Not long before the move, Aidan learned to stand and hold on to things.  For a while, I was overjoyed, until the night, when he refused to sleep and promptly stood up in his bed, looked at us and bawled.  SIGH!  So much for the joy.

We’re past that now.  Our solution?  Ask him to sit down in his bed and if he resists, gently ungrip his hands from the sides, sit him down and thank him.  Then talk, sing and soothe him to lay down, and encourage and appreciate him as he complies.  These simple steps have helped even on the toughest nights to get him to lay down and go to sleep.

Not long after we moved, Aidan started getting panicky.  Every time we left the room, especially me, he would erupt in serious tears.  Some late night research showed that he’s at the ripe age of 9 months when babies go through separation anxiety.  OH GRIEF!  We’re working through that phase as well and things are much much better now.  Something that we’ve realized is that if we leave Aidan alone, it’s best to have some background music going to occupy him so that he doesn’t panic and he’s got something to pay attention to, especially since his toys just don’t make the grade (he doesn’t much care for toys).  Lots of reassurance helps as well.

Our latest sources of entertainment are watching Aidan point and identify people, him counting, learning his abc’s (he’s still on a), enjoying the swings and slides at the park and crawling full force.  Our latest challenge, learning how to get him to sleep through the night and make him independent of nursing to go sleep.

Wish me luck!