Oh my goodness, so much has happened this month!
Last month, Squishy learned how to sit up. Literally a couple of days after mastering sitting, he started pulling himself up in his playpen! He loves to stand and cruise now. He’s also a really fast and efficient crawler, so there’s no leaving him to play on his mat anymore because he will go where he likes!
Squishy is also a talker now! Well, he’s a babbler. Hahaha. Especially when we wake up together, we’ll kind of just lay there looking at each other and he will talk up a storm until he’s ready to go exploring again.
He’s been fascinated with his hands lately! I don’t know if it’s because Mikey would try to keep him entertained with his hands (puppeteering sans the puppet), but Squishy would sometimes space out and stare at his own hands while moving them slowly. Maybe he finally gets that he’s the one making them move! Hehe! But it’s funny to watch him do this because it’s kind of like he’s high.
We realized that the best way to keep Squishy from freaking out in his car seat, stroller, high chair, or even when we’re trying to put him to sleep is to completely ignore him and talk to each other. For some reason, Squish zones out while people are talking! When we’re in the car, Mikey and I will talk and Squishy will just stare at me and eventually fall asleep. He still gets restless sometimes, especially when he catches your eye. When that happens he pulls at my shirt to try to get me to pick him up.
Squishy still hasn’t gone back to sleeping all night. But I’ve noticed that there are times he can try to go back to sleep by himself. I think it’s because he’s more agile and he can shift his position to find a comfier spot. He still sleeps in bed with us, but this month, we decided to put him in-between us because he sits up to cry (while he’s still asleep!) at night. We’re worried he might fall over the ledge of the bed. So far it’s been okay. I’ve been ejected from my spot a couple of times when Squish feels like rolling around a lot in his sleep. I end up sleeping on the foot of the bed with one hand on his butt so that I can monitor his movement.
Our journey with solids is pretty uneventful so far. We’ve tried feeding him potatoes, lugaw, and some cabbage. But he doesn’t really like it so much. He kind of just plays with it in his mouth. Hopefully, if we keep going, he’ll like it more.
We’re so happy that Squishy is so happy. He loves to laugh. He laughs when I do a silly dance or make silly faces, he laughs when Mikey plays peek-a-boo with him, and he laughs when we make funny noises. Sometimes, he giggles when Mikey and I are laughing about sometime. And he laughs while he’s breastfeeding too. We noticed that Squishy really enjoys watching his own videos. If it’s a video of him laughing, he’ll start giggling.
Squishy still hasn’t exhibited any stranger anxiety. When he’s sleepy/cranky though, he generally wants to be with me or Mikey. And I think he knows who his grandmothers are. He likes people! It doesn’t take him too long to warm up to someone. As long as you talk to him, he’ll give you a big smile.
This month has been really hectic for us—Mikey is very busy with the school play at work, I accepted my first work-from-home gig, and we attended a few social functions with Squish. The first one was a bridal shower I was helping to host. Initially, Mikey agreed to hang out with Squishy while I hosted the event, but he realized last minute that he had to work. So I co-hosted while carrying Squish. He was such a trooper! He didn’t cry at all and the ladies just passed him around while I ran the games!
The second event we went to was a wedding. I was a part of the entourage, so I had to have my hair and make-up done during the morning and sit away from Squish during the ceremony. I made sure to arm Mikey with two bottles of breast milk and Squish finished one during the morning while waiting for me to get my hair and make-up done. It was the longest I had ever been away from Squish! He slept through the entire ceremony and was sociable during the reception. He even sat in his stroller to let Mikey and I enjoy our main course.
It’s been such a relief to be able to leave him with Mikey for extended periods of time. For a few nights, I put Mikey on Squish duty while I had to work on my desk. It was kind of challenging at first, Mikey wasn’t used to having him alone for an extended period of time. So there were some bumps (literally and figuratively), but I’m so glad that we kept at it because Mikey feels more empowered to take care of Squishy by himself and I’m more confident in leaving them for an extended period.
Squish didn’t gain too much weight this month. The doctor says that it’s because of all of his activity and how it’s really time to start supplementing my breast milk with solids. Sigh. She put us on a strict solid food feeding schedule and I’m supposed to feed him solids before breastfeeding now. I’m kind of sad because I feel like I was just getting the hang of the whole breastfeeding thing, but I hope that Squishy gains more weight this month and that he starts enjoying solids more.
But I think the best thing about him sitting up is that he can entertain himself for much longer n
Changing him is a challenge now! Especially after his baths! I think he gets restless because he’s so patient while we’re bathing him. So by the time we’re drying him off on the changing table, he’s ready to play again. Changing him is now a two-man job!
Squishy Days 