“Niko has been out in the world longer than he was inside of me.” Nina Lieberman
I can’t believe that Niko is 9 months old!!! It seriously feels like yesterday when I was watching him come out of Nina’s vagina!!!
I have absolutely no complaints about anything (even the lack of sleep) because being a dad is priceless, fun, tiring (so, I lied…I do complain about being tired), and always adventurous (because you never know what will happen next).
So, how about a quick Niko update…
Since about 2 weeks ago, he has been sleeping from 7ish pm to about 3 or 4 am (without eating)!!! Nina joins him (a few minutes after 7ish, but I have been staying up till 8ish). I have things to do (mainly in the kitchen as I have to clean, eat a little bit more, and always have stuff to write). I was giving him a formula bottle around midnight and I kept giving him less and less in the hopes that he would drop that feeding…it worked because that last bottle I was going to give him actually had water in it!!! We just need to work on extending his sleep till 5 or 6 and I think he will do it. Hopefully, Nina will be able to join me soon and stay up for a little while (I miss spending time with her). I am so proud of him because this will help mom and dad get some longer stretches of sleep (but, we both wake-up waiting for him to wake-up!!!). He does whimper and cry a little but throughout the night, but 9 times out of 10, he is able to go back to sleep. I can tell by the sound if he is laying down or standing up in the crib. That 1 time out 10, he gets to sleep next to me for a few minutes (or however long it takes for him to go back to sleep).
We are still trying (working is a much better word) on getting him good naps during the day. Yes, he is tired when he naps (the 2-3-4 baby schedule seems to be working for him, although we have tweaked the awake times to help him nap). If the nap is shorter than an hour, we are leaving in him in there for an hour from when he went to sleep. Hopefully, that will train his body that mom and dad won’t rescue you so go back to sleep!!! He does sleep in the car, but we can’t rely on that daily.
He so much wants to talk and it will be happen very soon along with some real words (and once it does, if he’s anything like me, he won’t shut up!).
He so much wants to walk (he can stand for about a second before falling). I have a feeling that when we walks, we will have to put him on a baby leash because he will want to explore everything!!! I guess the baby proofing will have to start again (downstairs). We got lots of baby proofing supplies several weeks ago, but we haven’t had the time to do anything in his room. Yes, his room is good for crawling, we just have to be in there with him. We just need a few hours in his room and downstairs and somebody to amuse Niko while we make the house safe. Mom and Dad, I am calling you out!!!!
For about a month, we have been feeding him 3 meals a day in addition to breastmilk. It’s really fun because sometimes we can feed him what we are eating…even if it is a teeny bit.
His days are pretty routine …eating, playing, napping, peeing, pooing, and walking (outside)!!! Man, I wish I could do that!!!
