Teeth...Solids...Sleep Training

He cut his first tooth on Monday (lower front right). His second bottom tooth is just about popped through as well, perhaps tomorrow we will see it. He sits up pretty well independently, especially if he has a toy in front of him to hold or bang. But, he usually ends up toppling over eventually. That big head of his often does not make a soft landing. He's pretty resilient though. He also recently started saying "mum ma" and smiling at me. If I say "mama" back to him he grins even bigger. I love watching him grow and develop.

Henry is super grabby now. After dinner recently I was clearing the plates from the table and turned around to see a mountain of napkins piled all around Henry and a fist full headed straight for his mouth. That is the inevitable location for all things that Henry can grab, his mouth. He apparently bent way over in his Bumbo (which we usually sit on the table while we eat dinner) and grabbed all the napkins from the napkin holder and threw them over his head. He was so proud of himself. He also really enjoys when Mama wears her hair in pigtails because then he can hold onto them like reigns.

Favorite foods of the week: spinach/pear puree and nectarine/cucumber puree. I really haven't found a food that he totally rejects. Some he likes better than others, but nothing that he completely rejects. As you can see from the picture above, he even likes onions! We tried oatmeal with some raspberries this morning. I think he liked the flavor but wasn't too sure about the texture of the oatmeal. It is always amusing to see the expression on his face when he tries a new food.

Henry wants to crawl so badly. He can get into the position to crawl now, but then flops on his belly when he tries to put all the pieces together. The funniest is when he gets into a bear crawl stance, up on his toes with straight legs. He is a champion roller though. One way or another he will get from point A to point B.

The newest challenge is sleep training. Two weeks ago we had to sadly retire the Woombie (a swaddle). This resulted in Henry waking up every couple of hours, just like when he was a newborn. I was so spoiled with a good night sleeper. For a few days after retiring the Woombie I would nurse him every time he would get up, thinking that perhaps it was just a growth spurt. When the night wakings didn't go away after a few days, I decided I needed to start sleep training again. The first night I decided not to feed him in the middle of the night was the worse. I think Henry and I only got a few interrupted hours of sleep. Over the next several nights, it got progressively better. By the middle of this week, he was back to sleeping through the night. Last night he was up a couple of times, but only for about 15 minutes and was able to put himself back to sleep. I think some of the trouble is that he is cutting his first couple of teeth. Hopefully he will get back to sleeping better. Everyone is better off when we all get a good night's sleep.

All in all, Henry is growing up to be quite a little boy. I can't wait until he starts walking and talking so we can go on more adventures. My favorite part of this journey is watching him discover the world for the first time. It reminds me to stop and appreciate life in the moment as well. I love my little man.