Journey with You

Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary. We didn’t celebrate in any special way. It’s just another day actually. With a baby crawling around, it’s really hard to think about anything romantic.

I just want to write down some progress on Cyrus’ sleeping training. It’s getting better. I put him down to sleep somewhere between 9pm and 9:30pm. When he wakes up at around midnight, I would feed him and put him back to sleep. I then don’t feed him for the following six hours.

He started with crying for 20 minutes to half hour. He knew I was in the same room so he pulled himself up to look at me, screaming, almost like saying “why aren’t you picking me up, mother?” That was tough. I had to turn my face the other way. I didn’t want him to see my face, neither did I want to let myself see his face, fearing that I would just give in and pick him up. Now, he would wake up and cry for maybe one minute, or not even, and falls back to sleep. Background music helps too.

I am not against co-sleeping. I enjoy snuggling with my son. However, I am glad he gradually learns self-soothing. Though it’s a rough process but I think it’s for his own good. Nevertheless, I believe every family is different and each baby is not the same, parents should go with the way best suited for them.

Yep, about a week after Cyrus 9months old birthday, I saw another tooth coming in. It’s right next to the first one. Now, we have two teeth. YA!!

Don’t know if teething is the reason, he’s been fussier lately. He usually is quite cooperative during dinner but he hasn’t had much patient these days. He used to like chewing on a bagel but he hasn’t seemed to be too interested either. I gave him rice cakes for a change but it didn’t make too big a difference. I hope this will change soon. All I want is simply a quite, smooth dinnertime without needing to pick him up from the chair.

We’ve been training Cyrus to sleep for a good 6 hours without nursing. We’ve seen a slow but steady progress. On weekends, I’ll sleep in our room and DH would wake up to comfort him when he wakes up between midnight and 5am. Though the doctor said to try putting him to bed at around 10:30pm, Cyrus has his own routine and tends to fall asleep somewhere between 9pm and 9:30pm, even if he naps in the evening. He usually wakes up at 11:30pm or midnight. I would nurse him then and put him down. Sometimes he falls right back to sleep but other times fusses for a few minutes. When I sleep in his room during weeknights, I would pull the comforter over my head so he can’t see me. He knows I’m there though because he looks right at this direction.

It’s definitely easier if I’m in a different room but this is simple the best way to go for DH. He is a light sleeper. For the last couple nights, I would let him cry back to sleep if he wakes up between midnight and 5am. The time it takes varies but I sure hope it will get shorter and shorter. Training a baby to sleep through the night is not an easy task that’s for sure.
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Cyrus was nine months old on Thursday. OMG, he is only 3 months away from one year old. He changes so quickly and grows up so fast.

Just about when I started to worry about his tooth coming in late, I finally saw it coming out to say hello. It hasn’t come in completely but I was relieved. The teething probably is bothering him because he’s been quite cranky recently, screaming a lot. Sometime when I took his toy away or walk away from him, he almost acted like throwing a tandem tantrum.

Talking about making sounds, other than dada, didi, and occasional nana, mama, he also started to make sounds like “aarrch”, “aarrk”, “baba”, “wawa”, and “vava.” It’s so cool to see him trying to communicate. I can tell he is going to be quite social, like his dad.

His motor skill has improved greatly throughout the last couple weeks. It took him only about a week from crawling very slowly, and tumbling here and there, to, now, crawling to wherever very quickly. I’ve been chasing after him to stop him from getting into troubles. He hates to be confined in the “green zone” we created. Though there were toys in the green zone, he was way more interested in what we hide behind the door and what’s in the kitchen or bathroom. Our baby-proofing speed has never beat his exploring speed. Now that he is good at crawling, he started to try to pull himself up to standing position. He would hang on to a box, the changing table, my piano bench, our coffee table, and many other things to pull himself up. He is getting better and better at it EVERYDAY. It’s really amazed me how fast they learn from mistakes.

Last Monday, for the first time, I took Cyrus out with another mom and her baby girl. Ruby is only 4 days younger than Cyrus so they definitely are doing mostly the same thing: crawling and learning to stand up. Ruby seemed to be able to stand better and I’m wondering if it’s because they have a jolly jumper. We went to a park and sit ourselves on grass. As soon as I put Cyrus down, he crawled away from us without looking back. Ruby’s mother went after him to make sure there was nothing dangerous around. I was quite pleased to see Cyrus being so adventurous. When Ruby was nursing, Cyrus kept getting closer and closer to her. I was wondering why.

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Cyrus and I went to the monthly la leche league meeting on Tuesday. I’ve always wanted to go but have missed it for a few months. I finally remembered it this time.

I love women there. If not because of them, I might have very well given up breastfeeding in the first month. It’s good to be with moms who share the same value and to be able to support each other.

We saw many familiar faces and new faces on Tuesday. Babies we met before were getting bigger. There was a 8 weeks old and one still in mommy’s tummy. This baby girl Ruby was about Cyrus’ age. I got their phone number and hope we can hang out more. It’s nice to hang out with someone with kids same age as your child’s. They can play together much more easier. This lady who introduced me to the La Leche has a 16 months old. I would like to hang out with her but she takes her child to a play group which is still a little bit too much for Cyrus.

I am hoping to find a baby swimming lesson for Cyrus. I haven’t found anything so far. DH comforted me and said: “If it makes you feel better, at least he is not exposed to more chlorine.” I guess he has a point. I love swimming and playing with water. I simply love the idea of playing water with Cyrus. Maybe we can start with a bath together?