Firstly, we are having huge tantrums which appear to be for no reason. He may not want me to change his nappy so this is where it will begin and it will escalate into full on throwing himself on the floor and around the room, crying and screaming. He will start pointing out to the kitchen and will point at something (normally the biscuit tin) and if I try to offer him something else, he will cry and scream more - even when I do offer him the biscuit (not a habit I want to get into by the way - tantrum = biscuit) he will refuse it and cry and scream more and point to something else. If I offer him water he wont take it. I have tried to ignore him and I have tried to distract him. Eventually, he does calm down and he will then accept some water and food (non-biscuit related but something like toast). I still have no idea what really caused it and how it escalated so much. I have tried to give him calpol in case something is hurting but that turns into a fight itself and he gets quite aggressive hitting the spoon out of my hand. There have been 3 or 4 of these over the last week!
In addition to these tantrums we have sleeping issues. It used to be, when we gave Callum his bedtime bottle, he'd be happy to finish it in our arms calmly watching his music/light thing. Then, when he had finished, he would hand back his bottle then we would put him in his cot and after a little moan he would go to sleep. Now, he wants to sit up and play with his music/light thing and is very awake (though yawning and clearly tired). We eventually get him to finish his milk and put him in his cot but now he talks for about an hour (sometimes longer) before he eventually goes to sleep. Then, again, 3 or so times in the last week he has woken up between 4 and 5am and wont go back to sleep. He will sleep in my arms but as soon as I transfer him into his cot he wakes up again and stands up. I have tried not getting him out of the cot and trying to settle him with stroking his head, which will normally work, but now he just lays there wide awake and cries as soon as you stop with no sign of going off to sleep. I hate doing it but to get any chance of sleep at all, I end up taking him in the spare room. I still don't get a hell of a lot of sleep as he will usually chat or play for a while. I am also frozen when I'm in there and usually, when he finally does go to sleep, I get stuck in an awkward position. However, at least I get to lay down and doze at the very least!
Now, both of these things are supposed to be very typical of his age and development stage. Apparently, when a toddler learns to walk, his brain starts to get very active thinking about his new skill. They also get very frustrated around this age, with their limitations - both in actions and communications. So, I know it is very likely just a phase and will be over in a couple of weeks - with any luck! But in the meantime, it is killing me! Stuart is worried about when I start work if he is still waking up. At the moment, I can only think for the here and now and will cross that bridge when I get to it. He may be over it by then.
Mum said that once he is walking around properly, he will tire himself out therefore sleep better - I hope so.
On the walking front, as you may have guessed, he still isn't fully walking. However, today he was in the middle of the room, stood up and walked to me without any coaxing or anything. I nearly didn't even notice him do it. This has got to be a big step in the right direction and, hopefully, full on walking is just days away. I feel like I am a stuck record with this at the moment!
Callum had his swine flu jab last week. He was having one of his grumpy days in the morning and I wasn't particularly looking forward to it but, apart from getting upset at the time of the jab, he turned into a really happy boy! It was like whatever had upset him before wasn't as bad as the jab so he was counting his blessings and being happy! Other than that, no other side effects. Not even a sore arm, from what I can tell.
He did have the sniffles before and they did seem to get worse after but don't think this is related. He has a cough at the moment which isn't helping with the waking in the night. I think this is probably what disturbs him and then his mind kicks into gear and he can't sleep.
We are worrying about me going back to work with there being a chance of Callum waking in the night a couple of times a week when I heard a radio debate, prompted by a woman who said she went back to her job as Headteacher 7 hours after giving birth. I think she was mainly going in to show off her new baby but she did get straight back into work - taking her baby with her. I seriously don't know how she does it. She must have one of those rare babies that sleeps through from day one and just fits into mummies life. Fair play to her but not something I would want to do or even think I was capable of. That time was all about us all getting to know each other. It was important to me for Stuart to take paternity leave so there is no way I wouldn't take some time for maternity leave. Apparently, it is law that you must take 2 weeks leave after the birth of your baby otherwise the company faces paying a fine. Not sure of the full details of that though and maybe this woman got round it by not properly working for 2 weeks or something. She was headteacher in a boarding school so I imagine her work and life is quite different to the everyday mum.
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