Catching up...

There are many developments to tell you about, from here in Indy.

Playing nicely with others: Sunday night we went to a neighborhood dinner in Fountain Square, where there were lots of kids running around. Amos had a blast with them and all of the toys. At one point, he was pretending to feed little Nigel Boring (10 months), with a big pink plastic spoon and Nigel was playing back. It was so cool to see them play together, as if they both got it and were enjoying each other's company.

The sleep saga: Last night, I tried putting Amos down for bed in our usual way. Our heater was fixed yesterday (although, we had record-breaking heat yesterday, at a balmy 67 degrees), and last night I decided it was time for Amos to go back to sleeping part of the night in his crib, so as not to get too far off track. After a long time of nursing and rocking, he was still awake. I had to go to the bathroom, so Nathan took over. At one point he had to come find me and put Amos in the crib. He was not happy about that and screamed harder than I had ever heard him do before. So I went back in, which frustrated both Nathan and I but made Amos quite happy. After more rocking, I decided to put him in his bed, to see what would happen. After about half an hour of back patting and singing, Amos fell asleep, and slept for awhile. When he woke up, he came in with us and slept until 8:30 this morning! No 5 or 6:30 wake up feeding session!!! I was stoked, and we've both had a really great day because of all the continuous sleep we've gotten! Today he has napped for nearly two hours, and I am excited because I feel like we're getting back into a groove again. I am anxious for stability again, for both he and I, so this is exciting!

Playing well by himself: Last night, Amos made up a new game. He found a piece of cardboard from a pizza box that was like a heavy piece of paper. He would stick that into the handle on the Costco wipes box, drop it in, then pick up the box and fish the light cardboard out. He did this over and over again. At times, he even went head first into the box to find the cardboard. We sat and watched and marveled at his creativity.

We continued watching while we had dinner as he happily entertained himself. Funnily enough, we discovered that he had also been busy pooing in his diaper. I told Nathan to leave him alone, and we could change it when he was done playing. Nathan was afraid of a blowout but I was less concerned. Sure enough, when Nathan went to change him, it had blown out his left leg and there was poo everywhere! I was called in as a reinforcement! We had a good laugh!

AMOS SAYS A NEW WORD!!! and sentences!!! Today at lunch, I was holding a banana. He motioned that he wanted it and so I said, "Do you want the banana?" And he said, "Na na." I freaked out! So then I would say, "banana" and he would repeat and say, "na na." It was awesome.

He has been putting his words together to ask for water, please: "wa, tssss" and cheese, please: "ccchhhhsssss tssssss." It's great to hear his little voice and to see him communicate. He is a big communicator and I think it makes him feel happier to be able to communicate with us. He seems happier, anyway.