It flies by!

I can't believe Elijah is almost 6 months old.
Next week marks his half-birthday. That old saying, "they grow so fast".... oh heck yeah.
On one hand, I can't wait for him to be older. I love watching him reach milestones, and am excited to see the boy/man he'll become. However, I love that he's little enough to scoop up and smother.

He's not eating solids yet. We tried him on oatmeal and bananas, and a bit of apple, but he just wasn't very impressed. However, he can drink from a cup!

Ok, so here's Elijah's 5-month list:

LIKES:

How do these work again?

- He loves being outside. While it's still nice out, I try to take him out several times a day. He likes watching people, cars, the trees, LIFE! He's an observer.

- His Ergo and baby Bjorn carrier. Gary uses the Bjorn more, and I use the Ergo. Elijah just likes moving around, and since he can't move himself, we are his mode of transport.

- Elijah has taken to yelling at us if we don't move fast enough.... going outside, picking him up, looking at him, picking up his toys... He loves to yell. He doesn't cry, just shouts and hollers.

- He is very adept at picking up toys now, and can switch hands. Big step, apparently.

- We put him up in his highchair, and he now bangs his toys on the tray, deliberately. The kid likes making noise.

- Elijah has discovered Sookie, and just loves watching her. He gets excited when she comes over and licks him (which I'm not too excited about. Her mouth smells like his diapers).

DISLIKES:

- Sleeping. Yup, Elijah still won't sleep. I've sort of resigned myself to that fact, and it makes things easier. He takes between 3-4 naps a day, 45 minutes long. You could set a watch to him. At night, he goes down fairly easily between 7-8.... but then he rouses multiple times all night, until 7-8am. It's insane. So he sleeps in bed with me, which doesn't really help that much, but it saves me having to get up a zillion times all night long.

swimming. 

- Sitting/lying still. The kid is a real mover and shaker.... howbeit a totally immobile one.

- Rolling over. He still won't roll over regularly. He can do it, and he might a couple times a day. But he's just not interested. He'd rather 'swim'.

- Teething! He's cut one, and another is on the way through. Poor little fellow. However, he isn't as drooly as I had imagined he'd be. He doesn't even need a bib!

Hey, there's something in here and it's sharp!

All in all, Elijah is a pretty happy little guy. Yeah, he gets fussy/grumpy/miserable... but don't we all. He doesn't cry much (during the day), and it's not too hard to get a smile or giggle out of him. He's fun!



I just wish he would sleep better. We are contemplating sleep training... I feel almost desperate. Any suggestions on sleep training methods? 

Sister time and the advent of cloth diapers

I am LOVING this.

My sister is visiting from Boston, and it's amazing. She is so good with Elijah, and he seems smitten by her too.

Kathy has been getting me out of the house too.

Her first day here, we went to HomePlus - only the 2nd time I've been grocery shopping since Elijah was born 3 months ago.

Yeah, yeah... I know. I'm a bit house-bound.

Elijah is pretty touchy and he gets grumpy quickly. I can't really take him out without fear of meltdowns.

Kathy and I went out for a LONG and very intense hike up the hills behind our apartments. We went all the way to the top where there's a pagoda, and you can see all the way to the sea.

It's really lovely up there - cool breezes and the wonderful smell of woods and wet pine needles.

We also did yoga yesterday morning. There's nothing like a sister to spur you on!

She is so caring and loving...back rubs, head massages, facials, encouragement, and reassurance. I don't want her to go!

Kathy also brought me an Ergo baby carrier, which is much cooler than the

heavy Sleepy Wrap I've been using. Elijah seemed to like it as well, and we went for a nice walk to the corner store. He managed to make it almost all the way home before breaking down.

She also brought so many new clothes and books (and cute cloth diapers)! Elijah is already in 6-9 month onesies (babygro), so he needed some new outfits!

[side note]

The cloth diapers are a big

step, but we're trying to switch over.

At the moment, he is in disposables

overnight and in the morning, until he poos. In the afternoon, he gets to wear the cute, modern cloth diapers. No plastic/rubber pants and complicated folding/pinning for us! These have snaps or Velcro, and are in nice colors or prints.

At the moment, we're mostly using bumGenius and Flip cloth diapers. I've staying away from the traditional flat diapers. I just don't think I'm ready for that!

[end side note]

I'm hoping that Kathy won't get too bored here!

We don't go out much. There isn't a lot to do in our small town, besides hike in the hills.

We could go to Daecheon Beach, but since it's summer, it's not only super hot, but the beach is full of university students and crazy stuff (it's not a typical western beach). . .crazy stuff like mad women on ATVs plowing down the boardwalk and almost running over our dog, tiny airplanes that fly 10 feet above your head on the shoreline, big groups of military guys having team-building

exercises, masses of students playing and drinking, horses running at full gallop down the crowded beach... it's all a bit mad! Entertaining, indeed. But with a tiny baby, not the best place to be.

We'll have to feed her some Korean food though, like bibimbap and mandu. She's already tried kimbap, and liked it. Kimchi is also on the list, of course.

Thanks for being here, sis! We love you!