Simon declared this afternoon that he doesn't need to nap anymore. That was 30 minutes before he fell asleep snuggled in the covers of his bed.

In the past few months Simon's naps have gone from three-and-a-half or four hours starting at 1pm to two or two-and-a-half hours starting at 2 pm. Today he didn't need to nap until 3.

We wonder if, six months from now, there will be any nap left in him.

When he can make it through an afternoon and evening awake without hurling hard objects and/or food across the room, we'll know he is ready and reluctantly give up the parental down time naps provide.

Reluctantly.

Posted by kagledom at 05:09 PM | Permalink

Often, it may seem that we new parents make having a newborn sound rosy and perfect. OK, we really do think Simon is pretty perfect but, just in case you're thinking about running out and getting your own Simon, we feel the need to tell you about a few less-than-ideal Simon habits:

1. Simon will no longer take a pinky, he won't take a binky unless he is 98.5% asleep, and he is still not very good at getting his thumb. Simon must suck on something to get to sleep. Can you guess what the only other option available is? If you've guessed "Mom", A+ on the Simon test so far! This is pretty bad as it keeps Mom up many many hours when she isn't actually needed and, starting tomorrow, Matthew is likely to have trouble getting Simon to nap. We really do think he will have the thumb thing down soon but his hands are still pretty elusive things.

2. Simon nurses for between one and two hours every time he wakes up in the night. Right now he goes to sleep between 9 and 10 pm and is sleeping in three to four hour chunks. Hava wakes up for work at 6 am -- do the math to find out why this is not ideal.

3. Simon falls asleep while nursing. He doesn't burp when he is sleeping and putting him down without burping him causes him to spit up. Spitting up causes him to wake up. Waking him slightly to burp him gets him to burp but the burp wakes him up. This is why getting him down in the middle of the night often takes two hours.

4. Apparently, rolling over from back to front is rare for a two month old. It isn't odd for Simon at all once you know about his little personality. Simon is bored. He wants to move and he wants to move away from where ever he is. Put him on his stomach and he tries to crawl away (given some traction for his feet, he actually does scoot away). Here is a key to Simon's boredom time tolerance. Are you a new person? Add five minutes. Are you wearing an interesting, high contrast shirt? Add five minutes. Are you showing him something new? Add five minutes. Sitting down with Simon is nearly impossible for Mom and Dad because they don't often have any of the previous qualifications. Walking outside works well as long as we walk somewhere that we haven't walked before. In summary, keeping Simon entertained is a challenge.

5. Try as we might, toys are just not that interesting to our little Simon. Even his beloved bouncy chair with music and lights is now out of favor. The only two things Simon hasn't tired of is music (the Buffy the Vampire Musical CD is his ultimate favorite -- but you have to sing it -- and he hates "The Producers") and he loves being rolled over and over and over on the floor.

New things for Simon: he can blow raspberries in response to a blown raspberry (he's not very good at the lip movement but he makes the sound and blows the bubbles), he rubs his eyes when he is tired, and he says "hi". "Aye" is his favorite sound, we don't actually think he is meaning to say "hi" but it sounds a lot like "hi" which is pretty funny.

Posted by kagledom at 06:00 PM | Permalink

Breakthrough! Simon grabbed a toy this morning, yanked at it for a while, and put it in his mouth. Self entertainment is just around the corner.

During Simon's weekly outing with his friends at RLG, he proved that you don't have to be blonde or female to get a big grin -- he handed them out to everyone. Maybe he was in a good mood from the nearly six hours of sleep (in a row) last night. Of course everything comes at a price and the price for continued sleep was keeping Mom and Dad up until past midnight and finally only falling asleep in bed with them.

Posted by kagledom at 05:42 PM | Permalink

Simon is seven weeks old!

Simon and his parents had a sleepless night and Hava isn't feeling so hot. A real update will be added just as soon as we are fully functional.

Posted by kagledom at 05:33 PM | Permalink

More useful Simon lingo:
Visiting the Elephant - getting a diaper change (see nursery images for why)
Curdish Refugees - the little curds that constantly escape from Simon's mouth

Simon has only flashed his wide-mouthed gummy grin at two people besides mom and dad -- both were attractive women with longish blond hair. We wonder if this means anything. Today, Simon had lunch out with friends Mike and Cindi. Mike was particularly fascinating to look at; again with the long blondish hair thing.

In other news, Simon has made peace with the binkie and will occasionally give in to artificial non-pinky pacification. (He hasn't made any further strides on getting his thumb away from his fist -- almost as if he has given up hope.) Simon is getting really good at the standing thing; Dad thinks he will be standing before he can roll over.

Sleeping has been a little odd since Simon broke the five hour mark. He now falls asleep at 9 pm instead of 10:30 BUT he wakes up at 10 pm and won't fall asleep again until midnight. He then wakes up at 4:30 or 5 and can't fall asleep again until 7 by which time Hava and Matthew are awake.

Update from an earlier news story: Hava now actually enjoys nursing Simon. This happened about two weeks ago once it stopped hurting and he stopped eating constantly.

Posted by kagledom at 05:27 PM | Permalink

Simon slept for five hours and fifteen minutes in a row last night (11:30 pm to 4:45 am). More proof that he is, indeed, perfect.

On the unscientific adult scale, he weighs 11 lbs. and he is already too tall for all of his 0-3 month night clothes (but still too small for 3-6).

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

That face, that face
That marvelous face
I never should begin
Those cheeks, that neck, that chin
Will surely do me in. (Lyrics From The Producers)

Simon slept for 4 hours and 45 minutes in a row last night shattering all previous records. He then slept all morning and afternoon, waking up only for food. Perhaps it was developmental overload or exhaustion from meeting new people: Aunt Tonya, Cousins Amanda and Sarah, and, later, friends Paul and Michelline.

Posted by kagledom at 11:54 AM | Permalink

Simon found some hands at the mall and they turned out to be his.

Yesterday Hava and Matthew spent the entire day at the mall. They never used to go to malls but Hava needed new clothes because she is *cough* larger. Anyway, it turned out to be a great day. Simon and his future friend baby Martha were able to inspect each other and their parents were able to communicate in adult speak. At some point Simon realized that his hands are able to be controlled by his brain. Unfortunately, he is now more frustrated than ever since that darn thumb won't stick out from the fist. In the meantime, Simon continuously licks his fist in hopes that the thumb will come out and make itself useful. Maybe by next week he'll be a thumb sucker.

Simon's sleep schedule in the past two days hasn't been ideal. So un-ideal in fact that the nights are a bit too fuzzy to remember. There is always a three hour session and a two hour session; anything more is gravy.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Simon's social calendar has been heating up. Yesterday he spent the afternoon meeting Hava's coworkers at the RLG picnic and the evening before he spent time with Calvin, the older boy three doors down (older by two months). Can you guess what effect this has on Simon? Sleepiness. Of course everything seems to have that effect on Simon.

Last night's crib sleep schedule (and the night before too!): 10:30 - 2:45, 3:30 - 6.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Yesterday Simon was taken to his first movie, Spiderman, at a special showing for parents with babies. Simon slept through most of the movie and bounced on Hava's lap for the rest. Hava and Matthew have decided to keep Simon away from movies and TV for the first couple of years once he notices the screen. We'd like to see him interact with toys, the outdoors, and people rather than develop a glassy-eyed screen stare.

Simon has slept almost all day and all night for the past two days and we wonder if this is a sign of the impending six-week growth spurt.

Last night's sleep schedule: 10:00 - 1:00, 2:00 - 5:00, 5:30 - 6, 6:30 - 7. All crib sleep.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Simon is finally becoming a real boy and less like a love sponge. His diaper tabs are getting farther and farther apart (our indication that he is growing), and everyday he is a little more vocal, smiles back, and holds up his own head (most of the time). He clearly recognizes Hava and Matthew and watches them intently as they move in and out of his visual range.

Last night's sleep schedule: 10:30 - 1:00, 1:30 - 5:10, 5:45 - 7. All crib sleep. Matthew's pinky not required.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Things that Simon likes: the music and lights of the bouncy chair, having his face touched, staring at trellises, skylights, being rolled over and over and over, standing "on his own", being walked, swung, danced, giggled, and bounced, checks, stripes and plaids, music, being outside, noise, baths.

Things that Simon doesn't like: pacifiers, direct sunlight, being to hot, too cold, hungry, tired, or bored.

Last night's sleep schedule: 10:30 - 1:45, 2:30 - 5:45, 6:10 - 7. All crib sleep. Matthew's pinky used four times (all between 10:30 and 11).

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Last night Simon slept in the crib (11 pm - 2 am, 2:45 am - 6 am, 6:45 am - 8 am) and it was gooooood.

Credit for this sleeping magic is due to Matthew's pinky (used several times during the night), Hava's ability not to respond to fussing, and lullaby CDs Simon was given before his birth.

Why is this important? As his pediatrician mentioned, there is a scent that gets passed from mother to baby and/or from baby to mother which causes them to wake up and feed. Waking before he is really hungry means less sleep for both Hava and Simon.

It is also nice for Hava and Matthew to spend time without Simon -- even if they are asleep.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Shhhhh, the baby is sleeping.

Hava discovered something very important this morning. Simon doesn't like to sleep alone (this we all knew) so he will wake up and cry when he discovers he is alone (we knew this too) however, given less than five minutes of fussing and crying, he will fall back asleep on his own! In fact, he seems to still be asleep while fussing and crying *hmmmm*. We're still learning over here ...

From the second month photos, you can see how well the pacifier went over; we did get him to suck on one of them for almost an entire minute.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Simon spent his first entire day out yesterday at a friend's wedding. He slept the entire day (and still slept the entire night too!). This week's photos are of sleeping Simon; when he's not sleeping, he is usually eating or we are spending the few moments he is alert and not hungry to play with him (instead of taking photos).

This week Simon noticed his Mom's fingers and very briefly seemed to care about his own. He also spent some time actually playing in the baby gym (as opposed to sleeping).

We haven't put Simon in the crib yet because he is too cute to banish to another room. The bassinet is getting another chance.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Because Simon is now almost an entire month old, we are attempting to prepare him to be on a schedule; a walk, bath time, story time, feeding time, and then sleep. The grand plan is complicated by the fact that Simon typically falls asleep for the night around 11:30 or midnight and the schedule has him attempting to sleep around 8 pm.

If getting him to go to sleep at 8 pm weren't challenging enough, Simon hasn't slept alone for nearly a week. Simon thinks the bassinet is great for about 30 minutes a day during which time he loves to watch the bear mobile go 'round and 'round and study the check pattern of the material, alas, he will no longer sleep in it. We can wait until he is completely out and he will awaken within moments of being placed down. On the other hand, when placed next to Hava in bed, he sleeps deeply, soundly, and makes Hava proud that she suffered through eating fish high in Omega 3's once a week in the third trimester. Unfortunately, though it is painful for all of us, Simon needs to learn to sleep on his own or we will all suffer later when he has to be broken of the habit.

This is being written in Simon's room next to his crib in which he is sleeping for the very first time. It isn't night time so this is just an experimental nap and he had to be placed in the crib while still on the boppy pillow which was removed from him after 20 minutes but he is definitely, totally asleep on his back, without pillows and without his mom (one hour and counting). Now we need to make this happen tonight and tomorrow and forever after.

Less sleep now means more sleep later, right?

(Silently repeat after me: this is only a phase, this is only a phase, this is only a phase ...)

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

A few days ago we wondered: "what will happen if we place the Simonizer face down?" We tried it. He rolled over to his back. We tried it again. He rolled over again. And again, and again, and then he got tired and did push-ups instead.

Other silly Simon tricks: he has the Elvis one-sided smile down (only while sleeping), night-time squeaks occasionally turn into chuckles (also while sleeping), and he is getting mighty good at grabbing and sticking his hands in his mouth (but only when it is really inconvenient, like while trying to feed him).

Last night was the first night Simon went to sleep before 1 or 2 am. We are hoping that last night's 10:30 pm bedtime will become routine. Maybe he is starting to appreciate the difference between night and day? In any case, it was very appreciated. Thank you Simon.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Last night was bodily fluid night. Hava laid Simon down next to her in the bed for a while after feeding him and he wet the bed, had a poopy diaper, spit up, oozed mucus out of the eye with a clogged tear duct, and bled a little when he lost his umbilical cord stump. To celebrate the night of bodily fluids (and the new belly button), Simon was given his first official bath this morning. Luckily, Simon saw this as a good thing.

Relatively new things for Simon: he turns over onto one side and rolls back (usually to look at something or be chest-to-chest with Mom or Dad), he squeaks while he sleeps, he smiles quite often (but it looks like he is still practicing at this point), and he can grab and pull Dad's glasses from his face.

He is allowed to sleep one four hour stretch every night before Hava must wake him up to feed him. After about an hour of feeding, he goes back to sleep for another three hours (he only eats for 40 minutes -- the other 20 are spent trying to keep him awake). Seven hours of sleep is really really nice so we shouldn't complain but it would be even nicer if Simon wanted to start the seven hours before 1 am.

Posted by kagledom at 12:00 AM | Permalink