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The H chronicles...
Hayden turned 4 months old on Monday, December 13th! Today we took him in for his 4 month well visit. Here are his updated stats:
Weight: 15 pounds even (51st percentile) Height: 25 1/2 inches (68th percentile) Head: 17 1/4 inch cicumference (91st percentile)
Yeah, yeah...so his head is pretty consistently big (it was the same percentile at his 2 month visit on Oct. 14th - and it has gained 3/4 inch in girth since then!)
He passed most of his milestone tests. This time they were things like tracking sounds, holding his head up steadily, smiling at mom and dad and having good eye contact. Some that he didn't pass were rolling over (fine with me!) and sleeping through the night (not fine with me!). The rolling over one can take longer for some kids, especially since we weren't really laying him flat on the floor until recently due to his acid reflux issue.
The sleeping thing is a different story. Yeah, he's got mommy wrapped around his little finger. At this age, they don't need to be eating in the middle of the night (calorie wise), they just wake and want to nurse out of habit. So, starting next week we are going into sleep training mode and having a crash course before Christmas. This will involve a lot of crying and less sleep for both Hayden and mom. But the theory is that that will only last for a few nights and then he will be able to soothe himself back to sleep and get in a full 8 hours! WOW, that will be nice for both of us. He will be a happy, well-rested boy. I haven't seen a full 8 hours in at least 6 months since the last bit of my pregnancy involved waking many times per night to use the facilities.
Cameron is going to help me to make sure I don't cave! I will definitely need the support as I can hardly bare to let him cry more than 5 minutes. He gets all worked up and red and sweaty and I just can't handle it. Maybe I will have to go for a drive or something so I am not tempted to rush into his room. We have imparted the help of a "snugglie", a blankie that he can sleep with, as part of our plan. We are starting that now and working into the rest. I am sure I will post as soon as he makes it all the way through...stay tuned!
He is doing great with his acid reflux...thank goodness for modern science. I didn't want to have him on medication so young, but he is a different baby because of it and I am so thankful for that. He will stay on it until he is 9 months old and then we will try and ween him off with the hope that his esophagus has matured enough to not allow the acid to come back up. Eating solid foods also helps. We are going to try starting on rice cereal in the next few weeks. Seeing as how he still won't take a bottle at all (ugh), this solid food business may be our only ticket to a dinner out alone.
Some other things that he likes to do now that he is 4 month old are:
- drool....a lot!
- suck on his fists incessantly, and make lots of noise doing so
- suck on "ZZ's" nose...his small bean bag zebra friend
- play with other toys, like his plastic rings, this colorful plastic wirey looking thing, and his "Shoe Shufflin' Sam" (a toy given to him as a gift - it is from the UK and is basically a jingley spider with 8 shoed legs and a fly on his back- very cool).
- giggle...he is almost into a full laugh now
- fake cough to get attention - yeah, it is hilarious and gets Cameron laughing every time - so I guess it works!
- watch TV and laugh at certain characters...he likes Arthur and Zoboomafoo at the moment
- play "rocket ship" with Cameron
- his new musical toy
We are looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas together as a family. That will most likely be my next post (unless of course he sleeps through the night before then! Let's think positively....send good vibes our way!). -- mam