Liam decided that our little indoor watering can was a washing machine. So he started washing things in it. A teatowel, a face washer, a scarf... each time the game would get a little more elborate.
First he was just washing the scarf in the watering can, then took it out, pronouncing it to be 'all wet now' and hung it up on the (actual) drying rack.
Next he started calling the watering can a washing machine, turning it 'around and around' with the item in side.
Next item he put the imaginary lid down and took the can off to the 'laundry' (around the corner in the living room), and left it 'for a while'. He went back, turned it around some more ("The spray rinse," he explained) then pulled the tea towel out. "It's all wet now," he said shaking it out. And hung it up to dry.
Next (another tea towel), repeat all steps as before, up to but not including the spray rinse. "It needs some more water," he says, and takes the watering can over to the cat scratcher to fill up. Then back to the laundry for the spray rinse, shake it out, and hang out to try.
At that point I ran out of things that I was happy to have washed in a dusty old watering can, so we moved on to something else, but I'm sure he would have kept going for quite a while.
Hey, Liam forgot to nurse tonight before bed! How weird is that? He's never ever done that before. We were finishing off his book, and some custard (a regular evening treat of late) and I asked him what we would do next.
"Go to bed," he said.
"Yeah, but what do we do first?" I asked.
"Get your dummy," was his reply.
"OK, but what do we do before that?"
No answer.
"Well maybe you better call Daddy," I said, thinking to prompt him with the next part of the routine.
"Daddy!" he called "Dad-dy! Turn that light off. Turn that light off too." This said while pointing at the relevant lights (not that Chris was even in the room yet, but that's all part of the routine). Daddy came and did his thing. This is the point when Liam usually throws himself back and starts saying "Mummy milko, mummy milko" with feverish excitement, as though it's the only time of day he gets it or something (it's not - not even close).
Instead, he was saying "Get your dummy now. Liam wants his dummy." So, off we went (Chris had already exited off to the bedroom) to the kitchen to clean his teeth and get his dummy. All the while I'm expecting "Mummy milko now" to pop out of his mouth at any second. A few times in recent months he's only nursed on one side, then we're half way down to the bedroom when he suddenly realises and demands the other side. But not today. Today he completely forgot. And so far there is no sound coming from the bedroom, so I assume he's really going to sleep. Amazing.
I am making no effort to wean, and truly, unless he really dislikes the taste once I get pregnant or something, I think he will be nursing until he's about 10. But he does sometimes forget in the morning these days, particularly if he wakes up with me (which is not all that common any more). Usually his first priority is to come and find me and have mummy milk, but if I'm right there then he's often happier to get a book and bring it into bed, or go wake up Daddy.
Also, I have started refusing him mummy milk when he wakes up from a nap and needs to go back to sleep. Even though we don't nurse in bed at night anymore, we were still doing it during the day. He still nurses to sleep during the day about half the time (or, about half the time that I am there). The rest of the time he nurses then falls asleep in my arms. Then I get up and get an hour-an hour and a half to myself. Then when he wakes up he wants to nurse again. But lately the waking up nursing thing has not been getting him back to sleep - quite the reverse: Chris could get him back to sleep (sometimes for another hour) but I couldn't. So the past week or two I've been saying the mummy milk's all gone, but he can lie in Mummy's arms. And he's been OK with it, and gone back to sleep. And if I stay with him then we usually get at least another hour, often more. On Saturday the two of us ended up sleeping from almost 2 until almost 4, and he's been asleep for over an hour before that too. Of course, this is tending to push his bedtime back to 7:30 or sometimes later. But it is nice to get that nap - for both of us.
Anyway, it's just interesting to me that although I am not actively intending to wean him at all, in a way I am doing it a bit. I certainly practice "don't offer/don't refuse", but in Liam's case I don't think that could be described as a real weaning technique - getting him to nurse multiple time each day has not involved me offering since he was - I don't know, a week old? Well, for a long time anyway. That whole nursing every hour or two around the clock thing (from six months to 18 months, on-and-off) pretty much turned me right off offering!
**This post was orginially published on Ocean View Verandah using Blogger. Please let me know of any down links (especially to photos).**
We went shopping for a bed for Liam today, in the end of financial year sales, and we ended up buying a package: a double slat bed for Liam (I'll explain why later) with an attractive wooden bed head and an OK mattress; a tallboy; two bed-side-tables each with three drawers, and a blanket box - all in matching wood. Which would be more relevant if it were all going to be in the same room. It's not of course.
Liam gets the bed, we get the rest. Up until now we've had horrible, ugly wood-look laminate bed-side-tables/chests of drawers which we bought second hand for $40 when we first moved in together. They were a good deal and what we could afford at the time, but frankly they do not provide enough drawer space for our clothes, and they are, as I said, ugly.
But the exciting thing from my perspective is the double bed. At the moment Liam sleeps on a mattress on the floor next to our bed, and usually comes into our bed at some point during the night. If I'm on 'night-duty' he usually doesn't get into our bed till around 4 or 5, although last night it was 3:30. If Chris is on night duty he often comes into our bed quite a bit earlier. This is because Chris falls back asleep much more quickly than I do, so if he has to get down into Liam's bed to settle him he usually falls asleep there. This bothers me not at all, because most of the time: I sleep in the spare room.
At least, I've been sleeping there most of this past semester. The reasons are two-fold. One is that I was getting up at 5am to study quite often, and if I had Liam in bed with me that wouldn't work so well. The other is that I have been trying to remember to take my temperature first thing in the morning in preparation for trying to conceive later this year, which has involved setting my alarm to wakeup at a set time - not so good for trying to get Liam to sleep as long as possible (he mostly wakes up by about six am, but sometimes it's as late as 6:30).
So I've only been sleeping in the bedroom when I am on night duty, and I haven't been doing that all that often. Some people find our sleeping arrangements astounding and feel worried for us: don't. The way I see it, we are only going to have small children for a short part of our life. Even if Chris and I slept separately for that entire period, so what? Our kids are secure and happy, and to be honest, now that Liam sleeps pretty well, and now that I am not the sole night-time parent, I kinda like sleeping with him. In fact, when we first started talking about buying him his own bed, Chris said he wasn't sure that he felt ready to have Liam sleep in his own room yet!
However, whether we feel ready or not may not be the point any more. A few weeks ago, Liam started saying he wanted to sleep in the change room, aka his would-be-bedroom. There is a bed in there, but it is a horribly uncomfortable single bed that Chris used to have at his Dad's house. And the room itself is a bit of a storage room (although a lot of the boxes are of Liam's clothes - clothes he hasn't grown into yet, or clothes he's grown out of). So we decided to get a new bed and tidy up the room, before moving Liam into it. Hence today's shopping expedition. Liam was with us and he approved the bed. He was rather put out that we couldn't bring it home with us today actually. They had to order it in which could take 4-6 weeks, so hopefully Liam forgets about it for a while.
The reason we decided to get a double bed is that given that Liam is used to sleeping right next to us, we figure that Chris might end up sleeping in his bed for the second half of most nights. It'll be Chris because of course at some point later this year, hopefully, I'll be pregnant and will be needing all the sleep I can get. We'd wondered exactly how and when Liam was going to start sleeping in his own room. We figured we'd rather wait until he initiated it, but I had thought that might not be until he was at least three or so. He's only 2&1/4 now. Which is great, because we also figured it would be ideal to have him in his own room before the next baby is born. Mostly because we don't want them waking each up all night. Also when I'm pregnant I will definitly not be wanting to have my sleep disturbed any more than it will be by pregnancy. Still, we had figured that if Liam was still wanting to sleep in our room we could always just arrange it that he and Chris sleep in there while I (and eventually the new baby) sleep in the spare room.
But this way is better I think. Of course, Liam might not take to his new bedroom, but here's hoping he does.
The other reason for the double bed is that we think/hope that eventually when the next child is old enough, he/she can sleep in there with Liam. It will, of course, depend how s/he and Liam feel about it, but I'm hoping they'll like the idea. I have read a bit about the family/sibling bed idea, and I like it. I think it can really help with that sibling bond, and after all, who wants to sleep alone? Not Liam, clearly. Not yet anyway.
Anyone with experience moving a child into their own room feel free to leave your tips/stories in the comments.
PS The reason Chris was able to come shopping with us on a Friday is that he's off work with pericarditis - inflammation of the lining/fascia around the heart (pericardium). He's supposed to be resting of course, not shopping. But mostly he has been resting. Sleeping in and lying around on the couch. And we'd already done our research, so it wasn't really too much shopping today.
**This post was orginially published on Ocean View Verandah using Blogger. Please let me know of any down links (especially to photos).**
It amazes me the sorts of make believe games Liam comes up with these days. Some are clearly learned from watching TV or from other kids and parents at play group - like when he wrapped his arms around himself the other day and said he was a caterpiller. I think that was something they did on Play School recently. But other things are totally him.
Another example: A few nights ago he decided he was a bird, and wanted to climb into the laundry basket full of clean clothes. Actually, I think he wanted to climb in first, deciding he was a bird and it was his nest was just the rationale.
But I didn't want him to climb into the clean clothes, so I made him a nest on the couch. He climbed up into it and then pointed to his bunny rabbit. "He's a bunny-bird," Liam explained to me. This ability to decide that a thing will be something else is wonderful I think. He doesn't need everything to be just right or to have heaps of different complicated toys, he can pretend. It so impresses me, and reinforces the idea that really specific toys are not as great as the toy companies would have us believe - they just can't encourage creativity in the way more simple toys can.
"Little hoot's a bird, he could come in the nest too," I said, in response to his command that I pass him his toy owl. Okay, that made sense, but next he wanted me to pass him his toy rabbit.
"Bunny-bird," he explained. Then there was tiger-bird, bear-bird, piglet-bird...
At one stage, since Liam was flapping his 'wings' I flapped mine too. But: "Mummy's not a bird," he said "Ee's a mummy." (Liam uses 'ee' instead of he or she, most of the time.)
I hadn't seen Liam play this way before. He uses his imagination plenty, but to specifically decide that something he knew to be a rabbit would now be a bird, that sort of thing's new.
And the other interesting thing about this is that he's become very didactic lately. He might say, for instance, that an owl is an owl, but not a bird. Or, a real example, he has a bear that looks a bit dog-like, so this week he told me that it is not a bear, it is a dog. I had interpreted his sort of thing as simply misunderstanding. Now I wonder if it isn't actually deliberate creativity.
From an email to my best friend, who we visited in the States earlier this year, and whose son, J, liked to sing the Lion King song, a LOT.
This morning Liam was 'singing' the Lion King song (the bits of it he remembers), which he does fairly often, encouraged by the frequency with which we see bits of it on video in various stores, or just posters advertising the DVD. The out of the blue he said he wanted to go to J's house. He hasn't said that in a while now. I told him I wanted to go too... Then after a bit he came out with wanting to get J's lawn mower "wheel go round and round inside" he said.
And the other thing I've been meaning to say for ages (who knows, maybe I already said it)- remember how you commented that J cried a lot more than Liam? Well, Liam cries a lot more now too, and in similar sorts of situations. Maybe not as much yet, but, he's definitely getting there. So I'm thinking maybe it's a developmental thing.
Admittedly, Chris was home late from work (didn't get here till 6:30), but I think maybe the extra effort I've been making to have some really focused time with him on our days together might be part of it too. We didn't go to play group today, and last Thursday-Friday we didn't have any visitors or visits - we did get out for a walk and play at the park each day (and today too) but that's it.
Anyway, it's made all concerned very happy, because lately Liam's been telling Chris to go away a lot, and telling me not to go to work ("No mummy go to work, Daddy go to work" he said yesterday morning, and the day before too), and generally behaving as though he hasn't been seeing enough of me. His propensity to use a lot of the words 'no' and 'don't' might have something to do with that too I think, although he's also definitely going through an independence thing generally?wanting to climb into and out of the car seat himself and so on.
(So, he's still my baby, but he's also totally a toddler.)
Click here for a very cute photo of Liam from today - he was wearing the shoes, but I'm afraid they're not in the photo...
Having just said yesterday that Liam can't yet stand up without something to push up on, today he did it. The first time (first time we saw it anyway) seemed a little difficult - a bit of an effort. A minute or so later he did it again without any apparent effort. Did I just say that that was my definition of a toddler? Nah, he's still my baby.
Another first was bubble blowing. While he was in the bath I made a bubble wand and blew some bubbles for him. I've been meaning to do it for ages, but not getting around to it. Well he loved it. Giggled for the longest straight giggle either of us have ever heard from him (or possibly from anyone). It was a lot of fun to watch.
Another new thing we're doing is trialing having dinner with him. We've moved our dining arrangements into the family room, where the floor is not carpeted, and tonight we all ate together, moreorless the same thing. His was cut into bite sized portions - finger food, not spoon food - he's not upto that yet. We'll see how it goes. Tonight it meant he got to bed late, between us cooking and him taking longer to eat. That was OK today because daylight savings time ends tonight (Fall=back) so going to bed later just might mean not waking up at 5am tomorrow. But in future that wouldn't be so good. So we'll just play it by ear.
Since sometime early last week - (or was it the week before?) Liam has been sleeping like hell. After his first stretch at night (usually about two hours at the moment) he just will not sleep out of my arms. I put him down, he sleeps for 10 minutes, wakes up crying. Last night he was fidgity on the breast that I thought it must be morning (or maybe I just wanted it to be) but when I finally looked at the clock it was only two something. He didn't really settle until finally at about 3:45 I sat up with him and fed/held him tilll he was properly asleep, then put him down and got up to stretch/pee/get a glass of water. My back was killing me by this stage, from trying to sleep with him in my arms and feeding half the night, so I really needed to walk around a bit. Anyway, I got back to bed at 4:02. He stirred and dropped his dummy at 4:11 and was awake a crying for the breast (nothing else would do) again at 4:20. And that was a pretty good stretch.
I just keep telling myself, this too shall pass. The other thing is, it's not only at night. He wants to b/f about 100 times a day at the moment, and sometimes climbs (wriggles) down off my lap as though he's done, only to complain as soon as I do my bra up. "Don't put it away mummy, don't put it away! I might want some more. In fact, I do." I don't know if this is his version of separation anxiety - which he still doesn't really seem to have thank goodness.Chris still usually takes him down to the bedroom and gets him to sleep at night, and he hasn't complained when I've left him with Chris the past couple of mornings (as a prelude to when i go back to work next Thursday-Friday and Chris stays home with him). He was a bit cranky when he woke up from his nap yesterday afternoon and I'd gone again. But going outside quickly solved that! So maybe he doesn't have the common form of separation anxiety, but he making up for that by b/feeding a lot, I don't know.
He went to sleep at 8:35, after Chris tried to get him to sleep for an hour followed by my b/feeding him for half and hour. He then slept until just after 11, at which point I went to bed and fed him back to sleep. Then I have a vague memory of him waking again briefly, but I think it was not much later - I don't think he'd fully settled yet. And then, he didn't wake again until 5:07, briefly, and then 6:33 for good.
After just a couple of nights ago having a night where he nearly slept for 2 hours once, and didn't make it much past one hour for the rest of the night, this would be phenomenal, even if he didn't go for a full 5 hours. But I think he did! In fact, I think I am going to enter it into the baby book as his first 'slept though the night' entry. Now we've only got that first haircut to go!
For quite a while now Liam has been reaching out with his hand towards the object of his interest, be it something he wants to grab or somewhere he wants to go. But in the last month (or so) he's turned that into pointing with his index finger. It can seem a bit peremptory, but it's also very cute. He points at food, at the outdoors, at photos he wants to look at and at people he wants to hold him.
Also last week he started clapping (finally) - until then he'd never opened his hands when banging them together, but now he does. And he gets quite a kick out of it when we clap at him when he does something clever (like walking).
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