Thursday, July 02, 2009

Ups and Downs

Summer with Jellybean has had its ups and downs so far. On Sunday, he turns 19 months, which doesn't seem possible. One of the "ups" has been to take JB on day trips and see his reactions. We went to Santa Cruz a few weeks ago with some friends and the high point of my day was watching the little guy ride on rides like big kids do. I think I had more fun watching him than he did on the rides. He only had me to help him stay on the carousel. The rest of the attractions he rode by himself - he was so brave! I expected a few different things - that he would scream once I was outside the gate, that he would try to stand up on the ride, or that he would somehow figure out how to undo his safety belt and fall. Thankfully none of these happened. One of the downs was attempting to spend time on the beach. JB did not want to put his bare feet in the sand, so it was difficult to get all of our gear to that perfect spot where we were close to the water, but far enough away from the boardwalk. I discovered that strollers don't maneuver very well in sand, so it was just one more thing to carry. That JB would not walk in the sand should not have surprised me since he had a similar reaction to walking barefoot on grass. When I attempted to get him to do this by holding him under his armpits and dangling him over the grass, he held his body very tightly in an "L" shape so that there was no danger of the green stuff touching his feet.

Another "up" was our trip to Seattle. He did surprisingly well on the airplane ride, and was really pretty good at the places we stayed. We mostly stayed with my dad, and I thought he would get into more things, but JB did minimal damage. It was also fun to see JB interact with my dad and my friends. He's very social now and can say things like "hi", "bye", and "wuba" (which loosely translated is "love ya"). I think the most fun I had was watching him interact with my dad's friends' 6 month-old girl. I was worried at first that he would be rough with her, but he only poked her in the eye once. I instructed him to "use nice hands" and to "give her a kiss", which he did. She was so enamored that she stared at him and leaned in for kisses periodically.

The major "down" of this summer has been the lack of sleep. Jellybean has been waking up at various times of the morning several times a week for the last 3 weeks. He has this horrible cry, and when I tried to let him "cry it out", it only escalated. The bad thing is that, depending on the time he wakes up (this morning it was 4:30), he may or may not go back to sleep. If he does return to sleep, it sometimes takes quite a while to get him to that point. I've had to be a detectivce since I have no idea why he's waking up, and he cannot verbalize enough to tell me. I've tried giving him yogurt before bed because his appetite has not been that great, I've tried changing his pajamas to make sure he's comfy, we've changed the temperatures in the house to make sure he's not too hot or cold. I have to concur with what H said - that really why he's waking up may be out of our control. I am just hoping to have some semblance of normal sleep return by the time I go back to work in late August.

Ending on a positive note, it seems like Jellybean learns new things every day. He has at least 20 words that he says, and is now just starting to combine two words. He is very active and curious about everything. His whining is starting to decrease as he is able to tell me more of what he wants. He is still so loving and sweet - at random moments JB comes over to lean his head on my shoulder and give me a slobbery kiss. When I'm playing with him, he will sometimes look at me and say "wuba". So even with the trials of sleep deprivation and pre-terrible-two behaviors, there are plenty of moments that I will cherish.

8 Comments:

Blogger Carrie said...

I agree w/ H -- he's just waking up because he's 19 months old. I know Pebbles had some crazy sleep patterns in her second year. The great news is that now she goes to bed between 8 and 9 and we don't hear a peep out of her until around 7:30 a.m.

6:13 PM  
Blogger Notta Wallflower said...

I hope there's a light at the end of the tunnel. It's harder because, for more than 6 months, he's had a normal sleep pattern. So I've gotten used to that, and then go to this waking up in the middle of the night. It makes me very cranky. Okay, I'm off to get some coffee.

6:33 AM  
Blogger tshsmom said...

I love toddlers! Everything is such an adventure to them as they discover their world.

I'm with H. The sleep problem will work itself out, hopefully sooner rather than later. It's always a relief when little ones learn enough words to tell you what's bothering them. Hang in there.

9:02 AM  
Blogger Notta Wallflower said...

Good to hear from you, TSHS. I was reading a bit of your blog last night before going to sleep. Lots going on for you - my thoughts are with you. Like you, I love seeing what JB is curious about. It's also fun to see how excited he gets about the smallest things. In some ways, when I'm not sleep deprived, I feel almost like a kid again.

9:12 AM  
Blogger S.M. Elliott said...

What a trooper, going on the big kid rides! I was terrified of those things...well, pretty much up to the present day. And I also don't like getting my feet dirty, so I can relate. ;D

9:04 PM  
Blogger tweetey30 said...

Wow is he growing so big... Thanks for the updates and I bet he just loves his daily adventures with you.. Both my girls were so good with babies and still are for that matter. Hope all is well otherwise.

3:02 PM  
Blogger Bert said...

Could he BE any cuter! And so brave and grown up, already!

5:12 PM  
Blogger Notta Wallflower said...

SME - since this post, he's branched out even more. It's fun to watch.

Tweety - I can't believe how fast he's growing and learning. Everything is going pretty well.

Bert - Just wait - you will get to experience this shortly. :-)

4:56 PM  

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