tickle me milo

for awhile now, i've been trying to tickle milo to see if it will make him laugh. at first it did nothing, but gradually, i could tell he was starting to tell the difference between regular touch and a tickle. when i tickled his feet, his leg and foot would begin to quiver a little bit, and he would open his mouth wide as if he wanted to laugh, but the expression on his face was nervous uncertainty.

today, after he had been fussing a bit, and i couldn't figure it out, i put him on his changing table (oddly enough, this act alone usually calms him down, even if only for a moment), and decided to check him from head to toe to see if i could figure out what it was. he probably just wanted to play, because he wasn't tired (or at least not willing to even try and nap in his crib), and he wasn't interested in food, and all the usual games and songs and bouncings we try were of no luck. anyhow, i pulled off his socks to check for hair tourniquets, and upon finding perfectly happy little piglets, decided to give them a happy little tickle, and he laughed!

if i could make him laugh all day, i would; it truly is addicting.

as for naps, though, milo has been difficult lately, and it's getting harder and harder to figure out the best solution.

some days, he'll nap like a champ: in his crib for at least an hour at a time, sometimes even an hour and a half, and he might wake up and fuss a little, but then soothes himself back to sleep.

and then we have days like today, where he only wants to eat 2 ounces every hour, and the mini "food coma" he gets from it isn't enough to keep him drowsy once i put him in his crib. i try to let him fuss it out a little bit, i shush him and play the sleep-lamb rain noise, and offer him a pacifier, and rub his tummy. he slept for maybe half an hour in his crib, at best.

so he wakes up, we play, we eat, he starts to exhibit the "i'm tired" signs (rubbing his eyes, yawning, and droopy eye lids), so i offer him a little more formula to try and get that food coma going again. nope, not what he wants (even though he hasn't finished off a four ounce bottle - his usual feeding frenzy - even once since he woke up this morning). so i rock him and hold him and try to calm him down, now that he's over-tired and screaming mad. i get him to calm down. i put on a movie and sit on the couch and hold him, and that does the trick.

only for forty minutes though.

we do the whole routine over again. this time, when sleepy-eyes hit, i try buckling him in his carseat - this will usually keep him sleeping contentedly for hours when nothing else will. but again with the waking every half hour. i rock him back to sleep, put down the shade so he can't see anything to get excited about, and he still wakes up....

i don't understand, and i wish all the books had better advice than "all babies are different, yours may not be at this stage just yet," "developing a routine/schedule is best for you and baby," "this week your baby should be eating 25-40 ounces a day"... egads! it's all over the place!

i feel like just when i'm starting to get in the routine of things and figure out the hang of it, he decides to not follow suit anymore and go back to anti-routine, anti-normalcy, etc.

i look forward to the days when we do have an established routine/schedule, i just wish i knew how to get there effectively and without feeling like i'm going cuckoo for coacoa puffs.

(and i just keep reminding myself, it's all an adventure, the joy is in the journey, right?)