Weeks 38-40 (April 22 - May 12)

What a wonderful, fun filled three weeks this has been.  Not that it wasn't without sleep deprivation, and more chores going undone, but Aldo made some big leaps during this time.

I wrote most of this evenings post while sitter Sally was taking care of Aldo. I figured that I needed more help, and that one night off putting Aldo down would be the best for me.  Thank you Sally!!!!  I feel so relaxed right now.

Aldo's not at his best before bed.  We had several nights of 'fighting' - Aldo crying at the top of his little lungs while I sang, cuddled, lay still, and twice gave up and put him in his crib, shut the door and let him cry for 5 minutes (I noticed there were no tears, however).  After the first two fights, I gave in and agreed to a 9 p.m. bedtime (he had been comfortable with 7:30 for so long that this was a rude adjustment for me).  He's fought even 9 p.m. a couple of times...the nights he found himself in the crib.  

About two weeks ago, Aldo crawled for the first time (a real crawl) - an attempt to get to the laptop on our coffee table.  I was able to film the second crawl, which took about 3 minutes to get him 3 feet.  Now he crawls quite well, but he's still slow and takes many breaks.

Aldo is really close to walking now and this is where he really puts his attention.  At the beginning of the three weeks he had improved his ability to pull himself up and he continued to practice standing.  But when he tried to shift left or right on the coffee table or activity table, he would lead with his head, not his feet.  About 10 days ago he figured out how to lead with his feet and now he is scooting along between couch - coffee table - activity table - ottomon.  Go Aldo.  And when we help him to walk, he now does perfect little steps.  Watch out!  And twice he stood on his own for 5 seconds (Sally said he did it again tonight!)

We have shifted to driving home from Sacramento while Aldo is awake.  I found some silly tunes for us to listen to on the drive and Aldo seems to like them, as we have made it home twice now without much incident (stopped once at the base of Squaw, at a park, for dinner).

He sits up so well now that he frequently sits up in his sleep.    Twice he has sat up in his sleep and then just plopped back down again, never waking.  Have I mentioned that he sleeps on his tummy and side, as well as his back?

He has shown some signs of being distraught when I leave, but it doesn't last long.  He is still very easy going and will go to anyone.

He has not grown any new teeth but yes, they still bug him.  And he's only just starting to like a variety of foods.  He's eaten avocado, mashed.  I let him crunch on an apple slice (with me holding him).  Tonight he ate an ounce of turkey with vegis from a jar.  Otherwise, his favorite food remains whole-fat plain yogurt.

I'm probably missing something amazing....

This picture is for Claudia.  Aldo has a long torso, so we were only able to have him in this outfit once.  But I bought another just like it, one size up.

Here we are at Whole Foods.  Aldo's first ride in a grocery cart.  It didn't last long.

 Now this is transportation!  I had my doubts that Aldo would like this but here he is, loving it.  We've walked in the meadow a few times like this.  And I can really get some chores done with him on the back, versus the front carrier.
Ummmm...I think my belly is a little better now than in this photo.

 Here's proof of Aldo on the move.

We went for our first walk in the Nordic Center using the jogger/stroller.  We stopped at the creek here and had a great time beating a switch stick.

 Bryan, and mother Sylvia, are friends from our Baby and Me class.  They came to visit two Sundays back.  The two barely interacted, just a few times when one had a toy that the other found interesting.  They were both very polite about it, all things considered.

Oh, proof that Aldo is taking (occasional) naps in his crib.  In fact, today Aldo took both of his naps in his crib.

We had a lovely day at Commons Beach in Tahoe City.  Stosh stopped by since he was in town, so we had good company.  This was our first time 'playing' at this beach/park.  We had a second visit this past Friday and Aldo really enjoyed the baby swing and watching the other kids.  There will be many more such visits!

Aldo helping mom to work out in the yard.

 Rub-a-Dub-Dub.

More help in the yard...and after a haircut.  The haircut was mostly needed to trim the back, where his previous bald spot couldn't keep up with the rest of his hair.  I'll probably continue 'giving' him regular hair cuts since LeiAnn is so good with Aldo, making the task easy on me.