6 month update

5/2/08 update: we're back from Anya's 6 month well-child appointment. She weighs 15 lbs, 2 oz (25-50%) and is 26 inches long (50-75%). So it looks like she just went through a little growth spurt. The pediatrician says she's doing great and is right on track.

Also an interesting note: Anya, Laika, a new mom friend of mine (and her kids), and I are on the cover of today's Seattle PI. They were running a story on the real estate market and desirable neighborhoods in the area, and snapped some pictures of us. He took a bunch of close-ups of Anya, but they ended up printing a farther off shot, with Laika in the foreground

Wow, I can't believe 6 months has already gone by! A half year. It's gone by so quickly and Anya has accomplished so much. The last 2 weeks have been especially busy for the mini Lodwig.

• She started solid food and has taken to eating from the spoon pretty well. She manages to get more into her mouth than I expected. So far we've tried rice cereal, sweet potato, and avocado. And McDonald's Happy Meal (with Diet Coke - to keep her girlish figure) for a special treat.


• Yesterday, Anya cut her first tooth! It explains why she's been especially cranky the last few days and why I jumped 2 feet in the air when she chomped me while breastfeeding yesterday. Our little girl is all grown up *wistful sigh*


• She has mastered sitting on her own and balances pretty well.


• I expect Anya will begin crawling in the coming month. She is not fully on her knees yet, but she occasionally gets them under her and manages to (accidentally) crawl backwards one "step". Mostly she pivots on her belly and spins to the direction she wants to be in and then kicks her legs wildly (going nowhere).

I'll update this when we get back from the pediatrician this Friday -- it's Anya's 6 month well check and we'll get her measurements.

on a little family trip to a cabin on Whidbey Island. 

visiting with Grandma

Sleep Training Part 2

We're on day 5 of sleep training and I will tentatively call it a success.

Naps
Anya has gone from crying around 20 minutes before falling asleep down to either 5 minutes or no crying at all.- She went from 4 naps a day to 2 or 3 (depending on how prior naps went). They still aren't predictable, but I think they will be with a little more time

Nighttime Sleep

• Current bedtime is now 7:30 and she sleeps 11 - 11.5 hours
• For the moment, we've given up on letting Anya "cry it out" at bedtime. Letting her cry for 2 hours a few nights was too much. I am now rocking her to sleep or near-sleep and then soothing as needed. We're all getting enough sleep, so it's working. I will possibly revisit teaching her self-soothing for evening bedtime, but want to have her in the right sleeping schedule for a little while first (to make sure any crying is not from being overtired)
• I think as Anya and I set a good daily nap schedule, her evening bedtime will actually move to an earlier time.--The most important thing I've learned is to recognize her sleepy signs and put put her down for a nap before she gets overtired. When I do this, she falls asleep quickly and will nap for 1-2 hours. If I put her down when she's overtired, she will cry for awhile and then once she falls asleep her nap is too short...and then she's a little cranky until her next nap. It's tricky, since she can go from not tired to overtired very quickly - I've just got to catch that sweet spot.

Hell week begins

Today marks the official start of Anya's sleep training. The goal is twofold: 1) To teach Anya how to self-soothe and fall asleep on her own and 2) To get her on more of a predictable sleeping schedule suitable for her age.

To date, I've been rocking Anya to sleep and then putting her down in her crib. Sometimes she wakes up (immediately or shortly after) and screams bloody murder until the second I come in and pick her up again. Then the process starts over (and over, etc). This is no longer working for us and her sleep is suffering for it.

Today we're starting Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" approach. The next few days are going to be painful for both of us, but I'm hoping that she'll soon be able to fall (back) to sleep on her own. She's so much fun when she's well-rested; and definitely less so when she's not getting all the sleep she needs. I plan to keep track of the next few days here and will check in next week. And if any of my good mom-friends are reading this, expect a hysterical, blubbering phone call from me, begging for reassurance that it's ok to let her cry. Wish us luck!

DAY 1
9am nap I stretched Anya's awake time to make it to a 9am nap. I rocked her in the chair as usual and planned to sing 1 song before putting her down in her crib. She fell asleep in my arms before the song was over. This is not ideal for training purposes, but I'll take it. So far, she's been asleep 1/2 hour and hasn't woken up crying.

DAY 3
Day 1 wasn't too bad - other naps she cried about 20 minutes and slept for about 2 hours. The night bedtime didn't go well, though. Anya cried almost 2 hours and I caved and rocked her to sleep. She finally went down at 11. She woke up several times that night (unlike her). Day 2 wasn't much fun. Morning and afternoon naps she cried about 20-30 minutes and then slept aout an hour. Night bedtime was bad. I put her down at 7. She slept until 7:45 and then cried until 10. We caved and rocked her to sleep. Day 3 is going well. I decided to give her a "lovey" (stuffed animal with a little blanket attached) at nap times and there was no crying! Chris and I decided that we'll soothe her to sleep for the night bedtimes, but let her soothe herself for naps.

According to the book, naps and nighttime sleep are controlled by different parts of the brain and that its ok to have different routines for the two. Her nighttime sleep was never an issue and the last 2 nights it turned into one. So back to the old way and hopefully it will work. Tonight I put her down at 7:35. We'll see how it goes.