And Still More Milestones

It sure is fun when they both start hitting milestones all at the same time! Nathan first this time:

Last night he slept his first six-hour stretch. It's wonderful but would be much more so if he would do so later at night, instead of starting the sleep at six in the evening. I was still up every three hours all night. At least I know it's possible. Now to work on getting him to sleep those six hours at the same time I do.

He also was so happy for that long because he found a way to comfort himself. I found him sucking his thumb when I snuck into our room to go to bed. He often gets his hand close enough to his mouth to suck on, but this was the first time I found him with his thumb in his mouth, as though it was deliberate. I hope this lasts longer for him than it did for Patrick.

Now for Patrick...he's going through a language explosion apparently. He is finally attempting to repeat certain words we say. Yesterday afternoon, it was "ta-ta" as his version of "naptime," now yet another way to indicate he's ready to sleep. This morning it was "awful" for "waffle," which he repeated again after waking up from his nap. I think we know what he wanted for a snack. Tonight it was "ickin" for "chicken," what we were having for dinner. I knew he would finally start saying more individual words in his own time.

I wonder if part of the language explosion is coming from his interest in letters. To capitalize on the interest, we bought him a letter puzzle yesterday, and he loves playing with it. He can now identify and place the letters O, Q, and X (that's my kid, starting with the useful ones), and he acts like he is saying the letters of the alphabet while he plays with it, even though the sounds aren't identifiable as specific letters yet. All in time. He'll get there before we know it.