As many of you know we have been working on Forrest's sleep for close to 5 months. Who knew that you had to TEACH a baby how to sleep? Yes some come pre-programmed, ours unfortunately missed that database upload and we had to do it the old school way, training and crying it out. Why am I talking about this today? Because for the past 5 nights we have put Forrest down without tears, yelling, grousing, or anything else remotely negative. Chris and I have both received smiles, yes smiles, when we layed him down in his crib. If you had told me in April that my son would be able to go to bed without screaming, I'd have told you you were nuts. It's amazing what just a few short months have done.
Forrest still isn't walking, but he's getting closer every day. He pulls himself to standing with very little pulling - like climbing up the wall to a standing position. He's starting to take a few steps along the furniture, but not cruising just yet. Hopefully I'll have a few more weeks of a crawling baby. Although I think the park will be much more fun with 2 who can walk.
Skye grows with leaps and bounds every day. He's had his challenges the past few days, namely visitors. We aren't bombarding him with folks, but we also need to have some semblance of a life. Our friends Kenan, Serra and baby Isaac came over for dinner on Monday - dinner provided by them! It was good for Skye to be around other folks, other lactating mamas (I haven't blogged about the boob thing, it's a bit too weird even for me...) and other babies. He was really good. Shy at first, and then coming out of his shell and acting like a regular show off 2 year old. Yesterday a very dear and old friend came over with her 2 kids - Lillie (5) and James (almost 1) - again he was very withdrawn at first. It was hard, he woke up from his nap with a mama and 2 kids, and he immediately jumped in his lap and wouldn't move for anything. When I suggested he put on his shoes so we could go out back, he almost became hysterical. I then realized that he thought he was going to be handed off again. So I sat with him and told him many many times in Spanish and English that he was here to live with us forever. As soon as he sort of believed me, his whole demeanor changed. He tried saying Lillie, blowing her kisses, running around and goofing, basically it was like a light was turned on. It made me realize that we need to un-insulate ourselves and have visitors to help him move through the panic that we're going to send him away.
Bedtime continues to be a hard thing for Skye. He has such strong separation anxiety that us leaving the room, even if he's almost asleep, sends him into a screaming fit. Lately though even those have lasted no longer than about 3 minutes - much better than the 25 - 30 minutes we had just 2 weeks ago. I know it's hard for him, and I know that every time we "leave" and return it reinforces that he's here to stay.
Skye is such a funny kid, so much smarter than he wants us to think he is (damn Chris just left and he's screaming his head off....). He'll pop off with something in Spanish that comes out of nowhere, and we realize he's understood everything we've said and is choosing to ignore us. Oh the love of a 2 year old. He's got a few English words, but you wouldn't know them if you didn't spend all day with him. The current words are: thank you (day do), pee (bee), boob, beer, Riley (iley), and Blanca (caca, the neighbors dog). I'm sure there are others but these he can consistently say.
So the boob thing is a bit funny and a bit weird. Obviously I'm still nursing Forrest - only about 3 times a day now - and Skye sees it. He's fascinated by my breasts and the milk that Forrest is getting. I had said earlier that if he wanted to nurse I would nurse him - why not he's my son and I have the milk. He's tried twice, and gets as far as being in the nursing position, putting my breast in his mouth and then turning his head away, putting his hand up and saying "no". Lately though, especially when there are people around, he wants to check my breast out, so I'm having an conversation and he's trying to pull my shirt down. It's funny and a bit weird. I just tell him no not now, later. I'm not surprised he's interested, but the fixation is pretty funny. I swear some days I feel like there are 2 attention vampires following me around and vying for my attention, although both actually have a lot of love to give as well.
Forrest, post bath tonight, just wanted to be with mama. I was showing Skye how to blow bubbles and in crawls Forrest, yelling all the way in. He sees me, pulls himself to standing next to me and immediately starts patting my shoulder, rubbing my head, patting my head, and pulling my hair. It was so sweet, he just wanted my attention. He's been doing this more and more lately. Skye is just a little love bug. If he could he'd just kiss and hug me all day long. He's especially snuggly in the morning. We've found that his morning goes much better if he gets to spend time in bed with one of us before coming downstairs. He just snuggles in, wraps his arms around my head, smiles like a little pixie and hugs and kisses me for all he's worth. Is adopting a 2 year old hard? Hell yes! Are there amazing rewards, beyond belief.
Here's one last cute Skye story. We were on the back porch this afternoon playing with this way cool fort that our friends gave us, and Skye was sitting on my lap for a moment. I told him that I had a secret to tell him, and whispered in his ear "te quiero". He pulled back, looked at me, threw his arms around me and kissed me for all he was worth. This is the first time he's actually acknowledge that I've told him that I love him. I tell him a hundred times a day, and I'm not sure what got through this time, but it did. Every day gets a little bit better.
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