I heart Johnny Cash (sleep strike update)

The sleep situation is getting better around here, slowly but surely. Simon took back his old friend towel, which has helped him settle down. We are also trying out a more strict sleep and naptime schedule for him this week, and it seems to be helping. If he wakes up between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m., we go in to let him know we are still here, give him the towel to play with for a while, and most importantly, turn on Johnny Cash's Sun Studios recordings with the Tennessee Two. Johnny seems to keep him company and help him get to sleep. Gotta love Johnny.

Poor little dude, last weekend he was so exhausted from his sleep strike that he fell asleep like this while we were out and stayed on the couch that way for a whole hour.

Happy Thanksgiving, baby friends!

Simon had a wonderful first thanksgiving weekend. Starting with Thanksgiving dinner, where he was the first baby in about 18 years, continuing through Saturday brunch out and Second Thanksgiving, where he got to hang out with some of his baby friends, Dylan, Marin, Ross, Lucas and Noah. He had a little turkey in his mesh feeder toy, but mostly stuck to butternut squash and oats and rice and avocados.

sleep strike

Now that Simon is 6 months old, he's had to give up some of his favorite sleep aids. He's getting too big for the swing, and as he rolls over more he can't sleep in the swaddle anymore. It seems like he's decided that if he can't have those, he won't take the pacifier or the towel anymore either. So that leaves us with... very little sleep.

This past week and a half he won't sleep in his crib during the day at all, so he only naps if he goes somewhere in the car and he just can't resist the motion. He never much liked the car before, so he must be really overtired for that to work.

He hasn't been sleeping very long stretches at night in the crib either, much preferring to sleep on one of us, preferably with a bottle hanging out of his mouth. Last night he finally did a little better staying asleep on his own, 4.5 hours at the first stretch. We're hoping to build on it this weekend, and find a new sleep routine that works for him (and us).

He's still as cheerful as ever during the day, as long as I'm not trying to put him down for a nap.

6 months old

Photos by Brenna Hernandez, yay!

Simon is 6 months old as of last Saturday. He's doing really well, working on sitting up without toppling over. His 6 month checkup shows a healthy happy boy - now 26.5 inches long and 16 lbs. 4 oz.

He's sleeping a little better too, we're getting more 6 and 7 hour stretches at the beginning of the night. That still leaves us waking up at 3 and 5:30 a.m., but we'll take it. He's a great eater, scarfing down rice, oatmeal, squash, peas, prunes, bananas, and grapes. So far he likes everything.

Food, glorious food

We started Simon on solid food for real last week. He loves everything we've given him so far. Especially the spoon. Thanks to Teta for the two-spoon suggestion (and for the great silicone spoons!). He gets so excited about the spoon he grabs it and won't give it up, so we use two, and trade him the full one for the empty one.

Since he still has a big gap in his hard palate, some of the food goes up there and comes out of his nose. It irritates his nose a little, and he sneezes it out. Gross, but it gets the job done.