25 Weeks!

Happy 25 weeks, Lincoln!

Likes:  Lincoln loves eating his food!  He is okay with rice cereal, but he is loving applesauce and bananas.  Norma fed him the applesauce, and she said he really seemed to like it.  Brian and I fed him a ripe banana today with milk mixed in, and he actually opened his mouth, took a bite, "chewed" it, and swallowed.  He was reaching his head out for more so we took that as a good sign.  Tonight we are preparing a big batch of sweet potatoes, and we will freeze them for him to eat throughout the next couple of weeks.  As many of you moms know, eating foods leads to a whole new adventure in diapering.  There have been a couple of times that Brian and I have both gagged during a change, and I think Lincoln notices the new smells too :)

Dislikes:  Lincoln dislikes sleeping in.  His bedtime is set by his last nap.  He takes a nap every two hours and his naps last anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours.  I don't let him nap past 5pm, because everything I have read and heard from the sleep expert says that becomes night time sleep.  So if he wakes up at 3:30pm then that is his last nap of the day.  Therefor he goes to bed at 5:30pm (2 hours later).  The perfect nap is from 4-5pm, right when we get home from Normas.  Then he goes to bed at 7pm after Brian gets home to help with bed and bath.  But, there are times he goes down at 5:30pm which means I am doing bedtime by myself, and then I am very, very tired too :)  Back to his dislike - it seems like no matter what time we put him in his crib, he will wake up at 5am.  That may not seem that early, but after weeks of waking up at 4:50am or 5am, it wears on you.  Brian and I take turns on the weekend, sleeping in until after his first nap, but I feel like I can't catch up on my sleep.  He sleeps through the night so I guess I should just go to bed at 7pm, too, so I can catch my 10 hours of zzzzzzs!

We were suppose to get pictures taken this weekend for Lincoln's six months photos.  I just couldn't pull it together - I couldn't decide on outfits for us, Linc's nap was right in the middle of the photo session, and I never got my hair cut.  With that being said, I cancelled the photographer (and saved a lot of money), and decided to set up my own Christmas shots.  I am pretty pleased with myself - a strand of Xmas lights, sunlit window, and a happy baby made for some cute photos.  And, we did them on our own clock and they were free to boot :)

(don't know why there is a black square around this one....)

"Mom - I see snow!" :)

We were going to use one as a Christmas card, but then we went more "year in review" route so now we just have twenty or so pictures of Link in an elf hat (courtesy of a coworker who loves to knit) and candy cane pants. :)

Day care notes - a lot of Atticus (another child at Norma's about 1.5 years old) friendship stories!

Monday (11/25):  Baby Lincoln is so lucky to have a caring friend like Atticus!  Lincoln was sitting on my lap when Atticus noticed Lincoln's bottle was on the table.  Atticus grabbed the bottle and walked over to us.  He held the bottle with his two hands and wanted to feed it to Lincoln.  Atticus was so persistent on getting the bottle into Lincoln's mouth.  It was the sweetest thing!

Tuesday:  This afternoon, baby Lincoln was keeping Atticus company as he ate his lunch.  Yasmin sat him on the high chair next to Atticus and gave Lincoln some soft toys to play with.  He was as happy as a lark!  He kept smiling and kicking his little feet.  Looking at the two boys sitting there, we realized how much he's grown.  He's really just a beautiful baby.

Monday  (12/2):  Lincoln did not want to go to sleep this morning even though he was really, really tired.  He cried with the sing song, not too serious cry - just to let us know how he felt.  He finally fell asleep at this regular time!  Today baby Lincoln learned how to do three things at the baby activity center - twirl a circular plate, lift a hippo head, and push over a plastic book page.  At first it was random act, but soon baby realized he could make these changes by repeating the actions.  Lincoln was happy to eat his cereal today.  He tried to suck it and of course it was all over him as he practiced swallowing.  Very cute!  Also, he sits well by himself in my small high chair.  He was very happy there.

Tuesday:  Baby Lincoln looks much taller.  The break did him well.  Lincoln and Atticus sat together in the high chairs again.  Atticus is always so caring to Lincoln.  Atticus shared his meatball with Lincoln.  Of course, Lincoln couldn't eat it, but its the thought that counts!

Wednesday:  Baby Lincoln ate his cereal like a pro this morning.  When I (Norma) gave him a taste of the applesauce he made a face as if to say, "Whoa, this is something different."  He ate it all up.  He recognized his cereal though and is learning to swallow.  Eventually, he will not suck up the food.

Thursday:  Baby Lincoln had a lovely day!  This morning when Atticus got to school, he sat next to Lincoln on the high chair.  They greeted each other by looking at each other for a moment and exchanging a few words in baby talk.  It's so great that they are getting along so well!  It's almost like they are siblings.

Friday:  Baby Lincoln looks so adorable in his high chair.  When he was sitting in his high chair, Yasmin put Atticus in the high chair next to Lincoln  For a moment, Lincoln stared at Atticus.  Then he gave Atticus a big smile and reached out to touch him.  Atticus reached out also and touched Lincoln's hand.  They stayed that way for a few seconds looking and smiling at each other.  Babies are drawn to one another.  It is a beautiful thing.