Toddler update

In Hudson's early months I kept notes on his habits and development in a tiny blue notebook, and I realized recently that I haven't been noting any of his latest moves or smarts.  Especially since he's being raised bilingually, I think it's important to stay aware of how he's doing. 

Sleep has always been the trickiest aspect of life with Hudson.  I know there are babies out there who sleep fine by four months, they go to bed at 7pm and wake up at 7am and maybe they do so much as stick an elbow in mom's ribcage in that time (clearly I speak from a co-sleeping perspective - the money, space, and hassle of cribs did not jive with us). 

Hudson, on the other hand, is a 9 or 10pm bedtime baby, and until recently had several wakings either to nurse, or to have a cup of milk once he was weaned, or just to sit in bed and cry.  Sometimes if he couldn't get back to sleep he ended up screaming and thrashing on the floor -- in our new apartment  we have certainly received text messages from our downstairs neighbor about his crying in the night, and though I've been communicative and apologetic to our neighbors, I am most definitely tempted to explain how much worse it is for me than for them.  They have no idea.  I have driven Hudson up to the mall and back on several occasions and heaved some shuddering sobs as I went.  I don't think my neighbor's annoyance at 2am comes anywhere near that desperation.

Recently Hudson's sleeping soundly, which is great news.  He barely wakes up in the night and awakes in a good mood in the morning, and even though he still goes to bed late, it seems to work for him.  We're delighted.  Ben likes to walk him around in the sling outside since the weather's still nice, and I prefer to just lay in bed with him until he falls asleep since I need to go to bed at that time myself. 

What else can Hudson do?  He points at his favorite things in his books -- the moon, and balls are his current obsessions, and he can point at things you label for him.  If I say, "¿Dónde está el gato?" he can point at the cat, and many other animals, toys, body parts, etc.  It's thrilling.  He doesn't say a single word, but he understands a lot.  He can also bring me his cup when I ask for it, and he will go to the door if I say anything that sounds like "afuera".  When we were walking to the corner store last night, Hudson was in love with seeing the moon in the sky on every block.  He would stop and flap his hands (his general sign for happiness) and even point a little at the moon above the houses.  Love it.

Today I bought him his first toddler-sized eating utensils, because Ben has reported that he has successfully been feeding himself breakfast all week.  Okay then, let's do this!  He does in fact know how to get some food on the spoon and get it (sometimes two-handed) into the mouth.  Messy but fun.  And it keeps him occupied while we are cooking other food or cleaning or a million other things that don't happen when he's underfoot. 

Crayons are not really making it yet.  You can see in the picture that he can make a few lines, but he's not too interested.  Blocks, however, are awesome.  He can stack six or seven of them, even.  That shocked me just the other day since I was accustomed to his frustration at trying for two or three.  Suddenly, pow!  He can stack.  I suspect it will feel the same with his words.  Suddenly I will wake up on a Sunday morning and he will say, "Buenos días, mamá", and I will proceed to throw a party all day long.  He likes imitating words that start with "a" because that's the easiest sound, and he is learning to make the "s" sound, with intentional coaching from us, and I will be sure to report on his first full words. 

Until next time... hasta luego.