Bathtime Fun and Voice Exploration

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but because of continual flooding in the kitchen due to Spencer's desire to splash like crazy, he moved from his infant tub in the kitchen sink into the big bathtub in the bathroom a few weeks ago... or so.

Anyway, he LOVES it. Not only does he get to float (which he attempts occasionally... and I find impressive) if he chooses, he can play with more toys, and splash much, much more. I think that he also enjoys the change in sound while he's talking and what not created by the bath tub itself.

You can see some of his fun bath time videos on his youtube channel.

He's been a bit.. louder lately, too. I think he's realized more of what his voice can do, and is having a blast experimenting with it. His pitch fluctuates more and more, as well as the decibel at which he uses it. He has different squawks and squeaks as well. He's hit that "pterodactyl" phase. (For the record, I love how not only many people describe baby noises as "pterodactyl" type noises... but the fact that we all seem to know what that means, despite no one actually knowing what a pterodactyl sounds like.) So, it's fun (and sometimes kind of a pain, say, if you're at daycare and trying to let other kids sleep).

He's also eating more lately.. which is crazy to me. It's almost like he's currently a bottomless pit! I can't quite guess how many ounces to put in his bottle at any given time, and it's really thrown me for a loop.

Today, he sat for 31 seconds, unassisted. I know it doesn't sound like much, but when you're right there waiting to catch him if he starts to topple, it seems like quite a long time!

And he LOVES to stand. Assisted, of course.

So... that's all. Just wanted to throw in a quick update.

And this means war?

I tell you what, tonight was war at home.. or so it seemed.

Usually, the evening goes like this:

5:30pm-6:00pm; SJ sleeps in the suburban on the way home from work. Usually wakes up as soon as we get home and the dog comes in the house.

6:00pm-ish-8:00pm; bottle, play

8:00pm-ish-9:00pm; nap

9:00pm-ish-10:45; fruit+oatmeal and bath

10:45pm-ish-11:30; play, bottle, bed

Then, it's a toss up. He usually either wakes up around 3am and 6am, or around 4:30am and then again around 8am.

Well, tonight.. we'll see.

He slept until about 6:00 at Target, and then was awake. We got home around 7, because I had to go buy formula.

Then he was awake, he played, he had a bottle.. and got tired and cranky around 8, as usual... but instead of being able to get him to sleep, we fought it out. I rocked him, until he was almost asleep, and went to lay him in his crib, as I usually do, but that just made him MAD. And from then on, it was he trying really hard to stay awake, but falling mostly asleep, and then just screaming and fussing.. no matter what I tried. So, he fussed until about... 9:20, despite having a bit of a bottle and almost sleeping. Then I gave him his pears, which he was mad about, because he was tired, and didn't really want to eat it. And then... a bath... which he enjoyed, and finally... he drank about .0023 ounces of his bottle and fell asleep at about 10:45.

So, his schedule wasn't so off, I guess.. but boy, that no nap in the middle replaced by lots and lots of fussing, and me not being able to nurse him which would generally make him fall asleep no problem... it just seemed like war.

But, hopefully he'll sleep a lot, since he fought so hard. I'm home alone with him tonight and don't want to get up 21.23849734 times.

I typed this as I finally got to eat supper, and the bottles are about ready to be scrubbed, and then I'll be off to sleep.

Or just kidding, I just heard him scream.

I'll go get him in a second. But I'll leave you with a link to this cute video of he and his dad doing a "duet" yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRcHnGox5EY

Veggie chutes making me shoot up!

The time has come for another check up! Woohoo! At 4.5 months old, Spencer needed another series of shots today, and boy was he excited about it. Well, not actually. Though I must say that leading up to the shots, he was having a grand ole time entertaining so many faces this morning.

We stopped over to the surgical tower at Sanford to drop off Nicole, and then sped off to see our family doc. In waiting for the MD, we shared all about the cloth diapers he was wearing and so many people we simply fascinated with the variety of colors and prints. Our nurse told me we one of her favorite families because she never knew what color might be coming in on Spencer's butt, and because he always smiled at her with a huge smile.

So, just to let you know, I'm not sure they measured Spencer correctly last visit. But apparently, he grew 2 3/4 inches! Must be his new diet of vegetables and fruits! Or it could simply be that the nurse might have measured a little shorter than he actually was on our last visit. But now standing at two feet two and three quarter inches, that puts him into the upper 90th% among his peers. Crazy honestly. But his 16.1 pounds makes him a lightweight compared to his height. Guess giving him food this early isn't going to make him fat. Sorry Mindy mom if you are reading this! But his head is growing at a steady rate making him within the 70th%. And then of course came the dreaded shots.

His doctor came in and gave him a thorough looking over, and then had two nurses come in to help with administration of the shots. Like last time, it took a second for him to realize the pain, and then you couldn't have painted a color more red than his face on him! But that actually passed very quickly. I rubbed his legs out really fast, and then put his clothes back on to leave. Not too bad at all if you ask me.

The rest of the day has been awesome! We got to spend some time outside with Nicole and Wendell walking down the half snow covered sidewalks. Spencer slept most of the time, but at least he got a little sunshine. Our little baby isn't so little anymore.

Sitting and Such.

Spencer is getting really big, really fast. Not necessarily size-wise, but... developmentally, I feel like.

Currently, he's between 15 and 16 pounds and 24 to 25 inches? Not certain, but he has his next well-baby visit and shots on Wednesday, so we'll be able to report then.

He has some really long hairs. Like, 3 inches long. They're funny. They stick straight up and you can really notice them in the sunlight.

He's really taking interest in people and movement around him. The other night, Jake came in, and talked to him, and left the room, and then I noticed Spencer was looking around the room to find him. He got a little mad, and I called to Jake to tell him, Jake came back, and SJ smiled. When Jake left again, Spencer began the search all over. It was pretty cute!

On Tuesday of last week, I got a wild hair, and let go of Spencer while he was sitting up. He stayed sitting up for 6 or 7 seconds. On Thursday, he sat up, unassisted, for almost 15 seconds! It doesn't sound like much, but when you've never sat on your own before, it's kind of a long time and a big deal, at least I think so.

But, he's only four months old, so I feel like he's already growing up way too fast! He's got amazing core strength already, too. And, he loves to stand. He can support his own weight for quite some time, and I just keep my hands around his torso so he doesn't fall. Ah! My tiny, big boy!