Crying It Out Worked, Straw-Drinking & Salmon

14 Months & 3 Weeks

Last Friday was a good day for us on the sleeping front.  Tyson went right to sleep for his AM nap with only 2 minutes of crying!  I was cautiously optimistic that the crying it out had worked and was not a fluke, but it remained to be seen...  After a couple of errands, we spent the majority of the day packing for the weekend at the Edwards' house.  When Heath got home, we booked it over there.  When we got there, Sonia and I were getting supper ready and Keith was playing with Ty.  Keith was (for whatever reason) pointing at Tyson – but was pointing back and forth at him really fast - and Tyson started copying him.  It was so cute!  So at dinner, Ty started doing that fast pointing thing and was pointing right at the pitcher of juice!  We were wondering if it meant that he wanted it... so we moved the juice to a different spot on the table, and sure enough, he changed direction and continued to point at the juice!  I guess he got his "point" across!!!  (=  We had burritos that night and Ty ate a whole bean burrito and loved it!  Yes!  I was worried about the "crying it out" being at the Edwards in a different room and not in his crib... but my worries were unfounded when he cried for less than 30 seconds and went right to sleep! (=

Ty while we were packing to go to Edwards

On Sabbath, we went to Saco church - since they were having an open house for Sonia's school.  The classroom is beautiful and it was nice to see the kids and everyone Sonia talks about!  We stayed for potluck and Ty ate well again.  He loved the mashed potatoes and baked beans the most.  I can remember when Ty would immediately spit out mashed potatoes, so maybe we are making some progress on the eating front (except for fruit).  We hung around the school until after sundown and then we headed to some stores.  The boys went to Cabelas, while Sonia & I went to Goodwill.  A good time was had by all in our respective stores!  After shopping, we went to Macaroni Grill with Joel.  Ty had a bunch of "firsts" while we were there.  #1) We ordered Tyson his own meal for the first time.  He had macaroni & cheese and loved it. #2)  He ate salmon for the first time.  I was completely against this, but next thing you know, Heath has some salmon on his fork headed for Ty's mouth and Ty's mouth was wide open!  He seemed to like it, after a initial terrible face! (=  #3)  He got milk that came with his meal, which came in a cup with a straw and he actually used the straw!  He had never used a straw before!!!!  Very exciting.  What wasn't exciting was that Tyson would NOT go to sleep in the car for the entire 45 minute ride home, despite not having a long nap for the day (he had had 2 little cat naps in the car).  But by the time we got back to the Edwards', he went right to sleep - again with no crying!  It was at 11:30 PM that I started the Patriots game and was thrilled when they kicked Tebow's butt again!

On Sunday AM, bright and early at 4 AM, Tyson woke up screaming.  He wasn't gassy, but he appeared pretty uncomfortable.  We couldn't figure it out.  Well, we were stupid.  When Heath got up with Ty at about 7 AM, Ty headed straight for his sippy cup and drank the entire cupful of water.  The poor guy was thirsty!  After eating all that salty mac n' cheese, he was thirsty!  The thought didn't even cross my mind!  Now anytime Ty makes a peep during the middle of the night, he is getting some water! (=  At about 11 AM, we headed home to work on some projects.  Well, projects for Heath... and Ty and I headed to the grocery store and the pharmacies for some deals.  We were gone for 2 hours and 45 minutes and Tyson slept for the ENTIRE time in his car seat.  I had to finally wake him up because I was so afraid that he wasn't going to sleep at bedtime.  But again, I had nothing to worry about when he went right down to sleep without a peep and slept all night long.  On Sunday night, Heath & I watched a movie called "One Day" with Anne Hathaway that we both enjoyed.  We have been watching movies only on the weekends now - a far cry from life before Tyson!

On Monday, Tyson played hard with his toys in the AM and then went down for his AM nap again without one cry.  He slept for 1 hour and 45 minutes.  I was in heaven.  The "crying it out" seemed to work like a charm and seems SO worth it, now that he is going right down to sleep.   It didn't feel like it at all last week - but now it does!  I don't know if I have officially mentioned it or not, but Ty has been taking 1 nap a day now - but it averages about 1 hour and 20 minutes (from 12:30 PM to around 2 PM).  It is awesome and I'm so excited about it, let's just hope it continues!  When Ty woke up, Noni & Poppy had come by for a visit.  They went up to his room, where he was standing in his crib, waiting to be picked up, and he saw them and broke out in the biggest smiles you have ever seen.  And then he got really excited and started jumping in his crib!  He was so so so cute!  They didn't stay long, since Ty had to eat and then we had to hit the town doing errands.  He was whiney again in the fabric store again – what is it with that place and him?  But the cutest thing happened.  We were running out of a store, waiting in a crosswalk, when a car stopped for us.  I waved at the car to thank them for letting us cross, and Tyson waved at them too and flashed them his million dollar smile!  So cute!  I didn't look back, but I'm sure the lady was smiling!

Slowly but surely he is getting more interested in books!

On Tuesday, it was laundry day all day.  Good times.  Ty & I were going to run more errands, but we didn't since Shannon & Finley came over in the afternoon.  I watched Finley from 4:30 PM until 7:00 PM so Shannon & Sean could go meet with a potential lender for their mortgage.  I don't know what got into her, but I am not exaggerating when I say that Finley screamed inconsolably the entire time Shannon was gone.  OK, she gave me two 5 minute reprieves, when I laid her down on her blanket and did "naked baby" with her.  She loves it when she has all her clothes off.  So she would stop crying for 5 minutes, but then she would start up again and was louder than ever!  I was at my wits end. I tried everything under the sun.  I tried walking around with her, josling her, "naked baby", swaddling her, going into a dark room and trying to get her to fall asleep (she seemed very tired), tried her in the bouncer, in a sling, and I changed her diaper 3 times... nothing worked at all.  Shannon had fed her right before she left, so there was no way she was hungry yet.  I fed her right before Shannon got home and she still was crying. I couldn't get anything done.  I couldn't start supper, I couldn't continue the laundry... nothing.  Unfortunately, this had to be the night that Heath didn't get home until 7 PM - so it's not like I had any help.  Ty was great, until the last 10 minutes and then he started crying because HE was hungry.  Not a great scene.  Poor Fin.  I told Heath that if our second baby is colicky like that, we would have to get take-out a lot.  So I got our lasagna put in the oven finally and we ate late.  Shannon & Sean stayed for supper too.  I did notice while I was trying to console Fin that Ty was sneezing a lot.  I was worried that he was getting sick again.  In the middle of the night, it was confirmed when he woke up, stuffed up and couldn't breathe.  He cried a lot and was restless - finally I gave him Tylenol and he went to sleep.  Of course it was the night before I worked.  It always is.

During laundry day, he figured out how to flush the toilet.  Oh my.

This was his response when I told him to get away from the toilet!!!

On Wednesday I worked and Ty had a good day, but definitely was sick again.  Coughing a bunch and had a wicked runny nose.  Why does he get sick every month?  It's not like he goes to day care!!!!  I decided to forgo the dumpster after work since it was 19 degrees out, and there was only 1 coupon insert in the past Sunday's paper.  I'll hit it up next week no matter what.

On Thursday, we stayed at home in the AM and played.  Tyson has started playing with the puppies a lot now.  It is so cute!  He goes right to them, giggles, and then abruptly turns and books it out of the room.  He totally expects them to follow him!  And Reeses will, most of the time - and she tracks him down and licks him to death!  But now the thing that he is doing is, sitting down in front of the dogs, and then throwing himself straight back to the ground, hitting his head on the carpet.  He hits hard and it makes a loud sound and he thinks it's hilarious!!!!  I keep telling him that he is going to get a concussion, but he doesn't care!!! (=  In the afternoon, Ty and I went to some stores locally and then we headed down to Concord.  We had to go to a few more stores and then we went to the OG.  Adam was with us and we met my parents.  I had some OG coupons left that were ready to expire and I was happy to share them!  We headed right home afterwards, which was good – since it started to snow early.  We were expecting it to start at midnight.  Poor Adam had to drive home in it and he ended up going off the road on his way home – but he was OK and was able to get out of the ditch.  Thank goodness.  Well, have a good week!

Playing with the puppies

I caught him watching the Golden Globes