Daily Log: Back Into The Groove

So as you can see, I've taken a week off of logging.  I wasn't intending on taking a week, but it just happened.  In truth, I think my brain needed a bit of a break from over-thinking and over-observing, and I was finding myself spending more time thinking about what to log than I was really getting in tune with my son.  But also, with a variety of issues happening in my pregnancy, I needed to reallocate some energy to focusing on "me".

Sammie and I had a couple of "off days" this week.  I haven't had the energy to devote to him, and I haven't been able to give him the gross motor/play stimulation that he's used to because of my reduced mobility.  But we've also had some really great moments, and it has been overall a very good week.

Sleep:
This has been an area of struggle this week. Getting Sammie to wake up at his normal time has been challenging. He woke up throughout the night on several occasions and this led to long mornings spent sleeping in. This, in turn threw off his nap schedule and led to later nights.  We're starting to get him back to the point that he was at and are hoping to see an improvement over the next few days.

Food:
No major changes here.  We've started introducing more milk using cereal (both the 'hot' baby kind and regular cereal).  Sammie is doing really well with feeding himself and prefers to do it now.  However, he is still a ridiculously messy eater so accuracy and learning how to take smaller bites will be a priority.

Social Time: We've been pretty good at getting friends to visit us this week so Sammie has had a chance to get some social time in. However, finding opportunities for him to play with him peers more often will be important in the next coming weeks.

Mom/Dad: Our evenings have been spent as a family, either at home or out doing some Christmas shopping/errands/ swimming, etc.  Sammie obviously thrives when we are all three of us together. Making family time a priority has had a very positive influence on his receptive skills and his gesturing.

Mamelie: Sammie spent a lot of the weekend with Mamelie while Mom and Dad built the new baby's nursery.  You can hear his laughter all the way upstairs, and he thrives spending this one on one with her.  The lack of internet connection has forced all of us to think outside the box in how we engage with him, but he did miss his "app time". :)

Quiet: Sammie has been making sure that he gets his quiet time every day. He is very interested in his puzzles lately and may be ready for the next steps.

Outdoor: A particularly cold week has kept us mostly home bound.  When we run errands, Sammie gets a few minutes of fresh air, but this is insufficient for him.  We will be taking advantage of some warmer days to get more outdoor time.

TV/Ipad: A little more TV than ideal this week, while Mom took some time to rest. We had no internet connection from Friday to Tuesday, so this limited computer opportunities for everyone.

Gross Motor: A great deal of Sammie's gross motor has been self-stimulatory. He has made up for mom's inability to do certain things by running, jumping and climbing around the house. He shows a lot of variety in these activities and takes great joy in them- however, getting him out of the house more often is obviously in need.

Milestones: A few things to note:

• Sammie has been engaging differently with his dog Spike and his Upsy-Daisy doll. He appears to be beginning to understand symbolic play in a more advanced way. 
• Sammie has been enjoying turning various objects into trains- these have no patterns, and any object can take part in the play. 
• Sammie's train play has evolved- he is now very engaged in stacking objects on the trains and seeing how much he can balance while still being able to make things move. 
• Sammie is exploring new ways of using the "block puzzle"- instead of only finding the two train pieces, he is now exploring with matching the other objects.  He recently matched the motorcycle and seemed very proud when we praised him for it. 
• His verbalizing continues to take on more and more words, and he has been exploring different facial expressions more and more.  He has started mimicking some of the expressions that we are making and is taking a renewed interest in our faces. 
• He has gotten increasingly adept at doing the Bingo actions (though he claps his hands instead of jumping), even after taking a long break from seeing the video. 
• Many friends and family members are commenting on how much more involved he is with them, and how he seems to want to play with them more often than he used to. 

Today we will go back to our traditional log method so we can have more up to date information.