Eli update (sleeping, eating and MOVING)

Eli is doing really really well and I am so thankful.  I feel like I've got my sweet darling baby back!

Sleep Uppdate
Last week, Eli was still struggling with his ridiculous sleep issues (fighting sleep soooooo bad, and then waking up like 6 times a night).  On top of being lonely and homesick, I was exhausted from battling a baby about sleep all. day. and all. night.

This week, he's like a different kid.  He's slept 11-12 hours the 4 nights out of the past 5.  He's going down for naps like a champ.  Sometimes, he doesn't cry at all, but when he does it lasts anywhere from 30 seconds to 2-3 minutes - max.  I'm thankful that a few little changes (getting back to diligence about his bedtime/naptime, starting a more consistent routine, letting him have his "lovey" to sleep with, etc) seemed to do the trick.  We also started waking him up if he slept too long for a nap, or, the hardest, if he slept past 7:30 in the morning.  Even though it was/is hard to not enjoy it and sleep in ourselves, getting him up by 7:30 makes soooo much difference for keeping his naps in check.  (And, when he goes to bed around 7 at night, he wakes up happy when we go in to get him).  When we let him sleep too late, he becomes a little mess.

Together, JP and I decided that extinction method of cry it out just wasn't for us.  I had considered the "No Cry Sleep Solution", but a lot of the reviews said it encouraged rocking to sleep and gently placing in the crib, cosleeping, etc.  We had an Arm's Reach cosleeper in our room for the first 4 months, which we loved, but we weren't really interested in cosleeping and we wanted our son to develop the ability to put himself to sleep.  We decided to look into the "Goodnight Sleep Tight:  The Sleep Lady Shuffle" book.  I only really read the info on the good habits to have in place before sleep training and decided to do make sure we doing all those things for a week, and have it on a log before starting training.  I am grateful that we didn't have to even do the "shuffle" part after we tweaked some of these things!  I'm happy to have my sleeper back, and to not be fighting battles with him day and night.

Eating
Eli is still on mostly purees, which is his preference.  I make them all homemade and we are gradually introducing in some textures (ie. quinoa, chicken, egg, etc), but he only eats these things if they're mixed in with other things.  He's SUCH a great eater - he will still eat anything except avocado.  Some new things he's tried recently include cauliflower and quinoa - both of which have been hits.  He usually eats some yogurt, oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, and a few veggies with a protein for dinner.  We're only on two meals still, which his doctor was fine with.  When I eat lunch, I give him some Baby Mum Mums, which he loves.

He is also still nursing.  He usually nurses 4 times a day (approximately 7, 11, 3 and 6:45ish).  If he wakes in the night around 3, I feed him, but that rarely happens these days.  He seems to have dropped that on his own.  People still ask me sometimes when I plan to stop nursing him and the answer remains - when we're ready.  I'm guessing it'll be a while past a year.  We'll see.

Mobility
He is still crawling all over the place, and standing up all the time.  He can now go to standing even without pulling up on something.  He can stand using the wall or a window - just using them to steady himself as he gets up.  He has also started this ridiculously precious thing where he follows me when I leave a room.  Yesterday we were in his room playing and I changed his diaper.  I walked to his bathroom to put it in the pail and he crawled right behind me, into the bathroom.  It was so stinkin cute. He also loves to chase Ollie all over the apartment, which is similarly precious.  Those two are going to be good pals :).

He will also crawl over to me, or up into my lap when he is tired (or, if I'm sitting on a chair he crawls over and reaches up to me).  Once in my lap he squirms and fusses a little bit, looking at me as if to say "Mommy, fix me."  I know that means he needs a nap, so we start the sleep routine (paci in, read a book or two, noise machine on, rock for 2-3 min while I sing or pray with him, put in the crib while he's still awake).

I love that things are going so well with him.  In other news, we went to our first MOPS meeting yesterday and are having a playdate with someone from the group next Tuesday.  I am soooo excited.  It's been lonely here and I'm really looking forward to making some friends.