The older he gets the more of actual entertainment he needs. I used to rotate him between the swing, the bouncer, the play yard, the play mat, and the crib all day long. Of course, I used to hold him too once in a while and we did go for walks in a stroller. But now it's a whole new story. Now Sawyer needs to be entertained and held a lot! My perfect child is turning into a needy baby. It has started since teething began. It's been almost a month and let me tel you this - not cool, not cool! At first he was inconsolably crying a lot, even waking up at night crying or just refusing to fall asleep until 4 am. He started chewing on his fists, on my nipple, on his pacifiers, on everything he could get in his mouth. The drooling was getting worse with every day and now I just usually keep a bib on him all day long, cause otherwise his clothes gets soaking wet on his chest. He has a bunch of teethers but they don't help much. Lately I started putting gel on his gums that is supposed to help with the pain. I didn't notice significant difference, but for a couple hours after the application Sawyer seems to calm down (not always though, sometimes nothing works). At times he will be just crying non stop. The only way to soothe him at least a little is to rock him while walking around. Thus we started holding Sawyer a lot and I can tell that he already got a little spoilt. He would be laying in his bouncer screaming for 5 minutes, and once we finally show up he starts smiling right away. We don't have to always pick him up, but we HAVE to pay attention at him. He doesn't really like any of his baby stuff anymore. He wants to be entertained and held by us. I can't read a book while sitting next to him anymore. I have to play with him, talk to him, interact with him. And I do love it, but sometimes I just really wanna go through a magazine or watch a little bit of the TV show. The only thing that distracts him right now is the TV itself. He doesn't care what's on, he just loves the changing pictures. I know it's a super bad habit, but sometimes I just give up. The TV is giving me up to 30 minutes of cry free time when I can do my stuff. I am wondering if he is just bored and tired of all of his toys. The weather has been bad for a while already, so we don't even leave the house. It might be that he is not using enough stimulation. But I do give him a lot of attention and carry him to different rooms doing different stuff.
I really hope it will all settle down and get back t normal once Sawyer gets his first tooth. For now it's been pretty tough. My favorite time though is in the morning when he just wakes up. For the first hour or two he is usually such a happy smiley baby! My heart melts every time I look at him, even though I usually wake up still pretty tired. He is quiet too. I usually tell him how much I love him and how cute he is. And my baby boy is just listening to me looking all content and still sleepy. Love these first hours!
Another thing I am very thankful for is that Sawyer respects our schedules! I don't know what I would do if he was waking up at 6 am every day ready to party. Both, me an my husband are late night owls. Of course I had to adjust a little after I had a baby, but I still go to bed pretty late - between midnight and 2 am. Sawyer is usually going for his night rest between 10 and 11. So it works out perfect. We wake up between around 10 every morning. Sometimes it can be 8 or 9, but never earlier. A couple days ago we actually slept till 11.30!!! I know it's a luxury, especially when you have a baby! Good to know that our baby plays by our rules!
Really hope we will have that teeth soon and our baby boy will turn back into a quiet angelic baby)