Restaurant Review: Aja Pacific Kitchen

Melina writes: Although we've been to several restaurants lately (Arabian Breeze, Matanza, Bridgeport Gasthaus), I will always have a special place in my heart for Aja because it's the first place where I actually had a dish ordered for me. Oatmeal! And not that gross just-add-water oatmeal that comes in cardboard boxes, but real creamy, hot oatmeal in a real bowl. Mama fed it to me on the handle end of a spoon, despite my efforts to feed it to myself. And it was hot! Temperature adds a whole new dimension to food, doesn't it? Why didn't someone tell me before? I also liked the fried potatoes, which I was allowed to feed myself. I think I got some fried onions too. Good stuff! One nice thing about this restaurant is that the acoustics really amplify your squeals, especially after the breakfast rush is over and there aren't many people around. Also, the waitress didn't pick up our dishes right away so there was plenty to play with in between bites.

Five new teeth!

Last week Melina pushed out five new teeth all in the same week. It's amazing that she wasn't more grumpy than she was. She still had a smile for every stranger in the grocery store. What a trooper! Now she has eight teeth in all.

Crawling!

Melina has just started really crawling (which might also explain some of her frequent night wakings.) She's been working on her crawling skills since Christmas, but on her 9 month birthday she finally figured out how to tuck one leg under her and began marching across the floor. Now she's really mobile. Kitty, look out!

Day 6 of the No Cry Sleep Solution

We're having some success with the new system! I've been trying to keep Melina on a general nap schedule (10:30-11:00, 2-3:30, 5:30-6, give or take an hour or so). She's getting more sleep and is going to bed easier. Also, the nighttime ritual seems to be helping her realize that it's time to sleep. I start the process at 8:30 and she goes to bed at 9:00. Last night she was really tired so we skipped reading a book and she fell asleep *immediately* without any fight at all. How wonderful! She has also successfully soothed herself back to sleep at least once, though most other times I have had to either pat her back to sleep or pick her up and let her fall asleep in my arms (which she does almost immediately). She is finally done with teething, for now, so that has made life much more bearable.

Successes so far:

• Goes to sleep much faster
  
• Has soothed self back to sleep at least once
  
• Has slept in crib past 11:00 a few times
  
• Has been waking up at night less often (twice instead of four times)
  

Challenges:

• Still wakes up every half an hour or so until 11:00 pm
  
• Usually wakes up at 11:00 and sleeps in our bed for the rest of the night
  
• Still addicted to the binky
  

The next steps:

• Work on reducing night wakings (more feedings during daytime, etc.)
  
• Work on getting her to soothe herself back to sleep more (she might do this herself)
  
• Reduce reliance on the binky.
  

And Jeff says I'm not systematic enough!!

Day 1 of the No-Cry Sleep Solution

Yesterday was our first day trying out ideas from The No-Cry Sleep Solution. Results were mixed (though since it was the first day, and she is still teething, I didn't expect miracles). I had set up a nap schedule of 11:30 and 1:30. She napped at 12:00 and 2:00, so I wasn't far off. I lay down with her for the 2:00 nap, and she slept well until 3:30, which is great. At 7:30 (the new bedtime), it only took 15 minutes to get her to sleep after a brief nighttime ritual. I was thrilled! Then, 20 minutes later, she woke up. I spent 45 minutes trying to get her back to sleep, and finally gave up. She finally fell asleep on our bed at 10:00 pm, and spent the night there, waking up about 4 times during the night to nurse.

I think there are a few lessons here:

• Trying to sleep-train a baby who is still teething is pretty much impossible.
  
• Research shows that night waking peaks in babies around 9 months old (here). (Melina just turned 9 months today!)
  
• It's normal for babies this age to wake during the night, though four times a night is pushing it (here).
  
• Melina is used to going to bed around 9, so starting her out at 7:30 is too early. Tonight we'll try 8:30. Maybe some babies are just night owls?
  
• Lots of moms on my online baby board still rock their babies to sleep; they won't fall asleep alone in their cribs.
  
• This, too, shall pass.
  

Snow baby

Melina's already gone skiing twice this winter. We put her in our new Chariot Cougar sled and she either sleeps or cries until we put her in a front pack on daddy's chest. So far, both trips have been a success. I can't wait until she's 3 and we can put her on tiny little skis.

Sleep trials

We are entering the age of sleep trials. For the first seven months or so, we were co-sleeping with Melina and generally following the attachment parenting routine (feed on demand, co-sleep, wear the baby when possible). This was easy when Melina was swaddled up and didn't have free will. But starting around 7.5 months she refused to be swaddled anymore and thrashed around in the bed so much I couldn't sleep. Then around 8.5 months she started crawling and would practice in the middle of the night. We bought a crib and have been trying to teach her to sleep in it, but she's been teething and waking up every two hours wanting to nurse. Today we're starting a new system with ideas from the No Cry Sleep Solution. Starting today, we'll try to stick to a napping schedule (10:30 and 1:30, which seem to be her usual naptimes) and an earlier bedtime (7:30) along with a routine before bedtime and lots of feeding leading up to bed. We're going to try this for 7-10 days to see if there's any improvement. If not, we'll try a modified cry-it-out routine. I'm not sure how we'll go about doing it. Someone on my baby board had a lot of luck putting the baby in bed after the first feeding every night. The baby cried 15 minutes on the first night, less on the second, and one minute on the third. I have a feeling Melina will cry longer than that, but I could be wrong. I'll try to post with the results of our efforts.

Post a comment!

Hey, I'd love to know who (if anyone) is reading this blog. Please post a comment and let me know so I don't feel like I'm writing in a void (or just to my parents). Thanks!

Restaurant review: Henry's (on Burnside)

Melina writes: This is one of my favorite restaurants. We've been there as many times as I have hands, plus one. When you first get to the restaurant they give you a shiny thing that looks like a remote control. I gummed it for a while and stared at the flashing lights until it started beeping. Tres amusant! The restaurant is dark, with a nice womblike hum, and I managed to get a good nap on mama's lap the first time we went. The wait staff smiled at me a lot and I heard other babies nearby. (It's always good to know you have other babies around to back you up.) It's loud enough that nobody raises an eyebrow if you want to screech. I was a little peeved that they wouldn't let us into the bar, though. Apparently, I'm still a minor. However, they made up for it by giving me some nice romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa) to play with. They also have high chairs with straps that keep me from sliding to the floor. I hate that.

Introducing the Date Report

The Date Report: My friend "Norene" is going on three dates a week until April. Hear her thoughts! Judge the dates for yourself!

Restaurant review: Bella Faccia pizza

Melina writes: This is the first restaurant I ever went to, when I was 8 days old. My memory of that night isn't very clear (newborn baby and all), but I do remember some very unwomblike sounds coming from somewhere, and hot air blowing from a big humming thing. Naturally, that made me cry, so daddy put me on his lap. I can't speak to the quality of the food or the high chairs since I was so inexperienced and naive in those days.

Melina's restaurant reviews

Melina's grandpa recommended that Melina start writing reviews of the restaurants she visits. She thought it over for a while and decided that it would be a useful service for other babies who are helping their parents choose where to dine. Her reviews (dictated to mama) will be posted in italics to differentiate them from my posts.

Baby's new year!

Well, I have been a very bad blogger for the last two months. Much has happened - Christmas, New Year's, new teeth, progress toward crawling. Melina went an entire day saying "nang nang nang nang nang" over and over. Her Yaya (Jeff's mom) was visiting and I think she thrived on all the extra attention. She was the belle of the ball at a Christmas party, smiling and flirting with all in her maroon chiffon and black velvet gown. She was grinning from ear to ear for most of the party, although she was too excited to sleep. She seemed fairly oblivious to Christmas itself, retreating for a nap in the middle of the festivities, although at Christmas dinner she enjoyed mashing potatoes in her fingers. She spent New Year's at Black Butte Ranch with Linnea, who is almost exactly a year older than Melina.

This past weekend Melina and I went down to Corvallis to visit my friend Tara, who just had a daughter as well. Melina welcomed the new baby with a firm handshake and a few general pokes. It's hard to imagine that in three years or so they'll be running around together!

Yesterday we took Melina cross-country skiing at Teacup Lake in her new Chariot sled. She did very well (that is, she slept) for the first half of the ski trip, and then after some complaining she spent the second half in a front pack on Dad's chest. All in all, it was a success, and I'm sure we'll be going on more ski trips in the future. The Chariot works very well, and we're glad we bought it. It turns into a bike trailer in the summer.

In terms of development, Melina has made lots of progress with crawling. I saw her take two crawl-steps forward today, though she prefers to go backward. She also has two new teeth, including one on top. That's four in all. And we finally bought her a crib last week, which she is sleeping in now. She won't sleep through the night in it, but at least we have one to work with.