"What would you do if I sang out of tune
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends"
When I was little there was a show on TV called The Wonder Years. The theme song talked about getting by with help from friends. Honestly, that's one way that I make it through my days now. I can't even begin to pretend that I do all of this on my own. Two little ones is no picnic, most of the time. My friends and family are my lifesavers. Sometimes a girl just needs a shower... and, honestly, if we have a no nap day I have to rely on someone to watch these kiddos so I get to do things like that. Even if they typically only last 5 minutes because this baby needs to eat.
Anyway, the show was called The Wonder YEARS... right now though, my life revolves around Wonder WEEKS. Don't know what that is? Consider yourself lucky. I initially learned about Wonder Weeks when Kenzie was little. There were periods of time that she would be irritable, not sleep well, not want to eat... at all or would want to eat all day long, but that really weren't attributed to growth spurts. I can be a bit obsessive. So, in my normal "need to know everything" way I started researching. It wasn't long before I came across the idea of Wonder Weeks. Lo and behold... this concept explained my life perfectly!
Essentially, without going into too much detail (but I encourage you to do some Googling yourself if you are curious), a wonder week is a period of fussiness and irritability that is not related to a growth spurt, though sometimes they coincide with one. May the force be with you when you encounter one of those... The difference with a wonder week and a growth spurt is mainly that with a growth spurt your child wakes up one morning and seemingly has doubled in weight and length whereas with a wonder week your child wakes up with a cool, new developmental skill. Wonder weeks are also sometimes referred to as mental leaps. I think we should refer to them as brain growth spurts. They show up at predictable times and last anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. The fussiness, that is. Typically the duration of a wonder week is shorter when babies are younger and it increases as the child ages; however, the frequency that they occur lessens as a child gets older. The time a wonder week begins is related not to when your child was born, but rather their due date. So, Kenzie was born 3 weeks early. Her wonder weeks all showed up approximately 3 weeks after the age they would have been expectedif she would have been born at 40 weeks. (As a note: that also means that if your baby was overdue you are likely to see them earlier than what is usually expected.)
The first wonder week is Wonder Week 5. So, imagine my (not at all) surprise when Will started showing signs of the tell-tale fussiness that goes with wonder weeks over the last day or so. While it is referred to as Wonder Week 5, the fussiness starts between 4 and 5 weeks and usually lasts less than a week. Hence the reason that I am seeing it in Will now. He is 5 weeks, 2 days old today but by his due date he would be 4 weeks, 2 days. These periods of time are often referred to as "stormy" periods because there is a "sunny" period once it is over. This is when you will see the new skills emerge that caused all the irritability. The reason irritability is said to occur is because these poor little ones are dealing with so much stimuli coming at them that they are unable to handle it and get overwhelmed. If you have children, think about when they learned to crawl. You might remember that your child didn't sleep well or was a bit irritable. This might be because their brain was so focused on learning this new skills that they were unable to do anything other than deal with that and everything else put their brains into overload. Same concept with a wonder week.
Back to Will... about a day and a half ago I noticed that my normal happy-go-lucky (still likes to be held) kiddo was fussing almost constantly. He would scream his head off when I put him down. This was despite knowing that he was full, in a dry diaper, not too warm or too hot, and not really sleepy at the moment.Usually he is perfectly content trying to focus on his sister doing something crazy for at least a few minutes while I go to the bathroom. Not so much the last two days. He also started waking more often at night (typically towards the end of the night into the morning) and wanting to eat. He even ate so much one time that we both had to change when hit spit all of it back up on me. Apparently comfort nursing wasn't working out for him and he was actually taking in milk. He does still nap to a point during the middle of the day but not for as long as usual and that is about it. All. Day. Long. Also, when he naps he tends to have spurts of crying in his sleep which is not typical for him.
So, what can we expect when this is all over? Wonder Week 5 is referred to as the "Week of Changing Sensations". Essentially, Will should be able to notice more of what's going on in his world. After this week if over, he is likely to start to look at things more frequently, respond to touch differently, start to give 'social smiles', respond to smell, and be more alert during awake periods.
Perhaps everyone thinks I am a bit crazy with this. I swear by these though. Kenzie was so predictable with them and it helped me understand her behavior at times. The skills that were supposed to show up related to a wonder week usually did and they did so right on cue.
When I realized what was going on with Will, all I could help but think was "Here we go again..." Wonder Weeks are documented through the age of about 2; however, it is believed that they continue through childhood and even into adulthood. Maybe that guy (or girl) you work with isn't just having an off week but is dealing with a wonder week. Who knows? =) I'm still convinced that there is a wonder week right at 2 years old that lasts around a year. That would definitely help me explain a lot about Kenzie right now....
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends"
When I was little there was a show on TV called The Wonder Years. The theme song talked about getting by with help from friends. Honestly, that's one way that I make it through my days now. I can't even begin to pretend that I do all of this on my own. Two little ones is no picnic, most of the time. My friends and family are my lifesavers. Sometimes a girl just needs a shower... and, honestly, if we have a no nap day I have to rely on someone to watch these kiddos so I get to do things like that. Even if they typically only last 5 minutes because this baby needs to eat.
Anyway, the show was called The Wonder YEARS... right now though, my life revolves around Wonder WEEKS. Don't know what that is? Consider yourself lucky. I initially learned about Wonder Weeks when Kenzie was little. There were periods of time that she would be irritable, not sleep well, not want to eat... at all or would want to eat all day long, but that really weren't attributed to growth spurts. I can be a bit obsessive. So, in my normal "need to know everything" way I started researching. It wasn't long before I came across the idea of Wonder Weeks. Lo and behold... this concept explained my life perfectly!
Essentially, without going into too much detail (but I encourage you to do some Googling yourself if you are curious), a wonder week is a period of fussiness and irritability that is not related to a growth spurt, though sometimes they coincide with one. May the force be with you when you encounter one of those... The difference with a wonder week and a growth spurt is mainly that with a growth spurt your child wakes up one morning and seemingly has doubled in weight and length whereas with a wonder week your child wakes up with a cool, new developmental skill. Wonder weeks are also sometimes referred to as mental leaps. I think we should refer to them as brain growth spurts. They show up at predictable times and last anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. The fussiness, that is. Typically the duration of a wonder week is shorter when babies are younger and it increases as the child ages; however, the frequency that they occur lessens as a child gets older. The time a wonder week begins is related not to when your child was born, but rather their due date. So, Kenzie was born 3 weeks early. Her wonder weeks all showed up approximately 3 weeks after the age they would have been expectedif she would have been born at 40 weeks. (As a note: that also means that if your baby was overdue you are likely to see them earlier than what is usually expected.)
The first wonder week is Wonder Week 5. So, imagine my (not at all) surprise when Will started showing signs of the tell-tale fussiness that goes with wonder weeks over the last day or so. While it is referred to as Wonder Week 5, the fussiness starts between 4 and 5 weeks and usually lasts less than a week. Hence the reason that I am seeing it in Will now. He is 5 weeks, 2 days old today but by his due date he would be 4 weeks, 2 days. These periods of time are often referred to as "stormy" periods because there is a "sunny" period once it is over. This is when you will see the new skills emerge that caused all the irritability. The reason irritability is said to occur is because these poor little ones are dealing with so much stimuli coming at them that they are unable to handle it and get overwhelmed. If you have children, think about when they learned to crawl. You might remember that your child didn't sleep well or was a bit irritable. This might be because their brain was so focused on learning this new skills that they were unable to do anything other than deal with that and everything else put their brains into overload. Same concept with a wonder week.
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| He might be "Captain Adorable" but he has been acting like "First Mate Fussypants" the last couple of days... |
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| When he does nap he does cute things like smile in his sleep |
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| I cannot wait to see this little sly side smile more often.... and to not have to work so hard to get one out of him anymore. |
When I realized what was going on with Will, all I could help but think was "Here we go again..." Wonder Weeks are documented through the age of about 2; however, it is believed that they continue through childhood and even into adulthood. Maybe that guy (or girl) you work with isn't just having an off week but is dealing with a wonder week. Who knows? =) I'm still convinced that there is a wonder week right at 2 years old that lasts around a year. That would definitely help me explain a lot about Kenzie right now....
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