Baby Gaddis ...: Duncan: 24 Weeks Old

My little man is 24 weeks old today! He is growing so big and doing so much, I am amazed at how fast it's all happening!

Without a doubt we have had the BEST - WEEK - EVER. I just could not wait to write this post and rave about our achievements this week, so I promise that Duncan will be back to post next week. I don't think he understands the magnitude of this week's milestones. He's too busy being cute. ;)

1. We started him on rice cereal! Yay for solids! Well, I've been giving him bananas every once in awhile for the last few weeks, but with rice cereal everyday at noon now, we'll say that we've "officially" started solids. He LOVES this stuff and eats like a hungry little bird. It's SO cute! And Messy!

2. HE IS PUTTING HIMSELF TO SLEEP NOW! I am still in awe of the reality of it, even as I write those words. Ever since he was 3 weeks old, we have been rocking him to sleep (i.e. bouncing on the yoga ball) for every nap and every bedtime and every middle-of-the-night waking. EVERY one. He hated being laid down. He fought sleep as if it were the most torturous of events. Bouncing on the yoga ball was the only thing that would calm him down and lull him to sleep. Sometimes it would take hours. Then we would lay him down ever so gently and tippy toe backwards out of the room like highly-trained ninjas whose very survival depended on absolute silence and stealth... only to have him wake up in 10 minutes screaming. It was not a whole lot of fun.

But all that is past. Our new and awesome life involves no more bouncing or lulling or backwards tippy-toeing. On the night of March 22 (I will never forget this day), after 2 hours of bouncing and crying and finally just staring off into the distance in silence, his exhausted Daddy decided to just put him down in the crib wide awake and take a breather. As we sat on the couch and discussed why he wouldn't go to sleep all week without such an epic battle and what we should do to get him to sleep right now, we noticed something: It had been silent for awhile. Daddy went in to take a peek at him and what was he doing? SNORING!! After I picked my jaw up off the floor, our lives were changed forever. I guess he must have been trying to tell us all week that he didn't need us to bounce him anymore & he was mad that we weren't listening. We're stupid first-time parents. We had to find out by accident. Sorry, buddy! :)

Now at naptime and bedtime, we swaddle him, give him his binkie if he wants it, kiss him goodnight, lay him in the crib, give him a gentle pat on the head, and walk out of the room. He wiggles around or talks to himself for a few minutes and the miracle happens -- he falls asleep without a fuss. Yup. Without a fuss. I have never been so in love with this little boy as I am when he puts himself to sleep again and again. I don't know how it happened, but I'm sure glad it did. If I never have to sit on that yoga ball ever again it'll be too soon. :)

3. He is sitting up with the Boppy! Well, almost sitting up. It's still a little bit wobbly and he tends to lean forward to play with his feet, but he does get some good moments of sitting up by himself and playing before he does the slow motion collapse to one side if he leans to far. :)

So hooray for a really great week! I find myself with so much time now that I'm no longer rocking a sleep-hating baby. Oh, the chores that will get done! It's a girl's dream come true! :P And it's all thanks to my sweet little baby boy.

You're such a monkey, Duncan, but you are the best!