Otto Smiles...Otto Sleeps!

Otto has reached the milestone where he can definitely see us, lock eye contact and smile his adorable first smiles. They're hard to catch on video, but we did our best.



He gets easily distracted by the cord of the camcorder and the red light. So, below are several attempts of catching Otto smiles on video.

In Otto news, since my last post we've been to 3 physical therapy sessions for Otto's torticollis. We are making slow and steady progress. His therapist says we should see more improvement as Otto gains strength. Most of her torticollis patients are 4 months and up. She said it's something that is often detected at the 4 month checkup. Otto's was discovered so early because we're frequent customers at his pediatrician's office--with all of Otto's gastrointestinal distress and his milk protein allergy, etc.

We stretch Otto's neck during just about every diaper change and prop him with blankets regularly.

We also have daily exercises. Otto hates them. He screams. I know you can't tell from the pics and videos, but Otto is a LOUD baby. During his PT sessions, the other therapists, nurses and patients come over to see who's making all the noise.

You can't tell but this pic below is one of Otto's least favorite positions--propped on the Boppy . Since we're unable to lay him this way awake, his therapist told us to wait for Otto to fall asleep and then position him this way--so his neck is midline. Yep, this lasted about 5 minutes. Then the shrieking started.


But the bestest news I have this week is the Otto (for the past 4 nights) has slept through the night--in his crib!!!! The secret to Otto's sleeping success?....Super-tight swaddling. We watched a video, "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and wanted to try swaddling Otto this way when he was a newborn, but he hated it, so we stopped.

Well, I was talking to one of my friends at work, Brian, via Facebook, and it turns out his son and Otto had one thing in common--they would self startle. Meaning, Otto would drift off to sleep and then hit himself in the face with a flailing arm, or kick his legs and wake up. It's almost like he was having dreams that he was falling or something. Brian referenced the "Happiest Baby on the Block" technique and asked if we'd tried it. I told him we did, but Otto hated it. He said his son hated it, too, but then surrendered to it and slept wonderfully. So, we tried it and it worked! The first night, Otto fought it for 2 hours, but then slept for 5 hours straight. The last 3 nights, he's barely resisted it and has slept for 6 whole hours straight. Isn't that unheard of for an 11-week old baby? I think so. I hope it continues!

Here are some videos of Otto just hanging out in his playpen

Now, in Oscar news, Oscar has always had a fascination with hair. Recently, he discovered my hairbrush and now likes to brush his hair along with Elmo. Yep, we have an Elmo video about hair and Oscar loves it.

Speaking of hair, we recently purchased 2 Furminator brushes for the cats and dogs. The animal hair situation in our house is clearly out of control. My mother-in-law recommended these brushes and they're amazing. Oscar likes to help me dispose of the extra hair.

Oscar recently learned how to say his brother's name. I wish I could take the credit, but one of his teachers, Miss Meghan, taught him. It's so cute. I make his say it all the time now.


Here's Oscar with his buddy, Noah.


This video is so precious to me. I may have mentioned before that David does the bedtime routine with Oscar. Oscar loves this time with his daddy. One of Oscar's favorite bedtime books is "Cornelius P. Mud--Are you Ready for Bed?" It's a book about a pig, Cornelius, and his going-to-bed-rituals. It's written in a question and answer format and Oscar has recently taken on the role of Cornelius.

Before I go, I wanted to include some pictures from our trip to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead yesterday. We had a little cool front this weekend and yesterday's high was only 78. So, we got together with our friends the Kaseys--Ben, Karen and little Noah--and headed out to the farm.

Oscar really enjoyed feeding the animals.

Otto came along,too, and must have been inspired by

all the animal poop because he crapped all over my legs.

Don't worry the legs pictured above are poop-free.

I tell you, this is the second time Otto has had a public poop-isode resulting

in one of my friends having to clean it up. He pooped all over himself when I brought him

to Hallmark last month for my 10-year-anniversary party. My friend, Anne, did the dirty work, while I was receiving my crown pin and thanking everyone for coming to the party.

At the farm, we were sitting on a tree stump together with Karen, and he pooped right out the side of the diaper. I quickly grabbed a burp cloth and stopped the diaper from leaking, while Karen got some wipes and cleaned my legs before anyone noticed. Do I have good friends or what?



Anyway, enough poop talk. Oscar had a great time at the farm. We're having his 2nd bday party there next month, so let's hope for good weather.

I hope everyone has a great week and keep your fingers crossed that Otto continues to sleep as well as he has been!