Jacob is now sitting up completely on his own, although one of us needs to be nearby to catch him when he inevitably tips over. Since he is becoming a master at sitting up, he now gets to ride in the grocery cart instead of staying in his car seat at the store and sit in highchairs at restaurants. This is also much easier for me, since his carseat was very heavy to carry with him inside of it! Although Jacob is not crawling, he is starting to make progress towards that milestone. When he's lying down he can now kick or wiggle his body into different directions, and sometimes when he's on his tummy he'll tuck his knees under as if he wants to propel forward to crawl. He also reaches for things when he's on his tummy. I'm hoping that over this next month we'll see him starting to really make some more progress towards actually moving forwards or backwards. Jacob also continues to make lots of sounds and babbles a lot, so we're hoping he'll say his first word soon. I keep practicing "Momma" and "Dada" with him to encourage this.
Jacob has now been eating solid foods for just over a month now, and he is doing great! I am so glad we waited to start him on solids, because I really think that contributed to how well he's doing. He has loved every single thing he's tried so far: sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, carrots, squash (mixed w/bananas), pears, peas (mixed w/carrots), and yogurt. I started out just giving him one serving a day and have now increased to three "meals" most days because he loves it so much! I also now give him about 2 servings (2 ice cubes worth of food) at each meal, and he will eat it all up. I always show him the empty bowl, so he knows it all gone. This always puts a little smile on his face like he's proud of himself. I need to take a new video of him being fed, because he will make noises in between bites as though he's saying, "Hurry Mommy, give me more now!" He also loves to grab the spoon and suck on it or smack it on his highchair.
Sleep continues to be a battle for us. The fact that Jacob is working on more teeth is not helping the matter, either. We have completely gotten rid of the swaddle and are only putting him in his crib to sleep at night. This was a really rough transition at first, but he now seems to accept it. On a good night he will only wake up twice, but unfortunately we have had more of the bad nights due to teething pains or just getting used to this new sleeping arrangement. One positive is that a few nights I have been able to get him to fall asleep either on his own or by standing there rubbing his belly while his sleep sheep plays white noise. I'm hoping that eventually he'll fall asleep this way instead of relying on nursing to help him fall asleep. I am also working on getting him into his crib for naps, which has been even more difficult than breaking the swaddle. I got into the bad habit of holding him at naptime, and now he either wakes up as soon as I move or as soon I set him in the crib. Hopefully we'll make progress this month, and maybe when these new teeth come in that will help make a difference.
This month Jacob likes: nursing, bathtime, splashing, chewing/sucking on anything, eating, playing with his spoon, getting tickles and kisses (especially from Daddy!), kicking his feet, bouncing in his jumparoo, grabbing his toes
Jacob doesn't like: getting dressed after bathtime, being left alone in his crib, being on his tummy for a long time, getting cleaned off after eating, being put in his highchair
Spending time with his cousins, Canyon and Asher
Mmmm, yogurt!
Such a happy boy!
