First Time in the Sandbox, Crying Episode, Swinging in the Johnny Jump-up and More Fun with the Relatives

Last Thursday I ended up having to go to work for a few hours in Hyannis, but I was able to take Caleb with me because all I was doing was reviewing security camera footage for our parking lots. Caleb was very well-behaved and everyone commented about how good he was! I was there for over 3 hours and he was getting tired at the end, so I had to leave and he fell asleep in the car on the way home. He wasn't fussy at all, though!

Since he fell asleep in the car, I had to make the decision about whether to leave him in the car seat or take him out and put him in his crib. I make a risky move and took him out and put him in his crib and the risk paid off because he slept for an hour and a half! If I left him in the car seat, he probably would have slept for 30 minutes.

Thursday night we were supposed to go on a sunset canal cruise with our church, but the weather was bad, so we canceled it. Instead we played games with Rad and Jen and Heather and Preston. It was a lot of fun.

Friday I worked and Jen watched Caleb in the morning and the late afternoon and my mom watched Caleb in the middle (with Nana and the others). I ended up having to leave work around noon to come back to Hyannis because we were supposed to meet with a kid who we suspected was stealing money from our parking lots (why I was watching the security camera footage on Thursday). Unfortunately, when the kid heard we wanted to talk to him, he never showed up, so I sat in Hyannis with a few other people for 2 1/2 hours waiting for him. So, it was a pointless afternoon, but at least I was closer to home at the end of the day, so I got home a little early. We had supper at my parents' house with everyone, then we left to take Caleb home to bed.

 

Sabbath morning Caleb slept later than usual and we actually made it to Sabbath School for most of the time! There was only one other kid in Sabbath School, but I think Caleb still had fun.

 



I fed Caleb during church and then, because church was going really long, we left and brought Caleb to my parents' house for a nap. He ended up sleeping for 2 hours, which I was so excited about! He is so hit and miss with his naps, but I will take what I can get!

Just waking up from his nap

 

Late Sabbath afternoon we went on a walk to the Sandwich boardwalk with the church. It was raining when we got there, but it was just a shower, so we stayed in the car for a few minutes and then it cleared off. I started out carrying Caleb in the bjorn, but he is so heavy and it was hard to walk with him on the sand, so Steve ended up carrying him partway. We had to leave earlier than everyone else because it was getting late, but we still had a good time!

 

Love that he is grabbing Steve's ears!

Love this picture!

 

Sunday morning I got up and worked for awhile, but I didn't get as early of a start as usual, so I worked a little bit less than normal. Steve fed Caleb some applesauce mixed with oatmeal and he actually seemed like he was interested in eating it, which was great!

 

 

Caleb took a good nap from 11:00 to 12:20 and then I took Caleb grocery shopping and to BJ's. I really like the carts in BJ's for Caleb. The seat belt held him in better than some of the other stores I have been in.

 





I tried to put Caleb down for a nap in around 3:00 or 3:30 and it was pretty warm in his room (our central air stopped working last Thursday), so he didn't want to sleep. I was a little annoyed, but I thought I could get him to sleep on my lap in the living room where it was cooler. That didn't work either, so I tried feeding him because sometimes he falls asleep while eating. He did fall asleep for a little while but then woke up. I went in the kitchen to start making supper, because I was having my parents, Rad & Jen, and my grandparents over for tacos since my grandparents were leaving the next day. I put Caleb down on his mat and he was fine for a few minutes, then started to get fussy. So I picked him up and he wouldn't stop crying. I could tell he was tired, so I brought him upstairs and tried to rock him and his eyes were closed, but he was crying. I laid down on the bed with him and he was so close to going to sleep, but then kept getting himself worked up again and kept crying. This went on for almost 2 hours, where he wouldn't stop crying (not screaming, just crying), but he was so exhausted that he had his eyes closed almost this whole time. After awhile we tried a cool bath, because he was so sweaty from crying, and that didn't work. Finally, I got him to calm down while eating (I had tried that earlier and it didn't work) and he went to sleep. He slept fine that night and woke up happy the next morning, so I still don't know what was wrong. It was so unusual for him, because he literally almost never cries, let alone for 2 hours straight. It was really bad timing, because I basically missed supper with everyone (in fact, my mom and Steve had to make it for me) and my grandparents didn't get to spend any time with Caleb, but we are all just happy that he is fine now. I think that he was just really exhausted and got himself all worked up, but I'm not sure. We did give him some Tylenol while he was in the bathtub in case it was his teeth, but he hasn't shown any more signs of his teeth bothering him, so I don't think that was it. Oh well! Hopefully that doesn't happen again anytime soon.

So, Monday Caleb got up at 6:30 and I don't remember how long he went back to sleep for. He took a nap of an hour and 20 minutes and I think he might have slept more, but I think I woke him up. He usually moves quite a bit while he is sleeping, and he had been sleeping for an hour and 20 minutes and hadn't moved a muscle, so I tiptoed into his room and made sure he was breathing and then I left. I thought I was very quiet, but when I got back to the couch and checked the monitor, his eyes were open! So, either it was a big coincidence or I somehow woke him up! Oh well. We went to Trader Joe's and the Christmas Tree Shop later in the afternoon and then I tried to get Caleb to take a second nap, but he wouldn't. I am really getting sick of him not napping in the late afternoon! The good thing is he is usually happy even when he's tired (except for our episode on Sunday), so I try not to stress about it too much. Here are a couple of pictures from Monday. Caleb really likes playing with these buckets in his room.

Tuesday morning Caleb woke up around 6:00 and then I was disappointed, because it took him about 40 minutes to go back to sleep and then he only slept 30 minutes! So, that was a bummer! I put him down for a nap around 11:30 and he fell asleep around 11:45 and I thought he would take a long nap because he hadn't slept very long in the morning, but he woke up after 30 minutes! I was not impressed with that, but it ended up being good timing, because for no apparent reason, the camera in his room stopped working, so I couldn't see him on the monitor. I had to climb up and reset the camera, which would have been impossible to do with him sleeping, so I guess it is good he woke up at that time and didn't sleep another hour, because I'm not sure what I would have done! After he woke up, we went outside on the swing and then I decided to try out the sandbox for the first time, now that he is sitting up so well on his own. He really liked the sandbox, because he loves touching things. He just kept picking up handfuls of sand and dropping them. He did try to put it in his mouth a couple of times and was successful once, but it wasn't too bad.

 

Of course he got dirty from being in the sandbox, so I made the decision to put him in the little pool we have on the deck. Of course I hadn't planned on that, so I didn't have a towel out there, but I just carried him in the house wet. He really liked the pool and was splashing like crazy!

 

 

Then, after he ate, he finally took a good nap from 3:00 to 4:20, so I was really happy about that! Not only was it a good nap, but it proved that he CAN sleep late in the afternoon even though he usually doesn't! After Steve got home, we took a walk with the dogs, which it seems like Caleb and I haven't done in awhile, so that was nice.

 

Yesterday morning Caleb woke up at 3:00 because he had gotten one of his arms out of his swaddle and then he was awake for almost an hour, so of course I was awake too. He did finally go back to sleep but was pretty restless and let out a couple of little cries between 4:00 and 5:00, so I didn't really get much sleep during that time. So, basically I was awake from 3:00 on. I got him up at 5:45 to feed him before work and then I put him back down and my mom came over here since it was cooler at our house for him to sleep. He slept from 7:15 to almost 9:00, so that was good. Then Grammy took him back to her house.  They went to the office for lunch and then to the mall so he could take a nap. He was tired and fell asleep before they left the office parking lot, and even stayed asleep during the transfer to the stroller, but then didn't stay asleep very long. That was his only nap of the day, which is too bad, but Grammy said he was happy all day, so I shouldn't worry about it. They also went to BJ's and Grammy put Caleb in the cart for the first time, and he did good! Here are several pictures from their day!

 

Staying cool in the AC at the office

Successfully transferred to the stroller!

Clapping - his new favorite thing!

So cute!

 

When we got home, we took a walk with the dogs and then gave Caleb a bath and fed him and put him to bed early. Here are a couple of pictures from the evening.

 

He "walked" over to the oven and stole the towel off of it and he was quite proud of himself







One thing Caleb has been doing this week that is pretty new is using his Johnny jump-up as a swing. He jumps to get some momentum and then he picks up his feet and swings from side to side until he slows down and then he jumps some more and swings again! It is hilarious to watch him and it is really neat to know that he is doing that on purpose and has figured that out on his own! I think he is doing the swinging more than he has been jumping and that is saying a lot, because he loves to jump!

Here are a couple more pictures from last week that I just found and forgot to put in last week's blog, but they were too cute to resist!