The Nap

Matias's sleeping habits are changing. During these two months he would usually feed, play for about an hour and then sleep for about some 30 to 45 minutes. All of this in 3 hour cycles during the day, and then at night he would sleep the 5 to 6 hours. I liked this schedule, it is easy to keep and gives me frequent short breaks. This is changing to napping fewer times, but they are becoming longer, sometimes up to 2 hours. He is a very light sleeper, unlike Lucas who I could move anywhere once he was down and he would not wake up. If Matias falls asleep in his car seat or on the swing if you move him to somewhere more comfortable like his crib he will immediately wake up.  On his previous schedule it wasn't really a big deal because I would just let him sleep wherever he was at the moment. But now, I would feel guilty leaving him in a car seat for two hours, so now his naps require more planning.

Getting him to sleep when you want him to sleep is becoming a struggle. Specially at night. Before, we would put him down on his crib awake and he could fall asleep by himself. Maybe he would complain a little bit and you would have to pat him on his back a couple of times. Now he hates it, it is like the crib is made of sharps razors. As soon as we put him down he screams like we are torturing him. The past couple of days have been tough. We have tried many things but getting him to sleep on his crib has been impossible. He just wants to sleep on our arms and that is exhausting. When we feel him staring to get sleepy in our arms we will put him on the crib because we don't want him to get used to just arms, but then he just goes nuts. It took about an hour to get him to sleep yesterday, today it was a little better. The good thing is that once he goes to sleep at night he will last from about 6 hours, which gives us plenty of time to sleep.

On the Lucas front, he is starting to get into trouble for his language. Every once in a while you will hear him repeat a curse word that someone nearby (usually me and Alegna) has just said. In these cases we have decided not to acknowledge what he just said and remind ourselves that we shouldn't be saying those words in front of him. But lately he has been using some of them as if he has learned what they mean. He has offered a "coñazo" which means a big punch. He has also yelled "Coño" when something does not go his way. These are different situations and we have told him that those are words he should not be using. However, today was different. He cursed in English using the f-word ans the s-word when some toys fell from the table. We don't curse in English so he probably got this from somewhere else, probably some other kid. It was hard not to laugh at his perfect usage of his new additions to his vocabulary.

What did I watch?
Ghost in the Shell: I have mixed feelings about remakes. I always get upset saying why do they need to keep remaking all these movies, but then I go and watch it and realize that they keep making them because we keep watching them, even when they suck. That is the case for this latest remake. Just watch the original.

The Face Painter

Matias had a rough night, he kept tossing and turning and making noises that would wake us up and make us check on him. Finally at around 4 AM, after I had been trying to get him to sleep for about an hour, Alegna took him and placed him on the bed next to her. He was finally asleep. I got to sleep for about 3 hours until I could hear Lucas calling me from him bed. Dad I have to pee! I tell him sure go ahead and since it is more than 7 AM he gets to watch some videos.

Yesterday we got to the daycare really late and Lucas's classroom was already playing outside when we got there. For some reason Lucas did not like that and he was insisting that today his friends needed to be inside when he got there. So we rushed through our morning routine so he could get there early. In our rush I forgot his lunch box and only when I parked my car in the daycare did I realize it. So I left him in his classroom, no crying this time, and I promised him that I would be back with his lunchbox. I drove home and then went back with the lunch box. I found him building some Legos on a table and when he saw me he was very excited. He ran towards me and I think I got the best hug he has ever given me. He was happy to see me and thanked me for his lunchbox.

After this I went to the supermarket with Matias. I realized I was pushing it time wise with his next meal but there was no bread or cheese at home. Those are the only two items that must never run out. I quickly go through all the groceries we need and by the time we are paying I can already see Matias starting to get restless. I rush home and feed him. He falls asleep so I prepare my lunch and then anxiously await for the event of the day. The UEFA Champions League playoff game between Nice and my favorite team Napoli.

 It is a very important game because the winner qualifies to the Champions League and gets a paycheck of about $40 million. The game was great, Napoli played beautifully and won 2-0. Matias was paying attention to the whole game. He was sitting in his swing smiling and staring at the TV. I guess he really liked the colors. He laughed when I celebrated the goals. This is a great start to a season that for the first time in a while has Napoli as a serious contender for the league title. Not since the Maradona days in the late 1980s did Napoli look this good. I hope they spend those $40 million wisely and plug the missing ingredients that can get us to that next level. Forza Napoli! 

What did I watch?
My favorite team qualify to the Champions League!

The Watch

When I'm on vacation I am not a schedule guy. I like to just glide through my free time and do what I want to do whenever I feel like doing something. When I'm home, I have my routine and keeping up with Matias feeding schedule and Lucas's bedtime is easy. While I'm here there is no routine. Matias , as I keep repeating on this blog, is an angel and never complains. Sometimes I will realize that it has been a long time since he last ate and feel terribly guilty. What calms me down is that the only times he usually makes himself heard is when he's hungry, so if he wasn't yelling, he probably was not that hungry.

I haven't been strict with Lucas's bedtime either. We're on vacation and I don't think he should have a strict bedtime. What I do try to do is start to calm him down when it starts getting dark so he has an easier time to go to bed. Today I caught myself proposing we go for a walk at a mall at 7 PM, his usual time to take a bath and to start winding down before his 8 PM bedtime. I realized what a bad idea it was and stopped myself, but the thing is that I had not seen the clock before I had proposed it. He was already dressed and waiting for an activity, luckily I managed to convince him just to go to the drug store to buy some formula for Matias. It still took me until about 10 PM to get him to eat, bathe and sleep.

When we first got to Florida the sleeping arrangement was Alegna, Lucas and me in a bed in the guest bedroom and Matias would sleep on a pack and play next to us. Lucas moves a lot when he sleeps and when we got tired of sleeping with his feet on our face we sent him to my parent's bed. It is a king size mattress and they all fit comfortably. When Alegna left I thought Lucas would want to come back to the guest bed with me but he rejected the proposal. Grandma and Grandpa's bed is too comfortable. My father wears a sleep apnea mask. When Lucas saw him for the first time with it on he laughed and called  him a Teletubby.

Another part of my routine that I haven't been doing as you may have noticed is watching movies. I haven't seen one in more than a week. That is a lot for me, but I honestly don't miss it at all. I am happy spending time with my family that I don't get to see as often.

The Da Vinci Sleep

The closest you will unintentionally get to polyphasic sleep is when you have to feed a baby and in my opinion it will convince you that it does not really work. The hardest part of taking care of a baby is dealing with the sleep deprivation. Easy tasks like changing a diaper or preparing a bottle suddenly become super complicated. I have been very lucky with Matias. He is a very good sleeper that on his worst nights he might wake only twice. Last night for the first time in his life he slept through the whole night.

I fed him yesterday at 11 PM and put him to sleep. After that I spent some time writing yesterday's post and then loading the dishwasher and went to sleep too about an hour later. I vaguely remember hearing him complain at what I think was 3 or 4 AM, I reached for his pacifier and found his mouth to try to calm him down so I could get a few more minutes of sleep. Next thing I know it is 7 AM and he is still sleeping. I freak out a little bit and confirm that yes he is still breathing. At 7:30 I decide to wake him up, it has been 8 hours since he last ate. He wakes up happy and then proceeds to eat all day like a troglodyte. He cluster fed all day today 6 ounces every 3 hours, that is a lot for a 3 month old, but it gives me hope that he is just catching up and preparing for another full night of sleep.

The rest of the day was uneventful, I did the grocery shopping and laundry work that I had decide not to do yesterday. And in the evening we all went for a pizza dinner to celebrate Matias's first of many full night sleeps.

What did I Watch?
A Guy Named Joe: It's supposed to be Steven Spielberg's favorite movie, so much that he actually remade it. Unfortunately, it was too corny for my taste. It happens a lot watching some of these old movies, some do not age well because they look too innocent for us that have grown accustomed to a more cynical world.

The Wait Out

Matias behaves all day like an angel. He will get hungry when it is expected and maybe cry a little but I am usually prepared with a bottle and as soon as he starts eating he will calm down. If he is sleepy he will usually just go to sleep. .He does not suffer from colic and burping him is a walk on the park. Except at 7 PM in the evening. Alegna calls it "Aleli" time, I have seen it mentioned online as "The Witching Hour" but I like to call it the "Wait Out". He has been waiting patiently all day to spend some time with mommy and now he is demanding her attention.

It is very surprising that it comes like clockwork, every day around 7 PM. It does not matter if he just woke up, if he just ate or anything that has happened the rest of the day. This is the only time when he seems to be inconsolable but I think I am getting to the bottom of it. I have noticed that the cry is very similar to his cry when he is hungry. At first, I was incredulous because at 7 he has usually just eaten so he shouldn't be hungry. But by reading online I have found out that there are some babies that cluster feed in the evenings so they can sleep through the night. Thinking about it, it fits his pattern of behavior. He has been getting better and better in sleeping longer hours at night. So the past couple of nights we have tried just feeding him a bottle when he gets this way and it seems to be working. Hopefully this will lead to even better nights, who knows if soon I will be sleeping the whole night for a change?

What did I see?
Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Esther Williams in a Busby Berkeley musical about baseball. I am a big baseball fan and I had really enjoyed On the Town with Sinatra and Kelly. But this one was kind of disappointing, nothing really memorable about it.

A Touch of Zen: The winner of this week's poll and it was a gem. Although it was 3 and a half hours it did not feel that long. You can see how this movie influenced the newer artistic martial arts movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero. The monk character is really cool, he is so bad-ass that he bleeds gold. It has one of the best endings I have seen on any movie. Beautiful movie!