Dexter must be in the midst of a growth spurt again. He still kept me up all night, but I only let him nurse a couple times. I laid him in the bed next to me, so I wouldn't have to get out of bed so much. Whenever he'd wake up I just gave him a pacifier. That worked okay and I could put the pacifier in without waking up too much. I forced myself to not check the time because I'd just get more frustrated that I couldn't sleep. I feel better today.
The reason I think it's a growth spurt is because this morning he jumped a bit in his development. He sat UNSUPPORTED for about 5 minutes without me holding him or correcting him even once. I was playing fetch with Squee and he tried to grab the toy from Squee. Squee of course wouldn't let go, but Dexter's never been quick enough to grab Squee's toy like that. He also did a full 360 degree belly pivot on his blanket within just a couple minutes. He's gone 180 degrees, but never all the way around. He also got a little forward motion and moved from the center of the blanket to the edge which is maybe a foot or so. The last new thing was that he had one toy in his hands and I gave him another which he likes better. He dropped the first one and grabbed the second. It seems like nothing, but in baby development, that's huge! Now he can let go on purpose which means he's learning to control his hands better. He already does a 3 finger pincher grasp on occasion instead of grabbing with his whole hand, so he's on his way to being able to pick up small objects. It's amazing to watch him learn.
I'm going to try and get Dex on a more regular schedule. He's already on a kind of loose schedule, but I'm going to start waking him up at 7 am everyday and then try to get his naps in around 10, 1, and 5, so he's awake in 3 hour stretches. He's roughly there already on most days. He goes to bed at 8:30-9 pm now most of the time too. I'm hoping that making it a little more rigid will help the nighttime antics. He pretty much just kicks off the blanket, grabs his feet and farts all night.
