TMI Tuesday: Potty Training Postponement

Last week was an experience. Following our trip to New York, and nearly a month of our son showing signs that he was ready, we decide to take the plunge (or plop if you will) and start introducing our son to the potty. Actually, it was a matter of reintroducing him to the toddler thrown that he picked out for himself at Walmart a few months ago. Well, it was an interesting first day.

It was a completely new routine for all of us as every couple of hours we would gather around the plastic bowl and read an appropriate book to our son as he sat there patiently. While there were a few hiccups early in the morning, things were moving along about as smoothly as one could expect by the time the sun went down. He seemed to be getting the hang of it and enjoyed both the stories being read and receiving the stickers which we pulled out as an incentive for sitting there calmly. He also decided to read to us while his bare bum was perched in his seat of distinction a few times.

The following morning, while I was groggily getting ready for work, I could hear the usual back and forth above my head as my wife and son made their way from the bedroom to the bathroom. However, a few minutes later, I could hear the excitement and the clapping of little hands as our son peed in the potty for the first time. Actually, technically speaking, he peed from the potty not in the potty. Details, details. This success made for a great morning and start to the week.

By the end of the day, everything had changed. You could say that the crap hit the fan. While he was comfortable making progress at the house the day before, everything came undone at daycare. All the hard work and all of the huge steps that our son had taken were gone. We don’t know what exactly happened but it clearly wasn’t done the right way… and we were definitely not happy about the fallout! Now, potty training is on hold at daycare and we are trying to retrace those previous steps and milestones at home.

Slowly we are making progress once again. While he still isn’t as comfortable as he once was, there are small steps being made and the interest is slowly creeping back in. It is all about confidence right now as he continues to show other signs of readiness but an unwillingness to “fail” on the potty. That will return in time and, until then, we will continue to encourage him to take a load off whenever he has the urge.

TMI Tuesday: Daddy Kisses!

A few months ago, while trying to get our son to sound out a few new words, I would pick him up and ask, “Can you say, ‘Daddy, I love you’?” While the first couple of times that I did this there wasn’t much of a reaction and maybe only a few mumbles of a baby babble but, over time, this changed. One morning before sitting him at the table for breakfast, I posed the same question and got a response I wasn’t expecting. He didn’t say anything, rather he leaned over and gave daddy a big, and very wet, kiss on the lips.

This is not something that he had done but only a couple of times previously, before this he simply did not give daddy kisses. This became almost a daily routine for us as I would ask him the same question and our son giving me the same response. Frankly, I kept hoping for the words but was completely happy with the alternative. There were even some instances when, without me saying a word, he would walk over to me in the playroom just to give me a kiss.  

What came as a surprise shortly after this all started was that I didn’t even have to be present for our son to react this way. When driving home from the office one night I asked the question hoping that he may try to sound out the words but, instead, he took hold of the phone and gave it a big kiss and giggled. Again, this has also become part of our weekday routine.

However, a couple of weeks ago the kisses stopped. Our son no longer wants to give hugs and kisses as frequently as he once did. I guess the phase has passed. As we have been told many times over, enjoy the moments when they happen. While the in person affection has slowed, our son has maintained his phone response and continues to kiss and hug the phone when asked the simple question.

In place of the physical responses, now the words are becoming a much more prevalent part of our days with some clearer than others. We still working on the same question we were before, he is now making a more concerted effort to sound it out. While this was the original impetus for my query a few months back I now find myself missing those moments when my son would give me a big kiss as if to say “of course I love you daddy.”

TMI Tuesday: 18 Months

A year and a half (and a day) later and we are still trying to get used to this new life. With all the changes that keep happening and all of the things swirling around in our life right now it is hard to keep track of time. Yesterday, I looked at the calendar and saw that eighteen months has already passed and it is hard to believe how different things are now compared to the life we were living before we became a family.

The day is still etched in my mind, sitting on the surface of memory like it just happened a few days ago. I can still feel my son’s rapid heartbeat as I held him for the first time in the operating room and his tiny pink hand as he gripped my finger for the first time. I can hear the beeping of the monitors faintly filling the background. I can see the words streaming through my phone bringing to the fore both the happy and despicable aspects of humanity. I can see the tears as they silently streamed down my wife’s face both in the joy of the morning and the pain of the evening. However, most importantly, I can see that moment, that first instant, when mother and son embraced one another and began this journey together.

I remember the anxiety and excitement as I pulled the car around to the front entrance, loaded the items that had been accumulating for the past several days into the trunk, and buckled my family into the car. It was a slow ride back to our townhouse and one during which I couldn’t help but think about all the people who would be at the house to greet him and the one that wouldn’t be there. It was a ride that moved us forward as a family but also one during which I wished I could hit eighty eight and drive to the past.

Time has moved so quickly since our son came into our life at 9:14 am and when I look at him it is hard to believe that he was once so small. He has already learned so much and he keeps surprising us every day with how much he knows and understands. Most importantly, even with some of the chaos that has swirled around us, we have protected our son and he remains as happy as ever. While I still enjoy the quiet moments, there is nothing better than coming home to the excited sounds from my son saying “Daddy!”

TMI Tuesday: Hey, This Isn’t Camp!

Given the length of time that our son had been away from daycare, my wife and I decided to send him to camp this summer. This chaos that ensued during the spring took him away from the classroom and his friends so we thought it only right that he enjoy a few weeks this summer with others and, more importantly, outside of the house. Of course, it also helps that my wife gets a little respite as she has been caring for him and taking him to various places and get-togethers constantly these last few months and that is a lot to ask of her. There are also a few things that need to be scheduled and having the flexibility during the day is more of a necessity rather than a luxury.

The first few days that we restarted the routine our son seemed a little thrown off but went with it as he is always looking for an excuse to go for a ride in the car. Although he did give me quite the interesting look the first couple of days when I said that he was "going to camp" (see picture above). As he has readjusted to the routine, he is less enthused about possibly going somewhere new and now simply looks forward to “going to camp” every morning. Of course, he does give me a look as if to say, “You’re not fooling me daddy. I know that this isn’t camp. It’s the same school I was going to before.”

And part of this routine is that he is really tired when he gets home at the end of the day. Don’t get me wrong, he still insists on staying up so that he can see daddy but, if he had the choice, he would probably go to bed at around 6:30. But this seems to be getting better as well. The longer that we have had him going, the more that he has adapted to the schedule and he is getting a lot better at staying up at the end of the day.

I guess the important thing to note is that, like countless instances before, we can’t simply fool our son. He knows where he is going, he knows the routine, and he knows the daily schedule. Sometimes he doesn’t like it (especially if he didn’t sleep well the night before) but he, for the most part, accepts it. And, for mommy and daddy, while there are difficult moments, it has allowed us to get a lot more done around the house and has given us, my wife in particular, the flexibility to make some appointments during the day.

TMI Tuesday: No More Highchair!

For well over a year our son has been using a highchair at home and at restaurants for all of his meals and snacks. Wheeling the cumbersome contraption had become part of our daily routine at home but one thing that we had been noticing whenever we would go out to eat lately was that our son really enjoyed being at the table rather than eating off a tray. We put off looking for a home alternative for some time but it finally got to the point that it was time to switch him over to a booster seat.

So, with a few ideas in mind as to what we were looking for, all three of us headed over to the local Walmart and made the trek to the back of the store where all the baby and toddler equipment lined the shelves. Once my wife and I found a few options we turned to our son, who was not annoyed and fascinated at the process, and let him pick out his new chair. Surprisingly, he was pretty concise in his selection process almost immediately pointing to the one he wanted and watch me as I put it in the cart behind him.

Within the week, we had switched him over at home, without the tray of course, so now he sits at the table with mommy and daddy proudly feeding himself as he enjoys the additional freedom that his new chair has to offer. And, of course, since then we have picked up place mats and other toddler accouterments which he seems to be enjoying as well. However, we still ask for a highchair whenever we go out to dinner as the boosters are a little too precarious for our squirming toddler and we don’t want to have to pick him up off the floor along with his crayons.

He doesn’t seem to be bothered by the different seating arrangements as he is simply enjoying being at the table. For me and my wife, it is just amazing how quickly time is going by and how many changes keep happening. He is becoming a little more independent with each change that we make with this being only the most recent. But, the most important thing is that he remains a happy and energetic toddler that enjoys reading and playing with mommy and daddy. So, for now it is time to wave bye bye to the highchair as we take it upstairs and put it into our storage area.   

TMI Tuesday: Who Knew Cleaning Was So Much Fun

Our Son's New Toy!

My wife and I entered the childcare search with a little trepidation not really knowing how to approach the process. We have already found a great daycare in the area but there are times when we would like to get out for the evening or have someone at the house when either the daycare is closed or when our son is home sick. While we know that our family is there whenever we need them, we can’t expect them to make the long drive out to us all of the time. We also have a number of people that we know in closer proximity but that is where the allergy part of the equation comes into play… our home needs to remain free of cats (and their dander), nuts, and shellfish.

In the responses that we received through Care.com there were a number of them that pretty much disqualified themselves simply in how they responded to our posting. Some didn’t bother reading what we had written (to the point of addressing their communication to some other name entirely), others had no business in childcare, a few wanted us to pay them for dropping our son off at their house, and others touted their love of animals of all kinds (see the first noted disqualifier). As for the other, thankfully, my wife’s background has been tremendously helpful in weeding out some of the “candidates”.

It took some time but finally we came across someone with a background that we were looking for, the clearances we were requiring, and a personality that matched well with our family. Despite our son’s grumpy sleepiness, this initial impression was proven correct when we met with her last week. As a bonus, she was also willing to take on the chore of cleaning our home on a weekly basis eliminating our need to conduct a second search. Sometimes things seem to just fall into place.

Not wanting to waste any time, and also wanting to get a handle on the cleaning, we had her start this past weekend to see how she would interact without our son and how our son would interact with her. After only a few minutes it was as if they had known one another all along and our son even “helped” her clean a little following close behind with a duster double checking her work and pushing his “vacuum” back and forth across the play room taking care all of the spots she missed. More importantly, he was comfortable having her around and the two of them played and read together for much of the morning which allowed my wife and I to take care of some organizing around the kitchen.

It took some time to find someone but sometimes you have to wait for the right opportunity to come about to find that perfect fit for your family. Fortunately, I also had a copy of his baby book on hand to get her up to speed! Looks like things may work out and we should have some time for ourselves moving forward and a clean house every week which will allow us to spend more quality time with our little boy on the weekends. And that is well worth the extra expense of having someone come in once a week.

A means to get the care giver up to speed!

TMI Tuesday: Napping Away From Home

Definitely not as comfortable as the crib but it works!

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone when I saw that when our son was first born he would sleep just about anywhere. It didn’t matter if we were home, in the car, or, as was the case last summer, in a hotel room. It was one of the luxuries that, unfortunately, my wife and I didn’t fully appreciate at the time. As he has gotten older and more aware of the world around him things have definitely changed and it isn’t so easy to put him down for a nap as it once was. Heck, even when he is exhausted at night he would still much rather be picking blueberries than sleeping. Don’t worry, we learned our lesson (a refresher really) during that trip.

His considerable preference for his own bed is both understandable and frustrating at the same time as his nap is in the middle of the day which means we usually have to plan our activities accordingly. There have been time when we have taken the risk and had him sleep in the car but this has only barely been working as of late. With so many things planned throughout the summer we knew that we were going to have to get him used to sleeping somewhere else besides his crib.

We didn’t have much planned this past weekend beyond the usual house and yard work that needed to get done, so we coordinated with my parents to head over to their house for the day. This was a long overdue visit as we couldn’t recall the last time that we went to visit them. After going back and forth about when we should leave we finally determined that this was as good a time as any to try and have him nap somewhere else so we packed the car and made our way across the counties.

Shortly after we arrived and fed him some lunch we could see that our son was ready for some quite time. As he rubbed his eyes and explored nearly every cabinet in my parents’ kitchen, the pack n play was set up and situated in the living room just inside the front door. Surprisingly, he didn’t fuss when we put him down and before we knew it the kicking and babbling stopped as he fell into a deep and lasting sleep. About an hour and a half later and we were relieved that he was finally able to settle and sleep somewhere else besides his own bed at home.

Thankfully, our experiment bodes well for both future trips to see his grandparents as well as the various travels that we have scheduled over the next few months. We might actually be able to relax during our escapes and show our son even more of the scenery and places around the towns in which we will be staying. Next test will be determining the length of time that he can put up with being in his car seat… I don’t think he will tolerate the seven hour drives like last year. Hopefully it will work if we build those distances over the summer but we will have to wait and find out. But at least he can sleep when we get there.

TMI Tuesday: Walking To Daddy!

Our son has been cruising the furniture for well over a month now and he has been able to pull himself to his feet for quite a while but he has remained hesitant to walk on his own. In May he finally got the courage to take a step or two from the table to the couch. Of course, we helped him a bit by spreading them apart. And, soon after, he was confident enough to hold my hand and make his way across the play room with his irregular gait.

All of that changed a couple of weeks ago when I was walking our son to the kitchen. He had been strangling our fingers for a couple of weeks as his off balance sway staggered his steps but, this time, he had a loose grip on my index finger as we made our way across the room. When we turned the corner behind the couch, he let go and with both hands in the air took five or six steps all by himself before falling to his bottom with an audible thump.

Last week, having cancelled my plans for the evening to spend the night with my family, we were all sitting in the play room when our son decided to crawl over to the family room. This was nothing unusual as he likes to scurry about the house. However, this time was different, this time he was determined to walk. As he cruised along the chair and back into our view he had a wide smile on his face with a light chuckle echoing across the room.

This is when he let go of the chair and slowly made his way, step after step, across the room and into my arms. After an excited laugh and happy hug, he turned around and made his way back to the chair to repeat the same milestone again and again over the next twenty minutes. Each time he is getting a little better, a little steadier, and a little faster. And now he is even able to catch himself when he gets a little off balance and he can even turn around and change directions when the mood strikes him. Of course, some of those detours and changes in direction aren’t completely voluntary.

He is now comfortable walking both at home and while we are exploring a new place. It is actually pretty entertaining watching him push his own stroller down the sidewalk. He is gaining more and more confidence each time that he is on his feet and he enjoys practicing as much as possible leaving no opportunity lost to walk across the room, down the sidewalk, or around the property. All the while with the same wide smile across his face that we saw with that initial voyage across the room.

TMI Tuesday: Get In The Car Daddy!

When my wife and I were planning out our summer last year we weren’t quite sure how our son would react to being in the car for long stretches of time. As it turned out, he enjoyed the time exploring and seeing new places… at least to a certain extent. Of course, last summer he spent most of his time sleeping as the mile markers slipped by the window and sometimes my wife would join him in slumber. Things are quite different now and it is hard to tell how long he would be able to stay in the car before he has enough.

This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t enjoy traveling or being in the car. On the contrary in fact. This weekend was a perfect example of this as there were many instances when we were outside and every now and again, usually whenever he caught a glimpse of my car in the driveway, he would point, babble something, and start leaning toward the car. We quickly discovered that what he was saying was “Get in the car daddy! I want to go for a drive!” So, shortly after, we would pack everything up, climb in the car, and get on the road… fortunately we had some idea as to where we were headed. At least this time around.

Almost as soon as the car would start moving, this restlessness ceased. Unlike the previous year, he was wide awake the entire time we spent driving around the area. Between looking out the window, playing with his small toys, and giving me a wide smile when I would reach back and tussle his hair, he was a happy little toddler enjoying the time on the road with mommy and daddy. And this change has got us thinking about our plans for this year… our, as of now, undecided plans.

It is amazing, but not surprising, to think about all the different things that our son enjoys and the fact that most of them are quite simple. He is not into a lot of the fancy toys or overstimulating shows, he enjoys the simpler things. He likes his wooden and overall non mechanical toys probably more than any others. He enjoys Mickey Mouse and Sunday Morning on the television. However, what he seems to enjoy most is exploring and seeing the world from behind the car window as well as experiencing new places. It makes me glad that we decided to be cautious by replacing my car and, at this point, I guess we better get moving on booking a few places to stay over the summer and schedule a few other day trips.

TMI Tuesday: Oh, Pickle Juice!

Over the last several months our son’s obsession with Mickey Mouse has slowly intensified. It has gotten to the point that we have to be careful when walking around stores so that items featuring the Disney icon are not in his direct line of sight. While he doesn’t always reach for the red and black rodent, there have been times when all of his intense attention is focused on this particular character. That being said, Pluto also elicits a similar response on the rare occasions when he sees something with that character on it.

In addition to the small collection of books that we have amassed over the past year (and we have read many of those small books over and over and over and over again), we have also adorned his bedroom with wall decals of all the Mickey Mouse clubhouse cast of characters and they were a bit of a distraction during the first few nights they were up, we have taught him that they go to sleep when we put him down. This usually results in our son waving to each of them as we carry him across the room first to get his nightly story ready to him and then to his bed to go to sleep. He has gotten used to seeing them and he no longer tries to engage them in conversation. But…

A few weeks ago we made the mistake of putting his Mickey Mouse stuffed animal in the crib with him when we put him down for the night. While it seemed like he was having a great time, the problem was that he didn’t go to sleep until hours after we put him down. He may have been happy at the time but he was absolutely miserable in the morning and grumpy the entire day… sounds like daddy when he doesn’t get enough quality sleep. Obviously, that was the first and last time that we let him bunk down with Mickey.

However, since then he has become quite chatty in the middle of the night no matter what fluffy friend he has sleeping with him. In fact, there have been countless occasions since then when we have heard him talking with Bear Frog in the middle of the night. Seems as though he may have had to talk through a dream he just had. And then there are the other times when the cuddly creatures seemed to have said something out of turn and end up being punched in the face and/or thrown across the crib.

Of course, sometimes this happens more out of frustration as lately the crib has become a lot smaller given his recent growth spurts. We can’t do much about it as this is just one of the phases that will come and go over time. Like the many different situation prior, this one is both amusing and frustrating depending on the night. In the end, it will definitely be interesting to see how his fascination with Mickey Mouse evolves over time and whether he will continue to hold court in the middle of the night. Like many things, only time will tell.

TMI Tuesday: Watching Him Sleep

There are moments as a parent when the world stops for just a second. Sometimes it happens because you are scared out of your mind while other times, especially lately, it is because there is a perfect simplicity to that singular time when nothing in this world could improve upon it. It is these latter moments when there is no place you would rather be and there is nothing in the world more important than simply being there to experience the peace and tranquility of parenthood.

Sure there are times when the last thing that you want to hear when you walk through the door after a long day at the office is your son whaling from the playroom. There are those times when that sudden scream in the middle of the night ten minutes after you had just fallen asleep makes you want to pull your hair out (I can actually sense my hair getting gray in those instances). And there are instances when the world stops as you can tell there is something wrong with your child and you don’t know whether to yell, cry, shut down, or take charge. But these moments tend to fade and fold deep into the recesses of your gray matter.

The moments that I remember, that get me through those stressful times in my day when I just want to throw my hands up, that make me take charge when things are difficult, are the times when I walk through the door and I can hear my son let out a joyous squee before scurrying into the kitchen and scrawling up my leg. It is the times when he is feeling tired and shy and all he wants is to be picked up so he can lay his head on my shoulder. It is that moment when I woke up last week to see my son sound asleep between us in bed with his hands behind his head and a big smile on his face.

Those are the moments that remain with me and keep me pushing forward in an effort to be a better example for my son. While I falter more times than not, I am continuously motivated to be a better man, to be a better husband, and to be a better father. Those moments are what live within us as parents and why we tend to forget the difficult times as time passes. It is also why we lay there in disbelief when we realize just how much of the bed our little boy now takes up when it seems like just yesterday that he was so tiny.

TMI Tuesday: DIY Baby

Next Project!

Our son has always had a fascination with texture and anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Basically, anything that catches his attention in one way or another is going to be examined closely and, in some cases, destroyed. It is our son’s natural curiosity that can sometimes get the best of him and there are occasions when you can tell that he has been checking things out when we weren’t looking.

While there have been instances of this before which started soon after he was born, he seems to have taken things to the next level in our new house and especially as his mobility has increased. It used to be that he would insist on staring at something to try and figure it out. This started with looking at mommy and daddy as he studied every line and gray hair that he was already starting induce. Later on he started using his sense of touch wanting to know what daddy’s beard felt like or nuzzle in the softness of mommy’s shirt. It was rather the adorable process.

Now, when he spots something out of place, he will scurry across the room to take a closer look and examine both how it looks and how it feels. Once this initial investigation comes to an end he tries to figure out a way to alter it. It is a trial and error process. Sometimes he will rub or pick at something without any effect while other times he is quite entertained by what he can accomplish in a short period of time.

There have been two instances in particular where his curiosity is evident on the walls of our home. The first started soon after we moved in when he first caught sight of the small flap of wallpaper starting to peel away from the drywall. Unfortunately, this small spot is in his playroom. While we have been pretty good about catching him when he gets that mischievous look in his eye, it only took one instance with our attention averted for our son to capitalize on the opportunity and start one of our many projects a little early. At least that small flap is gone now.

The other example surprised us both. We has previously secured the video monitor on the wall above his crib with Velcro and the wire heading to the outlet with staples and duct tape. Classy but effective… at least that is what we thought. One morning many of those staples (all of which we recovered later) were pulled from the wall and the cord was turned into a toy dangling just outside of his crib. Other mornings we caught him a little earlier with only the tape having been partially peeled back. Needless to say, we moved his crib so the cord is now out of reach.

In each of these instances he seems to give me this look of sly confidence that seems to say “Daddy, I took the liberty of destroying the house while you were out”. While minor annoyances, in the end he could be getting into much worse things and I am certain that will be the case in the future. If only he would stop growing so fast… it is sometimes hard to keep up especially since he is sometimes too smart for his own good. With that in mind, I am certain that there are things that we have yet to uncover.

TMI Tuesday: That Looked Like It Hurt!

Let the baby proofing continue! Now that our son is becoming increasingly mobile and adventurous, it is inevitable that he is going to bump his head, lose his balance, get stuck in his toy box, or fall of his rocking monkey. It is just the kinds of things that we expect to happen as he gets a little older and which is why babies and toddlers are designed to bounce. While you can tell that it hurt, usually just from the sound, rarely is it anything that leads to prolonged crying or whining. “Shake it off” is usually all that needs to be said.

Most of the time we are all usually laughing about the bumps and knocks that we hear reverberating from under the table. Of course, there have been those moments when you look at his shocked face and say “that looked like it hurt.” This is usually followed by the boo boo lip and watery eyes. Crying seems to be optional. These are the times when we can’t help but give him the ‘poor baby’ look and, just in case, immediately go into freak out prevention mode.

That being said, there are some odd moments here and there when he seems to be rather entertained by the situation and after recovering from the first instance he tries to do the same thing. However, he will always go about it a little differently to see if he can achieve the desired result that he was previously pursuing without the potential bump or getting stuck. This is was exactly what happened when he tilted a little too far when reaching into his toy box one night. Second time around, the counterbalance was much better and he had his hand on the side just in case.

And all of this is, so far, only from the crawling and standing around the house and contorting into some of the smaller spaces in his play room. It should be quite the interesting increase in instances once he starts walking, and running, around the house. I am curious to see what phases him in his next phase and what are the things that will simply be shaken off before resuming progress. Additionally, we will be facing a clever little toddler who is already starting to figure out the baby gates and is well on his way to solving the door knob problem (this is with the safety encapsulation on it). This could be very interesting in addition to being painful to watch (and hear)!

TMI Tuesday: I Can’t Poop!

 

There are many different cries and screams that we have learned to decipher over the past year and a half. Granted, my wife is much better as interpreting them but there are a few that I have been able to pick up over time. One of them has a certain decibel and cadence that simply translates to “I can’t poop and I am not happy about it!” Unfortunately, we tend to know that this one is going to happen when he goes nearly an entire day without a red faced movement.

This is also one of those screams that can really happen at any time, day or night. And it doesn’t matter where we are at the time either as we have experienced his vocal cords piercing our ears while in bed, at the dinner table, in the playroom, while out to dinner, with family, and in the car. It is an equal opportunity scream that definitely gets your attention. Keep in mind that all of this is in despite of him regularly eating a healthy amount of movement inducing foods.

When we hear it we know that he is uncomfortable and, if at night, he is going to have trouble sleeping. And, given the backup that it represents, we try to keep his situation in mind when he doesn’t eat as much or doesn’t scurry around the house at the rate or regularity that he normally does. What’s worse, is that this particular siren becomes more pronounced when he doesn’t get the results he is looking for after the latest colonic pilates session.

During some of these more intense blockages, he even produces what can best be described as golf balls in between complete expulsions. Try sitting on a golf ball or small rock while at your desk and see how that feels. It is a sensation that doesn’t offer any relief. On the contrary, it makes him even grumpier and I can’t really blame him for the reaction.

However, when all is said and done and the increased fiber intake overtakes the barrier, the sense of relief that washes over his face is quite the site to see. Of course, there is a hint of fear in his eyes as well as he knows that the odds of a blowout are rather high in this situation. But, when all is said and done, it is nice to have our cheeky little baby boy back to his normal self. At least until the next time.

TMI Tuesday: Milk Please!

In addition to chugging, he can also put the ball in the cup too... 

There are moments when my son tilts his head back and his sippy cup almost vertical when I want to poke a hole in the bottom and see how fast he can really guzzle his milk. This has been his routine ever since we got him off of formula a few months back. Basically, in addition to being much friendlier to our bank account, our son seems to enjoy whole milk much more than the rancid smelling concoction that we used to have to mix before every meal.

He has gotten pretty good at drinking too. Among his various techniques, in addition to the milk pounding mentioned above, he has many one handed and no hand ways that he enjoys drinking. He also does the same thing with the sippy cups full of water that we keep on a side table in the family room for whenever he gets thirsty.

However, there are moments when his overzealous chugging can be more problematic as it can put him off balance at times. This usually isn’t a big deal as, for the most part, he is either sitting or holding onto something while standing and drinking but there are times when he puts himself in a precarious position. Those moments include when he lets go of his support (usually leading to his legs buckling), he tries to emphatically drink while I am holding him (I almost have to hug him to keep him from bending backward), and when he is a little too quick throwing his head back (he usually ends up laying on his back when this happens).

Fortunately, these moments are more amusing than anything and we usually hear him giggling when they happen. The only exception being when I am holding him as there have been a few times when I have been startled or he has been startled or both. That usually leads to a look of “what the heck just happened” or “what are you doing daddy? I’m trying to drink here!” Sometimes some pointed baby babble follows. 

But, as time goes on and he continues to grow faster than we anticipated, he keeps getting better at these rudimentary tasks. Thankfully, he is a quick learner and many of the instances mentioned above only happened a handful of times, all with slight variations mind you. Soon these moments will be a thing of the past but I will still wonder how fast he can shotgun his sippy cup (I’m pretty sure a milk bong will work too).

TMI Tuesday: Hungry Baby

The whole back and forth during meal time is something that we expected to encounter with our some but we were happily unaware of many of the factors that come into play during these parts of our daily routine. Our son can be fickle at times when it comes to what he wants to eat. Sometimes he doesn’t like the taste of something while other time he simply prefers having something else, something he knows he likes better than what is being offered. It is a back and forth at times but something that we remain cognizant of as we don’t want his pickiness to persist.

However, lately there has been a different issue that has arisen during meal times that has him turning his nose up at certain foods being offered. There actually three reasons that we have discovered for his disagreement actually. The first is that he has so many teeth coming in that there are some foods that do not agree with swollen gums and new oral protrusions. The texture has to be just right at times. The second sometimes relates to the first as he is now preferring larger pieces of food… too small and he will sometimes refuse to eat, too big and we are cleaning up more than pieces dropped on the floor. Too hot or cold will also result in the same kind of reaction. I guess you could call all of these things contributing factors to the Goldilocks conundrum.  

When all of these things are at play at the same time it can make for quite the difficult meal and usually ends with various pieces of edible confetti strewn about the kitchen floor. Other times everything goes as ‘planned’ or at least pretty close and he stuffs his face like he is late for a meeting or something. The latter is particularly funny when we give him a whole cereal bar and he proceeds to devour it just as fast if not faster than most adults.

Overall, we have learned to not get in the way of a hungry baby as there is a possibility that you might lose a finger in the process. Mmmmm, meaty! In fact, we try to give him his space once we put food on his tray as there are times when he won’t eat if someone is watching him. This works out for us as we can either get a few things done in the kitchen or, gasp, eat dinner at the same time. After all, that is the goal that we are working toward as we want this to be a time spent with family around the dinner table.

TMI Tuesday: Appointments

It seems that whenever we take our son to the doctor there is always another appointment to be scheduled. Thankfully, he is actually pretty good in the waiting room and even on the examination table so long as we are there and there is plenty of tissue paper to play with. However, the service that we have received from his current pediatrician has fallen far short of the expectations of quality care. The last two appointments are indicative of this level of service.

With our overachieving son deciding to cut about a half dozen teeth at the same time, we have run into a few bumps both during the night and throughout the day. It has interrupted his sleep patterns which have always been pretty good and it has had an impact on his eating. While he is still healthy and generally happy he does have his moments and once things had continued for some time we decided to bring him in to see the doctor. Keep in mind that this was after we called and were told to bring him in to see said doctor if things continued.

While I am not usually a stickler for these things when I make an appointment to see the doctor, especially when acting upon their own advice, don’t give us a hard time making the appointment and make sure that we see the doctor not just someone you call “doctor”. On top of that, it would be nice if this “doctor” would follow the same plan as the actual doctor instead of contradicting almost everything that we have been told and arguing with us each time we said anything.

That was just the first example. The second is the fact that one of the nurses, who too frequently handle the appointments, insisted that we take our son to an Ophthalmologist because he would probably need either glasses or a temporary eye patch. I honestly never noticed a lazy eye but we made the appointment to get it checked out and my wife and I spent some time trying to figure out how to deal with this new situation as we waited for the scheduled day to arrive. A couple of weeks ago, we took our son to see the specialist and it didn’t take but maybe 10 seconds for him to tell us that there was nothing wrong.

It wasn’t even a question… he found nothing. And, while he wasn’t about to say anything directly, we had a little conversation about how we should have probably never been sent there. Nice to have a professional back up the opinion that I have already been forming in my head about the current office. Needless to say, it has not been an easy experience and continued to be a difficult process simply getting someone on the phone at times as well as every time we try to schedule an appointment. Goes to show, sometimes the most well-meaning opinions and advice that you received about a place beforehand are, at the very least, subjective and experience is what really matters.

TMI Tuesday: Screams In The Night

One of the scariest sounds that I have ever heard is when we have been startled from a deep sleep by the screams from our son echoing across the room through the monitor. While my wife’s hearing is more in tune with the displeasures of our son, when I am able to remain unconscious to the troubles around us, there are times when it doesn’t matter how sound a slumber, the scream that our son makes could wake anyone up… even me!

Just over a week ago this seemed to be the pattern for a few nights as our son spiked a fever well into triple digits. It was a time of little sleep, especially for my wife, as all we could do for a couple of nights was monitor, give him medicine, hold him, and dunk him in the tub if he got too hot. Unfortunately, I am little help during these times as our son insists on having his mommy but will occasionally want his daddy within his sight line. This episode, this sequence of nights, was far beyond those that we have dealt with previously.

Even without a temperature and feeling perfectly fine, there are moments when our son will wake up and make some noise before falling back to sleep. What can I say, he is loud when he shifts just like his daddy. There are also moments when he will fuss or even whimper for a minute or two before he either screams because of some uncomfortable padding under his bottom or he will unleash a different kind of sound that fills the night, lay down, and sleep better than he did before he woke up.

There was also a period of adjustment when we moved into the house when we couldn’t quite get the thermostat right… our son has become rather particular with regard to ideal sleeping temperature in his room. Over the first couple of weeks we were able to figure it out. Who am I kidding, my wife is the one that fine-tuned the temperature. And now, if there are nights that are a little warmer or cooler, our son adjusts his position in the crib sleeping either in a slightly cooler spot near the wall or a little warmer away from it.

And while we have done everything that we can to make him as comfortable as possible, sometimes there are nights when he doesn’t feel well. Sometimes there are evenings when he is startled by a nightmare (also a scream that is hard to forget). Sometimes he simply loses track of his stuffed animal and/or binkie. And other times there are nights when he gets a little lonely being on the second floor by himself or when we didn’t spend enough time playing with him during the day and needs a little more snuggle time with mommy and/or daddy. But these nights are nothing in comparison to that heart wrenching siren.

TMI Tuesday: Crawling

It wasn’t long ago when our son figured out how to sit up by himself from his stomach. It was one of those things that my wife and I caught him doing on the camera and soon thereafter he would sit up when he felt like it or, on occasion, when daddy asked him to do it. Heck, that is how I was able to see him do it and the smile that he gave me afterward is something I won’t forget. Since then I have been able to ask our son to sit up before picking him up. He’s actually pretty good about following directions when he wants to be cooperative.

It seems like just a short time ago when we were enjoying those moments which were soon followed by scooching across the floor and sitting up and lunging in a different direction to get what he wanted. That turned into a quasi-Army crawl which then became a half crawl with primarily propelled him backward. He has moved well past all of those stages and now the forward momentum is taking over. We are in trouble.

It started with a couple steps forward followed thereafter by three or four shuffles back. As the counterproductive kinks got worked out he began moving a little further each time. The toys on the other side of the room weren’t so far away after all. Once he could clear the room without stopping he started picking up the pace. This was particularly noticeable when he started catching the battery operated train and cars that he once just looked at as they rolled by.

Now there is a little more purpose with his crawling as he knows to move toward the hallway so he can see daddy walk through the side door when he gets home. He can also crawl to a toy, almost like he is stalking it at times, and reach up with one hand and grab it while still supporting himself. From there he reverts back to an old trick and sits up so he can play with his prey.

I guess this means it is time to really start thinking about the different safety locks and baby gates because he seems determined to move around the house by himself. It is that time already. I don’t know how we got this this point so fast but it is time to evaluate and see what needs to be done so we don’t hear cabinets slamming on fingers and our son sliding back down the stairs like dirty laundry on a wash board. Time for some DIY.

TMI Tuesday: Holiday Hangover

Having spent the last week and a half at home with my wife, it was quite the change yesterday when we put our son in the car and had him spend the day at daycare. While he has been getting up at the same time regardless of the plans for that particular day, the morning routine was a little more hectic than it had been the previous week which didn’t really phase our son as he continued to take his time savoring every breakfast Cheerio. By the time we got his coat on, he knew that we were going back to our usual routine and he actually seemed to be okay with the switch.

Heading out in the morning wasn’t that much of a change as we try to get him out of the house regularly. However, when he is home all day, he works at a much more leisurely pace when it comes to eating. He tends to pick for at least 30 minutes rather than simply shoving food into his mouth as fast as he can (the only exception to this would be his Gerber tropical fruit melts). While we did head out the door a little later than we wanted (I know, what a shock) we were at least able to speed him up a little bit and I guess you could say meet in the middle.

We are very lucky in that our son enjoys being at daycare and enjoys being social in general. Of course, he also likes being with mommy and daddy so by the end of the day we had to make sure to give him a little more attention than usual so that he could get his fix before bed. This can sometimes be an issue if he either goes to bed early or his daddy has to be out late but I am usually there to play with him and hold him a little bit before he begins his evening procedures.

There was a bit of a hiccup yesterday with his sleep (or lack thereof to be more accurate) but that will return to normal over time. So we are back to our normal schedule and thankfully it was a pretty smooth transition that first day. Hopefully things continue and he sleeps a little better during day two. Sometimes, transitions just take time and we have to be a little more patient until we can shake the holiday hangover and get used to the old daily routine.