Riley Nerd and Scouty Pouty: September 2010

5 months already

Miles' 5 month birthday has come and gone. We are all doing great. He started at a new daycare on Monday and it seems to working out. Here is a quick video.

Happiness is...

Watching Sunday football with dad.

Licking the last of the butternut squash out of the bowl

Sitting on Great Grandma Betty's lap.

Getting in some floor time with Grauntie Susan.

Playing on the quilt Grandma made.

Using the Boppi as training wheels for sitting.

Daycare Advice - Please Help

Miles has been going to daycare every Thursday since the middle of July. I thought this was going well. He often smiled at the caregivers when I dropped him off and only once was he crying when I went to pick up. Today, however, when I dropped him off the woman who runs the infant room told me that Miles is not interested in playing there or looking at things, he just wants to be held or he cries. Another woman that occasionally assists in the infant room then piped in that Miles gets really upset if left alone. The woman that runs the infant room then asked me if I always picked up Miles when he cried, and proceeded to tell me that I was holding him too much and that I needed to let him learn to sooth himself since he cannot always be held at daycare.

Initially, I was devastated by this news. I felt like I was failing as a mother and producing a needy child. I am beyond that now and just really irritated that I was not told about this sooner. Every Thursday when I pick up Miles, I ask how his day was. I have never been told that he cried unless he was held, or that he would not play. This leads to my current predicament. Should I find a different childcare option? Is it possible that since Miles only goes one day a week, he is not getting used to it and becoming comfortable. Drew and I cannot really afford much more than 2 days/week. Although since I am less than pleased with this current daycare center, I am not sure I want to give them more money. Finally, am I overreacting? I am willing to admit that the women at the childcare center could just be well-intentioned, and I am tired and possibly blowing this out of proportion.

Please, if you read this leave a comment and let me know what you think. My instincts are to find new childcare, but I want to make sure that I am not acting rash. Currently, I am exhausted and stressed about work so I also want to make sure that I am not being too reactive.

More pictures from Maryland Courtesy of Katie

I am ashamed that Drew and I did such a lousy job of taking pictures of the family when we were in Maryland. Luckily our sister-in-law Katie did a better job. The problem is that when you are the picture taker, you are not in any of the pictures. So I guess we will have to get everyone together again soon so we can get some pictures of Miles with his Aunt Katie.

Miles with his Uncle Jon.

Miles with his cousins Ethan and Christopher.

Uncle Dave and Christopher. Christopher was smitten with Miles and quite the fabuluous cousin. I wish we lived closer so we could have him as a babysitter.

Sandy in the act of smacking of Drew...I am sure that he was asking for it:)

Christopher getting in more Miles time.

Ethan was wondering why Miles was not crawling or walking yet. I think that if we lived in Madison, WI Ethan would teach his cousin to run around in no time at all.

The whole gang.

Progress with solids and sleep

Since getting back from Maryland, Miles' sleeping habits have completely deteriorated. With the exception of last night, he has been waking up every 2-3 hours. On top of that, I came down with mastitis, and spent two days feeling like a had the flu and then another day suffering from the first antibitoics I was prescribed, which made me throw up. I am now on an anitbiotic that I can tolerate and am feeling much better. So hopefully things are turning around. Miles did sleep better last night, which I attribute to swaddling him again. Miles has also started to take to eating organic brown rice cereal. I gave up on avacado, and we are going to try butternut squash on Wednesday. Here is a short video of Miles trying to figure out eating.

Part of the reason for Miles sleep problems could be that he has started to teeth. When we were in Maryland his Uncle Jon and Aunt Katie got him a bunch of adorable outfits and some teething toys. Miles has recently figured how to hold the toys himself and chew right where his tooth is starting to come in. It makes this great squeaky noise when he does it, kind of like a dog chewing on a kong ball.