Tough Love and Ceral Confustion

So Logan had his 4 month wellness check up today. Normally Logan is a very calm baby. Today...not so much. He did not want to be laid down on the table to be examined, and he certainly did not like getting measured, especially his head! In fact they had to measure it twice because the first measurement didn't seem quite right. I had to hold Logan when the doctor checked his eyes and listened to his heart. Then he had to have his body examined. When that was going on Logan would look at me, crying, I could could tell by the way he was looking at me, he was saying 'Mommy, what's going on? Why wont you just hold me? Who is this man?' There was nothing I could do but smile at him to let him know it was going to be okay.

The doctor asked me if I had started Logan on solid foods yet. I told him not yet because I wasn't sure if he was ready. The doctor said he was and to start him on baby cereal, and he recommended the rice cereal. I said that we would start today. Then it was on to his second round of shots. He was a happy boy at this point, smiling at everyone and kicking his legs. So much so that the nurse had to hold his legs down for the shots. He got 3 shots and one oral. He cried with the shots but stopped right away when they gave him the oral. I then packed him up and got him ready to go pick up Papa. Logan fell asleep on the ride there and stayed asleep for most of the late afternoon.

After picking Kevin up I told him about our day and what a brave boy our son was. I also told him that it was time for Logan to start eating solid foods. So we went to Target to get rice cereal witch was what the doctor recommended. Since this was the first time we had ever even looked at infant cereal we didn't know what to get. There was a very nice lady in the same aisle, and she gave us some good advice. She also recommended what kind of cereal to get and how to prepare it. We were very appreciative to that nice lady. She told us to make it a little more watery then normal for the first time. After getting home Logan was awake and time to start the bed time routine. I gave him a bath, which he normally really likes, but not tonight. He cried for most of it, so it was a short bath, and not relaxing. Then we got him in his PJ's and a bottle was made. We are starting baby signing, so once the milk was made we gave Logan the sign for milk, and it seems like he is kinda starting to understand. As soon as we gave him the sign, he calmed down a bit. After the bottle we gave Logan a little bit of space and I started getting the rice cereal made. I was reading the directions and I thought I was doing it correctly. But I didn't. This is what happened: I made a 4 ounce bottle, just like I normally would. I then put that same bottle into a bowl and mixed in 1 tablespoon of rice cereal. Now I know that the lady told us to make it watery, but this was ridiculous! I couldn't even spoon it I mean it is supposed to be solid right? So I messed up, I had to dump it out. I thought I misread the directions, so I tried again. This time I put 2 scoops of formula into the bowl, and 1 tablespoon of cereal, then looked at the directions to see how much liquid to use. That's where I got confused. It didn't tell me how much to use! Once I was confused, and I knew I didn't understand what the directions were telling me to do Kevin stepped in. I watched the baby and Kevin made the bowl. This is what I did wrong. I was supposed to use 4-5 TABLESPOONS of formula, not ounces! And then use 1 tablespoon of cereal. So I guess I really don't belong in the kitchen! Once it was made, I put Logan in his bumbo chair and feed Logan his very first taste of rice cereal. I think we got more on his face and bib then we did in his tummy. But we are working on it. He will do better.

So now that Logan is 4 months it is time for me to start the tough love. Logan can no longer fall asleep on me and then be put in his crib. He must fall asleep on his own. Last night was the first time we did this. It was very hard for me. After he was fed Logan and I rocked in the rocking chair and I read him a story. I could see that he had his tired eyes on, so I went to the bedroom, and put him in the crib. He started crying, and I said, "Goodnight Logan, I love you". I then walked out of the room. He cried for about 10 mins, then I went back into the room, tried to give Logan his pacifier, which he didn't want so since he didn't want his pacifier, I walked back out of the room. Logan still cried for 10-15 mins more, and then all of a sudden, the house was quite. Logan had gone to sleep! Oh my goodness, I did it! This is how it is going to be from now on. Once Logan starts getting tired, I will put him in the crib, and he must fall asleep on his own. I will only go into the room every 10 mins to try to calm him down. After 3 times, I will then pick him up to calm him down, once h is calm, it starts all over again until he falls asleep. I was lucky that I only had to go in the room once. Kevin was there for me the whole time. He gave me encouraging hugs, and told me what a great job I was doing. I know that what we are doing it good for him. Logan must learn when he is tried and how to go to sleep. It may be hard for us now, but in the long run Logan will be a better man for it. Strong and independent. This was the first time I felt like a real parent, not just a mommy, but a parent.