A Growth Spurt

Sunday, 19 October 2008

This past week has gone quite well since we got back from vacation. The house was a mess (since I was so stressed and frazzled upon leaving). But, somehow I've found time to clean up a bit. Chase started his new daycare at someone's house this week. He was still getting over a cold. But, he did fine on Wednesday and Friday. He loves "Auntie Susie's" dogs (which often distract him to make the transition easier when Chris drops him off in the morning), he's a great eater, and he gets along with the other kids. The only thing we're working on is napping. He's such a light sleeper, that he has to get used to taking a nap in a separate room. The first day, he didn't take one until after 12:30 pm, a couple hours later than he usually does. The second day, he took a short one, but she had to let him cry it out for about 10 minutes before he finally went down.

Even though Chris has to wake up an hour and a half earlier than he usually does (we actually get up around the same time now!), having two carseats definitely helps with the picking up/dropping off. Besides, it's about time Chris woke up early!

We think Chase is going through some sort of growth spurt. This past week, he's been eating huge amounts of food at each meal. Plus he snacks throughout the day on Cheerios, cheese, crackers, and yogurt. He's also been (but I don't want to "bachi" (jinx) it) SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! And in a major way! He'll usually take an afternoon nap (one day this week it was even for two hours!), and then he goes down around 6:30 - 7 pm (a little earlier than usual). He doesn't wake up until 6:30 - 7 pm. A couple times, we've had to wake him up to leave the house.

I don't nurse him in the morning or at bedtime. For some reason, he wants to nurse in the late afternoon. So I usually nurse him once a day, around 4:30 pm.

He's also going through a major tooth spurt. He's got nearly all his bottom teeth in, including his molars in the back. It seems like his top molars are coming in quickly too. It's like he's sprouting new teeth daily!

We've never seen him eat or sleep so much before. Perhaps he's just getting older. Is this what happens when babies (I mean, toddlers) get older?! Wow. I like it.

It's been a productive week as well. Went out to dinner one night to celebrate my teacher friend's upcoming nuptials. It was a short three day work week, so it was a nice way to transition back into the teaching routine. I had to play mediator at a Professional Development Day on Friday for one of our grade level teams that have difficulty getting along. Had the windows guy come over and give me suggestions on getting our deck fixed and our windows updated. I also went to Bikram yoga 3 times this week. I would have gone a fourth time, but they were putting in new carpet at the studio on Thursday so the studio was closed. I'm still working out the stiffness in my neck and shoulders. My practice is still not tip-top shape, but if I can go 4 times a week like I used to, I should be good.

Today, we had to cancel from going to a 1st year birthday party for my Honolulu Mommies friend. I was so looking forward to taking Chase to the Water Adventure Park too, but he still has a cough and a runny nose (and for some reason had a low-grade fever yesterday), so we opted out. We took Chase to see the pumpkin patch instead. Though he was a little groggy from his nap when we got there and wasn't quite sure what all the pumpkins were about, he did enjoy picking up hay and he liked the goats and rabbits in the petting zoo. Got some good pictures and quickly chose three pumpkins for us to take home and hurried our dusty selves back to the car because it started raining. We stopped at a store to look at Halloween costumes. We already got Chase an Incredible Hulk one, but I'm still not convinced that's the one for him. Chris and I hope to have a date night on Halloween, so we're trying to figure out a couple costume for ourselves. Popeye & Olive Oyl? Pirate & Pirate Maiden? Salt & Pepper? Hmmm...things to ponder this next week.

Although we didn't agree on costumes, we did agree on one thing: Chase may be going through a growth spurt these days, but he's not quite old enough to enjoy things like a pumpkin patch. Let's hope he enjoys Halloween enough this year to even let us dress him in a costume! (Yeah, good luck!)