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February 28, 2003
Ahh, is it the end of February already? Where does the time go, and does this finally mean that winter will soon come to an end? Or at least this unhumanly cold weather we ahve been having lately. OUr winters are usually comprised of lots of snow, but mild weather. This winter there has still been lots of snow, but many of our days have also included bitterly cold winds and temperatures below -15 C. Now, I consider myself a trooper, and you can often find outdoors in all types of weather, but bringing my sweet little William out in winds that will leave red marks on your cheeks(I know because we did try once)is something I am not about to do. Now there have been a few milder days with no wind (those are bearable) where we have been able to venture out to shovel some snow, but this last week has found us for the most part cooped up in the house, with both of us getting antsey.
*poon, poon*
I am pleased to say that William has finally mastered the art of eating with a spoon. He has been on the right track to making the transition from fingers to spoon for a while now, but this week I have seem remarkable improvements in his abilities. He has even added a fork to his daily routine! Always the picky eater, WIlliam has even been refusing his old favourites of cut up ham, chicken, toast, cheerios, bananas, etc. In case you didn't notice a pattern here, William had been accustomed to eating finger foods, which is all he would do when he finally managed to put that first cheerio to his lips by himself probably about this same time last year. SO why then did it suprise me so much when he started to refuse to eat his once loved finger foods.
I was noticing that at breakfast time when served his usual baby oatmeal cereal that William wanted me to use my spoon less and less and that he was getting better and better at usuing his own spoon to manoevre the cereal into his mouth. (we each held a spoon, one for him to practice with and one for me, as I got the most food in there). THen he started asking for a spoon to eat other foods, where he would normally use his fingers. HE also seemed to be pointing at our forks during meal times (which he also calls poon), but I was reluctant to give him one as all I could visualize was damage to his pretty blue eyes. Last night, however, I gave in and let him try a fork. To my suprose he was spearing his food with the greatest of ease (which doesn't seem easy to me as I cut things up pretty small), as if he had been handling a fork for years. Again today he requested a poon to eat his cut up weiner (again very small pieces). My husband was truly amazed at WIlliam's new found skill, and remarked, "Who knew that our baby could have better table manners than most of your family!" Who would have guessed that by giving my picky eater a utensil he would start eating more (I hope this lasts).
*More sleep issues*
As I have already mentioned William has made the transition from bed to crib for going to sleep remarkably well. And his new sleep schedule looks like this: Put down at 8:30, wakes again at around 9:30, we then put him down in our bed and he falls back to sleep immediately. He stays asleep until about 5:00 (YIPPEE!!) or so, at which time he request, but is denied bop. I hold out until after 6:30, at which time if he wakes up I do give him some. He will then usually sleep until 8:00 or so int he morning.
He also goes to sleep well for his nap, but one problem is that his naps have gone from 2-3 hours in length to less than an hour, sometimes only 30 minutes. I have tried letting him cry for a while when he wakes up but I have read that if they are not back to sleep in 20 minutes then they aren't going to. I believe that he still needs a longer nap, but how do I encourage him to stay asleep longer? Pick him up as soon as he cries and put him in the bed (as we do at night), or really let him cry until he goes back to sleep (which I don;t think will work), or pick him up when he cries and not try to put him to sleep????
Well I think I have written more than enough for one week. I did want to address the issue of Williams increased dependance as of late, but maybe I will leave that for another time.
I would love to hear from anybody who has ideas on how to extend the length of a toddler's nap (if that is even possible). Ans if any of you have picky eaters I would love to hear the details!
Till next time,
Dawn
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