Makili hardly resembles the baby that we met four months ago. Sometimes I doubt the baby he is now and the infant he was really housed the same little soul. We have definitely left infancy however, as Makili has learned that crying gets him what he wants (can you believe that they learn that this young!), and the need to explore the world expands every day. I read somewhere that for the first three months, babies only cry because something is wrong and you need to be as responsive as possible in that time.
Because we were surrounded by so many loving people in that first three months I really felt able to respond to Makili whenever he needed something.
Now we’re into month four. Makili cries because he wants the boob – not necessarily because he’s hungry. He cries because he wants out of the car seat. He cries because he doesn’t want to go to sleep even though he’s incredibly tired. He cries when his little hands won’t grab things the way he wants. And incredibly he cries a whole lot less than he used to. Thank god. Slowly I am learning to tell when he needs something verses when he’s bored and has decided another snack at the boob is a good idea. You might think, “what does it matter if he nurses extra?” I have the answer to this question. He doesn’t sleep. Makili’s debut into the world included awesome sleeping – 4-5 hours from the start and a solid 8 hours at about 7-8 weeks. I don’t know what happened but somewhere along the line he decided to give that up. He started waking earlier and earlier. And then more and more frequently. Nursing hourly during the day meant he wanted to nurse hourly at night, which really sucked (excuse the pun), especially when we didn’t have any furniture but a bed and so there was nowhere to escape to so Raph could get some much-needed sleep before work.
Now things seem to be getting better. We’re still not as good as before but waking only twice a night is infinitely better than hourly. And I’m typing this update as Makili goes onto wrap up a 3 hour nap. His naps have been getting progressively longer and less frequent, but this is a new record.
Makili can’t get enough of the world around him. It’s like Christmas every day around here as the catalogues just keep coming and coming. There is nothing he likes more than to crumple paper and rip leaves off of plants. He would rather be outside any day, which works out for me as I like to walk and we’ve been doing some regular exploring of our new neighborhood. We’ll see how that goes as it gets colder! Smiling is a big part of every day. A smile is guaranteed if you stick him in front of the mirror, even if he is in the middle of a meltdown. Sometimes he gets so caught up in smiling that he can’t do other things. Like nurse, for instance. He has to stop every minute or so and look at me and smile. I don’t mind that too much. Sometimes he’ll be lying on the floor playing and I’ll be doing something else and I’ll realize suddenly that he’s just laying there smiling at me. Heart-melting.
We’re getting settled into our tiny new house. We set up the beautiful crib that my uncle made for Makili, though he hasn’t slept in it yet because we haven’t bought a mattress yet. Anyway, he likes to sleep with us in our tiny full-size bed. Soon though he’ll be on his own for at least part of the night. We are pretty excited to be able to afford a house on one income and to be able to spend as much time together as we are. We feel pretty lucky. The beach pictures are from Fort Foster, which is three miles from our house. The three of us had a picnic dinner there at sunset the other day. It was pretty great.
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