Beach & more: What we've been up to this summer

This summer has felt too busy already! Suffice to say this blog has suffered. Sorry to all our loyal readers, but who wants to sit indoors at a computer during the only two warm-weather months of the year??

That said, it has been unseasonably cold and even rainy. Our June-bearing strawberries didn't merit a first harvest until July, and who knows if our tomatoes will ripen?

But we've gotten to the beach on many, many lovely days. It's such a joy to be past the sand-eating, sand-throwing stage Soren was in last year. He even willingly wears his sunglasses now.


And we occasionally use the rubber raft we acquired at a garage sale. It's just big enough for me and Soren. He's not quite adept enough to row yet, but just wait!

One new commitment I made this summer was to run a toddler story hour at our Maritime Center -- every Thursday in July and August. Well, the first three Thursdays of "Sea Squirts Storytime" were cold and rainy, which no doubt helped boost attendance. We've had a fun time of it, with our first session focused on the cruising pet "Salty Dog" (a book series by Ted & Gloria Rand), the next on lighthouses ("The Lighthouse Cat" and "Comet's Nine Lives"), the next on fishing (Robert McCloskey's "Burt Dow, Deepwater Man"), and the most recent on competitive rowing ("My Mommy Rows"). Here's a photo of Soren and friend from the fishing Thursday, when the kids tried on foul weather gear sized adult XS!

For a silly publicity photo of me, see the poster created to promote "Sea Squirts."

Now kids come up to me saying "Ahoy, Shipshape Shelly!" Volunteering to do this kids' program has awakened the teacher in me. And reminded me to practice my sailor's instruments: the pennywhistle and the bones. Both have made appearances at story hour. I even sang "The Eddystone Light" -- the non-racy version, of course, where the lighthouse keeper marries the mermaid.

Soren and I have been biking all over town with our handy-dandy bike trailer, and trying to attend every Free Friday Concert at Fort Worden associated with Centrum's summer festivals. One time Soren fell asleep on the way home, so I unhitched the trailer, propped it back against our driveway retaining wall, and let him sleep.
I'll close with a pic of Jeff and Soren. They really are two peas in a pod, my goofy boys. Look how long Soren is growing! Jeff estimates he'll match my height by age 9. Probably.

Graduating to the Big-Boy Bed

Drum roll please... Introducing our BIG BOY!

(And doesn't he look it, in his new shades?)

The breaking news is that Soren slept in his big-boy bed last night for the first time -- with no diaper on and the potty chair standing by, but he didn't get up to use it, and the bed was dry in the a.m.!!!

He is really proud of himself. We'll see how Night #2 goes... :-)

Moving the toddler bed up from basement storage was an impromptu decision made late last night when Soren refused to put a diaper on when getting dressed in his jammies. "I'm a big boy; I don't wear diapers anymore," he argued, quite rationally. (He's been fully day-potty-trained since early March.) When I asked (rhetorically) what he intended to do if he had to pee in the middle of the night, he hesitated only a second before replying, "I would call: 'Mo-o-o-ommy, Da-a-a-addy'" (his usual wake-up call from the confines of his crib).

"Um, that doesn't work for me," I told him. "You can't wake us up if you have to pee."

Which logically led to trying out the bed, something Jeff and I had been putting off as long as we could. Except for the nighttime pottying issue, it's so CONVENIENT that he can't climb out of his crib. It has a crib tent over the top and we still use it occasionally for out-of-control time outs. That option is probably defunct now...

Since we haven't disassembled the crib yet, the cute white frame toddler bed is sitting next to it right now, making for a tight squeeze in the L-shaped loft. The hastily made-up rules are:
1) Soren can't climb out of the bed once we say "good night" until morning (we're trying to enforce that this means 7 a.m.);
2) he doesn't have to empty the potty pot if he goes in it;
3) releatedly, he shouldn't climb down the loft ladder in the middle of the night (too dangerous).

When he woke up this morning, he proudly told us, "I followed the rules!"

I fully expected to be awakened by him either needing assistance to use the potty chair, or crying in a wet bed, but he didn't make a peep all night long, and slept 11 hours to boot -- 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.

This SORT OF makes up for all the sleep interruptions of the previous 2-3/4 years (!).

OK, since I haven't posted in so long, here are a few cute pix from the month of May:

Soren and friend Django enjoying popsicles today during a rare sunbreak. Note how refreshed Soren looks from his first night's sleep in the big-boy bed!

Father and son, the likeness becoming more and more apparent.

And he may be our big boy, but he's not too big for a bath in the laundry sink yet!

Sleep! While the grass is growing...

How could I have forgotten Good Reason #7 in my previous post?

7. Sleep. Still not getting enough of it.

When Soren hit the 19-month mark one month ago, he started sleeping all night long (with no wake-ups that require parental assistance between his bedtime and a reasonable morning hour, such as 6 a.m.) -- now, before you start cheering, read on -- about every third night. We're not there yet! Two nights ago he was inexplicably wide awake for 2-1/2 hours in the dead middle of the night, 1:30-4 a.m. Jeff and I took shifts.

Anyway, I've vowed to get to bed earlier whenever possible, and that means starting my bedtime routine shortly after I've led Soren through his. And that's been getting later and later (with the Daylight Savings Time shift and now the daylight lingering longer), until now he doesn't fall asleep until between 8 and 9 p.m. Farewell to evenings to myself and taking time for blogging. But then, like tonight, I'll give myself permission to "stay up." The house is silent, just me and my humming computer and a cup of chamomile tea. Aaaah. (Yawn.)

I'll sign off with an update on the new crop of backyard grass. To the photo of bare dirt in the last post that was taken March 21, I add these shot today, April 29. The grass seed was sown just about a month ago.
Jeff and Soren used our push-mower to give the tallest blades a quick mow this evening. It's looking great!

P.S. Blogger tells me this is post #101 since I started this blog less than two years ago. Incredibly, that averages out to about one post a week, so I guess I'm meeting my weekly blogging goal after all!

Soren's growing so fast -- and sleeping more, finally

I am thrilled to report that Soren broke all nighttime sleeping records last night and was out cold for 11.25 hours!! From 7:15 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. No wake-ups that we could hear from the next room (i.e., no crying -- I'm sure he woke up, but he put himself back to sleep).

Wow. I really didn't believe he had it in him. This gives us such hope for a normal life again!

I'll spare you most of the gory details, but in addition to not nursing him back to sleep if he wakes at night (see July 9 post), for the last two nights we've allowed Soren to practice his self-soothing skills by crying himself to sleep. This is as opposed to one of his parents holding/rocking/walking him until sleep descends. He seems to be ready for this challenge. Last night he made protest noises for only 30 minutes before zonking out for that marathon sleep. (Not that it's all roses -- for the past two days he has been resisting his daytime naps, which actually means cranky crying of a different sort.)

Anyway, this is all making me think that very soon our little baby will be a toddler, like our friend Evie (below, with Soren at my birthday party last month).

Here's another happy photo from our backyard potluck. That's former Adventuress shipmate (i.e., longtime friend) Rosie at left and sis Jill at right.

And after some delicious food, we moved inside for a music jam. Among the talented musicians in attendance were Theresa and Gabriel, singing a Chilean song that Soren rocked out to with his maraca.

Ah, so soon he'll be dancing on his own two feet...and then giving me grief for not letting him sleep till noon on the weekends! They really grow up so fast.

Some of Soren's firsts

First 8-Hour Sleep: Yippeee!!! Last night Soren slept 8 hours without waking for the first time in his life -- which is fairly dramatic even though he is only 10.5 months old, because guess who else has also not gotten to sleep a solid 8 hours in that same time period...?

One week ago we had to transition him from his baby hammock to a crib (OK, a pack 'n' play) because he was wanting to roll over and sleep on his side or belly, and that just doesn't work so well on a concave surface. That newness, coupled with his great mental and physical excitement over learning to walk (see below) meant he was not sleeping soundly at all. A helpful discussion at a mom's support group convinced me we had to make a change in our nighttime routine, and to make a long saga short, last night was the first night I refused to nurse him back to sleep at his first waking, 1.5 hours after he first went to bed. Boy, he was not happy about this turn of events, and wailed and arched his back and scratched my face -- but I held firm and just held and rocked him back to sleep. It took two tries of laying him down in his crib (he woke up the first time, and we had to repeat the whole process), but then he amazed us and slept without a peep from 10:45 p.m. to 6:45 a.m. OK, I didn't sleep soundly the whole time, because I would wake up and wonder why he wasn't waking, but I restrained myself from checking on him. So we'll see what tonight brings... I'm not counting on another 8 hours, but anything more than the 2-4 hour stretches he's been sleeping would be much appreciated!

First Potty: I mentioned in an earlier post that we've started incorporating the practices of "Elimination Communication" (a.k.a. Diaper-Free). If you want to know more, here's a helpful link. Again, to make a long saga short, after some early success in teaching Soren to pee standing up in the "bathtub urinal" (!), we ordered a Baby Bjorn Little Potty chair and a separate toilet-seat reducer of the same brand. The day after the potty chair arrived, he sat and peed in it (see photos here), and the day after that, he sat and pooped in it (this was when he was 9.5 months old). I was super excited about that, but alas, that feat has not been repeated. However, Soren is getting diligent about pooping standing up and then not sitting down until I have changed him, which helps keep the mess to a minimum. Just this week, he peed while sitting on the toilet seat reducer for the first time. The whole experience has put me much more in tune with his elimination schedule and needs, and while Soren still wears diapers most of the day, I am using about half as many disposables as I did before we started "EC." We use more cloth, since it allows him to feel wet, and he also gets quite a bit of bare-bum time, outdoors and on our tile floor. As you can see below, Soren is just as excited about moving toward diaper freedom as I am. (Yes, there's pee in that potty!)
First Strawberry: OK, strawberries are potential allergens, but as Soren has shown no food sensitivities to date, we couldn't come up with a compelling reason not to share the jeweled bounty of our June-bearing strawberry patch. They're heaven bundled into a berry. Soren loves them.

First Steps: Soren's birthday present to me on June 22 was to take his first steps unassisted: about three tottering paces from Jeff's arms to a chair. He occasionally practices steps here and there, but mostly is getting faster and faster at sidestepping as he "cruises" around our house. First he had to hold on to built-in furniture, then he progressed to movable furniture that might slide around, and now he just supports himself on the walls or cabinets, so he can go all the way around a room. Yep, he's pretty pleased with himself.
Too much to tell here: there's also Soren's First Stair Climb, First High Five, First Bubble Blowing...

Soren bouncing on the bed

Er, make that bouncing in the bed. Here's a short video (25 seconds) shot on May 22, of Soren amusing himself just after waking up from a nice nap in his hammock bed. That, and letting me know he's ready to be picked up!

Auntie Nora in Port Townsend

Auntie Nora has even lighter blue eyes than Soren!
She captured some really cute expressions -- boyish looks, not baby faces.
Snoozing on my back in the Ergo carrier.
"Cruising" along the cedar deck furniture, in his sun hat with the neck flap.
And in crawling position...video to come. He's finally mobile on his hands and one knee (!).

Tired and wrung out

I realize it's been nearly a month since my last post, and that's because our family has been slammed lately by illness coupled with job responsibilities. Or, to illustrate with photos of Soren, we've felt overly tired and wrung out (and ready for the dryer!).
Soren caught a cold about two weeks after our return from Tennessee, and Jeff caught it and then overworked at a weekend home show when he should have been resting and warding off further sickness, and got bronchitis. He took seriously his doctor's order to stay home for ONE WEEK. Although he worked some from home, he had to sleep a lot, and was not very available to help with Soren.

Jeff's bronchitis coincided with the final week's push on a contract job I'd committed to: producing an annual report for our local port district. I would have called in the afterguard (my parents!), but they were traveling out of state, so I pulled all the strings of my neighborhood childcare connections AND tried two new babysitters who came to our home. They were actually the first sitters I've PAID to watch Soren, and both worked out well, but neither have very many hours in their schedule to offer me in future... Good, affordable childcare is scarce around here. Probably is everywhere.
A bright spot was my good friend Barb in Anacortes responding to my plea for help. She took the ferry over to spend a day with us and was surrogate grandma for the day -- bless her!
While Soren had his cold and the obvious symptoms of coughing and runny nose (which of course he hated to have wiped), I had to isolate him from other babies, which made the whole situation harder. No playgroups or playdates, or shared childcare with other moms.
But thankfully Soren was all recovered by my first Mother's Day (and Jeff was well on the mend). Thankfully I didn't catch anything from the two of them. And thankfully my port project came to an end and my client loved the final product.

View a PDF of my eight-page publication by clicking on the link to the 2008-2009 Community Report here. And you can check out prior issues of the quarterly newsletter I've been creating since Summer 2008. Am I courageous or crazy to continue working with an infant? I'm still figuring that one out...

He's a towhead!

Sleeping...and wide awake!
We're overdue on an update from Soren-land, so here are five photos from the first half of the month of March showing off our cute-as-a-bug six-and-a-half-month-old. Please note that his hair is filling in nicely. When we can't see that brown freckle on his scalp (visible in top photo), we'll know his thatch is thick enough, but for now we're loving his white-blond wisps.
Ah, today is the official first day of spring, but we've had some lovely warm days in the past weeks (interspersed with hailstorms!). Here Soren sports his first shorts of the season and an adorable new sunhat.
His newest trick is sticking out his tongue when he wants to say hello, or just when he's happy.
And I am thrilled to be finally wearing him on my back. I waited until he was six months old to shift him from front to back, and it's opened up lots of new opportunities for my free hands. It's also a more comfortable way to tote around his nearly-20 pounds. This is our handy Ergo, my current carrier of choice, but alas it doesn't fit Jeff's frame.

Auntie Jill is visiting us right now during her spring break, so there'll be photos of her posted soon!

Soren's all hung up!

"How is he sleeping?" friends and even perfect strangers ask when they see our active, alert baby. Well, the answer is, "Much better, now that we're putting him to bed in a hammock!"

We actually have two hammocks strung up for Soren's sleeping pleasure, and it's been a little over two weeks that he's been testing them out. I will go so far as to say they have transformed our nights and quieted our days.

We started with an Amby hammock upstairs, next to our bed. It replaced a bassinet that required Soren to sleep on his back on a flat, firm surface, which all new parents know is the optimal positioning, but his "startle reflex" was so strong, he consistently flailed his limbs when laid down and woke himself up, sometimes with a swift BOP to his forehead! Yes, we tried swaddling, and that worked up until he was six weeks old, but then he protested and kicked his way out of his swaddle blankets, even when we knotted them. I tell you, there is nothing more disheartening than having a baby get mad and wake himself up in the middle of the night after you nurse him, change his diaper, and attempt to re-swaddle him... Then we tried laying Soren on his side and keeping him there with two foam wedges, but still the upright arm flailed unstoppably. He slept better, but only marginally so.

Finally I turned to the intriguing hammock bed that a friend of mine had for her preemie. After doing some web research, I concluded it was probably a good fit for our restless sleeper, but balked at the $240 price tag. So I put out a call on our local "PTBabies" listserve (an awesome networking tool) for one to borrow, try and possibly buy. Four people in the area responded (!), and we had one delivered a few days later, which we eventually bought for $100. I only wish we'd had it from the beginning.

The concept is that a hammock's curved and cozy sleep environment resembles the womb, and because it is attached to a spring, any movement on the part of the baby bounces the hammock and a twitch that might lead to waking on a flat surface actually jiggles the baby BACK to sleep. I've seen it, so I believe it! The Amby attaches to a movable stand, and after two weeks of locating it next to our bed (pictured), where I could reach out and bounce it myself in the middle of the night if I heard restless noises, this past weekend we moved it into the baby nook outside our CLOSED bedroom door. The first night I recalled what deep sleep really is. He slept a four-hour stretch and I was not disturbed by all his little night noises -- snuffles, chirps, sighs, etc.

I know there are as many sleeping arrangements as there are families, but our long-term goal is to have Soren sleeping in his own space and someday soon sleeping through the night. He slept in bed with just me (Jeff moved to a guest bed) for his first month, and for most of his second month he spent part of the night in either the bassinet or the carseat (that's where he first managed to sleep all night without me bringing him into bed to calm him) or the Amby hammock. He turned 12 weeks old before we moved his bed out of our bedroom (and got Jeff back in it!).

Now, for napping. We prefer to have Soren close at hand on our main floor during the day, so we'd been putting him down to nap in his carseat. At one point we even strung it up on ropes from a beam in our living room so we could swing him in it (I know, not in the manufacturer's recommendations!). The swing worked, but someone had to sit nearby and push it every so often to keep the motion going. About a week and a half ago, we introduced two new and improved napping tools: a Fisher Price side-to-side battery-operated swing (purchased used for $12) and another hammock bed that was given to us on a long-term loan by a family that responded to my PTBabies post. Soren loves both, and interestingly prefers the battery-operated swing for his morning nap and the hammock bed for his afternoon nap. He sleeps three-hour stretches during the day in the latter!

The downstairs hammock bed is called a Happy Hangup, and is made in Australia and costs about $130 US. It didn't come with a stand, but the website offers one -- and we have the beam in the living room that works great. I also have to say it adds to the aesthetics of our home in a way that the jury-rigged hanging carseat did not.

So, I could go on and on about sleep -- what we're all getting and what we're not -- but I think it's time for this post to come to an end. Yawn.