Eisley has been having problems getting to sleep lately, and has developed an initial dislike for her crib whenever we set her in it. So I decided I needed to be extra consistent with nap times this week and I'm seeing a LITTLE improvement. She still cries for 15-20 minutes before falling asleep, but that's better than an hour! Last night she went down really easy and slept for most of the night, only waking up once around 4:00. I tried putting her to bed early all week and that didn't seem to work out for her too well. She's used to going to bed around 7:30 so if I put her down at 6:30 she'd just wake up an hour later wanting to eat. She fell asleep in Mike's arms the other night around 7 so I thought I'd shoot to have her down by 7. Last night I put her down around 7 and she was asleep by 8 (after talking/whining to herself for quite awhile). This morning she slept in until 7:30 and woke up super happy, so maybe that is her magic bedtime. All week she's been waking up screaming but this is the first morning she woke up cooing to herself, so I think I'll stick to that.
One thing that's contributed to her inability to fall asleep is the fact that she rolls everywhere now. Around 3 1/2 months she learned to roll from back to front and ever since has done this immediately as soon as she hits the crib mattress. She used to scream to be rolled back over but now she seems to like it on her tummy and will fall asleep that way. We're not going to fight it. She's too big to be swaddled and I'm not walking in there every 10 minutes to flip her back over.
One reason Eisley might be so cranky as of late is that she's apparently going through a "wonder week," . According to the wonder weeks theory, babies go through certain leaps in development and while they do so they are more cranky than usual and may even regress in some areas. One of these is supposedly right around month 4 and it's called the world of events or something like that. During it, babies learn what things do that we as adults take for granted: I.e. balls bounce. Once they get through a wonder week, they are suddenly at a new level and can do a lot more things.
I'm not sure if she's fully through it yet, but she's definitely doing a lot of new things! One thing she does now is actually shake rattles. She will grasp something and shake it up and down or throw it across the room. Her fine motor skills have definitely taken a leap lately. I'm a huge fan of natural wooden toys so I bought Eisley an unfinished wooden rattle on Etsy. I wasn't sure which one she would like so I went with one of the more popular ones.
She loves to chew on it and shake it up and down. The only problem is that because of its long shape...
She tends to bonk herself in the face with it.
The Montessori crowd would be proud of me for letting her play with it despite her face-bonking tendencies. That's how they learn, right? Next up, real steak knives!
Another thing she does better now is sit unsupported:
She's by no means perfect at this yet but she can do it for short periods without falling over!
Cognitively, she seems to get it now when toys are taken away from her. It's like "Hey! I wanted to play with that!" And she objects with shrieks and reaching for the object that was removed. Along with this understanding, her tracking is impeccable. She turns toward noises, watches us and the dog as we move around the room, and will follow tiny objects with her eyes.
Most exciting for me, Eisley plays Peekaboo now! She thinks it's the funniest thing in existence when mom or dad just pop out of nowhere. We're getting some belly giggles now and they're just the cutest thing ever!
Now that we have a washer and dryer, we're cloth diapering almost full time. It's not a ton of extra work, and the diapers are so soft and colorful.
Cute, huh?
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