Sunday, January 17, 2010

Settling down



Things are getting into a groove in the Ferrara Family household. Oscar is starting to understand that sleep actually will not kill you. He did his first ever 8-hour stretch a few nights ago, coincidentally or not on the day I started having him cry it out to go to sleep. It's a couple weeks earlier than I did this with Annie but when you have an energetic three-year-old waiting for you at the end of that long night, a mom has to kick it into gear a little sooner with the sleep thing. I actually had to wake him up at 3 am to feed him. It was a glorious thing. But no sooner had I bragged about it on Facebook than that night he was back to his 3- or 4-hour stretches of sleep at night. But last night, he did a 6-hour stint, so I think the light is starting to appear at the end of this very, very long tunnel of sleep deprivation. Of course, no sooner did I type this (at 8:20 at night) did Jay pop down to tell me he's up again. Can he read my mind!? One cute development, when he's about to do a big sneeze, he does this prelude that sounds like an old man sneeze, he does a big, "whaaaaahhhhhh!" then pauses before the sneezes come. I hope we get it on tape at some point. It's hysterical. At his last doctor's appointment he was still in the 25th percentile of growth even though he looks huge to me. He was 11 pounds at about 9 weeks. He has a little reflux which may be contributing to the lack of sleep, but hopefully the Zantac will help. So far, I haven't seen too much difference. Maybe I'll cut back
on the chili.

Annie still loves him. It's been hard for her to negotiate the substantial amount of time I've had to spend with him, feeding him, changing him, getting him to sleep. But she's done awesome, actually. In fact, her pretend play has blossomed in the absence of my attention. She makes these elaborate "cribs" and houses for her lovey, Monkey (she's never been one for dolls). The cribs make it into her doll stroller so it's a mobile sleep unit. She's also trying to act older. She now puts on this affected body language sometimes when she's trying to explain something to me, she puts her arms up in the air and waves her hands as she talks, always starting her sentences with "Weeelll, actually, ..." The other day, she dropped a cup of water on the floor by accident, and in my end-of-the-day frustration, I sighed and said "Annie, ugh." She looks down and says, "I just don't get it." So she keeps me sane and smiling. Thank you, Annie.

I'm posting a video here of the two of them. You can see she's already taking charge. Listen close, or you may miss her lesson in etiquette.


Annie and Oscar January 2010

Click here to view these pictures larger

Friday, January 1, 2010

Joy to the world (well, at least western Connecticut)



This year, Annie really GOT Christmas, just like Halloween, only now, in addition to the hoards of candy, presents are involved. Annie wrote Santa a few weeks ago and asked for a red bike. The day before Christmas she amended her request and asked for a blue one, but Santa can only work so hard to make dreams come true for EVERY kid, so Annie accepted her red bike with glee. Utter glee. We spent Christmas in Connecticut just like her previous 3. This time, her cousins Ben and Riley also came up from Savannah to share in the joy. At Oma and Papa Joe's house (or as I like to call it, Christmas Party West) down the street, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Jon and cousins Luke and Colin were there to offer another Christmas spectacular. It was so nice to see Colin and Annie, who are only 8 months apart, play together, and play they did. Luke (who is almost 7 and incredibly awesome with his younger cousins), Colin and Annie came up with a telephone game where they went upstairs whose bedrooms all have their own phones. The game basically made each of the three bedrooms into a house for each of them, then they talked over the line on the phone to each other. HOURS OF FUN. It was great for the parents. I actually got to complete several sentences without interruption.

We also got to see our good friends Miranda and Ariel and their parents Denise and Peter, and Miranda's husband Jim and daughter Hastings. Hastings is almost 2 and is learning to share, learning being the operative word, which we all found hilarious. Annie was very patient though and found ways to skirt her emphatic "NO!" whenever Annie touched one of the toys. I assured her that next year she wouldn't have to navigate their playtime so carefully. They both were great and clearly enjoyed each other's company because basically, given their moms' relationship, they are required to be best friends, so they might as well get used to each other.

Oscar, poor Oscar, handled everything beautifully and is now taking good naps in the crib (which is why I'm able to write this). I'm sure it's because he's exhausted from all the light shows and Christmas carols and the immense amount of fatty foods he ingested via his mother. He's a growing boy!

We all had a great time and want to thank all the family and friends who made this Christmas truly the most wonderful time of the year. (Now you'll have that song stuck in your head all day... our gift to you.)

Christmas 2009

Click here to view these pictures larger