Grace and I went to visit him today. It was nice to see him hopping around on crutches. One thing about Sejin -- he always looks happy, no matter what is going on. I'm not sure how happy I would be in the hospital that long with a TV blaring all day and noisy roommates who, according to him, drink and smoke late into the night. Anyhow, he was happy to see us. Grace was well-behaved, as usual. She ate a whole cup of yogurt by herself while we were there, despite being fed before we left. She has a massive appetite. She can eat and eat and eat. I read on one of those baby developmental sites that at around this age babies may lose some interest in food because they are exploring their world -- not this one! I'm having trouble keeping up with her food prep and dishes, actually! The good news is that her chewing is getting better and better, and soon enough she'll be able to enjoy just about whatever I'm eating.
Other than that, I'm kept very busy during the day, keeping up with cooking, cleaning, laundry, caring for Grace, etc. I don't have very many spare moments to myself, except for this time after she's gone to sleep. Even then, I often can't stay awake very long to relish these moments. I've been going to be before 10 every night, which is really weird for me.
Speaking of sleep, I don't want to speak too soon, but I think we're making a bit of headway with the nursing at night situation. Lately I've been thinking a lot about night weaning Grace because she's getting me up far too often for a 12 month old. A lot of it is habit, and of course, we just had a major trip and she's in new surroundings. I'm probably going to start working again soon, so I really don't want to be a zombie anymore.
Anyway, yesterday Grace was flipping through one of her many books and she stopped and pointed at a picture of a girl sleeping. I said to her, "Yes, the girl is sleeping. Sleeping." She just looked at me like she understood, and kept going. So last night when she woke up the first time, I decided to try to talk to her. I'm often guilty of just picking her up right away. So, this time, I just gave her my hand and told her softly it's time to go back to sleep. After a few whimpers, she tried to go back to sleep. She tossed and turned for a few minutes with her eyes closed and eventually she fell asleep.
That encounter gave me hope that she won't be as hard to wean as I thought. Well, it will still be hard, but at least she understands what's going on and what she should do at night. It's also very exciting to know that she understands what I'm saying -- well, at least some of it. Sometimes I don't know what she's getting and what she's not. But she's probably got quite a little vocabulary stored up in there.
To end this post, a few cute things she's been doing... I let her listen to Sejin on the phone... since then, she holds my phone up to her ear, listening for someone. She goes "woof woof" when she sees a picture of a dog. She also likes to share her food with me. Today she thought it was hilarious while I was trying to juggle a couple of her blocks. 
3 comments:
I'm glad to hear that things are going well with you and Grace. I know it must be hard to be back and on your own. Thomas would wake to feed 2-3 times a night until he self-weaned at 13 months. I was sick and on antibiotics so we gave him a cup of organic plain yogurt to drink before bed instead of nursing. After just 3 days of this before bed and upon waking, he was sleeping through the night 12 hours straight! I had not intended to wean him but when I tried to re-introduce the breast, it was like he had completely forgotten what the breast was for!
Hopefully Grace will give you a smooth and easy transition as well! With her strong appetite(like Thomas!) she may be easily satisfied with a good drink before bed!
Definitely go and spend Christmas with your friend. The trip was rough and we were in business class. I fear the return! Will post details on the blog.
Hi!
I hope Sejin gets better soon. I haven't been keeping up on things and I don't know what happened to him. I guess he hurt his leg?
Kareem is understanding a lot more too, and it is fun trying to communicate with him. It is so cool that Grace understood what you said and went to sleep!!! She is sleeping better for you now, right? Lucky you and yay Grace!!
I'm trying to get Kareem to go to sleep in his cot now too, instead of in my arms. It is going okay as far as going down for naps and bedtime, but since we began he has been waking up for a couple of hours in the middle of the night nearly every night .... I had formulated a good plan for how I was going to go about it (sleep time routine) for the naps and bedtime but I don't have a consistent approach during the night -- to my (and his) sleep detriment, I think. It is hard. I try to get him to fall asleep again in the cot but it doesn't work so easily.
Christmas has passed so I hope you had a good day with or without your friend! Happy new year, too!!
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