Six Months

Well that time is here, the halfway point in your first year. Although you have had many milestones already, the next six months will include changes that will give you more control in your environment. You will become a more active member of our family- hope we are ready for it!

The midpoint of your first year is bittersweet. Although I anticipate each milestone to come, I also know that as each day goes by my return to work is also getting closer. Six months from now I will be back to work, you will be at daycare (probably being smothered by your sister), and we all will be adjusting to having less time together. I truly look forward to going back to work, but leaving you in the hands of someone else to "raise" you 8 hours a day is hard. Hopefully you will adjust as easily as your sister did & will love going to Jo's to spend time with her and the other kids.

In the last month you have gained a lot of strength. You are very strong on your legs & your back has gotten very strong. Although you cannot sit on your own, I think you would be capable of doing it if you chose to work on it. You are such a wiggle worm that you do not sit still or move slow enough to master any skill of balance.

You have been rolling over onto your tummy for the last few weeks & you can now master getting back onto your back. However, you can only roll one way. Therefore, once you meet a barrier in your journey you cry out in frustration. The meaning of our efforts to show you that you can go in multiply directions has not yet registered.

Last week you treated us to a couple of full night's sleep. You were in bed by your usual time of 7pm & slept through until 5am one morning (although I think it was your sister that woke you) and 6:15am the next morning. This was very exciting for Mommy, but you have not done it again since. I am hoping to see more repeat performances of this over the next month so that hopefully by your next "month's" birthday it is a common occurrence. You are still a little tricky on napping as well. For your morning nap, you started waking up after only 20 minutes so we had to do a couple of days of "tough love". Now you are back to napping 30-45 minutes in the morning & about an hour and a half in the afternoon. You need a nap in the late afternoon, but that does not always happen & when it does you hardly ever go longer than 20 minutes. Therefore, you are more than ready for your bed by 7pm. You typically sleep until 3:30 to 4:30 & then wake up for a quick feeding before going back to sleep until 7:15am. One of the best changes in the last month has been that you almost always wake up in the morning & just chat to yourself for awhile. It's nice to be woken up in the morning to the sound of your chatter, rather than your cry.

Another welcome improvement over the last month is travelling with you in the car & shopping. You no longer cry as soon as you are put in the car seat & when I watch you in the back of the van, you are just looking around at your surroundings. Same goes for when we are shopping. It took almost six months, but we finally made it. If you are tired though, we are still treated to quite the cry. You are definitely a little boy with very little patience. When you get it in your head that you want something, you want it NOW!

On the weekend we started giving you cereal & although you were not sure at first, you definitely love it now. This is also an area where you have very little patience. It is not always wise for me to put you in the high chair BEFORE I have your food ready for you. The other day I had to get you out & walk you around to settle you down before I could feed you. You get SO upset. You have now had rice cereal, sweet potatoes & today we tried green beans. You didn't really want the beans, so we will need to try those again to see if it was a timing problem.

On Monday we went to Diaperfit for the first time. This was your first time in the pool & I think you did great. During the exercise class you float in a duck & you seemed content enough for at least half an hour. After that you had enough & wanted out. Again, tiredness &/or hunger could have been the problem. We will have to try again and see how it goes.

You are becoming freer with your smiles. When we are out, you are a more social little boy. You will look around at people & reward them with a smile when they talk with you. However, you are always very aware of where Mommy is & will often fuss for me to hold you when someone else has you. There are lots of people out there besides Mommy who would like to get to know you better, so give them a chance!

Happy Birthday Brad

On your birthday you should be able to come home and relax, put your feet up & be catered to. Well, if this is what Brad was hoping for he sure didn't get it.

Sydney is running a fever of 102 & is a little out of sorts. Although she had not been crying before, she cried for reasons unknown for about 5 minutes after Brad got home. He did get the joy of her running to him & giving him a hug & starting to sing "Happy Birthday", but somewhere in the middle of the song things changed for her. She did not eat any dinner (however did ask if she could have some cake) & was in bed by 7:10pm.

Jason had a great day (we finally made it to Diaperfit! Yeah!), but was pretty tired by suppertime & had a 5 minute crying fit before he ate his dinner. Thankfully we got the picture taken before he decided to have his mini meltdown. Jason was already in bed when we had cake on Saturday night, so I wanted to be sure we got the picture tonight. Jason was in bed by 7pm. So although things were not exactly smooth from 5:30pm to 6:30pm, the kids are in bed early & it is quiet. Very quiet actually, because the birthday boy is out the door to hockey.

Hopefully his game is more relaxing than his supper hour was.

(In case you are wondering, no I did not make the cake. Brad's mom is still in charge of cakes- thank God- and each cake has to have a theme. This year's them was "When pigs fly" and had the Leafs winning the Stanley Cup)

At last, real food!!!

Last night Jason slept through the whole night. He was asleep by 7:30pm & slept through until 6:15am. The night before he may have done the same if his sister hadn't cried out at 4:50am & woken him up. To celebrate these mini victories we thought that we would give Jason his first taste of cereal. It was a very amusing affair.

We remember Sydney making some funny faces the first time she was given cereal, but she definitely was not as animated as Jason.

At first he was leaning away from me not sure what was going on, but once he realized that there was food on that spoon he was trying to grab it away from me & feed himself. Sydney of course also was a good big sister & helped us during the big event. At the end of the bowl, Jason started to cry because he was not happy it was all gone.

Black-eyed Sydney

The swelling is gone, but the colour is in. Most of the bruising is on her eyelid, so when her eye is open you can't see it as much. I tried to have her close her eye so I could take a picture, but of course that means she is squinting. Therefore, I had to get her to lie on the steps and look at me. That was the best vantage point for the picture.

We did not make it to the Y today because Jason was having a weird nap, so I didn't have to worry about a bunch of strangers looking at me like I beat my daughter.

Our happy girl seems to be back

Obviously this picture is from the weekend prior to the fall.
Her brother is snuggling up with her on the couch.

For about 2 months before Christmas Sydney was not her usual happy self. We would have "happy" days here & there, but nothing consecutive. However, I have noticed a shift over the last few weeks & last night I said to Brad that it is nice to have happy, smiley, chatty Sydney back again.

Who knows the reason why she was the way she was, there are so many possibilities. Top three being: little baby in the house to share spotlight with, little baby in the house interrupting her sleep, or she may have been just demonstrating typical 2-year-old behaviour. We still have days where she is overly "sensitive" & she is still not as social in a crowd as she once was, but there is a definite improvement.

Her eye doesn't seem to be bothering her too much now, but it is definitely a dark shade of purple. When she has her eye open you don't notice it too much because most of the bruising is on the eyelid. Tomorrow morning we are going to go to a playgroup at the local Y, & I am sure that she will cause a few heads to turn when they see her. Hopefully no one calls the authorities.

Hopefully Sydney is still interested in showing things to Jason when he starts to swipe them away. We keep telling her that Jason loves to watch everything his big sister does & that there is lots for her to teach him!

On the move, but it's a one way street

Jason has figured out how to get from back to tummy & tummy to back, however he has not yet mastered the art. This skill of his only goes one way. Therefore he is travelling, but only in a straight line until he meets a barrier.

We are still wedging him in the crib to be sure that Jason & the rest of the house get some sleep. I am sure that if I now took the wedges away & he got himself pressed up against the rails of the crib, he would figure out how to get back sooner. However, last night for an unknown reason he had me (& probably Brad & Sydney) up for almost an hour so I am still not ready to take my security wedges away from him.

You would think that after being awake from 1:45 to 2:30 he would then sleep through his 3:30am feeding, right? Wrong. He woke up at 3:30am chatting away & was pretty bright-eyed when I was feeding him & fretting that I was not going to be able to get him to go back to bed. It took a little extra rocking, but he was back in bed by 4:15am.

Eye Update
The swelling is still not gone on Sydney's eye, but the shiner is definitely starting to develop.

Flashback

Remember this bruise???

Well I am sure it will have nothing on the shiner Sydney is about to have have on her eye once the swelling goes down. Yesterday at Grandma & Papa's Sydney was running & fell on the diaper genie. Of course her eye hit right where the latch is to open it up, so not only did she hit something hard but sharp as well. Thankfully she hit just under her eyebrow & not directly on her eye or we could have bigger problems today.



She does not seem too bothered by it, but it breaks my heart to look at her eye.

Thank You Nana

On Saturday Mom came down to stay with the kids so that Brad & I could go out as an early celebration of his birthday. This is the first time that we have left anyone in charge of putting both kids to bed. This is a task that Brad & I have not even yet attempted alone, so to ask someone else to do something you haven't even tried seems a little unfair. But, Mom was up for the challenge & to make it easier we told Sydney she could watch a video while Nana gave Jason a bath & his bedtime bottle.

I think overall the evening went well, although suppertime with Jason is typically a challenge because he is often very tired & I spend most evenings eating my dinner with him on my lap. I believe that this too is how Nana ate her dinner because Jason didn't really nap in the late afternoon & was Mr. Grouchy. Sydney of course enjoys any opportunity to watch t.v., so she was content to watch her video while Nana tended to Jason. Sydney also did not nap in the afternoon, but she went to bed quite easily for Nana & not a peep heard afterwards. We did not set Nana up to have an overtired girl. We put Sydney down for a nap, but she was in her room for over an hour & never went to sleep. We could hear her on the monitor chatting away to Baby, singing songs & just making noises.

Brad & I had a very nice dinner out & went to see the James Bond movie. This movie was not on my list of want-to-sees, but since we were going out for his birthday I guess he really should get to see what he wants to see. I will say though that I did enjoy the movie- Daniel Craig as Bond was very good.

Finally Some Snowy Days

Last year we bought Sydney a little sled for Christmas, but there was only one day that we actually got to take her out for a ride in it. And on that day we were really pushing it for there to be enough snow to justify the effort. Well, in the last week we have finally gotten enough snow on the ground that you can "play" in the snow.

At the park near our house there are some VERY tiny hills that we thought we could introduce the idea of sledding to Sydney. However, yesterday when Brad said that he would take Sydney to the park to play with her sled we again learned that Sydney interprets our words literally. Therefore, when Brad went over to the park with her she wanted nothing to do with the sled. To her it really meant that she was playing on the slide & swings at the park. Obviously we are going to have to "position" it differently if we want her to give sledding a fair shake.


She did embrace the idea of snow angels, but truly to play outside you are making her happy as a clam to just give her a shovel. Let's see if she is as eager to shovel the snow when she is old enough to do it as a "chore".

Moments Like These...

There are moments in being a parent when you are very proud of your child. I have obviously used this word with Sydney in relation to her potty training, because it is one of her new favourite phrases. She will quite often say, "Mommy is very proud of me." She has also started to say that Jason is proud of her too, which I am sure would be true if he understood that emotion.

Sydney is in big girl underwear now, her favourite of course being her Cinderella underwear, and it is not usually a problem. However, there are still moments when she is very involved in what she is doing & does not want to stop to go to the bathroom (i.e. play doh, reading, watching T.V, etc.). Like in this picture she is reading her Barnyard Boogie book to her brother & as I am walking up the stairs I can see a little puddle behind her. As soon as I ask her if she has had an accident she is off & running to the bathroom to "do it myself!". At least this accident happened on the ceramic tile & not the couch or carpet which we had earlier in the weekend.


Last week at dinner we had another priceless Sydney moment. Brad was standing behind my chair at the dinner table & out of nowhere Sydney says, "Daddy, you are the king of the castle." I ask Sydney if I am the queen of the castle & she informs me that no, she is. I said that Mommy was the queen & Sydney was the princess. She then states with great authority, "No Mommy, you are the dirty rascal!" Well of course Brad & I burst out laughing so she was quite proud of herself yet again for obtaining such a reaction.


Jason too has given me moments of pride over the last couple of weeks. Only when looking back at all of them do I realize how he changing. Individually they may seem like minor accomplishments, but when looked at together it makes me realize that he is quickly becoming a little person who is becoming more interested in the world around him. First he started to roll over. At first, this action was only taken because he could. Now he is starting to roll over to get a better look at something & does not always immediately start to whine that he is in a position that he does not know how to reverse. Lately Logan has been the greatest incentive to Jason. When Jason is on the floor, Logan is usually close by because she wants to lick an any drool he leaves behind.


Jason has also gained a new interest in the "activity centres" that we have for him. In the activity gym he will reach around for stuff & he has started to like the exersaucer more. I am thankful for this for the main reason that it is pretty portable & an easy place to put him while I want to get something done. Like the other day, he sat in the exersaucer & watched a Baby Einstein video while I was chipping away at the inch of ice on the van. I kept peeking in through our front window to be sure he was OK, but there did not seem to be a problem & this is the mood he was in when I returned from my task.


Similar to the exersaucer we borrowed a friend's Jumperoo. Jason seems to really like it, but he can only be in it for a short time before he gets exhausted from jumping around so much. The other day I had him in it while I finished some ironing & was more than happy to quit my task early because he was fussing.


Finally, Jason appears to be getting closer to sitting on his own. This is demonstrated best by the pictures of him with Dylan. This is a milestone that I cannot wait for him to achieve. So many things become so much easier when they can sit on their own. We will be starting him on solids in the next couple of weeks & I would love it for him to be able to sit in the high chair while we have dinner. I think he is physically strong enough to sit on his own, but he is such a wiggle worm that he has no concept of balance. We did not use a harness in the high chair for Sydney, but I am not going to take my chances with Jason. I either will be making a trip to the Baby Saftey Superstore to purchase a harness or will be ordering one through their website. Even when Jason is capable of balancing himself in a sitting position, I am not confident that he will choose to sit there nice and calm like Sydney did.

Impromptu Visit

This morning I received a call from my friend Nadine asking if I had plans today. She wasn't working & was thinking of making the drive my way. She lives in Barrie, so this is no minor suggestion. Of course I was thrilled for her to come & visit with her little guy Adam.

Adam is 6 months older than Sydney & is a BUSY little guy. He demonstrated to me what I have heard about little boys & what they can be like. He was in to everything, but stayed with no one thing for more than 5 minutes. After an hour ALL the toys were out & he was looking for more stuff to get into. If Sydney had been home, she would have been having a FIT!

Nadine of course tried to straighten up the toys before they left, but I had to do a complete clean-up of Sydney's kitchen & her baby stuff to be sure that all was where Sydney left it. Lord knows that she would notice any error when she comes home.

Jason was happy to have visitors two days in a row for entertainment. Adam was quite interested in Jason, but wasn't too cooperative for picture taking. This is the best I could get before he would move onto the next thing.

Jason's First Official Playdate

Last week I called my friend Allison whom I had not spoke for awhile to see if we could get together for a playdate. Her little guy is 3 months older than Jason & we have not seen them since last fall. I have moments of guilt because if I look at my time spent with Jason, it does not seem to be as "social" as my time spent with Sydney by this point in her life. We have been around other kids, but it is always girls and those girls are the younger siblings of Sydney's little friends.

When I called Allison she was happy to hear from me because apparently she has had the same pangs of guilt with Dylan. The kids are at an age when they will actually interact with one another so it was fun to watch them "play" with one another- which really just means they watch what the other is doing. But still it was fun for Jason to be around another boy his age. Hopefully we can ensure that they get more opportunities over the next few months before Allison has to return to work.

Shopping Two Weekends in a Row!!!

I learned over the holidays that friends of ours go shopping about twice a month. When I say shopping I mean browsing through a mall or other similar experience. It is also my understanding that her husband does this willingly. Brad is not a shopper & tends to avoid the experience whenever possible. Well, we are currently on our search for a new bed for Sydney (which will eventually go to Jason's room) & Brad is obviously not willing to leave the decision to me. As a result the poor man has been on 3 separate shopping excursions since last Saturday. Our goal is to find a mate's bed (the beds with storage drawers underneath) because Jason's room is not very big & think that any extra storage will be much needed. However, we are discovering that there is a huge variance of quality out there. Before we are done our search, there are three other stores that I have found for us to visit. Of course two are in Oakville (nowhere close together) & the other is near Stoney Creek- so there is a lot of driving that still needs to be done.

I think maybe Jason & I will try to hit the two in Oakville this week to see if there is anything worth dragging Brad to for a second review. The one store had models you could review on the website, but no prices of course. I may even try to make it to the one near Stoney Creek, but I am not making any promises. Of course, while we are bed shopping we also have our eye out for a new chair for our living room. I am finally ready to get rid of my dad's old recliner because it is just too big. However, I would still like to have a recliner in the living room- I just don't want it to look like a recliner. This search may never end, because I am getting the definite impression that Brad & I are not going to agree on a chair. I also plan for there to be a new couch in our far future (when the kitchen is redone & the kids are older), so the chair that we get now needs to be at least workable with new furniture in our future. I think that Brad's willingness to shop will run out far before we find a chair that we can agree on.

Could Winter Be Coming???

The weather this "winter" has been more like an extended fall. Actually, I think our winter weather has been nicer than our fall. After an unsuccessful nap, due to again landing on his tummy & not being happy about it, Jason & I went out this morning. It was definitely crisp & I think there is now the promise of winter in the air. Hopefully "when" it does come it knows that it is suppose to only stay until mid-March before leaving us again for a long time.

Some accomplishments have their price

I know parents often preen over the new accomplishments of their children, but Jason has just accomplished something that is coming at a cost. He has learned to roll from his back to his tummy, but cannot master the reverse. What does this mean??? Lack of sleep. He has done it in his sleep & then cries because he is stuck. Last night was not a peaceful night. Going & rolling him over is pointless for two reasons: 1- he learns nothing by it & 2- he rolls right back over a few minutes later anyway & you go through it all over again.

I do not remember the pain of this accomplishment with Sydney, but was reminded by a friend when I called her this morning for advice. Although I do not remember this problem with Sydney, I did remember my friend having this issue with her little guy. She told me that I told her that it took Sydney three nights to sort it out. I trust her to be remembering correctly, but was not happy to hear this news. Sydney adjusted to most things at night quicker than Jason has, therefore I am now preparing to be dealing with this issue for quite a few nights to come. Naps today have not been very peaceful, because he is having the same problem in the day. I think tonight we might return to the wedges we used when he was a newborn to see if that does anything to prevent the problem.

All I know is that yet again the Taylor household will not be having peaceful nights.

Welcome 2007

We marked New Year's Eve with yet another toddler party. We were not the hosting party this year, our friends Kate & Rick were- thank you Kate & Rick. I was a little nervous about how things might go. Two year olds are not really known for their patience, calm demeanor, or ability to share & I was wondering how it might go when we put 6 of them in a room together during a typical "witching hour" (supper hour). But, it actually went very well. Again between watching Sydney & taking care of Jason, I did not take any pictures. The only picture I managed to take was of Tyler holding Jason.

New Year's Eve marked a first since before Jason was born. Brad & I have not been out without the kids in the evening since July. We actually have only been out one other time without kids & that was a lunch for our anniversary. Tyler was kind enough to come stay with the kids once we put them to bed & Brad & I went to Ed & Becky's for the annual sit, eat & drink. Although we definitely seem to do more of the eating these days than the drinking. We have come to the conclusion that we are a bunch of old fuddy duddies.

Although I enjoyed my time out, I did not enjoy the minimal sleep I got that night. I was only in bed for an hour and a half before Jason woke to be fed & was then up with him for almost an hour. He then only slept for another couple hours before waking at 5:30am, so needless to say I was not very bright eyed for much of New Year's Day. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that although I was very tired, my host from the night before was also suffering. Not just from a lack of sleep, but also some over indulging.

Now, we are in 2007 & it so far is a very bizarre January- although I can't say that I terribly miss the blizzards & enjoy the sunny weather. Brad is back to work, Sydney is back to daycare for a couple of days & I am trying to return Jason & I to our regular routine. Next week I hope to introduce Jason to the water, because he is now old enough for us to go to Diaperfit. Lord knows I need the exercise (especially when I pulled a muscle yesterday...WALKING!) & I really am hoping that Jason takes to the water like his sister did!

Five Months

Well little guy, we made it through another month. It was a tough one for you & a sleep deprived one for the rest of us. You got two really bad colds this month & had a tough time dealing with it. Thankfully you are all better now & hopefully won't be burdened with one like it again (although I am told that is wishful thinking). Obviously your sister loves you so much that she wants to share everything with you, unfortunately for you colds are harder for you than her.

This month you started to enjoy your bath much more, are trying to grab your feet a lot & are showing a greater interest in toys. You have started to spend more time in the exersaucer & are finally enjoying floor time more. You have started to roll over on your side a lot, but seem quite content to stay there & are not venturing any further. You don't seem to mind when I roll you over, but you don't seem to have any interest in trying it yourself.

Your sleeping pattern is starting to regulate, but you still seem to need to cry for at least 3 minutes before you will go to sleep. You are starting to nap well, but only in your crib & you always wake up after about 30 minutes to cry for about 5 minutes before you go back to sleep. I wish I knew why you must do this. You are still getting up once in the night to be fed, usually around 3am. This month that night feeding was a little longer than previously because you would "talk" after you were fed. This too has improved the past few nights, so I hope that you have finished with that little stage. I really like being back in bed within a half an hour.

In another month you will start to have solids & we think you are going to love it based on how much you love to watch us drink & eat. Until then you will have to remain satisfied with your bottle, which you on occassion have held all on your own!

Belated Christmas Greeting

Well, Christmas was very busy this year & I obviously did not get to the computer to post any updates. The best thing about Christmas this year was to watch Sydney get caught up in the activity, the worst thing was that I was not feeling great for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. I managed to avoid getting sick from anyone throughout December, but had to come down with it over the holidays- figures.

Christmas Eve we went to the children's service at our church & Sydney seemed to really enjoy it. Jason did not get the chance, because he did not wake up from his nap in time. Nana was kind enough to stay with him because we did not want to wake him considering that for the next three days he was going to get carted here, there & everywhere. However, sleeping through the activity seemed to be a pattern that he maintained. He was sleeping for each present opening that occurred on Christmas Day & Boxing Day & he slept through Chistmas dinner. Oh well, next year will be different.

Here are a few pictures from our days.

This was our first Christmas that we stayed at home on Christmas Eve & it was Santa's first trip to our house. I think Sydney was very happy with Santa's selection. Her favourite part of the kitchen? The telephone.

For the first Christmas of their grandchild, Grandma & Papa make something. Max got a rocking camel, Sydney got a gliding horse & Jason got a toy train. He seems pretty happy with Papa's work.

Sydney's favourite part of the Robinson Christmas appeared to be G.G's carmel popcorn. She even told us that she likes it better than chocolate!!!

On Friday Sydney & Jason spent the day with all their Bowman cousins. Jason was awake for more of the festivities this day...

...even the present opening.

Sydney was quite happy to sit with her cousins & watch Dora. Unlike Regan & Bailey, Sydney's priority was not smiling for the camera.

Safe & happy holidays to everyone

They say that a baby's interest in what you are eating or drinking shows a readiness for solids. Well Jason is definitely interested & although he only has a few weeks to wait to sample yummy cereal & mushy veggies, he has a few years to wait to sample what's in Daddy's glass.

Safe travelling everyone.

All I want for Christmas is...

All I want for Christmas is a good night's sleep. I have now entered my emotionally fragile stage because I am lacking a good night's sleep. I could probably cry at the drop of the hat & I am beginning to convince myself that Jason will never again sleep well through the night. Jason has a cold with a cough right now & he has not slept well since Friday or Saturday (it seems so long ago, I forget). Last night I think we listened to him moan, talk, or cry for a total of 3 hours. Although that was not 3 consecutive hours, you would only get about 45 minutes of sleep in between the bouts of "noise". I am thankful that he was not really crying for the night, but I do wish that he was settled in a nice quiet sleep- for his sake & ours.

I did not really see Sydney before she left with her Daddy this morning, so I am not sure how well she slept. Brad brought her in to give me a kiss goodbye, but I was barely conscious so I do not know how her morning was. I do know that even Brad was awake for much of the night, so I am sure that he is thankful that today is his last day of work until the new year. I know that I am.

So if the Sleep God is listening, can you please come visit our son in the night & help him to get a good night's rest? I know that the whole household will be much better for it.

This is the boy we want back, he was sleeping well (note that this is all relative right now) during the night & only waking to be fed.

This is the alleged perpetrator who shared the cold with her brother that has in turn taken away our restful nights.