New normal, Cows, Biting, Washish, Repetition

Unfortunately Jonah's "normal" of last week has stuck around. He got over his fever from last weekend, isn't quite as cranky, and is eating better. However, he's still very clingy making it difficult to get much done and he's not sleeping well. Oh, how I miss the days of reading to him, singing to him, and laying him down in his crib, letting him drift off to sleep on his own. He has not done that in two weeks. He is fighting sleep like a champ. He only falls asleep breastfeeding or in our arms. Even if he's been asleep in our arms for 10 minutes, when we try to put him in the crib, he knows. He arches his back, kicks his legs, and starts screaming. Then we have to start the process over. He has been waking up in the middle of the night around midnight and staying awake for 1-2 hours, while we try to put him back to sleep. This is not a good long-term situation. I keep thinking it has to get better soon, but it really has become his new normal. I know that he's still teething, and may be mad about being weaned, and probably has a cold, but I don't think that warrants being awake for that long in the middle of the night. Luckily, he mostly sleeps pretty well after that, going 5-6 hours without waking up. When I write about this, it feels like I should be writing about a newborn, not an almost-14-month-old. He should be able to sleep through the night. I'm not exactly sure what went wrong and I don't know how to fix it. But I do know that it will stop at some point. He's not going to be 15 years old and still waking up for an hour in the middle of the night, insisting that we help him get back to sleep.

Jonah likes cows. I don't know if it's because cows are one of the first animals he learned, but he really does seem to be interested in them. I don't think he's seen a live cow since he has learned to say "mmm," but he moos at the cows in the Baby Einstein DVD, and when he sees them in his book. I think it's funny.

A habit that I wish were not normal is biting. Jonah has begun to bite (hard) both when he is mad and when he is excited. He has left teeth marks on our arms, legs, necks, whatever he can get to. And it hurts! This must be innate, because he's never seen or felt anyone bite. We consistently tell him "no biting," so hopefully it won't be normal for too long.

My favorite new "trick" is when Jonah says "What's this?" It sounds more like "washish?" but I'm 97% sure that he is asking what objects are called. He started a few days ago and has gotten into a routine while I change his diaper. He goes from object to object, pointing and saying "washish" to the monkey on his wall, the leaves on his changing table, the cow on his dresser, the bush on the side of his dresser, and (recently added) the smoke detector on his wall. He varies it and points to them in a different order each time, sometimes pointing to the same one over and over. He's very emphatic with his pointing, and really seems to enjoy this game. He also does it in the middle of the night with the things closer to the glider chair where we sit with him.

Jonah is definitely liking repetition. He does it with asking what things are called, as well as with books. He has me read the same book over and over and doesn't get bored. The other day, he handed me "The Foot Book" and sat while I read it. I gave it back to him and he handed it right back to me, making a noise that indicated he wanted me to read it again. We must have repeated this 10 or 15 times before he moved on to something else.