Category: Milestones

Just a quick note: Today marks our little guy’s five-month birthday. Hooray!
Finn celebrated by showcasing his many new tricks: “talking” to the objects he puts in his mouth, rolling from front to back and back to front, bestowing huge smiles on his mom and dad, and practicing his “1-2-3-STANDING!” routine. This is where mom holds onto Finno’s hands, and says “1, 2, 3…” and pulls him up, at which point he completely bypasses sitting and shoots straight up onto his feet. (Look for videos soon!)
We capped our day with a short ride in the BOB and our usual bathtime/bedtime hijinks. Tomorrow dad will be looking after Finn while mom meets up with 2 expecting girlfriends for lunch and the 3rd-degree about all things pregnancy-related.

In today’s installment, our hero visited the doc for his four-month checkup. Finn weighed in at sixteen and one-half pounds, and twenty-five inches long. We also discovered that he’s got an emerging companion to the tooth that broke through last week, so we can expect more teething activity!
Finn rocked the doctor visit like a total champ: calm and cool the whole time, with only 2 seconds of crying when he got his vaccinations. We were instructed to keep up the tummy time so our guy can continue to strengthen his back and arms, which will lead to eventually sitting up on his own. We also found out we can use sunscreen on him (whew!) to protect his fair skin when we take him outside. The sun hat and stroller canopy only do so much!
Finn’s noticeably more tuned in to people’s voices, and turns his head to watch and listen to you while you talk. He’ll even stop crying to listen! We’re still working on the “hey, why don’t you stop crying and sleep?” milestone.

Well, we had a wonderful time in Leadville with Finn’s grandparents, cousins, and aunt. The weather was fantastic, we got some nice scenic drives and walks in, as well as plenty of relaxation. There’s nothing like sitting on the front porch looking out over a vast green valley surrounded by enormous snowy peaks as far as the eye can see.

Of course we also had our share of sleeplessness since Finn’s routine got all cattywompus, but overall, he was a total champion. He never cried during the many altitude changes, and he was charming the socks off his elders with that dimple and big smile. Speaking of smiles, Finn’s got a new addition to his grin–his first tooth emerged this week! He was teething on John’s finger, and John felt something distinctly sharp on Finn’s lower gums…and lo and behold, there was the tooth!

Another milestone was achieved just tonight upon our return home. We’ve been trying for about a week to help/let Finn figure out how to get himself back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night (which has become quite frequent these days). We have adopted the “wait 10 minutes” rule before going in to help him resettle, in large part due to the fact that “helping” him seems only to wind him up more, and he’s getting to the point where he should be able to soothe himself. The past few nights have been awful–many more episodes of wakefulness and crying, for longer stretches. Tonight, we put him down for the night, and after 30 minutes he woke himself up and started crying and fussing. We waited, and he cried more, and got madder, and we waited some more, and he seemed to be calming himself down…and after about 12 minutes, he had put himself back to sleep! So now we know he can do it, and we’ll continue our wait-and-see approach before we “help”. I hope this is a sign of more positive sleep developments to come.

Today was Finn’s 2 month checkup with Dr. S. We can hardly believe he’s 2 months old already! He weighed in at 14 lbs 12 oz, and 24 inches tall. That’s one inch taller and more than 2 lbs heavier than last month. He also gained 1 cm in head circumference (40 cm vs. 39 cm last month). So he’s definitely a healthy, thriving boy.
Finn also got a couple of his vaccination shots today and let me tell you, it was no picnic. It continues to be no picnic. FIrst off, by the time he got his shots, he’d already been roused from a nap (which he was late in getting anyway because he fought it so hard this morning), stripped down to his diaper for weighing, poking, and prodding, and he was hungry because it was coming up on time to eat. Those three things alone create a squalling, red-faced baby. Then we hit DEFCON 1 when he got jabbed twice in the thigh for the vaccinations. I had yet to see him that distraught.
And the distress carries on–he’s been mostly asleep today, sleeping off the trauma and pain (I imagine), but when he’s awake, he’s really upset. Crying inconsolably until he falls asleep again. The doc said he’d be extra fussy and boy was she right. I just got some baby Tylenol (per her suggestion) and dosed him up to see if that will take away some of the pain from the injection site. He’s asleep in the sling on my chest right now after our brisk walk to Walgreens to get the Tylenol.
Wish us luck the rest of the day!
[Update: I’m happy to report that Finn had chilled way out by the time I got home. The three of us had a nice rest of the evening, and Finn got to meet a nice Irish gent named Steve who dropped by with gifts. –J.]