Out of the pram and into the cot etc

Isaac slept in his cot for the first time on Tuesday. It was very exciting for me! He had his last nap in there & then slept the whole night through! Dad and I constructed a bed tent between us.

 

I wanted to do this to help him with the transition from pram to cot bed and to reduce the enormity of our room for him. He seems to like it in there and it's working so far. He continued his streak of through-the-night sleeping until last night when he woke up at 1.30am which makes it 9 consecutive nights.The towels will be removed gradually so that he has more room to move about. I think he likes the restriction for now. It was only about a month ago that we stopped swaddling him, again because he told us that he didn't want it anymore.

So...the erroneous night-wake of last night: the poor wee mite was screaming at the top of his little lungs because his eyes were glued together with Gunk - 2nd attack of the conjunctivitis methinks (apparently acquired from youngest step-sister from her half brother). How terrifying it must be to wake up and not be able to open your eyes! I didn't want to have to go to the doctors for more drops again because I know tears often clear it and so decided then and there to see how things went. I cleaned The Gunk from his eyes, fed him & put him back to sleep & there he stayed until 7am. I was fully expecting to be woken again several times with Gunk-related issues, but no! The Gunk has mysteriously vanished! Go self healing! I think that if it weren't for The Gunk then he would've slept through again last night. He's not doing so well with going off to sleep tonight, but I think that's more to do with lack of naps today and the excitement of eldest step-sister's 6th birthday tea. There's a fair bit of noise about the house while Dad fixes our stupid doors, but it's only a temporary measure and worth the end benefit of not-stupid-anymore doors. Let's hope his routine isn't compromised permanently.

I was thinking today about things I don't like about caring for a baby. The single thing I can think of is essential and so easy that you take it for granted as an adult. The task in question is: cutting nails. Seriously - it's a nightmare and I put it off until I can't stand the scraping at my breasts during feeds any longer. The first time I did it I managed to pinch his skin terribly making him scream until he had boob. Since that awful introduction to the world of baby nail cutting I live in fear that I'll actually cut him. I'm so careful when I do it and often take the clippers away from his nail & reposition it to make doubly sure I've got nail. He's recently decided it's fun to hit my nail cutting hand with his free hand while I'm doing the deed; all well and good until someone loses some skin young man! Each successful clip is a mini victory. I used to nibble them off when he was smaller, but that just leaves sharp bits now & hurt even more that long nails when he grabs at my breasts during feeds.

I can't believe he's almost 5 months old! The time really does fly. Weaning is under way in our NCT group, but I'm not rushing into anything just yet. He's starting to be much more interested in food, but I'm waiting for grabbing. He has found his knee to be an object of fun and spends quality time each day slapping it. He tries to do this in the bath as well, but ends up splashing instead, which I suppose is consequential when slapping a knee immersed in water. He quite likes this, well, doesn't dislike it any. Still isn't a fan of hair washing though, not even with warmed up shampoo.