Sleepover

By the end of the long weekend with his cousins, we gave Jonah the chance to "sleepover" in the kids' room instead of in the basement with us.  Cailin and Declan had been looking forward to it for so long!  They all were amazingly well behaved.  They were quiet before the end of giggle-time was enforced and slept through the night with only a short water-break for Jonah.  Wow, if only we had kicked him upstairs earlier in the trip we would have had better sleep!

At least!

Finally, at seven months old, Elliott has decided that he will sit on his own!  And roll tummy-to-back and back-to-tummy.  AND scoot backwards.  All that progress was made in the course of one day visiting his big cousins.  They attribute it to the "magic crawling rug".  I need to get one of those!

1.  Elliott has been choosing not to sit.  He'd much rather push back to a reclined position and chill out supine.  Couldn't care less about trying for more than a few seconds, or less if he isn't restricted from lying down.  Yet, when we put a ball down in front of him today, he was more than happy to sit and play with it with both hands and both feet!  As if he could have done this all along, there just wasn't enough incentive in the books, teethers, take-alongs, electronics, blocks, stuffed animals, towers, cars, etc. I had been giving him.

2.  Really, I think Elliott has been rolling for a couple weeks now, but not very prolifically.  He would rather fuss when he's done with tummy time, and if I don't help him roll over, he just falls asleep in place on his tummy.  He doesn't seem to realize that he can fix it himself!  I have noticed that he will roll over at night, but in the morning he always seems in the same spot I put him when he went to bed, (he rolls onto his side to sleep).  But from the vantage of a bed right beside his, I would awake to find him in a new position all night long - and back where he started by morning!  Stealthy.  And here I thought he would be fine without a confined crib, since he doesn't move around much at night anyway!

3.  The scooting thing is also new in that it is intentional.  Elliott has made some progress before in translational movement, but always as an accident of repeatedly lifting up to cobra.  This time, he seemed to understand that he was making himself move and got very upset when a couch or ottoman snuck up from behind to halt his progress.  Such freedom!

Aloud

Jonah: Can we go in there?
Daddy: I don't think we're allowed.
Jonah: I CAN BE LOUD!

Jonah-isms

"my parking lot" = driveway
"turning wheel" = steering wheel
"we have ____ together" = we both ___
"I am red team" = wearing red
"make yellow" = pee
"my roof" = sweatshirt hood or stroller canopy

First Tooth!

Elliott was making lots of cute faces with pursed-lips today.  Then he was uncharacteristically upset and the usual distractions didn't hold his attention long.  I finally found the culprit: a new tooth emerged!  Bottom left.  His lips were puckered up as he felt it with his tongue!

Within a few hours we received a photo from cousin Cailin - she had just lost her front tooth!  The world is in balance with respect to the total number of baby teeth.

A Hopeful Improvement

Today was Elliott's ultrasound to check up on his hydronephrosis.  We were hoping to see that things hadn't gotten more swollen over the last few months.  To our great surprise and joy, it looked like his kidney and ureter are actually improved!  The ureter wasn't even visible on the ultrasound (which it shouldn't be, but it was so enlarged that it previously appeared more prominently than the kidney).  So we assume that the ureter isn't ectopic, as it seems to be draining. The nephrosis of the kidney also showed improvement, and more than was expected in such a short time.  We're going to keep watching and waiting, but the signs are good that it is self-correcting and we he may not need surgery after all!

Bath Times 2

In a brilliantly prohibited move, I found a way to bathe both kids at once.  Hallelujah!  The second warning on the side of the infant tub (immediately after 'never leave child unattended') is 'never place the infant tub in a filled bathtub'.  Phooey to that.  Elliott sat safely in his little tub, Jonah splashed in the remaining 3/8 of the big tub and mom gave herself a gold star while the boys played together with buckets and squirters.

Rice Cereal

Elliott tried his first rice cereal today!  Jonah helped mix it in his milk and spoon feed the first bite while Daddy took photos.  Elliott wasn't nearly as interested as the rest of us.  He barely registered the spoon or the food on it entering his mouth.  I think he was busy trying to see what all the commotion was about.

Wheee!

Elliott was hanging out in the Beco while I pushed Jonah in a swing at the park.  The mom next to me was trying to convince her toddler to get out of the swing by telling him that it was for babies and that the baby wanted a turn.  (She was indicating Elliott.)  I totally get it and didn't object.  I'll use almost any excuse to get Jonah off the baby swing and either use a "big boy" swing or do any other activity that requires more of his energy than mine.  But then the toddler leaves in a great upheaval over the trauma and it occurs to me - why not give Elliott a turn?  So in he goes and I gave him some gentle pushes.  Elliott wan't thrilled like the other (slightly older) infants, but he didn't complain either.  He looked completely nonchalant, like he was one of the cool kids.

Yes, I taught him that.

Jonah managed to get rice all over his face at dinner (no surprise) and in wiping it, a piece went in his nose.  So he sticks his finger up his nostril and wedges it in even farther.  Without thinking, I held one nostril and instructed him to blow.  Poof!  Out flies the grain of rice.

Now let's just hope he doesn't decide this was a cool trick to repeat... next time I may take the time to find the nasal aspirator.