Monday, July 31, 2017

Week 206: Crib no more

For just under four years, someone in my house has been sleeping in a crib. Four years of waking up in the morning (or other various times of day/night) and looking through the slats at a little face. Four years of trying to figure out the least awkward way to put a sheet on a crib mattress. Four years of the distinct thunk that a toy truck makes when it falls exactly the distance from the surface of the crib mattress to a wood floor below. And then, no more.
On Saturday, I disassembled our crib for the last time, and finished putting together Lime's new "big boy" bed. He was excited about it in general, and only slightly apprehensive about it at bed time. The great revelation came the next morning, when he woke up. My general principle is that I do not get up with children before 5 a.m. You have to draw the line somewhere. So, up to this point, when Lime woke up before 5, which is pretty frequently, I would let him stay in the crib saying "Mama! Mama!" at period intervals until at least 5. Sunday morning, he began at 4:40 with one round of "Mama! Mama!" Then, 30 seconds of silence, a silence in which you could almost hear the mental calculations around the fact that this new bed does not have any walls. "Mama! Up! Hello!" Door knob rattling. Sigh. I feel that I may be in for a run of early mornings.



This is a rather amazing milestone in its way, though. We survived all of the baby years somehow. We've referred to them as "the boys" since Lime was born, and yet now they've really grown into it. I can't wait to learn what it feels like when we don't have diapers in the house anymore!

Summer seems to have flown by. This week is Lemon's last week of summer camp. I've had my doubts about the program but all in all I think it's been a good experience for him. It's definitely pushed him in new directions and given him new things to think about. By this I mainly mean that the camp seems to be devoid of toy vehicles, so he's actually had to do other things for part of his day. 

I still haven't decided what to do about "food school" during the school year. I'm still feeling like we really haven't made much if any progress over the course of the summer. We have a session tomorrow, so I'm going to ask the therapist to sort of assess and see if she thinks things have moved forward at all. Objectively, I know that it hasn't been that many weeks, and that learning isn't a linear process, but still, I wish I had some hint that this was doing something. Sign-up for fall slots opens tomorrow so I suppose I have to make up my mind pretty soon. A not-so-small part of me thinks maybe he still just isn't ready for this yet, or that this isn't the right approach. Hopefully some clues will emerge somehow.

Lime, meanwhile, eats everything in sight and remains tiny, 16th percentile for height and 4th for weight. Pediatricians seem to really like people to be above the 5th percentile but luckily our doctor was willing to sort of round him up. I'm to keep pushing the high calorie, high fat diet. At least for now both kids can eat the same things--or, really, I can offer them the same things, Lime can scarf his down like it might run away, and then Lemon can dispose of his uneaten food by dumping it onto Lime's tray. Whatever works.