Taste and Travel Adventures

Last week the Molloy household was plagued yet again with illness. This time it was the stomach virus, revisited. Seems the stomach bug that Ellie had the week before was somehow passed to Mommy who then passed it back to Ellie (and to Oma and Opa who unfortunately catch the brunt of our icky-ness). We are currently in the process of disinfecting every single surface and item in our house in hopes to finally get rid of this thing. But even with everyone feeling so crummy, we still managed to have a few adventures.

First of all, this week Lucas turned 6 months old(!!!) and we realized that we still hadn't given him his first taste of "big boy" food yet. We weren't in any rush to start him on rice cereal - he seems satisfied with milk and with all the allergy issues our children seem to have, it didn't seem important to start any earlier. But this week we decided that there's no time like the present and whipped up some tasty, very runny rice cereal goo. Ellie and I took turns feeding him, and he mostly spit it out, making raspberries with his tongue. (it was hilarious and we got it all on video, but unfortunately the file was corrupted when we put it on our computer so we lost that awesome moment! boo!) A few days later we tried again, this time with a little bit more success. This time, he ate most of it without spitting it out, though I think he was more interested in the spoon than the actual rice cereal. Since we were met with relative interest and success, the next time I tried mixing the rice cereal with formula instead of breast milk to see how he'd do with that, but he was not having that at all. He acted like I was trying to shove a blanket into his mouth. However, the most recent try went really well - he gobbled up 2 tablespoons of rice cereal and seemed to love it. I can see that the biggest issue for me is going to be that he is a VERY messy eater. Elise was a bizarrely clean eater - she didn't even need a bib - she opened up when the spoon came and the occasional drip of cereal got on her chin and that's about it. Lucas, on the other hand, moves his hand around, lunges for the spoon, sticks his hand in his mouth when it's full of cereal and then wipes the cereal hand all over everything. He got it everywhere - up his nose, all over his clothes, all over the high chair...it was insanity. I am not in any way a neat freak but something about food all over the place drives me insane! Marty had much more success than I did on the feeding front, so Marty may have found his calling: feeder of messy child. Once Lucas starts eating more food more regularly, we may need to start feeding him naked to avoid having to do crazy amounts of laundry. We'll see how it unfolds.

In other adventures, recently Ellie has been really into trains, so we've been taking her down to the train station (which is about 4 blocks from our house) to watch the trains come and go and listen for the the conductors to scream "All Aboard!" which they don't actually do even though we think they should. Sometimes they say "Everybody on?" but it doesn't have the same appeal - it's just doesn't have that train feel. Anyway, this weekend we decided to escape our germ infested house (in spite of the misty rain) for a little travel adventure. We walked over to the train station and took the train to the next neighborhood over. It was a short ride (less than 10 minutes even with of couple of stops) but Elise thought the whole process was extremely fun and exciting. The whole trip she kept saying "we're on the train!" with this wide-eyed joy that only children seem to have.

Once we arrived at our destination, we walked around for a while and did some window shopping (because everything was closed on a Sunday morning!) and then walked over to the bus stop, where we jumped on the bus. Ellie has been on the bus lots of times but since we've switched to a daycare that is not conveniently on the bus route (when she was 14 months old) we haven't taken her on the bus at all. She obviously had no recollection of ever being on the bus because it was as though we were proposing to take a helicopter home. She was VERY excited about being on the bus (possibly even more excited than the train) and really enjoyed pulling on the little string thing to get tell the bus driver to stop (at the bus stop conveniently across the street from our house). Again, it was a short ride, made even shorter because the bus driver was careening around like a mad-man driving ridiculously fast, and it was raining and early morning so no one was getting on the bus (and we were the only ones on it so no one was getting off). And because of the bus drivers' Indy 500 background, apparently, we were going too fast to hit any red lights.

In other transportation adventures, Elise has learned a new skill - she can ride a tricycle! Before the weather turned cold last October, Elise could not even reach the pedals of her tricycle. It seems our little girl did a lot of growing this winter, because not only can she reach them now, but she can pedal too! This is no easy task considering that her tricycle is circa 1992, rickety and rusty (it is a hand-me-down from our neighbor who is now in 11th grade and one of our babysitters). After one afternoon of practicing, she is now racing around the neighborhood, pedaling up hill and down hill and steering around trees and people with ease. Go Speed Racer, Go!

House of Crank

Much like the aforementioned weather here on the east coast, the Molloy household has been having similar drastic ups and downs...when it comes to sleep. Like everything with parenting, we've once again learned the very valuable lesson of not getting too comfortable because it's only a matter of time before everything changes...yet again!

Lucas began sleeping through the night right around 11 or 12 weeks. We'd put him down around 11pm and he'd sleep until about 6am. After a few weeks of this happening consistently (with him sleeping even later - sometimes until 9 or 10am) we tried pushing his bedtime up a littler earlier - a half an hour at a time. This method was going really well (we'd gotten so that we were putting him down between 8 and 9pm and he'd sleep until around 6 or 7am) until he got sick at the beginning of January. Suddenly, several times a week he was waking up once in the middle of the night, I thought, because of his congestion. But if I aspirated him and fed him, typically he'd go right back to sleep.

I was wary of feeding him in the middle of the night because I remember all too well the two solid months of sleep training we did with Ellie to break her of that middle of the night feeding after she'd clearly outgrown it (that had begun with once a night and quickly turned into 2 or 3 middle of the night wake ups/feedings). But Luke was sleeping for about 7 hours before he woke up, and I thought he might legitimately be hungry. He was, after all, still little. With his on again off again fever and horrible cough, I also worried about dehydration. So feeding him was a no-brainer. This pattern continued for several more weeks. He started going to sleep even earlier (between 6:30 and 7) and getting up around 6am, typically waking up around 2am for a snack.
Trying to turn around to see the tv - he is obsessed!
Last week, Lucas slept straight through from 7pm to 6:30 am and then he turned around and did it again the next night! This was extremely exciting because two days in a row seems like more than a fluke. It feels like a pattern (though it's probably mostly wishful thinking). Especially since he hadn't slept through the night at all in nearly two weeks. We were feeling pretty excited and confident that our little guy crossed back over into the land of 12 hours of sleep in a row every night. But the rug was pulled out from under us the very next night when Lucas did not sleep through the night as he had the two previous nights. In fact, not only did he wake up, but he actually woke up twice that night - something he hadn't done in at least two months. Both times he woke up, I fed him and he went right back to sleep. It occurred to me the second time that he got up (a mere three hours after the first wake up) that I probably shouldn't feed him again. I really didn't think he was hungry, but despite my better judgment I fed him because, frankly, 1. I knew he'd go right back to sleep 2. I was really tired and I wanted to go right back to sleep too - I was already worrying about how I was going to function at work the next day 3. I really didn't want him to wake up Ellie, who is still a fairly light sleeper.

Then, of course, problem began to spiral out of control. Night after night he was waking up two or three times, refusing to go back to sleep until he ate. This weekend it all came to a head when he woke up every two hours all night long on Saturday night. His crying woke up Ellie too (who sobbed, "I don't like Lucas crying!" for a good 20 minutes), so we had to try to calm her down in the midst of his insanity. Needless to say, on Sunday the whole family was tired and totally cranky, crabby and snippy with each other all day long. Well, the whole family except for Lucas, who seemed to be pretty much is usual pleasant self. So much is usual happy self that we were left wondering if we'd just imagined the whole thing. Who was that monster last night and what did he do with my laid back little baby?! It was clear to us that something needed to change. He was using me as his pacifier and it had gotten to the point that he couldn't soothe himself back to sleep.
In case you weren't sure if they look alike...there's no doubt!
I was angry at myself because I knew better! We went through this exact same thing with Ellie when she was a baby and I saw it coming with Lucas, but wasn't heeding the warning signals. And now we were all paying the ultimate price: Sleep Deprivation. When you baby is first born and you're getting up every two hours to feed them, this is expected and the norm. The sleep deprivation really isn't that bad because, basically, you get used to it. But once you've had a taste of real sleep and you know the baby is capable of sleeping and you have in your recent memory been sleeping and then suddenly you're not anymore it makes it somehow worse.

So we decided that we were going to have to comfort him in other ways when he woke up instead of feeding him and try to help him find a way to soothe himself. This meant that we were going to have to suck it up and let him cry. No one wants to listen to their baby cry and no one wants the baby to wake up your other child (and neighbors) in the process, but we saw the writing on the wall. So on Sunday night we had a plan. We put Lucas to bed as usual at 7 in his crib in his room, but set up the pack n play in the guest room on the third floor (above us and as far as possible away from Ellie) to serve as the crying room so hopefully he wouldn't disturb anyone else. He woke up at 1am and we took turns rocking, patting and comforting him, as well as leaving him to cry for 10 minute stretches. After more than two hours of solid crying and no signs of self soothing I broke down and fed him and he fell asleep within seconds (he wore himself out with all that crying - it was the first time he's ever shown any of signs of his sisters stubbornness) But on the positive side, he didn't wake up again until 7am.
Ready for big boy food?
The next night I was very nervous because I had to get up at 5am to go down to DC to give a presentation and I was worried sick that he'd have me up all night. But, being the sweet and accommodating baby that he usually is, he slept from 7pm all the way until 5:30am! And he's done the same thing the last two nights as well. I can't imagine that one night of letting him cry (and ultimately giving in and feeding him essentially undoing everything we'd been working for) has anything to do with this new pattern, but I'll take it. The entire household is much happy and much, much less cranky.

East Coast Extremes

This has been a particularly bizarre winter here on the east coast with random drastic swings of temperature - one day it's 30 and then literally the next day it's 65. Last week this bizarre weather may have hit its peak - on Monday it was frigidly cold and we had a "blizzard" dumping 6 inches of snow, then by Saturday it was nearly 70 degrees! The only positive to this craziness is that our children get to experience all the extremes...in the same week!

One of the great things about working in a school is that you benefit from one of the best things about childhood - snow days! And yes, snow days are just as exciting as an adult as it was as a kid. Since we had a snow day on Monday, Marty and I got to have an unplanned bonus day of hanging out all day with the kids - a wonderful but rare thing for working parents! Lucas and I cuddled and stayed in the warm house while Marty and Ellie headed out during the snowstorm to play in the falling snow. They had a blast running around and falling the snow and making a snowman (Jolly 2 - we made the first Jolly during our last snow fall). Marty also improvised a sled since we don't have one, and pushed Ellie on our snow shovel! She thought it was hilarious and had a really great time.

On Saturday, the weather was so warm and gorgeous, we decided to take the kids to a nearby City park for our first family of four hiking trip! Ellie had a great time exploring the trails, inspecting trees and rocks, jumping over streams and standing on tree stumps. Lucas loved watching nature and seemed to have a really great time. Ellie did an absolutely amazing job - she walked the entire hike and we walked for almost 2 1/2 hours (though admittedly we stopped for a snack and to "take a little rest" quite a lot!) The area also has a creek with a lot of ducks, so we got to hang out and feed the ducks for a while too, which we all really enjoyed. Saturday was a great sneak peek of Spring, and boy are we ready!

Birth Order

I've heard that you can tell whether a person was the first born, middle child or youngest by certain personality traits- traits that are present as a adult. When you are born seems to have a lasting effect on who you are. I never really thought about that much before, but now that I am right in the thick of being a parent of two, I am starting to see how it is possible. I often find myself wondering which of my children's personality traits are just inherently who they are, and which are due more to their birth order.

For example, Elise was a very high maintenance baby. She wanted things to be a certain way - her way - and made darn sure that everyone knew it. She made it very clear to everyone within a 40 mile radius when she wanted to eat (and what she didn't want to eat), when she wanted to sleep (never at naptime), when she wanted to be held (always - and you needed to be standing and possibly doing squats) and so forth. She was that way as a baby and is still that way, to an extent, as a two year old. She likes things a certain way. She has always been very strong willed, demanding and - shall we say - managerial. Is she this way because for more than two years she was the absolute center of our universe? Because she always had 2-4 adults fussing over her, letting her charm us (within reason) with her adorableness? Or is it just who she is?

Lucas, on the other hand, is an extremely laid back baby. He is agreeable to pretty much anything. He'll enjoy being held when you're holding him, chill on the ground when you set him down, eat when you feed him and sleep whenever you coax him into it. He rarely gives an all-out cry unless he's absolutely starving or about to pass out from exhaustion. I wonder how much of this is out of necessity and how much really is his personality. His needs just aren't met in the immediate fashion that Elise's were. It's just not possible to do that with a second child! He goes with the flow because, really, he has no choice. It has never been any other way.

And it doesn't end there. Honestly everything our family does still mostly revolves around Ellie. I feel a little bad about it, but our pediatrician actually said that's the way it should be. She said that when they are both upset, attend to your older child first - because she is the one that will remember! And on the weekends and evenings, poor Lucas is scooped up and plopped in the Bjorn and dragged to the museum or zoo or aquarium or birthday party or whatever it is that we're doing with Ellie that we wouldn't consider doing if we just had a 5 month old. Everything still revolves around Ellie's lunch (he will eat on the go), Ellie's nap time (he will sleep in the car) and Ellie's interests (he has none other than chewing on his hand). I know that that will change to some extent as Lucas gets older, but perhaps by then the stage has already been set - he will be used to going with the flow and she will be used to being the center of it all.

When Elise was a baby, we were always so excited about the next thing. Not that we were wishing she would get older exactly, but every time she did anything - rolling over, eating rice cereal for the first time, crawling, walking, etc..it was such a celebration, such a feeling of that's so fun...what amazing thing will she do next?! With Lucas, on the other hand, I feel just the opposite. I want to savor every moment of him being a baby because I know how quickly it goes! I know what's next and what's next after that and the next thing you know you're little "baby" is saying "Go away Mommy, I want to do it by myself." I nearly started crying the other day when Lucas started sitting up all by himself for little stretches. I am not ready for him to get older just yet! I can see why the last born is typically treated like the baby all of their life - because the parents want to hold on to that innocence for as long as possible.

I guess I'll never really know how their personalities might have been different if they were born in a different order. And it doesn't matter. I think they're both perfect just the way they are.