Handful of Herreras: March 2016

Now that I'm not doing Owen's monthly photos anymore, I'm not as consistent with my blogging as I used to be...but I'm gonna try to keep at it - at least one blog post a month!

Here's an update on Owen!

Eating

Owen has 3 to 4 meals a day, each meal consisting of a carb, protein, and veggie/fruit (he gets his dairy from his milk). And since he loves pancakes, I spend Sunday mornings making batches of different kinds, which I freeze then serve to him throughout the week(s). Pancakes are also the perfect food to hide his fruits and veggies. ;)

Blueberries, raspberries, and applesauce pancakes.

Sweet potato and cinnamon pancakes (Owen's favorite).

His favorite foods also include sausages, cheese, and veggie-flavored Mum-Mums. We suspect that he may be allergic to strawberries because he has always had an aversion to them, and he recently broke out into hives when I gave him a strawberry smoothie. I gave him a strawberry-flavored Yogurt Melt last night (just one), which he didn't have an initial reaction to; however, he did have loose/watery stool this morning, so we'll just stay away from strawberries for now. Bummer.

Sleeping

So a couple of months back, Ralph and I started sleep training Owen using the Ferber method, and everything turned out fine. He started out in his play pen in our room; and when we got to a whole month of him not crying when we put him down to sleep, we moved his play pen into his room.

We didn't want to put him in his actual crib for two reasons: 1) He was at his "I need to gnaw on everything" phase, and he would bite the paint off his crib (and we weren't sure if that would cause any harmful side effects); 2) In the first couple of nights of his sleep training, he'd fall asleep sitting up, and then he'd eventually fall forward/backward (I found him asleep with his face plastered to the side of the play pen a couple of times); so, my concern was that he would do the same thing when we moved him into his room in his WOODEN crib.

But the transition to his room was a lot better than we thought it would be. And after a week or two, we decided to retire his play pen and have him sleep in his actual crib for the very first time on Saturday. (I'm glad the play pen is gone...two cribs in a bedroom is a little crowded.)

This was a couple of days ago when he skipped his midmorning nap and fell asleep in my arms the minute I picked him up. You can tell he's OUT when you put him down, and he doesn't stir.

Now we're just working on his napping. He's a horrible napper, and he'll only fall asleep with me in our bed; and if I get up to leave after he has fallen asleep, he'd wake up within 10 minutes. Sometimes, it would take him a whole HOUR to drift to sleep, and to do this twice a day is daunting AND time-consuming.

One of many times where he'd babble and tumble in bed/on Mama for a whole hour before falling asleep!

So for the past two days, I've been using the Ferber method for naps too. For his midmorning nap today, he only cried for 5 minutes when I left him, and he's been asleep for a little over an hour. Let's hope his afternoon nap ends up the same way or better!

Playing

Owen no longer plays in the "Octagon", a space in the living room, which was enclosed by a free standing baby gate. All he did was cry when he was inside of it. Now he has free range, and we've only gated off certain areas like the kitchen and the hallway to the bedrooms/bathroom. If he can get into the kitchen, he goes straight for the tupperware cabinet.

We've baby-proofed the living room as much as we could, but, like any toddler, the most fascinating things to Owen are the things that he shouldn't be playing with (DVD's, shoes, cabinets, Wendy's bed, etc.); but, he has his quiet moments where he just sits in his tent and plays contently with whatever I throw in there. Those are the best.

I've thought about getting him his own dog bed, but Ralph snapped me out of my temporary insanity.

Talking
Owen continues to babble, and he recognizes certain objects (Mama, Daddy, Wendy, ball, balloon, fan, milk, cheese, shoes, elephant, Pooh Bear, and truck, just to name a few.) He has so much to say, and we're trying so hard to get him to talk, but the words he chooses to learn to say are super random. He can say "Mama" and "Dada", though he doesn't use them to call us; but the words he can repeat back to us are go ("goooo"), star ("sthah"), vacuum ("ba-um"), and Wendy ("Deedee"). Yeah. Random.

"Where's Mama?" *Point!*

He loves his Wendy Girl and plays with her as much as she lets him. He thinks it's hilarious when she eats and her little name tag clinks on her bowl.

Easter Sunday
On Sundays, I usually make Owen's pancakes, so I decided to serve them to the whole family, but with some Easter flair. Thanks, Pinterest!

Notice that Owen's plate is smaller than mine and Ralph's. Hehe.

We spent the rest of the day with Ralph's families in Riverside, so Owen had TWO Easter Egg hunts! And let me tell ya, Owen's cousins were all so nice about it - they were showing him where eggs were hidden and were even putting some in his basket! What?! When I was little, it was every man for himself! There was blood! There were tears! Just kidding, but you get what I'm saying.