Will at 5 months

Alright so I've become a huge slacker again, but I started back to work two weeks ago. My first project after a six month hiatus was writing an appellate brief for the Sixth Circuit. Non-lawyers are already bored but let's just say it was as much of a shock to my system has having been thrown in a pool of freezing water while still asleep.

So, what is Will up to these days, you ask?
1. The biggest thing (to me at least) is that I no longer lead a dairy-free, and thus miserable, existence. Turns out Will was likely the victim of some gastrointestinal bug instead of having a milk allergy and that's what was causing him to wake up six times a night with terrible gas. Once the bug went away, however, Will had gotten used to being fed in the middle of the night and decided that was a fine habit to keep. So we had to sleep train him for one night and he was back to being my perfectly angelic little sleeper.

While we're discussing sleep, let me add that we realized about 6 weeks ago that we were doing all the things that the sleep books tell you not to do with your children. With Jack, I let his schedule dictate my day. Poor Will. Every time he wanted to go to sleep, we were taking Jack to school or picking him up or going to music class. So he was taking 20 minute catnaps here and there and not getting any real sleep. Those of you with children know that the more tired a baby is, the less he will sleep. And the more well-rested a baby is, the MORE he will sleep. Sounds counter intuitive but it's true. With my mom's help chauffeuring Jack around town, I was able to stay home and let Will settle into a schedule. The child has not cried since. Turns out, he's just like Jack. If he's gotten his sleep, he's the happiest baby in the world. And yes, since you're wondering, and probably judging, I do feel terribly guilty. It won't be the last time.

2. Once Will's stomach problems subsided, we started him on solid food. We had noticed that he had been staring longingly at us anytime we ate something so we figured it was time. Turns out the kid has been starving. We started with rice cereal and he literally inhaled it.


Although you're supposed to wait 4 or 5 days between foods, we started giving him something new every other day because he Like Jack, he appears to prefer vegetables although there's nothing that he won't eat (messily I might add).


What can I say? He's like his parents - he loves food.

3. He rolled over. Neither parent witnessed it but Jack did. He was on his activity mat and Jack was playing with him (or moving all the animals around for him - see previous post re latter born children's proclivity for laziness) while I was in the kitchen. All of a sudden, Jack started clapping and saying "You did it Baby Will - good for you!" I came in the room and he was on his stomach. Jack meanwhile did not care to be on his stomach and seemed to intuitively understand that if he rolled over, that's exactly where he was going to end up. So he didn't even try to roll over for months and months. Score one for Will...

4. He's sitting up by himself. Jack actually sat up by himself at 3 and a half months which was ridiculously early (probably because he was short and fat and easily able to balance himself). Score one for Jack...