Dexter Slept Through The Night!

Again, that is.

Avid readers will recall that, although Dexter slept through the night for weeks 8-15, we've been having some issues with sleep for almost 2 months. Well, after about a week and a half of dedicated effort on our part (engineered by Dennis), things seemed to be getting better. He was waking once or twice a night to eat, but (mostly) didn't need much soothing in between. Or, at least, not a lot compared to how things had been.

In any case, last night he slept from about 8pm - 8am. YAY!

He did whimper/cry out at 1:30, 2:30, and 5:30, but only very briefly, and he put himself back to sleep each time. These brief awakenings, of course, mean his parents didn't sleep so well, but I hope this means we're on the road to the Big Prize - sleeping soundly through the night.

Update: The next night did not go as well. He had a night terror at 2:30, which woke him up enough for him to realize he was hungry. Still, that's just one wake-up, so that's still pretty good.

Dexter's (First) Favorite Book

For a couple of months now, Dexter's absolute favorite book has been Sandra Boynton's Bath Time. We read it twice each night during his bath. As soon as he sees the cover, he gets a HUGE smile on his face and starts kicking and splashing with excitement.

We have another bathtime book, too (Baby Einstein's Water, Water Everywhere). He also likes that one, and we read that one every night, too. We also have some regular bedtime books (most notably Goodnight Moon and Guess How Much I Love You), but nothing holds a candle to Bath Time!

Fresh Food Feeders Are Exhausting

Also, bananas stain baby clothes. :(

Dexter's Love/Hate Relationship with Sweet Potatoes

Now that Dexter is 5 months old, we decided to break out of the "rice cereal" rut and try an actual vegetable. I pureed some baked sweet potato with baby formula and gave it a shot. (Don't laugh - we're trying to make as much of our own baby food as we can. So far, so good.)

The Dexter was not a fan.


We gave him some rice cereal just so he would get some volume. Overall, he still doesn't seem pleased.


I had frozen the remaining sweet potato puree in an ice tray. Dennis put one of the frozen cubes into the Munchkin "Fresh Food Feeder," and Dexter loved it! It might have helped that he had a frozen thing to chew on. (Like so many babies, he likes that kind of thing.) In any case, the sweet potatoes were a much bigger hit in the mesh feeder.


(Note the sweet potato forehead, knees, and thighs in that second picture. He also got it all over his seat, which went into the wash shortly thereafter.)




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PS - Thin Mints are awesome!

Dexter is 5 Months Old!

FIVE months?! When did that happen?

Well, somehow, sometime, it did. Dexter is still such a very very happy baby. He smiles and LAUGHS like crazy. He really only cries when he's hungry or tired, and a grateful mother can't ask for anything more than that.

He's started sleeping *a little* better at night. He even slept all the way through the night on March 1. He's still our little giant, with a current estimated weight of 19 pounds or so. He's wearing anywhere from 9 month to 18 month clothes, mostly depending on brand and shrinkage. He's eating so much - anywhere from 40-48 ounces of formula each day, plus about 2 tbsp of rice cereal (mixed with formula and apple-grape juice) in the evenings. Plans are to start vegetables possibly as soon as March 7.

He has definitely mastered rolling over (both ways) and now travels across the floor by rolling and scooting and rotating. The scooting is the most funny, since he tends to scoot backwards like a little crawfish. He moved a good 5 feet under his own power the other day. (Unfortunately, although he always starts out on the rug and playmats, he invariably ends up on the bare hardwood. Poor kid.)

He's getting stronger every day. He still hasn't quite made it up to hands-and-knees, but he occasionally gets his hips off the floor to a nice hands-and-thighs position.

Anyway, without further ado, here are his "official" 5 month photos.

Picture time? Again? Okay!


Eating my toes is still my favorite-est thing.


Man. It is so much fun being 5 months old! I crack myself up.


(I had to include this one to show off his new hair. He's got a lot more growing
in, and it looks like a crew cut right out of the 1950s. It's hilarious.)


Hmm. Bear or Demonjello. Bear or Demonjello...


I choose BEAR!
(Bear was full of slobber... er, love, within a few short minutes.)

Finally, more with the toe-eating. This cracks me up.