Playing Catch Up

2/15/08: There has been a ton going on lately and Miles is a handful these days so it’s hard for me to write as much as I wish. I can hardly keep up with my email (or the laundry, toy mess, cleaning, etc).

We have a measles “outbreak” in San Diego. I don’t know if I would call 6 or so children an outbreak… Miles has not yet been vaccinated with the MMR vaccine. I lean toward the side that says vaccines do more harm than good in some cases. I am waiting on the MMR until our doctor can order them separate. I want to separate them and then space them them out and start them when he's a little older, like two years old. Then I think his body might be able to better handle the vaccines. He was fully vaccinated up to a year, then I started saying no. Our doctor is pretty cool about it- she will order the MMR separate as soon as the vaccine manufacturer is caught up (I guess they are behind, since so many moms are now demanding them separate). These are the toughest issues I think we are faced with. All a mom wants to do is protect their kid. But with big pharmaceutical money behind everything, it's hard to get accurate information with which to make these decisions. It's hard to be balanced, and not paranoid.

Another issue we are living with is co-sleeping transition. I have been napping Miles in his crib with mixed success, and he's starting his evenings in there too! We are doing a very gentle approach of nursing, bouncing and rocking to sleep then putting him down. He wakes up sad- which breaks my heart, (I run in as soon as he wakes)but I think there's an adaptation period. I think this is safer for the time being. Otherwise we've had too many middle of the night exploration sessions on our bed, which are too hard for me to stay wake for to keep him safe. Right now I'm sleeping on the twin in the nursery and when he wakes up at night I bring him into bed with me. This is one of the transitions that Dr Sears recommends. I'm hopeful that as time goes by he'll sleep longer and longer in there so I can make a switch back to my own room. Wish me luck- this is a HUGE step for us. I really do think it’s time. I love sleeping and snuggling with him- but it gets tough when you wake up with his feet in your face or him crawling toward the end of the bed, where there’s drop that he doesn’t understand yet.

Other than that Miles is growing so fast! Every day he does something new. Yesterday it was clap, the day before- wave. He feeds himself, brushes his teeth (although we help him with that after he’s had a try) Brushes his hair, and mine. He’s the funniest, sweetest, most social boy ever. He loves to explore and is very independent. He loves the outdoors, and water- the beach especially, even when it’s as cold as it has been. We are starting a veggie garden in paper sacks in the house. I put them out in the sun during the day and bring them in at night so the frost won’t kill them. I think Miles will have so much fun with the picking of the fruit and veggies this spring and summer.



The other day at one of our playgroups a Mom said Miles’ always looks like he has a funny joke to tell you. It does look sometimes like he is suppressing a smile. That boy is always smiling.