Sleeping

The good news is we discovered that Ian can put himself to sleep. (Too bad we didn't discover that 4 months and thousands of rocking/bouncing/ssshhhhing sessions ago.) It is really satisfying to swaddle him, give his bed a couple rocks, and then sneak out before he is even asleep. And he really seems to PREFER it to us rocking him -- he actually falls asleep much faster most times. And I suddenly have a lot more spare time.

Bad news is he thinks 5:00 a.m. is an appropriate time to "Rise and Shout." Hopefully this is just lagged time zone adjusting from our CA trip, and it will work itself out shortly.

Rrrraarrrr!

I am so tough, I eat raw elephant for breakfast!

Visual Development

When I found out Ian can now see color, I became concerned that his world was too bland. (He doesn't have any brightly colored toys yet). So I made this poster for him out of construction paper. The first time I set him in front of it, he quietly gazed at it for more than 40 minutes. Whenever he gets bored with it, I only have to turn it clock-wise to gain a few more minutes attention.

Rise and Shout Little Cougar!

Lately, Ian seems to think that when I am changing his clothes, I am actually playing a game with him. When I pull his arms out of his sleeves, he hunches his shoulders and laughs histerically. He then makes a fist and sucks on the cuff.

I like to pretend the bears on his jammies are actually Cosmo, the BYU Cougar mascot.

Scott and I sing the Cougar Fight Song to Ian A LOT. Ian loves to do "Ra, Ra, RA RA RA! Gooooooo Cougars!" And we sing it to him so much that I end up with the song running through my head most days. In fact, last night I dreamed I was at a sporting event, the US flag was raised, and we all placed our hands over our hearts and sang the Cougar Fight Song. A little irreverent, huh?

Ian is such a happy little guy from the moment he wakes up. And thanks to baby sleep expert Dr. Weissbluth, I am usually happy when Ian wakes up too. He is sleeping much more these days, and true to the book is much more "charming, social, and attentive to the world around him."