29 Weeks!

We have been celebrating some weekly birthdays on the road and have forgone our weekly pictures and posts.  But, we are snowed in (snow day tomorrow, yeah!) and back to our routine so here is Lincoln's 29 weeks "birthday" post.  He is in his pajamas because that is one tradition we will be starting in our household - pj day for snow days!  Little does he know, his Momma is in her pajamas most of the time anway :)

Getting harder to take his picture since he wants to move all of the time :)

Likes?  Lincoln is moving and grooving.  He rolls both ways to get a toy and is beginning to pull himself toward a toy or person.  His playmat seems silly now since he is always rolling off of it and/or getting stuck on the arches.  Lincoln also loves eating.  His whole body gets excited when he sees his bowl and spoon, and he knows his bottle.  Speaking of, I am starting to wean him from daytime nursing and we are going toward just formula for the day and nursing in the morning and evening.  Pumping at work was so demanding and honestly I was just not producing enough to satisfy his appetite.  I look forward to still snuggling with him early in the morning and just before bed and providing him immunity and nutrients for much longer!

Butt up, chest up - just not at the same time.  We will get there!

Foods that Lincoln has tasted thus far:

Loves: Avocado, sweet potato, bananas, applesauce, oatmeal, rice cereal, butternut squash
Likes:  Peaches, prunes, barley cereal, pureed chicken
Doesn't love: Peas, green beans, carrots, pears

The peas did not go as well as I thought they would!

Dislikes?  Lincoln dislikes being bored.  He is really showing that he wants a certain toy or wants our attention, and if we do not pay attention to him then he will give a little grunt.  That grunt quickly turns to a whine which quickly turns to a short little cry.  This does not happen too often since we are usually mesmerized by him and all eyes are on him, but when I do try to do something else (i.e. make his food, clean poop from the changing table, wash a bottle) he lets me know that he wants my attention!

We also had our first babysitter this weekend!  We hired Yesenia from Norma's daycare, and she was wonderful!  I knew we could trust her since she works with Lincoln everyday; she has more time with Linc during the week than I do!  Brian and I enjoyed some time out with friends to watch the OSU game (sad loss!), and I even had a beer to celebrate!  It was a little weird to be on the parent end of the babysitting since I spent about 20 years on the babysitter end, but it was so nice to have a night out without a highchair!

Daycare notes (quite behind...)

Monday (December 19th):  Baby Lincoln loves to eat!  He did just what his mom and dad said with the banana.  He loved it!  At lunch we gave him the avocado and rice cereal.  He ate it all up.  He learns very quickly about swallowing.  Yea Lincoln!  He cried about 15 minutes at his first nap.  Just as I was about to go in to soothe him, he fell asleep for 1.5 hours.  Awake times are so much fun for him!  At breakfast and lunch, Lincoln loves his high chair.  He can see everything that is going on and also play with his toys.  I (Norma) love to see him observing and smiling at the older children.

Tuesday:  Baby Lincoln became worried about Atticus when he heard him crying.  Lincoln was sitting in his bumbo seat facing the toy shelves and Atticus was at the changing station.   When Atticus started to cry, Lincoln was trying to turn his head to look at Atticus.  I noticed Lincoln struggling so I turned him around.  Lincoln smiled at Atticus to help him feel better!

Wednesday:  We think that Baby Lincoln is beginning to get teeth.  He is chewing on everything in sight.  I gave him a little frozen toy made for teething babies.  But before I could give it to him he latched on to my index finger and bit down.  He really wants to chew.  I didn't see any teeth but it sometimes takes quite a while for the teeth to actually erupt.  But Lincoln is letting us know he likes to chew.  Watch out, Mom!

Thursday:  Baby Lincoln is so playful with Yasmin.  Everytime Yasmin changes Atticus, Lincoln yells to Yasmin's attention.  Yasmin plays peek-a-boo with Lincoln as he lays in his playpen and she changes Atticus.  Baby Lincoln laughs and kicks his feet when Yasmin pops her head in to see him!

Friday:  Lincoln was sitting in his high chair when Yana arrived.  She sat down at her place and began to eat breakfast.  No other children were here yet.  All of a sudden Lincoln riveted his eyes on Yana.  She smiled at him.  He couldn't take his eyes off of her.  Then, he began to talk to her.  He looked right at her and babbled.  It was astonishing because he really was talking to her.  It was the sweetest thing. Yasmin and I (Norma) were so moved by Lincoln's infant conversation.  Researchers tell us that the foremost element of our culture is our language.  We give this gift to our children and thought (cognition) develops.  Lincoln clearly demonstrates this for me.

Monday (December 16):  Baby Lincoln was starving by the time he woke up.  He ate all of his food as fast as could.  When we were getting Atticus and Lincoln out of the high chairs, Lincoln was exploring the belt and he looked like he wanted to unbuckle himself.  He is becoming much more aware of his routines and how things work.

Tuesday:  Lincoln did not want to sleep this morning at all.  He told me (Norma) by screaming when I put him that he had no intent on sleeping even though he was exhausted.  It was a Western standoff.  I'm afraid I blinked!  Lincoln stood his ground.  So, I decided to dance to soft music with Baby Lincoln.  After gentle dancing, Lincoln began to close his eyes.  I went upstairs to put him in his crib.  He looked at me for one second and then said, "Ok, I'm done."  He fell fast asleep.  I mashed some sweet potato that I had cooked with a little breast milk and Lincoln ate it all up (1/2 medium sized sweet potato!).  He did not cough or choke.  He kicked his little feet the whole time Yasmin fed him.  He is so happy to eat!  Late this afternoon Lincoln was on his back playing with me (Norma).  He wanted to touch my shoelace so he rolled from his back to his left side.  Then he rolled back toward the right, landing on his back again.  He did this 3-4 times.  Yea!  Woo!

Wednesday:  Lincoln was so happy today!  He played in the faucet with running water for a short time.  He even made his momma and daddy a Christmas present although he got distracted after a few minutes.  It just wasn't entertaining enough.  Lincoln did the cutest thing at breakfast.  He ate all of his cereal and banana, but he didn't have his bottle yet.  Yasmin gave him toys and was feeding Atticus.  Lincoln played so well with his toys.  He happened to look over and see Atticus eating.  Lincoln took one look at the bowl that looked just like his bowl...he burst out crying!  He wanted more, too!  So we gave him another bowl of banana and he was satisfied.  He also drank his bottle.  He is growing!

Thursday:  Yasmin got the stomach flu and wasn't here today.  So until Yesenia arrived I put Baby Lincoln in the big playroom with me.  He had eaten his breakfast and was so happy.  I pulled the high chair in the playroom and gave him his toys and he played and stared at the big kids' action in the room.  He couldn't take his eyes off of the children.  I thought it must be fun to see all the colors and the children streaking by.  Lincoln especially like it when a child would stop by and talk to him.  I sat next to him to change toys or see to his needs.  When Yesenia arrived he had pretty must his regular routine before nap. I am thinking that one-to-one is not as satisfying as all of those other little people!

Friday:  Lincoln just could not sleep.  We held and rocked him but the minute we put him down he would cry.  We felt so bad for him.  At 10:15am we gave him his medicine (tylenol for his 6-month shots that he had the night before).  I think this helped his quite a lot.  He was able to sleep and he was all smiles when he awoke.  He also ate much better at lunch.