Well, there's been so much going on, and a ton of pictures to post and stories to be told, but somehow never enough time to post. So a brief update, no pics, for right now as a placeholder and a pledge to get the picture posts back in gear.
Everyone is nearly recovered from the illness, but impacts are still felt. At the worst, the little guy was (not) sleeping with me in our bed, and Rich was (not) sleeping with the (not) sleeping Sweetpea in her big girl bed. The transition to the big girl bed had gone well - very well. We'd say prayers, I'd cuddle for a minute or two, then walk out letting her fall asleep on her own. But now, she wants one of us to cuddle with her "just 5 minutes" which means until she falls asleep. And if she wakes at night, she cries for R to cuddle with her more. So we decided, now that everyone was better, we had to go back to our former routine. But she just does not like being in the big bed by herself. Now, once we leave her, she drags out her Dora fold out couch, pulls her pillow and stuffed animals off the bed, and curls up on the fold out bed. At least she's mostly sleeping, and by herself.
As for the little guy - he's still very congested, and that I think wakes him up. Prior to illness, he was fairly variable. Any given week, 3 nights he'd be up once in the night, 2 nights he'd be up twice, and two nights he'd sleep completely through. Totally unpredictably, but those full nights were nice. When sick, it was the horrible 5 times a night routine. Now, he's back to up 2 times a night. It's slowly getting better, so maybe there will still be more improvement.
We started solids! Sweetpea started at 5.5 months. The little guy is actually a big guy, but he wasn't showing any signs of interest, until suddenly he was. In the course of one week, he went from not paying any attention to what was in our hands or mouths to lunging at anything and everything that moved. So the solids started just a few days after the 5 month mark. There are good pics and videos. We started with oatmeal, followed by avocado and banana. And Cheerios, which he loves - he's even had some luck bringing the cheerios to his own mouth, though there's still plenty of room for improvement. He eats solids once per day - at dinner - and so far so good. Last night he ate half a banana and a quarter of an avocado (and a small handful of cheerios). I think sweet potatoes are next on the menu. Then I have to dig out my baby food book and the ice cube trays and get busy with the making. She moved fairly quickly into self feeding and chunkier foods. We'll see how it develops with him. The plan is to make as much as is practical again. I never cooked and used the blender to puree for anything with the Sweetpea - just did homemade foods that mashed easily. But this time around, my goal is to make a more concerted effort to make the food ourselves. Well, I have good intentions, anyway.
And for those following the school saga - we're still waitlisted everyplace except for our neighborhood school. There have been some recent very encouraging developments in the neighborhood, so for now, the plan is she'll head off to preK there in September.
Photos and videos coming soon!
