music together

Our ukulele has arrived and Graham loves it!!!! I have a feeling he could play with it for hours, but we'll need a calmer day at home w/o plans to see if that's true. He bangs on it, strums it, cuddles with it and picks it up as if he's going to sit indian style and jam. I'm so happy we got it, especially since I almost settled for a cheap, fake children's guitar! He woke up very early and still very sleepy. By 730a, he was yawning and his eyes were closing. I tried to put him down but it was another hour of hell. Against my own will, I grit my teeth and rocked him to sleep. He was screaming his head off in his crib for a few minutes and I was ready to give up. I ran down to get the sonos speaker from the office and put it in his room. I played all the songs I know he loves and it did calm him for a few minutes, but the effect wore off fast. When I went to get him, he kept screaming when normally, he would have calmed down immediately. I could tell something was wrong and bothering him. He didn't feel warm to me, but knew he needed this sleep that he unintentionally was fighting. I cradled him in my arms with the sonos speaker playing softly in his room. I'd hoped the music would help him sleep so I wouldn't have to go in. Once he was asleep, I contemplated holding him, but knew that would be even worse route. I set him down gently on his back, he let out one single cry and was fast asleep. Usually he goes down on his tummy, but I wanted to move him as little as possible. A plumber was supposed to come, but I decided to get as much sleep as possible til the bell rang. So glad I did, because he never came! Graham woke up after an hour and I brought him to bed to nurse. He unexpectedly fell asleep with me for another hour. He (and I) woke up so happy as if the struggle this morning never happened.





We had a very late breakfast together and let poor Charlie Bear out for the first time since last night. Time flew and he had so much fun in his room, squealing, pulling up on everything and playing with everything around him. He was off in his own world and having a blast. We went downstairs while I tried to resolve the battle of lack of space that only a compulsive picture taker would have. It's frustrating how many photos and videos I have to take! I lost track of time, like always, and had to rush to get us ready for his first music class of the spring session.

For the past week or so, he finds it very amusing when I brush my teeth! The smallest things make him happy and l love how simple life can be, even to find the humor in such a mundane thoughtless daily task like that. Surprisingly and luckily, we made it to class in time, before it started. I was so surprised to see how much bigger this class is now than it used to be! The singing started and he was smiling. Not long after did he leave me and start crawling to the middle of the circle and to everyone around him. Quite the attention grabber I am bringing up...the complete opposite of me! He also showed recognition to the 2 babies who have been in the class since we started. He really stuck by them and was crawling all over their mothers and especially Nate's grandma, who he'd loved at first sight! After class and in the car, I called Sharon to see if she wanted to go to the mall and she said to come by. On the 5 minute ride to pick her up, G fell asleep for 1h 15m. Charlotte saw me through the window making silly faces at her, but she never even told Sharon I was there and she couldn't hear me knocking. Finally she saw me and opened the door so I could use the bathroom. We left for the mall and sat in the parking lot just talking, thinking he was definitely going to wake up any minute! Sharon was all cramped since the carseat is still rear-facing and sooooo clunky. She needed to stretch, so I told her I'd meet her inside. I was running out of time to even walk around and shop since she had to get back home. Shuffling back and forth with the idea of letting him sleep or waking him, I settled with the consequences I may've had to face if I woke him. Nursed him and he was good to go! Once we started walking around, he cried anytime he saw me and I had to essentially hide from him while Sharon pushed him around. He was completely content until he saw me! UGH! It's hard to be flattered by that. The string cheese I brought helped occupy him though. I didn't get anything I wanted and could barely focus. She could see how tired I was when I stood blindly looking for the parking ticket that was right in front of me in the machine. Back at her house, he was having a ball basically just eating and playing. He wasn't crazy about the pouch I grabbed to give him for lunch, so I found little things to give him and make do. It was so adorable when Sharon was sitting on the floor with the twins snacking on her lap and G crawled over to try and steal what Charlotte was eating. It was something crunchy that he could've choked on, so I told her to hold it high and he just reached higher for it! Changing his diaper on their floor is always a challenge because he immediately starts flipping over and is so distracted by everything going on and their millions of toys. He never does that at home, until tonight after his bath! We stayed pretty late into his usual dinnertime.



DM was already home when we got back and I gave him a quick dinner and bath. It was a smooth night. The bath was hilarious and I think he may be ready to be switched into the full tub now and out of the mini plastic tub. He was crawling all over the place and standing. No more laying back all lax, enjoying the warm sponge bath. It's now just another place to play, be silly and crazy. He gets so excited and loves when I bring out the bubbles too! His little shivers after I wrap him up in his towel make me squeeze him more than I already do. He's so cute when I show him his hair brush. The bristles of the brush are incredibly soft and he always reaches out with his little pointer finger to feel them so gently. Letting him hold something, especially the tube of cream, makes diaper changes a cinch. His quick lotion massage was done and getting his pjs on was a wrestling match as he sat up, twisting/crawling on the changing table. He told me when he wanted to take a break from him bottle by throwing it on the floor and enjoyed a couple of books. He's turning the pages of the books so well now. I just have to get it started and ask him to do it and he does it --- either very violently or perfectly slow and efficient. I'll take either one, I just get a high from him understanding what I am saying!!! Oh, and I just LOVE when he poops in the middle of his bottle after I just got him all dressed. Grrr. He finished and sat up from laying down all on his own (strong abs!!! wow!!) He started being able to do that a few days ago, but this time it appeared to be effortless. Finally, at ten to eight and way too late, I decided to lay him down on his back after holding him close for a few seconds with his heavy head resting on my shoulder, whispering "shhh" in his ear. He looked up at me with his big, wide eyes and laid perfectly still. I set his teddy bear up against him and prayed he didn't cry tonight. Maybe putting him down this way was the trick?? But while I cleaned up the bathroom, he fussed for just a few minutes and then went to sleep. I just long for those nights when he used to smile at us as we left the room. Seems like a distant, fading memory now. Did that ever really happen? Why did it stop? How do I get that back??



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