"MMBBOO!"
Your baby boy, Matthew, is 36 weeks (Approximately 8.4 months) old now.
Just when you were getting used to your baby only taking a couple of small naps during the day, he or she may decide to keep you on your toes and stop going down for his or her afternoon nap. Many babies cut out their morning nap at this point and while this may not be enough for YOU, it is probably plenty for him or her. The good news is that when he or she cuts out the morning nap he or she will usually sleep longer during his or her afternoon nap. After all, he or she has been up playing hard for 5 hours or so. Use the extended nap time to get extra little things taken care of around the house that you may not have had time for before.
As your baby's hand-eye coordination improves, fill-and-empty games and stacking games will begin emerging as his or her favorites. Measuring cups, measuring spoons, and plastic storage containers will be big hits because they nest inside one another. Recognizing how one object relates to, or differs from, another is what some of our earliest school lessons are about. You can help your baby get a head start by offering toys and games that will help him or her learn this. Your baby is creating more complex memories from his or her experiences. For instance, he or she might see a ball, remember how it moves, and push it. He or she's even able to set goals for themselves, such as making noise from a pan by crawling to it and banging it with a spoon. Give your baby plastic bowls, pans, and other utensils and he or she will happily (and loudly) "perform" for you.
Your baby is beginning to recognize names, basic words like "no" and "bye-bye," and familiar sounds. He or she will look when you point out objects and he or she may also point at things when you name them. This is called receptive language and precedes the ability to speak. Since he or she now remembers daily rituals, try greeting your baby each morning with the same phrase. He or she'll look forward to it.
Matthew is becoming quite the character. It seems like he's learning new things in spurts these days. One day he won't be good at something, and then all of a sudden the next day he figures it out! One example is his chunky food. I've mentioned that he tends to gag a lot and doesn't handle it very well. Over the past few days, though, he's gotten a lot better. He can get through a jar of Stage 3 food with minimal gagging, or sometimes no gagging at all (depending on the consistency, of course). Last night he had green beans and rice, and didn't gag once. He also tried Zwieback Toast, and does very well. Also, and this is a big one, he's almost crawling!! I thought that we were a ways off, yet, because it just didn't seem like he was getting the hang of it very quickly at all. But yesterday that all changed. He can get up on his hands and knees by himself, and even move his hands OR his knees like he's crawling. Just not both at once, so he still can't get anywhere. But it's a vast improvement! He has also gotten into a sitting position from his hands and knees a couple times. All of these new developments in just one day, so who knows? He could start crawling for real today and be a pro by the end of the week :o)
As for the newsletter, Matthew is still taking 2 naps a day, although it is sometimes harder for him to fall asleep and the naps tend to be shorter. I would like to try to see how he does with one nap a day, but I hate to mess with my husband's schedule too much since he's the one that is home alone with Matthew 5 days out of the week. I just don't want his nighttime sleeping to be affected by too much sleep during the day. Which I guess I don't really see happening...yet. Oh, and he can also say "Boom!" I don't know if it should be counted as his first word or not. It sounds more like "MMBBOO," but he says it when he knocks over a stack of toys and my husband and/or I say "Boom!" in response. He finds it all quite entertaining :o)
Just when you were getting used to your baby only taking a couple of small naps during the day, he or she may decide to keep you on your toes and stop going down for his or her afternoon nap. Many babies cut out their morning nap at this point and while this may not be enough for YOU, it is probably plenty for him or her. The good news is that when he or she cuts out the morning nap he or she will usually sleep longer during his or her afternoon nap. After all, he or she has been up playing hard for 5 hours or so. Use the extended nap time to get extra little things taken care of around the house that you may not have had time for before.
As your baby's hand-eye coordination improves, fill-and-empty games and stacking games will begin emerging as his or her favorites. Measuring cups, measuring spoons, and plastic storage containers will be big hits because they nest inside one another. Recognizing how one object relates to, or differs from, another is what some of our earliest school lessons are about. You can help your baby get a head start by offering toys and games that will help him or her learn this. Your baby is creating more complex memories from his or her experiences. For instance, he or she might see a ball, remember how it moves, and push it. He or she's even able to set goals for themselves, such as making noise from a pan by crawling to it and banging it with a spoon. Give your baby plastic bowls, pans, and other utensils and he or she will happily (and loudly) "perform" for you.
Your baby is beginning to recognize names, basic words like "no" and "bye-bye," and familiar sounds. He or she will look when you point out objects and he or she may also point at things when you name them. This is called receptive language and precedes the ability to speak. Since he or she now remembers daily rituals, try greeting your baby each morning with the same phrase. He or she'll look forward to it.
Matthew is becoming quite the character. It seems like he's learning new things in spurts these days. One day he won't be good at something, and then all of a sudden the next day he figures it out! One example is his chunky food. I've mentioned that he tends to gag a lot and doesn't handle it very well. Over the past few days, though, he's gotten a lot better. He can get through a jar of Stage 3 food with minimal gagging, or sometimes no gagging at all (depending on the consistency, of course). Last night he had green beans and rice, and didn't gag once. He also tried Zwieback Toast, and does very well. Also, and this is a big one, he's almost crawling!! I thought that we were a ways off, yet, because it just didn't seem like he was getting the hang of it very quickly at all. But yesterday that all changed. He can get up on his hands and knees by himself, and even move his hands OR his knees like he's crawling. Just not both at once, so he still can't get anywhere. But it's a vast improvement! He has also gotten into a sitting position from his hands and knees a couple times. All of these new developments in just one day, so who knows? He could start crawling for real today and be a pro by the end of the week :o)
As for the newsletter, Matthew is still taking 2 naps a day, although it is sometimes harder for him to fall asleep and the naps tend to be shorter. I would like to try to see how he does with one nap a day, but I hate to mess with my husband's schedule too much since he's the one that is home alone with Matthew 5 days out of the week. I just don't want his nighttime sleeping to be affected by too much sleep during the day. Which I guess I don't really see happening...yet. Oh, and he can also say "Boom!" I don't know if it should be counted as his first word or not. It sounds more like "MMBBOO," but he says it when he knocks over a stack of toys and my husband and/or I say "Boom!" in response. He finds it all quite entertaining :o)
posted by flannel04 @ 10:59 AM
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