff) out of play-do (or the sand if we are at the park).
Another favorite game of hers since our holiday (as Tata-yéyé well knows!) is "I am the Mummy and you are the little girl" then she'll say: "Say something to me!" meaning she wants you to ask her for something as she asks me.
Initially, I had a lot of laughs with this as I would imitate her whining and saying "no!" to me and saying I wanted something "now!" as she tends to do - ah! petty revenge!- but I have to say it can get a bit tedious because she can play it 20 times a day every day!
Still, it is very sweet to see how she cups my cheek in her hand telling me she will be back to pick me up and strokes my hair or kisses my "awa" (where it hurts) in her Mummy role or how she reads me a story (singing). In playing this with her I got very good insights as to what she takes away from our behaviour towards her and also her preferences. A very instructive game indeed.

And I have actually managed to buy Emma winter boots, hat & scarf & coat this year before there are no goods left in the shops (last year I thought October was early enough and I barely managed to find anything her size!)

Here Emma grudgingly trying on her new clothes before dinner time! I give you, the Purple Princess! (five year old sizes fit, if you please!)

And finally, my list of things is getting shorter as I managed to:

• give away clothes that were too small (mine, Wills and Emma's)
• take other clothes to the second hand shop
• sort through most of the summer things and start putting them away for the winter

and my mini-successes:

• got back to Pilates class (Yippee!)
• made an appointment with the eye doctor (mid-October!)
• got William's first two shots done
• managed to stop Emma's and my cold in it's tracks thanks to Propolis spray (Spray de Popoleo) which is absolutely worthy of a medal and so important that we remain healthy right now!

And just to finish off thi spost "en beauté!" William, my sweet bear, has slept in his bed without needing re-settling all by himself for nearly 2 hours in a go! Yes!!!!
Happy Mummy!!!!

William's voice

On Sunday William suddenly found his voice - no doubt thanks to all the singing and other vocal entertainment Emma has been providing - and started chirping, singing, cooing and grunting as if he were having a proper conversation.

It seems we have yet another chatterbox in the family!

Roll William, roll!

William has been lifting and turning his head for a while now and has recently also started to lift his torso off the ground really high (leaning on his forearms) and his bum into the air (leaning on his legs).

Then yesterday, he actually rolled!

It all started while he was on his tummy on his mat. He had lifted his head was looking side to side. At one point I stood up next to him and as he lifted and angled his head further to follow my movement, his shoulder and rib cage followed making balance difficult. However, he didn't seem to mind this at all, so next time we were on the mat, I rolled him from tummy to side a couple of times, there and back.

Then last evening, as I was fitting together another play mat with dangling bits to lie under, hop there went Will all on his own, off the mat and onto the parquet. At first I thought it might have been accidental, but a second after I had put him back on the mat he did it again. And then again in the other direction!

Unfortunately I haven't yet managed to get this on film!