Where we are after 10 months with Bright

Bright turned 10 months old on Monday! He is such a joy to us and those that know him. I truly believe that his purpose here is to brighten up spirits of those around him. I know, sounds corny- Bright, brighten up. But really- today we were out having lunch with a friend and there was an elderly woman seated behind us that seemed a bit down. She had been watching Bright eating his Cheerios happily and then when he turned and saw her he gave her the biggest smile and her whole face lit up! That happens with everyone that he meets. Even his shy snuggle into mommy when new people makes them smile. So- odd name or not, depending on your perspective, he is aptly named.

As far as developmental milestones go, Bright has met them all and surpassed some. He can crawl like mad, 10 times faster when naked. He cruises around the house from couch to chair to coffee table. He jabbers up a storm at home and with familiar people. He uses a thumb, finger grasp to find every piece of floor crud we have and then shows it to us- rarely puts it into his mouth. He is eating Cheerios whole, Rice Krispies ( they make a marvelous beard when he feeds them to himself and misses his mouth ), bites of banana that you hold for him, some apple bits (without the mesh bag now), pieces of bread, and thicker foods with a bit more texture than before. Hallelujah! Those around us have heard the saga of choking and gagging all too often last month and after the doc referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist we, or should I say Andy, got serious with his feedings. In the past I have had several encounters with the Gastro folks and more than my fair share of swallowing studies and I did not want to go down that path with Brighty. So, we became less scared of giving him things with texture an let him set the pace too. He does great with just about any challenge and now he is right where he needs to be. I ahve to say that the mesh food bag was a huge help though. What a great way to let your kid try new foods without worrying about them choking on it. We would put Cheerios in there for him to crunch away on, which was great for those sore gums, and then after he was used to the taste and had finished off the bag, we would give him one to eat while we held on to it. He would chomp very gingerly and then got the hang of it. Of course, when Andy told me he given him some of the blueberry yougurt from the fridge, I was not as excited- it has splenda in it. I don't even like to eat that junk.

Now the sleep side of things are still the same, not good. Last night Bright had a night terror, which he has not had in several months. If you have never seen a child have one, you are blessed. They are awful. Andy went in to check on Bright after he had been sleeping for three hours. He was crying but in a much different way. He was all jammed up in the corner of his crib, just sobbing, face down. His cries were just inconsolable. And he was still asleep. He picked him up and carried him into the living room, still sobbing the loudest deepest cries we have heard, with eyes shut tight. No talking, patting, lights or tv would wake him out of it. This went on for several minutes that felt like forever. Finally I grabbed his Ball Popper toy that makes some crazy tunes and held it right up to him and that ruckus broke him out of it. He looked so confused- like "Hey, why are you holding that up to my face Mom?". Then he fell back asleep. He sleeps off and on for 2-3 hour bursts still. No longer in bed with us for most of the time. He got to be such a restless sleeper that he would crawl in our bed and ram into the wall with his head again and again. So, most of the time he is in the crib.

Tonight we went down a path I thought we would never set foot on. We gave him a bottle of formula before bed. We are exhausted and his cousin, a month older, has been getting a little formula with some cereal before bed and her mom says that it seems to help her sleep longer stretches. So we made him a bottle and used some in his night cereal. He took it like a champ, about 3 oz. worth. We'll see if it makes a lick of difference. I feel a little bad about doing it, but I also nursed him right after it so we are not losing that connection. The only upshot to it was that we had about five canisters of formula in our cupboards that had been sent to us for free so we did not have to pay anything for this experiment.