Claire - 4 Months - Week 2

As you may know from previous posts, we have been working on our naps. This has been an incredibly frustrating process. At the end of this week, I decided to just give in to it. If sleeping in her swing makes her happy and less miserable, so be it because it'll make us all happy and less miserable so for some of her naps she'll be in her swing. Claire has missed a lot of play opportunities chasing these naps around and I just don't think that is fair. Here is a synopsis of her nap "issues:" They only last through one sleep cycle so 40 minutes. She may or may not be able to start the second half of her nap right after the first. Sometimes we have a 30-60 minute nap intermission where we change her diaper and play. Sometimes that second half of the nap is very hard to get no matter how much she wants it. She opens her eyes if I scratch my head or she hears any minor noises. In this situation, laying her down in her crib is next to impossible because she immediately wakes up and I can not get her back to sleep unless I rock her. I may make three or four attempts to lay her down in her crib before we just give up. At that point, we have spent probably an hour or more to get settled. Laying her in her swing is easier during these times because the swing will soothe her back to sleep. I am too much of a marshmallow to let her cry it out. Besides, this to me is just a developmental issue and I think it'll work itself out over time.

Enough about naps! Here are some more fun developments:

• Claire has developed some very cute mannerisms while eating. If she is eating and her left hand is free, she likes to rub or scratch her head. I have to hold it down, though, because she has cradle cap and the scratching makes her head bleed. If her right hand is loose, she tries to suck her thumb while eating. What a talent!

• Claire has also gotten very adept at taking her pacifier out of her mouth and she's been able to get it back in on a few occasions.

• We have always sung silly songs with her but lately I've been trying to have song time several times a day. I sing songs while moving her arms and legs around and she loves it and starts to laugh. Too much fun!

• She really loves her jumperoo now. She'll stay in it for 20 minutes or more.

• Tim and I read that we should start letting her smell different things so I decided to let her smell my banana the other day. This was one hour before she was due to eat. After letting her smell the banana, she got fussy and demanded to be fed. I guess she'll enjoy bananas when it is time for solids!

On the teething front, Claire stopped experiencing teething problems after we got back from our trip to Fairhope. She had been less clingy and happier but the teething monster came back this weekend. Poor baby!

Here are some pictures from this week:

Ready to go get her picture taken!

Worn out!

Loving the jumperoo!

She played so hard so kicked her leg out of her pj's.

Tim and I actually got to eat a meal at the same time and at the table this week while Claire slept in her swing. On another day, we also got to watch an entire movie uninterrupted since she went to bed early.