Family visit...

The kid was so excited by the family visit, he decided to pull up for the first time, to a standing position! Very exciting:) He pulled up from the floor by holding my leg (i was sitting on the couch with the laptop) to try and get to the laptop (which he's obsessed with by the way!). My mom and i were chatting and were both witnesses to this first. so much fun. on another note, husband was gone with my papaw to the store so he missed it. total bummer. especially sinces earlier in the week, there was another first we missed.

When we pick him up from daycare, they give us a form with timelines, showing his activities of the day. When he ate, peed, pooped, napped, drank from a cup, had snacks, etc. this day, i scanned the form quickly and the words "FED MYSELF" popped out at me!!! HUH!? We've been sitting puffs and banana chunks in front of him for weeks and he just smears and smashes. Sigh.

At home we test this. We pour puffs onto his high chair tray. he picks them up, shoving them in his mouth, as if he's been at it for months now. Duh mom and dad. of course i know how to do this... its old news. We exchange remarks of 'hate we missed that', 'can't believe we missed it', 'why'd he do it there and not here', and 'wow, i can't believe he's feeding himself'. The kid grins and throws his head back, displaying three puffs hes cramed in. husband looked concerned. he'll choke he exclaims. i calm him, letting him know, i've tested the puffs multiple ways. and yes, they do really dissolve, its next to impossible to choke on them (even when you try to), and i personally felt they were tasteless. The kid shoves in another one. He clearly likes them though. Or at least the act of eating them. He grins. He's cute.

An Unwanted First

"So how did drop off go?"

Its what i always have to ask during our usual morning phone call. Husband drops off the kid at daycare and we alternate picking up. I go into work too early to ever do a drop off. But since i don't get the experience, i want every. single. detail. was he tired? was he happy? what was he doing when you left? what did the staff say? were his other buddies there? I ask the same question everyday. I often wonder why husband doesn't just offer up this info. he always waits for me to ask. does he think one day, i just won't ask?

"Well, drop off was - different today. We had a first," he says.

"What do you mean? different? how?"

"He cried when i left him today. not just whimpering but real cry - crying. tears. sad face. reaching for me. the whole thing," he rambled, letting out a big sigh.

We've been so lucky. A normal drop off is just that. Normal. uneventful. when he was wee little, husband wouldn't hand him over to the daycare ladies, wave bye, and leave. No issue. lately, the kid has even been waving bye back and grinning. but today. his first tearful 'no please don't leave me daddy, i need and want you, no no no don't go, i'm in tears now, i'm reaching for you, take me with you, please please' goodbye:(

"WHAT? You have got to be kidding me! What happened? What was different? WHY?" I asked.

"I don't know. Nothing was different! It was our usual routine! I handed him over to Nancy, gave her the papers you asked me to, and then kissed him on the cheek, told him I loved him and waved bye bye. His lip came out, a sad look came over, so i grabbed him and snuggled him real tight, kissed him again. and promptly handed him back. I started to walk out while waving. he usually loves this part, where we do the wave bye bye routine. but NOT Today. The sad face came back, he was whimpering and when i kept walking away, he broke out into sobs and tears were flowing! He was reaching for me, his face got all red and sad, then he was pushing nancy away... thats how it was when i left," he finished, paused, then let out a big, sad sigh.

Another Sigh. (husband)

Sigh. (me)

"Well..." (me)

"Yea. Well..." (husband)

"Hmmm..." (me)

"Whats this mean ya think? Maybe he hates it there now? he wants to be with us?" he brainstorms. We go back and forth over several ideas. He was there a long time yesterday. We are sharing one car right now and depending on others for rides, drop offs, etc. So the kid was there for a long time yesterday, the longest he's ever been. Maybe he's going through a seperation anxiety phase? we've read about this. Did something happen there yesterday? Hmmmmmm --

"He's probably sick of the place!" I suggested. "Monday he was there from 8am till 5:15, Yesterday from 6:30am till 5:15! WAY too long. those are just long days. AND when i picked him up, he was sweating! it was too hot in there. He's probably sick of the place and tired of being hot while there, sweating, trying to nap while burning up. AND he got his solid breakfast before his morning bottle, which i did not like, i want his bottle first, then foods!" I ranted. Another sigh - from me this time.

"What if he starts hating the place?" I ask. "It's not like he can tell us!"

"This week is unusual for us because of only one car. So maybe thats it. He's there longer than usual. We get the car back tomorrow. that should help. We'll get back into our routine, meaning less time there, more time at home," husband suggests.

"I guess," I pouted. "I hate that. I don't want him sad, but maybe its bound to happen. Tearful goodbyes. They just go with the territory I hear."

"I guess," he agrees.

So yea, another first. But an unanticipated one. An unwanted first.

Many Firsts plus a naked child...

I'm very familiar with the saying when it rains it pours - usually in the negative aspect haha... but i guess it can flow in a positive way too. The kid had so many firsts this week, they just kept on coming! It was a nice week for him with husband on spring break and me home on a snow day and then recovering from an illness (the illness, definitely not nice, but an extra day at home with him) because he got extra time at home. He was only at daycare a half day tuesday and a half day friday!

The following are the firsts of the week for him. But with firsts its kinda tough - is that the first time he did something?? we ask each... for example, with waving 'bye bye' ... he's been flailing his arms around for weeks but none of these motions seemed to be an intentional response to another person waving. or was it? we ask each other. same with him saying 'mama' - he's been doing the ma ma ma ma ma for a week or so but is he saying it in reference to me? we want to document the real first but ... can't sometimes figure it out! with the crawling, there was no question of course. and with the others we waited till it seemed he acted or spoke with intention:)

Wednesday, I stayed home to try and allow myself to recover - i was feeling better but not up enough to make the trek into work. Husband came home for lunch and when he left, the kid waved bye bye!

Thursday, husband and the kid met me at the chinese place by my work for lunch. It was such a nice treat to see them during my day here. and while at lunch, the kid was grabbing for me, loving on me, just so darn happy to see me, and he was blabbing "mama, mama, mama" - Too cute:)

Saturday, he finally stumbled right into a full fledge forward crawl, right over to the dog bed and a pile of magazines! By sunday afternoon, he was done practicing and was crawling from dining room to living room with ease.

This week I'm trying to stay more organized with what i'm sending to daycare. There is so much to send at the beginning of the week and i always try to be organized. Yet last week on friday, I clearly wasn't as organized as usual...

My work phone rings.

"This is Elaina calling, from La Petite," the voice said.

"Oh, Hi. Is everything okay?" I ask.

"Yes yes. He's fine. But he had a bit of an accident with a poopy diaper. It got on his outfit. I checked his cubby and his bag but - he has no clothes. Plenty of socks. but no clothes."

Great. Naked child. At daycare. But he has socks on. Thank goodness we keep lots of extra socks in that bag. So critically important, right? Hmm. He'll only be there a half day. Its rather warm out. But i stop just short of telling her leave him naked, hes fine. Why? the idea of his naked body in the shared swings and bouncys and exersaucers. For some reason, his being clothed while using these shared toys seems so much more sanitary! I had flash of him naked, playing in the exersaucer, getting another kids drool on his naked chest. ugh. gross. i'm no germ freak but this is disgusting. at least if he's clothed there is a barrier. without that, i feel like it would just soak right into his little clean pours. again - ugh.

"I can put him in an outfit of Ryans. I'm sure his mommy won't care. And he has several extras," she suggests.

"That would be great," I agree. "Please let her know I'll wash it over the weekend and return it to him first thing on monday morning. Thanks so much."

"No Problem. I'm sure she won't mind." Whew.

Needless to say, when i packed up his stuff last night for daycare this week, i packed 4 extra outfits for him, plus ryans outfit washed and ready for return. I mean, who needs 4 pair of socks in there if theres no outfit to wear? duh.

snow day

Its a snow day here in PA. My work is closed so me and the kid are home watching the flakes fall, playing with blocks, and just laying around. me doing more laying than him. he's too curious, nosy, and active to stay put these days. he's been sleeping good and sleeping in till around 7:45am most days. this is a real blessing on the weekends! he's eating better too. last night he ate 2 full jars of green beans and rice then 1/3 jar of pears before bed. the kid puts the food away at dinner!

his diet mainly consists of the following:

breastmilk - lots of it
avocados
bananas - his favorite
oatmeal
carrots
sweet potatoes
green beans/rice
squash
pears
applesauce
peaches with oatmeal
organic puffs from whole foods
an occasional teething biscuit

some of this stuff i make in my mini food processor and some we buy the jarred organic stuff. the jarred is what we send to daycare. much easier for them and us. then on the weekends, i bake him sweet potatoes, puree organic oatmeal, and he eats finger foods of soft avocado and organic bananas. we just started the soft finger foods - which he's starting to like. but we have to put them in his mouth. he doesn't get that he can. he just hoards the bits of food in his little fists. he has put a piece or two of banana in the mouth so he's getting there! here he is with his first teething biscuit. he liked the first one but won't eat them since! and he now just pounds the biscuit onto the tray of his highchair, bursting it into pieces, then smears it around. Fun huh?

the darndest places

these days, he just gets himself into the darndest places. part of the reason is because he doesn't crawl forward, only backwards, and lots of rolling. So when he sees something he wants, he goes for it, but not always in the most direct route!





Yes, he's pulling on a cord there - the phone cord, which No, i don't normally let him play with! in the midst of capturing a pic, he got to hold onto it for .01 of a second. he loves what he can't have - cords, remotes, house phone, cell phone, our food, our plates, restaurant menu, glasses, etc... !

He doesn't pull up on the furniture just yet because he can't seem to get a good hand grip. but if we stand him there, he balances and holds on for dear life!



his frustration with not being able to crawl forward is growing by the day so theres lots of groaning, grunting, and whining as he rocks on all fours. he's desperate to figure it out but just can't quite do it. so he'll finally push back, into his sitting position, which is a skill he's master. last night he was crying and when i went in his room to check, (midnight mind you) he was sitting in the very corner of his crib, as far in the corner as he could be, just crying his eyes out haha... because he'd lost his pacifier. i gave it back, laid him down, and he was back out.

sleeping is going better. he is up once a night and it does seem that its just to eat. i've checked some books out of the library about sleep habits for babies, and how to manage it. there are so many different theories and suggestions its hard to decide whats best. but many of them focus on a schedule for baby, and with our life, its just not that practical. the kids in daycare all week so they set the schedule actually. and i think the 'schedule' there is just whatever the kids do. ha. anyway, he gets up usually around 2am, eats, and then goes back to bed rather easily. sometimes i do give him two teething tablets which help when i think its the teeth. Which he still has NONE of - yep, no teeth yet! we're waiting on those little suckers. any day now. we've been saying that for ohhh 4 months now? haha...