All He Wanted for Christmas...

Two new updates for our little man. First of all, he has developed for himself a new nighttime routine. Noah and I had sat down and had a little man-to-man talk about his nighttime feedings, and I think we got that under control. The past three nights, he hasn't had more than one bottle overnight at all. He's gone as long as 12 hours without needing a bottle!

You're thinking, "Holy cow! He's so advanced! You're the luckiest parents in the history of mankind!" Well, I agree, but all is not as it seems.

Our sweet little guy... he couldn't cause any trouble, could he?

While he doesn't eat much at night these days, the past three nights have actually been more painful than any nights in a long time. He's developed this new habit of waking up, even more often than before, and crying more and more fervently until someone soothes him back to sleep. If I try to give him a bottle (because the only time that he ever used to wake up crying was when he was hungry), he forcefully turns his head away and refuses to drink. If I try to give him a pacifier, he ignores it and continues crying as if nothing has happened. If I make "Shhhhh" sounds (which used to soothe him a bit), it makes no difference.

He's got me wrapped around his little finger.

He knows that I will quickly cave in. I will pick him up, and walk with him, patting his back until he falls back asleep. Then, when I put him down, sometimes I'm unlucky, and he wakes up, and we start the cycle again. If I am lucky and he stays asleep, who knows for how long... Sometimes it's a couple hours... more often it's an hour... sometimes it's 15 minutes. PAINFUL.

Hopefully this is a short-lived phase. As I write this, I'm on-call, and Libby is also working, so Grandma and Grandpa Egle are gracious enough to watch him for the night. Maybe having a night away from home with be enough to snap that little habit. (If not, I'm really sorry Mom and Dad.)

And that brings us to update number two, which may or may not be related to update number one. Noah's competitive side has become evident. He heard that he wasn't the only one with a new tooth (his cousin Ellia got one on Superbowl Sunday), so he decided to one-up her. He realized he couldn't really do any damage with a single tooth, so out popped a second one, right nextdoor to the first.

Side-by-side, sharper than they look.

At this rate of about a tooth a week, I figure he should have a full set in time to chomp down a hotdog at his first baseball game. He's still very drooly and chews on everything (which, on a side note, seems to be his new designated purpose for his pacifier, rather than sucking it). I haven't felt any other new teeth coming in, but he sure does love biting things... and sometimes it seems like he's trying to chew with the back of his jaw, which makes me wonder.

(My mother just pointed out I was 8-9 months before I slept through the night. That's not hereditary, is it?)

AHHHH!!! LOOK OUT! THE TEETH ARE COMING!!!