Learning, Fussing, and Flourishing

Nick is in the middle of a developmental leap, or wonder week. There's a book called Wonder Weeks that talks about "eight great fussy phases" babies go through as they're learning and growing. I just found the blog that I linked to above. It has a lot of information in it but I don't know who writes it. These are some things the blogger pulled from the Wonder Weeks book about week 37--the one Nick is coming up on (my comments are in red):

Signs to be on the look out for…

• cling to your cloths and hold on tight to you  does clinging tightly to your hair count? ouch!
• shy  uh, no
• demand more attention  uh, yes
• have nightmares  who knows, but this is interesting since he has started crying out in the middle of the night and then falling back asleep
• act unusually sweet  sometimes
• refuse to have diaper changed  this is our worst symptom; he screams bloody murder
• seem more babyish   
• lose appetite   a little
• cries more often/ cranky   for sure
• sleeps poorly     pretty much
• babbles less    
• less lively
• sometimes sits quietly, looks like he is daydreaming     I guess, for about two minutes a day
• sucks thumb or does so more often than before    he always sucks his thumb when he's getting tired
• reaches for a cuddly toy

New skills your baby is acquiring… (may do some, but not all)

• Classify world into groups (Understand the category horses despite what they look like: spotted horses, brown horses, white horses)
• begin to under stand what makes something…big, small, heavy, light, soft, sticky, happy, mean, etc.
• understands names of animals or objects. When you ask, “where’s ______?” she will look for it.
• shows that she thinks something is funny by making a special sound or movement    he tries to chuckle with us and it is kind of an eerie sound
• may be able to repeat words after you   more like syllables
• imitate and mimic what you do
• relates more to other people with sounds and gestures   Today he did this game with me where he laid on his side, looked back over his shoulder, and reached his fist in the air...then he laughed really hard whenever I grabbed it. He repeated this about six times.
• recognizes people, even in a unrelated situation
• makes silly faces at his mirror image and might laugh
• might become jealous if mom or dad are giving attention to another child
• may start crying when another baby or child cries    did this today, too--I wish Xander hadn't run into the coffee table (sound like him at all?) and screamed out in pain
• might exaggerate his mood to let everyone else know how he is feeling   yeah, all his modes of expressing seem exaggerated
• may ask you to play with him- get your attention to do so  if he asked nicely, that would be better :(

Leslie, there's a wonder week at 26 weeks, so if Foster was extra fussy a few weeks ago, that could have been the culprit. But maybe he was just his sweet baby self. :)

Xander's sleeping for his nap today. He's been really tired but just not taking that afternoon nap. Today it's raining steadily and I think that puts everyone in a sleepy mood. I started working pretty hard with him this morning on first-time obedience (a Babywise/Childwise concept) and he responded so well. He is a sweet, responsive, marvelous child when I take the time to be 100% consistent in the way I approach him. Part of first-time obedience is getting him to respond and give me eye contact when I call his name. He does fine with this when I emphasize it. A really important part of this is for me to give him eye contact when he wants to tell me something. At least half the time I can't do this because I'm on the phone with his daddy or making dinner or nursing Nick, but if I can give his communication that kind of attention four times a day or so, he flourishes.