Seth 17 weeks

Dear Seth,

You are 17 weeks old today, going on 2 years old. You seem in a hurry to grow up and be a big boy. You watch everything I do very carefully and very often try to imitate me, especially if it's something I'm doing with my mouth. You've really turned up the volume on your vocalizing, too. At times you will not stop whining unless someone is holding you up in a standing position. Today I could have sworn you even tried to take a step, but it was probably just an accident because you didn't do it again. More often than not you let out a piercing scream when someone lays you down on the changing table. But then I think once you realize we're not putting you down for a nap, then you just "talk" - or shall I say "yell" - saying HAAAAA HAAAAAA HAAAAAA.

For a few days there you absolutely refused to be swaddled and would spit the pacifier practically across the room if we put it in your mouth. So you slept in a sleep sack for a few nights and naps this weekend (ending up with exponentially more scratches on your face). But last night you were really struggling to fall asleep so I tried swaddling you again and it was like flipping a switch. Lights out.

You're perfecting your rattle shaking skills, but still conk yourself in the head sometimes in your enthusiasm. You actually lean and reach towards things now sometimes instead of just batting around randomly. So I'm starting to take a beating a little bit these last couple of days. Your right arm waves up and down as if you're playing a tiny slot machine (extremely fast!). So if I'm changing you you're whacking me on the arm, and if I'm feeding you on the right side you're beating me in the chest.

You're sleeping pretty well at night for the most part so I am trying to learn to stress less about your naps. Besides the other day while I was making dinner you amused yourself on the play mat for over an hour and then just fell asleep right there. So I suppose when you're tired, you'll nap, and when you're not tired you won't and that's all there is to it. I am thinking you might be ready for a comfort item of some sort though because 90% of the time you seem to fall asleep so well if I'm sitting there watching you, but as soon as I walk out of the room you start to freak out.


As for eating... the Baby Whisperer is nuts if she thinks I can keep you on anything resembling a feeding schedule/routine, whatever she wants to call it. You act like you're starving sometimes when you shouldn't be, and other times when I think you must be starving you won't eat at all. You are a rather large child so maybe I'm just dealing with little growth spurts every few days, who knows. All I know is that I still have to feed you every 1.5 to 6 hours, depending on the day. You're the boss. Love ya.

Love, Mama