In Minnesota

Crystal and Steven Jr. are in Minnesota, visiting family and friends. They will be returning with my folks on July 22nd. They report to me that they are having a great time with family. Crystal also was able to pick up some hours at her aunts tax office so she'll work there this Tues-Thurs.

For those who are interested, Steven Jr's pottying habits are still going well despite the travel (As if you really wanted to know :) ).

Giggles by Steven Jr.

A Word About Pottying...

The night after the last post about Steven's ECing, Steven woke up dry after sleeping for 7 1/2 hours! Needless to say, that was an exciting moment for an ECing mom and dad! He repeated this event a week later, last Tuesday evening. I anticipate we will only see this happen more and more. Yesterday he had one wet diaper during one of his naps, and other than being wet at night, that was his only wet/dirty diaper for the day. This is pretty typical. We normally do not exceed 3 dirty diapers in one day (not including the night diapers).

He's changing his cues a little bit, which I've read it normal. I find he tends to vocalize if he needs the potty (a little whimper or cry) when he really needs to go, and if he's kicking and flinging his arms it's now because he's ready to take a nap and wants to be swaddled, instead of needing to eliminate. I'm not sure when he changed this, but I just picked up on it a day or two ago. I think for a couple days I was putting him on the potty when he really was saying, "I'm ready for my nap!"

Carr Update #35

STEVEN:
Last Thursday, Steven started sleeping in his own room. Now that he’s sleeping 7-9 hours at night, I no longer need the convenience of having him right next to me for night nursing. That wasn’t our main reason for choosing to move him to his own room, though. Whereas up until then, his little sounds that he makes while sleeping or trying to fall back asleep after nursing never bothered my sleep, they were now beginning to. Now, with him content in his own room, both mommy and baby sleep better, since he doesn’t have to hear us come to bed (usually after he’s been asleep for awhile) and I don’t have to hear his little noises through the night, or after I nurse him in the morning and put him back down to sleep. His naps are taken either in his own room, or in our room in his Bonner Bed, depending upon which room I may be doing things in during his nap. My sewing stuff is in his room, so if I intend on sewing, I’ll lie him down in our room. If I don’t intend on sewing or cleaning his room, I’ll lie him down there. Sven was more reluctant than I to transition him to his own bed, which is indeed humorous, seeing that I originally wanted him to sleep in our room until he was weaned (assuming I would be doing night nursing until then) and Sven reluctantly agreed to having him sleep with us only until he was 6 months old. Steven has made the transition to his own room very smoothly, just a few days after he turned 3 months old.

He's discovered his feet. He'll hold them in the air as he's on his back and just look at them, and sometimes reach for them. I'll lay him on the bed and he'll twist and contort himself, rolling every which way exploring and "talking". It's so cute. (In the picture above, he's smiling at his Daddy.)

SVEN:
Sven started his work at the Seminary and is enjoying working with all the books. He’s still looking for additional work and is looking forward to the possibility of outside yard work for friends.

CRYSTAL:
I’ve finally tweaked my diaper pattern to create the diaper that best fits Steven right now. I made it more narrow than many cloth diapers, as I wanted as little bulk as possible between his little legs.

I borrowed a skirt pattern from my friend Tammy and made a skirt, with just the hem left to do. I’m looking forward to sewing more skirts and other clothes. I’ve checked out a handful of sewing books from the library to enhance my knowledge on the subject.