It’s been difficult to record examples of Sam’s language development since she tends to clam up as soon as she sees the camera. “Can’t talk now, must try to grab shiny technogadget!” This is unfortunate, because in addition to nearly 20 words, or approximations thereof (“car” is still pronounced “go!”), Sam speaks the …

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Before Sam’s birthday, we discussed getting her a push toy of some sort– something for a baby learning to walk. For some reason or another, we didn’t. This past month, Sam decided to take matters into her own hands. She discovered that the milk crate we use to store toys and various playthings, makes an excellent …

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What’s so different about living in the San Francisco Bay area? Example: I took Sam to the pediatrician this morning because I was worried about her weight gain. She also needed a flu booster shot. At 18 lbs 10.6 oz, she’s still tiny, but maintaining her growth curve, so the ped said not to worry. We did discuss high …

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One week since we started the Ferber sleep training. I think I will stop posting about this for a while, because the method seems to have worked. Sam can now get herself to sleep without us. She still wakes sometimes in the night and calls to us (last night it was at 5:30AM, but after we visited her briefly, she fell …

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Wow, so this marks one week of Ferberization! Today was awesome. Sam did wake up last night around 2AM screaming bloody murder. We were supposed to wait 20 minutes before going to her, but after a minute, I said to AC, “This is going to be a long 20 minutes. It doesn’t sound like she is calming herself down.” So we …

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Once again, an easy time putting Sam to sleep for the night. The previous night she slept 11 hours straight! Tonight I noticed that she clung to me when i was kissing her goodnight and she cried when she went into the crib (and cried for a minute or two when we left the room). It saddened me. But 11 hours straight! I …

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Today I pushed Sam’s nap back 1/2 hour to see what that would do. Plus: she did sleep longer (1.5 hours). Minus: she cried for 30 minutes before falling asleep! I checked on her after 15 minutes, and was about to declare the nap a failure at 30, when she suddenly quieted down and fell asleep. I’m still not sure what to …

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We interrupt the Ferberization saga to bring you: Spoon Play! This how Sam amuses herself in the kitchen while I goof off make dinner:

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Phew. This evening my confidence that this process is working was shaken a bit. Sam had a good start to the day (woke up on her own around 7:10AM, after a stellar night) and went down for her morning nap at 10:30AM as usual. However, this nap was cut short by a phone call from our realtor in Altoona, telling me that we …

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Sam woke up on her own this morning at 7:10AM, after another decent night. She cried once around 2AM, but not for more than a minute or two. Once again, she had only one nap today, around 10:30AM, but we let her go longer– til about 12:20 when she woke up on her own, and NOT crying. (It’s been a long time since she has …

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