(Mostly) All About Max

My intentions are to make this particular post about Max.

(As I'm sure you all understand: It's a bit easier to write about Zahra these days since she's a little more, well, everything a 5-year-old is and a 4-month-old is not. However, that doesn't mean that Max doesn't have a life of his own, it's just a lot more subtle.)

Above is a picture taken a few weeks ago, when I first pulled the Bumbo seat out of the box. It seems to be just the thing Max enjoys these days, since he's not big enough to sit up on his own. When he's content, it's the perfect thing to keep him upright as I try to do other things like fold laundry or load the dishwasher.

Poor little guy had kind of a rough weekend. He was much more fussy than usual and I think it was due to the immunizations he got on Friday. He's never cried much and is usually pretty agreeable with everything. But this weekend, he didn't want to be put down and if you were lucky enough to get him to fall asleep in your arms, he wouldn't have it when you tried to lay him down on the couch or in his crib. It took forever to get him to fall asleep last night but then I finally turned off the bedroom lights and swaddled him up in a receiving blanket and he was miraculously happy. I read the last half of a Junie B. Jones chapter book to Zahra as Max slept peacefully in his crib. (It makes me quite proud that Big Sister is enjoying listening to chapter books at age 5. They have a few pictures but not many. I think it's great that she has such a wonderful attention span to listen to chapter books at her age.)

The other day, right after I'd changed Max's diaper, I discovered something new and incredibly addictive. Max's laughter. I started playing little piggies with his toes and started tickling him under the arms and near his neck. Not only did Max giggle, but he outright laughed uncontrollably. It was the cutest little thing to listen to, so I kept doing it over and over again so Willie and Zahra could hear. Then after a little while, the novelty had worn off, for Max anyway, because he didn't seem so enthusiastic any more. I certainly wasn't done listening to him laugh, but I realized that he wasn't enjoying it any more, so I stopped.

Max can hold his own weight on those chubby little legs of his now, if you hold his hands or torso to steady him. My mom says he looks like a little sumo, which, at this point in babyhood, he does. He also can lift his head up when he's given tummy time. He doesn't like being down on his tummy, the same way his big sister, didn't like it. He seems to take a little longer than she did before he gets upset that he's been put on the blanket on the floor. Zahra was immediately angry about being put in that position whereas Max seems to try to deal with it for a few minutes before he realizes it's not something he likes.

For the most part, you could say that Max sleeps through the night now. I just finished reading a book called The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley (http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/). She says that the medical definition of sleeping through the night is when babies sleep for at least 5 hours in a row, which Max does most nights. He's usually asleep by maybe 8:30, and usually doesn't wake up to nurse until about 3:30 or 4 AM.

In The No-Cry Sleep Solution, the author has many suggestions for getting babies to sleep through the night. I'd seen excerpts from the book and author quoted in many different articles in various parenting magazines and online sources -- and I happened to stumble upon the book itself while I was at the Huntington Beach Public Library the other day. I decided to check it out and it was a quick and interesting read. Although I'm not having trouble with Max, it was still interesting enough to hear her different suggestions. I'm even thinking about giving it as a shower gift to one of my friends who's having a baby this June.

One of the most interesting things I learned from the book was about sleep cycles and how it's normal for all of us to wake up repeatedly throughout the night. Whereas you and I don't realize we're waking up and falling right back asleep, babies might get more startled and wonder where they are when they briefly wake up. The author used this analogy: Imagine you fall asleep in your bed. You are comfortable with pillows and blankets. You awaken in the middle of the night only to find yourself on the cold, hard kitchen floor, lying there with no pillows or blankets. Babies are the same way when they fall asleep in your arms or at the breast. They awaken to find themselves in a crib, all alone, wondering, "What happened? I want to be right back where I was when I fell asleep, warm and cuddly in my mom's arms!" So I have been trying to be more sympathetic to Max's needs when he wakes up in the middle of the night. I have always been quick to respond to his stirrings and it is very rare that he actually has to cry to wake me up. Usually I'm able to awaken before he even cries (mother's intuition is quite fascinating and truly amazing to me). But I am extremely grateful that gone are those nights when he would wake up every hour or two to nurse!

Here is another picture of Max, sleeping soundly in his little Bumbo chair. (I left him there only long enough to take a picture because his neck looked so uncomfortable! But I think he actually liked it because he got very upset when I moved him to the couch to finish his nap.) Sleep tight, little guy.