Operation No Paci: Day 1

As I mentioned in my last post, we are attempting to take away the paci before Kyler's first birthday. Last night was our first night without the pacifier. It took me probably over an hour to get Kyler to sleep but then he slept through the night without even a peep. He did a lot of what I would call "fake sucking" as he was getting more and more tired and was definitely squirming around a lot. We rocked, then I tried putting him in bed and kept making him lay down, then we stood, then read a book and rocked, and tried all of these things multiple times. Finally he was really tired and I bounced him in my arms for a few minutes and he finally went to sleep, and stayed asleep when I laid him in his bed.

Today at daycare I told them we were going to take away the paci. They said that during the day he fusses and looks around for it when it isn't nap time. So they are going to give it to him only when he naps for now until I have him able to go down easily without it. (With several other babies to care for, they obviously can't spend an hour trying to get my one kid down.) They called me at work saying Kyler had a fever so I had to pick him up early. Even with the fever, they were able to limit the use of the paci to nap time only.

I was able to put him down for a nap this afternoon without it as well. This time it took a little less time, around 40 minutes. We tried reading books then rocking, laying in bed, standing and bouncing, and finally a bit more rocking did the trick. He was gumming his fingers a little but at least not sucking on them - I don't want to create a thumb sucker by taking it away which is why I have waited until now. I put him in bed when he wasn't yet sound asleep and he didn't even fuss.

Since Kyler's fever was this afternoon he won't be able to go back to daycare tomorrow so hopefully by Tuesday when he does go back he will be completely free of that darn paci. It will definitely test our patience as we are driving to and from Wichita for Easter and it might be a long car ride. Hopefully Grandma and Grandpa won't mind hearing a baby fuss while I try to get him to sleep without a paci over the weekend. Sorry Grandma and Grandpa - I guess I picked a bad weekend!

11 Months

At eleven months, Kyler...

can crawl really fast. Sometimes too fast.

pulls up to anything and everything with ease.

can reach a lot of things on tables - he's tall. He's also figured out to put his toys on the tables and then sometimes use them to beat on the table with.

can eat pretty much anything. We avoid things that are hard to chew such as steak and tortilla chips as well as some of the obvious choking hazards (whole grapes and hotdogs). And he has seven teeth that are pretty much completely in. There are 3-5 more on their way.

is becoming more of a picky eater, especially when it comes to veggies. He's a lot like his dad when it comes to eating.

has recently learned to drink from a straw. But usually it is just sippy cups that he drinks from. He always tilts his head back much further than necessary.

is wearing mostly 18 months clothes and even some 24 months. He is about to grow out of his size 3 shoes and we just started him in the size 4 disposable diapers (he's been in large cloth diapers for some time now).

loves to test me. He grins when I yell at him and tries it again. It takes a lot to get him to understand he's in trouble for real.

is being weaned from the paci (we have attempted this before). It took an hour to get him down to sleep tonight. We'll see if I have enough will power to keep it up. I would like it to be gone by his birthday.

is obsessed with stacking his food. He will make little piles of things. Although impolite, it is pretty cute.

has a ton of energy and gets bursts of energy. He can't sit still being held or in the car at those times.

is also obsessed with doors (especially cabinet doors) and drawers. He opens and shuts them but rarely gets into them. Once in a while he smashes a finger or hand.

has mastered going up and down the stairs but hasn't figured out how to start going down backward on his own. He tries head first but that only works when there is just one step down.

makes lots of different sounds but not words. He seems to imitate inflection and sounds sometimes but nothing recognizable (besides dada and mama). He also likes to have us imitate the sounds he makes (mostly with the different "ah" sounds).

is a huge flirt! He will find a stranger anywhere we are and smile or laugh at them. He gets a lot of attention that way.

loves his dogs and they actually try to get attention from him and play with him. His favorite thing is to chase after them, trying to head butt them or take a toy if they have one.

is not really into watching TV. It used to keep him entertained for close to 20 minutes at a time but now he rarely has interest for more than a few minutes. We love that he can play and entertain himself and does not like TV much.

makes his mommy and daddy's days a little brighter. He can always cheer us up. :)

100th Post - Pulling Up

This is the 100th post on this blog. I sure have a lot to say about my little man, don't I? And here I thought I was slacking. In reality, you are all probably getting tired of hearing me brag on Kyler (a.k.a. the best baby in the whole world).

Look what Kyler figured out how to do.

(Excuse the pacifier, we pretty much only allow it at bed time. Hopefully even that will come to an end soon - probably after April 15th.)

This was taken probably about a week ago. Now he throws the paci on the floor once he stands up. He thinks it's pretty funny (and so do I).

He even pulled up to the door to see what his dad was working on outside. I see lots of falling and crying in our near future. But he sure is getting big... and he knows it, too!