Sleepy buddy

Cooper is a champion sleeper, and I know we are really lucky. He's started taking only one nap a day around half of the time, which sounds like a bad thing until you learn that his one nap is often over three hours long. He goes to bed every night right about at eight, and (knock on wood) hasn't woken up during the night for several months now. Yup- months. He gets up for the day between 6 and 7am, and sometimes when he's feeling snuggly he sleeps an extra 30 minutes or so in bed with Matt and I. That means that sometimes he sleeps 11 1/2 hours at night. And then takes a 3 hour nap. Wow.

Today is a rainy and cold day, which has translated to a sleepy day. He napped for 2 1/2 hours this morning (9 to 11:30), and now has been asleep for another hour (3 to 4) with no sign of waking up. I get soooo much done on days like this, which is awesome.

Sleepy kid!

Everyone gets a Bye Bye

Everything in the world needs to be waved at lately. Dogs across the street (Hi!) Car driving by (bye bye!) Daddy goes into the bathroom (bye bye!) Mom walks up the stairs (bye bye!)

It is a waving party around here. I'm glad the waving is so exciting, and takes place at appropriate times of hello-ing and bye-bye-ing. It is very charming. This morning, as Matt left to go volunteer downtown for a bike race, Cooper waved bye-bye to him as he went out the back door (to grab his bike) and then Cooper ran to the front window, hoisted himself onto the step so he could peer out, and waved bye-bye to Matt as he rode through the front gate onto the street.

Then Cooper looked at me all sad, and waved to me. I told him he was correct, Daddy did go bye-bye for the morning. And then we had breakfast together.

Signing starts

Cooper has started, all of sudden, to use the baby sign language that we've been sort of trying to teach him since he was around 8 months old. Matt and I have been working on just a couple of basics- waving goodbye, more, eat, spoon, milk... I think that is it. For the last month, Cooper has been using his own sign, that he invented, for "I want to nurse." This is a funny little thing he does- he runs up to me, gives me a big hug, and then taps me on the backs of my shoulders. Tap tap tap. I wanna nurse.

After I figured this out (and yes, it took me a long time) I started responding immediately because it was cool that he invented a sign. I think, and hope, that this sparked his interest in signs in general.

Now, he's into it. In the last three days, he's been signing "milk" when he wants more food, which is kinda funny because we've taught him "more" for that situation, not "milk." I don't care though- it is a darn close sign and really exciting that he's doing it. He also is starting to sign "milk" when he is nursing, which is encouraging in terms of getting the right sign for the right actual thing. He has yet to sign "more" or "spoon" but now is very good (and cute) at waving Bye. He also waves Hi, which I love. He likes to wave Hi at Matt when he comes and goes. Amusingly, Cooper is nondiscriminatory and sometimes waves Hi at the dog while he's sitting on the front stoop waiting to be let in.

I'm hoping that the more vs. milk thing starts clearing up, and I'm also thinking that now is the right time for Matt and I to learn more signs and start using them. If Cooper just put it all together, I want to encourage his little brain! So far, we've added "chicken" to the signs we are going to use with him. Fun!

Growth charts

Did you know that in the USA, we don't use the World Health Organization growth chart? Nope. Wanna know why? Because that chart applies best to babies that are breastfed according to the World Health Organization guidelines. Which is about 2% of US kids. Yikes.

So I downloaded that chart, out of curiousity, and plotted Cooper's stats on it. Guess what? He's exactly at 50% for everything.

I can't say I'm surprised. But now I fully intend to ignore the growth chart at the pediatrician, because that chart is for a different demographic than my kid is.

These things are so interesting once you dig deeper, I think.