This month we started solid foods, and Xander loves it. If he sees me eating he starts whining for food, and he just scarfs it down. So far he's had sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, green beans, bananas, applesauce, pears and oatmeal cereal. He eats it all, but his favorites are bananas and pears. Out of the vegetables I think he likes sweet potatoes the best, which is funny because that was the first food we gave him and he was not a fan at the beginning. He is very vocal when he eats and says "Mmmmm" a lot - I'm not sure if he is doing it to copy me or because he just really likes the food, but it is cute. He drinks water from a sippy cup, but half of it ends up on his bib, and I have to hold it for him. He is still nursing really well too. He weighs 17 pounds.
Xander started putting himself to sleep! I always nurse him at bedtime, but all of a sudden he stopped falling asleep while nursing. He would finish eating and then look around, reach for things, try to play with me, and basically do anything but fall asleep. At first I was continuing to try to rock him, but it would take forever (like an hour). So one day when he was fussing and arching his back to get out of my arms, I just put him in his crib and walked out, fully expecting him to cry. But he just rolled around to get comfortable and fell asleep! I thought it was a fluke, so I tried again the next night and sure enough, he did it again. He's been putting himself to sleep every night for a month now and I am still flabbergasted every time! I just never thought he would do that on his own. Just recently I've started putting him down awake for naps too and he does really well. It takes him longer to fall asleep; he plays in his crib for 15 or so minutes before he settles down and goes to sleep, but he rarely cries. I am just so proud of him! I do miss the sweetness of my baby falling asleep in my arms, but I recognize that the ability to put yourself to sleep is a skill you will need for your whole life and I am so so grateful that we didn't have to fight to learn that skill. Also, the boy is heavy, and walking around in circles to get him to fall asleep was killing my arms!
As far as nighttime goes, usually Xander wakes up to nurse once, but more and more frequently he is sleeping through the night. And by that I mean maybe once a week. He usually wakes up for the day between 6:30 and 7:30 and goes to bed between 7 and 8. I always put him down on his back but he almost always ends up on his tummy. About half the time he takes three naps and half the time he takes two. He's not very consistent with how long he sleeps for each nap; sometimes 45 minutes, sometimes 3 hours. More often than not he takes at least one nap lasting 1.5 hours or more, and usually he naps a total of 2.5 - 3 hours a day. When he wakes up from his naps, he will happily play for up to 30 minutes before he fusses for me to come get him! And then when I do, he gives me a huge smile.
Xander is becoming a champion roller. He can't crawl yet, but he will roll to try to get where he wants to go. He gets places but usually not the places he was aiming for (he gets himself stuck)! He's starting to bunch his legs up underneath him when he's on his tummy and then kick, which propels him about half an inch, but he tries so hard. Soon he will be crawling.
I have started sitting him in the grocery cart instead of bringing in his carseat, and he loves to look around. Everywhere I go people stop me to say how cute he is or to try to get him to smile at them. Since he loves attention, he usually obliges. Just in the past couple of days, he has started to repeat syllables! The first one I heard was "mememem." So close to "mama!"
He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, and wants to play with anything mommy and daddy are playing with, especially cell phones, remotes, and anything we are eating. He also loves to eat his socks and they are often sopping wet or one is missing because he took it off somewhere. He still loves to play on his play mat, and his favorite game is when we dangle a piece of cloth over his face. He also loves having his diaper off and starts happily and vigorously kicking his feet as soon as I go to change it. (It makes changing his diaper quite the challenge!) He hates putting clothes on, but thinks it's hilarious when we take them off. He is very happy when daddy gets home, even if he was tired and cranky before. He is such a joy and we love him to pieces!
