Wonder Week 19

I first heard about the Wonder Weeks from my friends when they were going through Wonder Week 19 with their daughter back in June. At that time Callan was only about a month old so I filed that info in the back of my mind and continued on. Then a few days ago I complained about how Callan had been fussy for the past week or so and then something in my head clicked. I pulled out the calendar and realized, hey, Callan is about 19 weeks old... time to pull out that book! I missed the other wonder weeks, but I read the chapter on week 19 and realized that Callan's behavior fit into the mold.

The premise of the book is that in the first 14 months of a baby's life there are 8 major developmental milestones and mental leaps that are made. These are classified as "wonder weeks" and are generally marked by a fussy period or period of time where the baby's behavior differs as they are trying to figure out the world around them. Some of the behaviors Callan exhibited including waking up at night after sleeping through for weeks and the extra attention he needed were all signs mentioned in the book. Wonder Week 19 is called the world of events and this is when a baby realizes that actions are not individual and are part of larger "events". I'm probably butchering the explanation, but it is worth a read. I missed the first 3 wonder weeks, but I'll be sure to read to prepare for the next wonder week (at week 26 -and someone remind me of this in case I forget and start to complain about his behavior). 

According to the book, once that mental leap is made, the baby goes back to exhibiting their normal behavior. I'm happy to report that I think we're done. Callan is back to sleeping through the night and back to his laid back, less fussy attention demanding ways.  He's also made some physical jumps and has become a master roller and quite tactile with his toys -- so all that work paid off and wonder week 19 is done.

Callan sitting up in his Mr. Rogers sweater.

20 weeks (already?!?)

Today you are 20 weeks old (I actually had to count on the calendar to figure that out)! When I was pregnant, 20 weeks was a huge milestone because that meant I was halfway through the pregnancy... Now you're 20 weeks old, which means that 40 weeks ago we had the anatomy scan and found out that you were a BOY! Wow how time flies. The last 20 weeks have been pretty amazing and you are turning out to be quite the little boy.



Here you are dressed for fall on a walk with Adelia... where did my smooshy little infant go?

Look who found his feet...

All the work has finally paid off... 18 weeks and the feet are in the mouth!

Fuss bucket

Over the past few days we've noticed a change in Callan that I'm hoping is just a passing phase. He has started to become a little bit needier and wants more attention. Where he previously was able to entertain himself and play for a bit by himself, he now will start to cry when he notices he's alone. However, once you go over there to see what is wrong, the waterworks shut off and he's all full of smiles and sometimes even laughs at you. I can't figure out if he's learning to manipulate us with the crying or if he's just so used to having someone around that now when he's figured out he's by himself, he's lonely.

In addition to this new trait, he's also stopped sleeping through the night. Well technically since sleeping through the night is defined as 6+ hours of uninterrupted sleep, he's technically still doing it, but he used to go down at 8:30pm and sleep until 7am. However, over the past month he's started waking up to eat around 2. I assumed that this was just another phase and perhaps a byproduct of not eating as much from a bottle during the day, but he's gotten much more proficient at the bottle and he's still waking up to eat. Last night he got up twice and was unwilling to go back to sleep right away. I wonder if his teeth are hurting as he's started pulling on his left ear a bunch and the level of drool has increased as has the gnawing on anything he can get in his mouth. I'm happy to snuggle, but I have gotten used to a full uninterrupted night of sleep. When do you think I'll get that back? Am I even allowed to complain about this?

It's a good thing these "fussy" periods are short lived and the rest of the time he's his normal happy self because those times are much more fun.

Mini reunion

This past weekend was full of excitement as 3 of my best friends from university college (I have to use the colloquial term college even though to all of them it was university) came to visit . Anyway, this was the first time I had seen them since Kevin's wedding last September. As much as things have changed, things have remained the same. The obvious difference was that Callan tagged along to most of our events, but even with all the time and distance that seperates us, we can get back together for the weekend and pick up on the same jokes and fall back into an easy banter that is as comfortable as your favorite sweatshirt. It was the first time that 2 of them had been to Chicago so we tried to do as much of the touristy things as possible without going overboard on all the sightseeing. Of course part of our weekend revolved around the Chicago night life and again, I ask myself, when will I learn? I asked myself this same question last June and shockingly since then, I have not gotten any younger... and I can stay out until 4 am, but I can't be counted on to function too well the following day. It doesn't help that I don't have the luxury of sleeping in past 10 am like some of the others on the trip did.

Anyway, we had a good time and we realized that we need to do this every year no matter where we are. And it'll be interesting to see how the group expands as people get married and have kids. So for the rest of the McGill crew, be warned. We're doing this again next year in Montreal (to celebrate 10 years! Yikes, when did we get old) and we expect you to attend!

The crew on the water taxi on our way to China town.

Seriously, boys with babies. How cute?!?

This picture was taken after I finally got a seat on the bus. As an fyi to all of you, if you see a lady (or man) holding a baby on the bus, you should offer them your seat. We got on to a fairly crowded bus so we folded up our stroller and took Callan out. But all the seats were taken so I was stuck standing holding on while also holding Callan. It's a good thing he's such a chill baby... otherwise it could have been a disaster.

Happy Friday!

Seriously, this kid makes me smile.