I promised to write more frequently in my last post and that clearly hasn’t happened – oops. I’ll blame feeling even more busy now with being at work full time (I’ve done a whole month of full time work now which has absolutely flown by!) and then spending my evenings with Hudson and Sam. I will try harder to write more frequently from now on…

“Don’t stop me now”

Since taking his first wobbly steps in March and cruising the furniture quicker and quicker every day, Hudson is now walking really confidently. He walks everywhere and barely crawls now unless he is tired. Sam didn’t believe me when I told him it’d just happen overnight that Hudson would suddenly be walking properly but that’s how it happened. We’re both still taken aback sometimes when we see him toddling about as he looks so grown up now.

Hudson on the move (please excuse the wallpaper where he has tried to “help” redecorate!)

Generally when he’s walking about he is carrying one of his latest favourite things. I don’t know if all or most toddlers do this, but Hudson seems to get pretty attached to certain objects for a couple of weeks at a time. For example, this week it is a tube of E45 cream (one of the latest ways we can get him to lie still just long enough to change his nappy is to let him chew the tube) and a mini Ryvita lunchbox (he likes to use his teeth to open each of the three catches that hold the lid on). It’s so sweet but also funny that instead of some of his toys it is random, everyday objects that he chooses.

It’s fascinating watching him learning things on his own as he plays and explores, like being able to open Tupperware and nappy cream lids using his teeth or hitting different things with one of his drumsticks to hear the different sounds they make. I try to hold back on showing him how to do things as much as possible and let him work things out for himself, unless he starts getting very frustrated.

He also seems to understand lots of words now. Not only does he point or look at things when we ask him where they are (“Daddy”, “Jim the cat”, “the light”, etc.) but he understands things like “shall we go upstairs” or “do you want some lunch” now. He also gives us kisses sometimes when we ask now – well, he just opens his mouth as wide as possible and presses it against ours but it is very cute! Another funny thing he’s started doing is waving when I tell him who he’ll be seeing that day which I think is really clever as he understands that when he’s seeing Granny or the childminder he is going to say “Hello”.

Let’s talk about sleep…

…very briefly, I promise! I have been trying to gently night wean Hudson using Dr Jay Gordon’s method. I heard some Mums on a breastfeeding Facebook group I’m in talking about it and it sounded very gentle if I adapted it a little bit. Basically, it’s about gradually decreasing the number of minutes you feed your baby each time they wake up during the night and cuddling/singing/rocking them to sleep instead of feeding them back to sleep each time. The method encourages you yo do this in the “family bed” if you already bed share and that gave me comfort that he is understanding about gentle attachment parenting. The idea is that after moving to only giving a very short feed you then stop feeding at all at wake ups and soothe them to sleep in a different way.

I started this last week and for the first couple of nights Hudson made a shouty, annoyed noise when I first unlatched him only to fall asleep within a minute of stopping feeding him. After two nights he stopped making the annoyed noise and, pretty much, started just going to sleep every time I stopped feeding him. We have had a couple of “bad nights” since starting this but two nights ago Hudson only woke up once at 3:30am after falling asleep at 7pm and he stirred at least twice and got himself back to sleep during the night so I know he can do it.

I’m desperately trying to remain calm and positive about this on a night (some nights I am better at it than others unfortunately) to let him do it in his own time as I just can’t see how suddenly stopping feeding him will work as I suspect it would just cause a lot of upset.

My first evenings out

In April I planned my first two evenings out since Hudson was born: a trip to the cinema to see Beauty and the Beast with my sister and step-dad and then an evening watching The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s comedy William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (Abridged) with my Mum (which was absolutely brilliant and so funny – I implore you to go and see it!). Both events were in Goole which is just half an hour away but it did mean going to the cinema straight from work without seeing Hudson at all on one evening. I was nervous about it but was excited too about going out finally! I didn’t have any emergency calls or texts from Sam and I got back to Hudson fast asleep, yay! Apparently he did get a bit upset when Sam was getting him to sleep but I think that was to be expected when he has only even been put to bed by me since he was born.

I’m going away in June for one night to see Guns ‘n’ Roses (my all time favourite band) in London so that was a good test for what’s to come next month. I am going to go out for a little bit on a few more evenings between now and mid-June to get both Hudson and Sam used to it and I will go and sleep at my Mum’s at least once to let Sam do bedtime and all night at least once before I go away. It’s a slightly daunting thought but I think it will be best for all of us if Sam can also do bedtime and nighttime settling as I have found it extremely difficult at times that I am the only one who’s been doing it all (not for want of Sam trying). Maybe me going away for the night will be the thing that finally makes Hudson sleep through as he knows boob/milk will not be an option if I’m not there. One can only hope!