13 Months Old

As of two days ago our little boy is 13 months old.  It is amazing how fast they grow and change.  He is full of energy and constantly on the go.  You would think with all the energy he has and is burning walking, kicking the soccer ball, and exploring anything and everything that he would have no problem taking a nap or sleeping through the night.  Sadly that is not the case.  Our weather in Germany has been extremely hot, in the upper 90s.  We do not have air conditioning here.  Okay, we have two floor units, one in our bedroom and one in the living room.  We wanted to buy another one for Caden's room but they ran out of the smaller, less expensive units.  We could not justify spending 500 Euros for a/c for one room when we're going to be moving back to the States soon and only need it for 4 months out of the year.  Therefore we have to deal with night wakings in which most of the time Caden ends up in our room.  Sometimes he sleeps in bed with us, sometimes in his pack n play which we moved back to our room.  Occasionally he'll sleep through the night in his crib in his room.  Or one of us will sit with him for 20 minutes in his room if it's not too hot until he goes back to sleep.

As for the naps, it has been extremely frustrating.  I don't know why he doesn't seem to want to take a nap.  We had a great schedule then the weaning process started and his naps are all messed up and he doesn't want to sleep.  The only time he'll fall asleep for a nap is in the car and that doesn't always happen.  Most of the time he just stares out the window admiring everything we pass.  It's like he's learning the direction and way to and from home.  I'd love to hear any tips to help with the naps.  Today I read to him for 15 minutes, rocked him for another 5, put him in his crib, he immediately got upset, so I put a few toys in there.  He was happy for about 5 minutes and then started crying.  I told him I was going to let him try and nap and take a break for 15 minutes.  I'm just tired.  It's hard being away from family and all my friends have little ones of their own and all of us need a break.  I enrolled him with hourly childcare yesterday.  I hate the thought of him going to a daycare but I thought for a few hours every week or every other week would do us both some good.  He won't think so but I know I need it.  We're also going to start doing Mom and Tots gymnastics.

Tonight he fell asleep in the middle of me feeding him his dinner at 5:30pm.  I feel like such a horrible mom that my child would get so tired he fell asleep while I was feeding him.  He ate all of the food I put on his plate while I was feeding him green beans and rice.  After 3 spoons of the green bean and rice mixture he was out.  So I wiped his hands and mouth.  Took his shirt off (it's too hot in his room for him to sleep in clothes) and took him to his crib.  45 minutes he woke up crying.  I went in there.  His eyes were shut and he was crying.  I tried just patting him on his belly to get him back to sleep but he didn't stop.  So I picked him up, rocked him, and after about 15 minutes put him back in his bed.  I don't think he ever actually fully woke up.  It's been 5.5 hours since he fell asleep.  I hope when I go to bed he doesn't wake up and want to play.  In fact, I don't know why I'm still awake!

His newest word is "duck."  He knows several animals, cat, dog, alligator, and bunny.  He has stuffed animals and will bring us the correct one when we ask him for it.  As far as ducks go he actually pointed at the ducks (geese) at the park the other day and said "duck, duck."  It's amazing how smart kids are. 

A few new things he enjoys:

- Eating French Toast with a fork.  He has gotten really good at this. 

- He prefers to feed himself.  He now likes holding a spoon or fork even if he doesn't use them while he eats.

- He loves to stack boxes (the higher he stacks them I have to hold the other boxes from falling but he's pretty good at it)

- He loves bringing us different toys and stuffed animals when we ask him things like "where's your dog? or Where's your alligator?"

- Caden is very social.  He loves being around other people and it really doesn't matter their age.  Although if there are other kids around he tends to want to hang out with them.

- He loves playing hide and seek.  He goes behind a wall or door and pops out to surprise you.

- He loves laughing and smiling. 

- He's getting a lot more comfortable walking around and wandering away from us when we're out in public.  Thankfully for the most part he still hangs close to us.  That or we make sure he wonder too far away.

- He loves going to the piano and playing the keys.  He has even learned how to open the piano cover to "play notes".

- He can kick a soccer ball around the room and likes to play ball with us.

- He can roll his toy cars straight back to me...and makes a cute "vrrooom, vrrooom" sound.

- He loves playing with his toy cars, balls, and boxes.

- He is getting a lot more verbal.  His phonemes are getting more varied and his newest sound is "naaa, naaa".

Here are a few recent pictures.  Some from his friends Aanya and Leia's birthday party and a few of him at the park.

Caden with his good friend David - they are so cute together

Yes, we are at a McCafe, my friend, Helena, and I met for coffee and couldn't resist taking a picture of our cute babies

One of the few pictures I have of just Caden

- these next pictures were taken at Leia and Aanya's birthday party

Caden with his friends Ava and Leia

Caden showing Aanya something very interesting

Geneva did a great job on the birthday cakes.  They were celebrating Phil's birthday too along with their daughters.  I'm sad because they are moving to Italy.

Caden and his friend

I love my boy!

Collin and Caden at Luisenpark

Caden's 12 month well baby appointment

Caden eating with a fork

We finally were able to get Caden in for his 12 month well baby appointment today. It went really well. He has slimmed down quite a bit and is no longer in the higher percentiles for weight and height. He's still not the smallest kid around but not off the charts either. Overall he is very healthy and doing great.

Here are his 12 month biometrics:

Weight: 23 lbs 12.96 oz
Height: 31.25 in
Head: 46.5 cm

We decided to start spreading out his immunizations. So today he just got one shot, the MMR #1 (Measles, Mumps, & Rubella). It's a live vaccination and we thought one live vaccination at a time would be a good idea for us. When he's around 15 months we'll take him in to get the Hib #3 (Haemophilus Influenza B), and Prevnar #4. We may get him vaccinated against the Hepatitis A at a later date as it mainly prevents diarrhea from drinking the water around the Mexico border, something we don't have to be worried about while living in Germany. We still have not decided whether or not to get him vaccinated against varicella (chickenpox). People who get the varicella shot can still get chickenpox, however, they most likely will not get shingles later in life, something that people who have had the chickenpox are susceptible to getting. I thought he would be more upset after his shot but he wasn't. He was more upset about laying down for the shot then the actual shot. After the shot was done and we left the room he wanted to run around and play. It was so much better than him crying for 5-10 minutes. I was a little sad not to be "needed" more after his shot but also excited that I wasn't needed.

We decided not to let them test his blood to see his iron levels. When he was 9 months we brought him in because of a high fever and they did blood work then. From those results his iron level was fine. It was very traumatic for him and since then laying him down for a diaper change has been difficult. He's finally starting to trust us again. They strapped him down and bruised his wrists to get blood. We felt horrible. Also we eat a pretty balanced diet and our doctor said most likely he's fine. Our doctor said 1 in 10 kids has a low iron level.

We also talked to the doctor about Caden waking up in the middle of the night. He's been waking up every night for the past week. It is probably due to it being extremely hot here and not having adequate air conditioners (we have two floor units and our house is 4 stories). Each unit basically cools one room. Cade is also getting his molars in so that could be part of the problem. We set up his pack n play in our bedroom because neither of us can sleep if he's in the bed with us. This has helped some. Last night we moved him from his crib to his pack n play before we went to bed so he would be in the air conditioning. He still woke up. Collin changed his diaper and we laid him down with us for 10 minutes or so and then moved him to his pack n play.

We're working on helping Caden learn self soothing skills. I talked with a nurse a week ago and she said to start letting him cry himself to sleep. Our doctor said he's still pretty young to Ferberize. Which kind of surprised me since lately most of the people I have talked to have told me to let him cry himself to sleep. Honestly it doesn't take that long to get him to sleep because we have a very consistent schedule. Collin has now been doing the final stage of his bedtime routine and can get him down after about 8 minutes of the lights out. That was about what I was doing. Hopefully sometime soon Collin will start putting him to bed partially awake like I had been doing. Sadly sometimes Collin falls asleep while holding him. Collin has been working really hard lately and seems to be overtired. I'm just glad our doctor thought what we were doing was fine. It can be difficult and tiring being a parent. Plus his cry is heart-breaking. I guess if it took us longer to get him back to sleep or to sleep we would be more likely to let him cry it out. We just can't bring ourselves to do it. Although to be honest, there are days when I am for it. Pure exhaustion sometimes gets the best of all of us. Then Collin graciously takes over.

I'm still working on weaning Caden. The problem is with the naps. I could probably get rid of the morning and bedtime feedings. He gets his last feeding before his bath at night. The morning seems like he could live with or without it. The nap feeding is where the problem is. He'll fall asleep around his nap time in the car but if we're home he wants to nurse. I've shortened it to about 5-6 minutes so it doesn't take long, however, I'd like to get him to nap without it and without driving him around. I think I'm going to stop the morning breastfeeding session then decide whether to drop the nap or bedtime one next. It's not a big deal for me to breastfeed but I am getting to the point of wanting to stop...even though I still have mixed feelings. Part of me wants to hold onto my sweet little baby boy but the other part of me is ready for this next stage in his life. Some groups recommend breastfeeding until a child is at least 2, others say 1, and other groups say it doesn't matter much at all. I know I don't want to nurse until Caden is 2 but I also want it to be a smooth transition. Thankfully he seems like he is getting more and more ready to wean.

This morning Caden drank almost 5 oz of cow's milk and that was after me breastfeeding him. I was so happy. I can now give him cold milk straight from the fridge. Thanks everyone for the advice on getting him to drink milk. I alternate between cow and goat's milk. One week cow, the next week goat's.

Collin and I love Caden so much! I still can't believe he's a year old. Here's a short flash back of how much he's grown.

2 days old

6 months old

12 months old

Fun at the Schwimmbad

To celebrate our freedom and our country's independence, on the 4th of July we took Caden swimming.  We had a lot of fun.  He hasn't been in a pool since he was 4 months old and we were in Portugal.  There are a lot of swimming pools in Germany and it was kind of hard to decide which one to take him to.  The closest one to us is a 5 minute drive.  Saturday we drove out to another swimming pool about 20 minutes away because we were told they have an awesome toddler pool but by the time we arrived Caden had fallen asleep for his nap.  We ended up driving around then went home. 

Yesterday was different.  After church we came home, he took his nap, and we went in the afternoon.  We went to the neighborhood pool in Walldorf.  It was huge.  We drove by there yesterday on our way home.  There was a lake you could swim in, a nice size kiddy pool, a lap pool, a huge pool with a big slide, playgrounds, and lots of area to run and play.  They also have indoor pools but they are closed on Sundays.  We will definitely take Caden back.  It was also very cheap to swim, it cost 3.50 Euro per adult and Caden was free.  So for around $10 you can't beat it.

One of the major differences regarding swimming in Germany versus the US that I noticed was the men's swimsuits.  A good number of German men wore speedos.  Even a lot of the young boys wore speedos.  And actually, some of the young girls were wearing speedos too...or maybe they were just the swimsuit bottoms, unless those were boys with long hair wearing pink swim trunks.  Our family stood out even though there were a lot of people.  Not only did Collin and Caden not wear speedos but Caden also wore a swim top with SPF protection and globs of sunscreen.  Despite the differences in apparel, we had a great time.  I like to look at what other people are wearing because I like to blend in when possible.  However, I don't think I can talk Collin into wearing a speedo.  I'm just like people were wearing swimsuits because I have heard stories of them not.  The only negative part of our day was people smoking.  I wish they would make smoking illegal or at least illegal in public places.   

Here are some pictures of Caden.  He didn't swallow too much water.

Walking to the kiddy pool.  The lake is behind him.

Mommy showing Caden his float

Daddy taking Caden around in his float

Caden playing with his float

Caden interested in the water

Caden wanted to touch the pole and he did!

Milk Problems and Nap Suggestions

Last week we started Caden on goat's milk.  He would take a small sip and look at me, take another one or two sips then push it aside.  After three days of trying goat's milk I opened the organic whole cow's milk I bought.  He did the same thing with that.  Since I am weaning him (or would like to) at least from the middle of the day feeding, I want to make sure he will at least drink some milk.  When I offer him his water he gulps it down like a thirsty runner.

A few days ago I decided to dilute the cow's milk with half water.  He loves water.  He drank about an ounce.  Yesterday, he drank 4 oz., which is about 2 oz. of cow's milk, today so far an ounce.  I hope to try it with goat's milk, I just bought some more since the first one went bad.

I was wondering, did anyone else have trouble getting their child to drink milk?  If so, what did you do?  I was worried that Caden might have an allergic reaction to the cow milk since Collin is lactose intolerant.  However, he seems to be okay with it.  I will continue a few more days with the cow's milk, then try goat's milk again and might alternate between the two.

On a side note, he had been putting himself to sleep for the past three nights.  I don't know if it is because he's just really tired or he has reached the age of learning to sleep on his own.  I wrote about it on my lady expat blog and basically how we did everything "wrong" according to some people's theories on sleep training but it seems to be working out fine afterall.  You can read about our no cry sleep solution here.  Of course it has still only been 3 nights, once we hit a week we'll really be celebrating and might even go out on a date without Caden.   Of course this morning he woke up at 4:30am.  My sweet husband went in there and at 5am thought he was hungry.  I told him he was probably just tired.  Well, it ended up being is was just really hot.  It gets very hot in our part of Germany during this time of year.  Sadly MOST places do not have a/c.  We bought two single units for our house, one in our bedroom and one downstairs in our living room.  Caden's room was the hottest room in the house.  We had his ceiling fan going, a fan from the hall blowing air in his room but it was still hot.  Once he came to our room he fell asleep close to 6am.  Collin ended up going to work early since I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon and need him to watch Caden.

One other thing.  I would love some advice on getting your baby to sleep without breastfeeding.  I've been trying to wean him from the day feedings (before his nap) and have not been very successful.  I wish I would have done this sooner.  Ultimately, I guess there is no real "rush" per say, but I would like to change the habit of him nursing to sleep and go ahead and drop to two feedings a day.  Thanks!