You know that fun game where your toddler keeps dropping/throwing stuff off of his/her high chair to make mommy or daddy get it. Over and over and over again? Yeah, well, we're playing it. I asked a mom at daycare how you know when dropping things goes from cause & effect discovery to "hey, how many times will mommy pick this up?" and she said, "oh, you'll know."
I do. Because now my son gets this look on his face and WAITS for me to be watching him before dropping items off the chair. He gets a sort of half-smile, eyebrows raised, mischevious "are you watching?" expression and then holds the item in question over the floor as if to say "should I drop it? should I drop it?" If it's food sometimes my uh-uh, no-no! works and he puts it in his mouth or on his tray. Toys just go straigt over so he can hear the clatter of them hitting the ground.
This "is-she-seeing-me-misbehave-can-I-make-her-say-no" game has now extended to slapping the TV screen, taking all the CD's out of the CD tower, throwing his cup, etc. I tried a little reverse psychology this weekend and pretended not to see him touching the TV screen and it worked. He slapped it once and searched around for something else to grab my attention. Unfortunately this same tactic failed in the feeding chair this evening as, even though he did not get a reaction out of me... he enjoyed watching the dogs scramble and enjoyed the splat of the food too much. Oh well... win some, lose some, right?
He has graduated to some very fun games (fun for BOTH of us, I mean) too and it's just a ball. He is playing what my mom named the "goodbye game" where he crawls into the bathroom and shuts the door as we say "bye bye!" Then he opens the door so we can all shout "hello!" He even enjoys variations where we hide from him while the door is shut so that when he opens the door and sees no one, he crawls out excitedly (you can HEAR him breathing excitedly) so you can jump out and say "boo!" The other variation he opens the door JUUUUUST a crack so you can peek at him and say "peek-aboo." He can play this game for nearly an hour. I'm serious.
He seems to love games that involve suspsense. He likes us to duck down while he's on the changing table and then pop up and scare him. He also likes it when I sing-song what I'm doing in a VERY QUIET voice and then all of a sudden shout "blughaghagh" in the middle of the song. I love just thinking of new ways to surprise him.
Of course... he seems to enjoy thinking up new games to test me. Ah the joys of motherhood.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
How early is too early?
So as I was typing the title to this post... I realized it could apply to two things experienced just in the last 24 hours of William's life.
#1... How early is too early to get up? Easy answer = anytime before 5:30 a.m. If he gets up then, I'm not too bummed, because hell, it's only 1/2 hour earlier than the time I intend (note I say intend, not succeed) to get up. This past night/morning, however, Mr. William decided 3:30 a.m. might make a good time. He awoke SCREAMING like fire ants had snuck into his crib or something. Now, when he cries in the middle of the night, he usually soothes himself back to sleep in about 2-10 minutes. But this was SCREAMING. So I go charging into the nursery, convinced I have earache #3 on my hands. Fever? Nope. Vomiting? Nope. Tummy issues? Nope. Okay... teeth? He does calm down briefly as he munches hard on some pacifiers we stuck in the freezer for teething issues. But that only helps for a bit. He then proceeds to drink 7.5 oz of milk and JUST when I think he's falling asleep he starts going "ba!" all wide-eyed and cute. This is NOT the time to play, I'm thinking. Somewhere around 5:00 a.m. he falls asleep and I sleep fitfully next to him on our futon because he keeps smacking me or kicking me. Needless to say, caffeine was a necessity today.
#2... how early is too early for bulemia? Okay, I'm kidding here... but my son has started this charming new habit that made me think of this today. While he's struggling to poop (right on schedule after dinner), which in and of itself can make him throw up... he has started to put two fingers in his mouth and blow on them like he's trying to whistle. Tonight, while he did that he no longer looked like he was trying to whistle, but more like he was shoving his fingers down his throat and I thought "Fabulous, I have an 11-month-old bulemic." Perhaps I should stop referring to him as "chubbers"... maybe he's getting a complex.
You know what... i just thought of a #3. How early is too early to go to bed? Because as a mommy I'm finding that sometimes I want MY bedtime to be 9:00. Man, you just don't appreciate bed times when you have them.
#1... How early is too early to get up? Easy answer = anytime before 5:30 a.m. If he gets up then, I'm not too bummed, because hell, it's only 1/2 hour earlier than the time I intend (note I say intend, not succeed) to get up. This past night/morning, however, Mr. William decided 3:30 a.m. might make a good time. He awoke SCREAMING like fire ants had snuck into his crib or something. Now, when he cries in the middle of the night, he usually soothes himself back to sleep in about 2-10 minutes. But this was SCREAMING. So I go charging into the nursery, convinced I have earache #3 on my hands. Fever? Nope. Vomiting? Nope. Tummy issues? Nope. Okay... teeth? He does calm down briefly as he munches hard on some pacifiers we stuck in the freezer for teething issues. But that only helps for a bit. He then proceeds to drink 7.5 oz of milk and JUST when I think he's falling asleep he starts going "ba!" all wide-eyed and cute. This is NOT the time to play, I'm thinking. Somewhere around 5:00 a.m. he falls asleep and I sleep fitfully next to him on our futon because he keeps smacking me or kicking me. Needless to say, caffeine was a necessity today.
#2... how early is too early for bulemia? Okay, I'm kidding here... but my son has started this charming new habit that made me think of this today. While he's struggling to poop (right on schedule after dinner), which in and of itself can make him throw up... he has started to put two fingers in his mouth and blow on them like he's trying to whistle. Tonight, while he did that he no longer looked like he was trying to whistle, but more like he was shoving his fingers down his throat and I thought "Fabulous, I have an 11-month-old bulemic." Perhaps I should stop referring to him as "chubbers"... maybe he's getting a complex.
You know what... i just thought of a #3. How early is too early to go to bed? Because as a mommy I'm finding that sometimes I want MY bedtime to be 9:00. Man, you just don't appreciate bed times when you have them.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Suffocation and other neurotic mother worries
I was thinking that it was lack of sleep that makes you crazy as a mother... but now I think it's the worry. I keep thinking, when will I stop worrying about him suffocating. If I put him down with a blanket or anything remotely soft, I find myself sneaking into his room a million times to make sure he's breathing. I know it's neurotic, but I can't stop myself. And then I thought to myself today... "it won't matter if I stop worrying about the breathing, because then I'll worry about something else."
These are the crazy worries that go through my head (don't laugh, you too will worry about nutty things as a mother) -
1. one of the kids at daycare will feed him something too large while Debbey is changing another kid and he'll choke to death
2. He'll suffocate on a blanket, toy, sheet, hood, sweatshirt, couch cushion, etc.
3. he'll be bullied in school
4. he'll be the bully
5. he'll choke and i won't know know how to dislodge it
6. he'll eat something and have an allergic reaction that i can't react to quickly enough
7. someday he'll play with friends near/in water and they'll drown him
It's terrible, but this kind of crap springs into my mind all the time. I swear.. I'm crazy. And someday, as he gets older I'll worry about no girlfriend or too may girlfriends. I'll worry about him being good at sports or math or music or writing. I'll worry about him meeting the wrong girl and then that he'll meet the right girl. I'll worry that he' not smart enough... or too smart. I'll worry that he's not happy, that he doesn't confide in me, that I'm not providing the best life for him.
Now my mother's constant worry makes sense. She always seemed to worry about how she treated us or how we felt about her, life, school, etc. As a kid with no worries, I thought she was nuts.
Now I know.
She's a mom.
These are the crazy worries that go through my head (don't laugh, you too will worry about nutty things as a mother) -
1. one of the kids at daycare will feed him something too large while Debbey is changing another kid and he'll choke to death
2. He'll suffocate on a blanket, toy, sheet, hood, sweatshirt, couch cushion, etc.
3. he'll be bullied in school
4. he'll be the bully
5. he'll choke and i won't know know how to dislodge it
6. he'll eat something and have an allergic reaction that i can't react to quickly enough
7. someday he'll play with friends near/in water and they'll drown him
It's terrible, but this kind of crap springs into my mind all the time. I swear.. I'm crazy. And someday, as he gets older I'll worry about no girlfriend or too may girlfriends. I'll worry about him being good at sports or math or music or writing. I'll worry about him meeting the wrong girl and then that he'll meet the right girl. I'll worry that he' not smart enough... or too smart. I'll worry that he's not happy, that he doesn't confide in me, that I'm not providing the best life for him.
Now my mother's constant worry makes sense. She always seemed to worry about how she treated us or how we felt about her, life, school, etc. As a kid with no worries, I thought she was nuts.
Now I know.
She's a mom.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Of New Teeth and Ear Infections
As the title of my blog would indicate... these little suckers need to come with instruction manuals.
William got his first ear infection a few weeks ago and 2 days after it cleared up... his 2nd one arrived. He's now on his 2nd string of antibiotics and I'm hoping his last for a while. It's been a roller coaster of sleep and tummy problems. Thank god they make the medication taste so good that he'll eat it. I think he thinks it's yogurt or something.
I had no idea he had an ear infection because I have an incredibly happy baby. I kept hearing that kids would scream and grab their ears and refuse to nurse. My ONLY tip that something was wrong was a terrible night where he screamed all night and we thus got only 2 hours of sleep. I finally figured out that he was screaming from a fever (102 degrees) and got him to to the doc. The doc looked in his ears and prounounced that he had rather advanced infections in both ears and "wasn't he acting sick?" At this point, William was sitting on the exam table smiling, laughing and slapping his knees... so I pointed to him and said, "nope... he acts like this. He didn't pull at his ears or anything!"
Of course, just then, William pulled at an ear and the doc said, "what, like that?" Great. Mother of the year here. So we had 7 days of antibiotics and THANK GOD my mother was here for a visit to help me out with most of it. Because after the 7th day, we had two great days and then ANOTHER grumpy night (not as bad as the first). I get a call from my mother and she says that he's cool, but his head is warm and when she takes his temp it's over 101. So back to the doc we go (here's the thing, I had just gotten a call the night before after his well check telling me his tests came out great and he's one HEALTHY kid). The doc looks surprised to see us again since he just saw us yesterday, but then takes a look and says the infections are back. So now were in round two of antibiotics, this time for 10 days. Ugh.
Here's the total kicker though. If you read a baby book or ask a doctor, they will tell you that colds, fevers, ear infections, etc... are NOT caused by teething. Mothers and nurses, however, will tell you differently, and I'm joining the ranks of those moms now. You see... William is getting at least 2 teeth right now (just discovered this). They're his "eye teeth" which I hear from experienced moms are the worst. Well, so far they suck. My mother in law said my sis in law got an ear infection with each new tooth. If that happens with William, I'll be in the funny farm, so look for me there.
I just have to say thank god for experienced moms. I'm surrounded by them at work and they're getting me through all this teeth and ear crap. And they were an invaluable resource for the past few months of questions about diapers, baby tylenol, sleep training, self-feeding, etc.
Can't wait to see what's around the next corner.
William got his first ear infection a few weeks ago and 2 days after it cleared up... his 2nd one arrived. He's now on his 2nd string of antibiotics and I'm hoping his last for a while. It's been a roller coaster of sleep and tummy problems. Thank god they make the medication taste so good that he'll eat it. I think he thinks it's yogurt or something.
I had no idea he had an ear infection because I have an incredibly happy baby. I kept hearing that kids would scream and grab their ears and refuse to nurse. My ONLY tip that something was wrong was a terrible night where he screamed all night and we thus got only 2 hours of sleep. I finally figured out that he was screaming from a fever (102 degrees) and got him to to the doc. The doc looked in his ears and prounounced that he had rather advanced infections in both ears and "wasn't he acting sick?" At this point, William was sitting on the exam table smiling, laughing and slapping his knees... so I pointed to him and said, "nope... he acts like this. He didn't pull at his ears or anything!"
Of course, just then, William pulled at an ear and the doc said, "what, like that?" Great. Mother of the year here. So we had 7 days of antibiotics and THANK GOD my mother was here for a visit to help me out with most of it. Because after the 7th day, we had two great days and then ANOTHER grumpy night (not as bad as the first). I get a call from my mother and she says that he's cool, but his head is warm and when she takes his temp it's over 101. So back to the doc we go (here's the thing, I had just gotten a call the night before after his well check telling me his tests came out great and he's one HEALTHY kid). The doc looks surprised to see us again since he just saw us yesterday, but then takes a look and says the infections are back. So now were in round two of antibiotics, this time for 10 days. Ugh.
Here's the total kicker though. If you read a baby book or ask a doctor, they will tell you that colds, fevers, ear infections, etc... are NOT caused by teething. Mothers and nurses, however, will tell you differently, and I'm joining the ranks of those moms now. You see... William is getting at least 2 teeth right now (just discovered this). They're his "eye teeth" which I hear from experienced moms are the worst. Well, so far they suck. My mother in law said my sis in law got an ear infection with each new tooth. If that happens with William, I'll be in the funny farm, so look for me there.
I just have to say thank god for experienced moms. I'm surrounded by them at work and they're getting me through all this teeth and ear crap. And they were an invaluable resource for the past few months of questions about diapers, baby tylenol, sleep training, self-feeding, etc.
Can't wait to see what's around the next corner.
Friday, March 23, 2007
The Road to H...
You know what they say about good intentions (you know... the road to hell is paved with them). Anyway, I had intentions of blogging about mommyhood from day one, but that shows you what an inexperienced mommy I am. Those first couple months I was lucky to have time to shower and eat, much less think about things like blogging.
So what have I learned? It's okay not to have time to do my hair. It's okay if the toilets don't always get cleaned once a week or if I go 3 weeks in between mopping. It's okay to go to the store in sweats with no make up and it's okay if I don't manage to cook homemade meals at least 5 days a week. Because what I won't get back is that extra hour I spent playing on the floor with my boy William. Or that hour we spent sleeping together on the couch. I won't get back that day I never showered because I was so enchanted about him laughing for the first time that I spent all his waking moments trying to make him laugh.
What amazes me is how much I've forgotten already. I thought my first entry could be a catching up on these past 9 months because there's no way I could forget. But you do. I forget exactly what those 13 hours of labor pains felt like before they finally told me I was having a C-section because he wouldn't descend and his heart rate was slowing. I forget the utter delirious exhaustion of those difficult first nights in the hospital that my mom spent with me where, determined that I would succeed at breastfeeding, I struggled until I was sweating to get William latched on. I've forgotten being a zombie those first two weeks with my mom staying with us, Mike staying home from work and my sister over as much as possible to try to help me somehow get rest in an endless cycle of nurse-pump-eat-wash pumping stuff-sleep if possible and start over. I've forgotten the emotional roller coaster of returning to work and taking him to daycare that first day. I've forgotten packing a "lunch box" full of food for the nursery each night so that I could sustain my energy while nursing William every 2-3 hours. I've forgotten the hand-off with my husband as he took the last late-night feeding and anything else that happened prior to 2 a.m. while I took anything that happened after 2 until we both got up at 6:00am to start all over. I've forgotten the elation of realizing my son slept through the night for the first time on Halloween.
Mike, William and I have now settled into a pattern... or as much of one as you can have with an infant. Teething, fevers, developmental milestones, etc... can interfere with it, but we still have a pattern. Mike gets him up & dressed in the morning while I feed him and pump. I feed William at lunch. When we get home we share the duties of getting William and the dogs fed sometime between 6:00 and 6:30 while getting our own dinner going as well. Then we juggle cleaning up, William's bath around 8:00 and getting him to bed by around 9:00. He'll usually sleep until 6:00 or 7:00 and then we begin again.
It's a good life. An awesome one actually. I thought that tonight as I watched my husband sitting on the floor making his son laugh. I have two beautiful gifts looking me in the face every day... the love of my life and the miracle he helped me create. On second thought this is not the road to hell... but heaven. :)
So what have I learned? It's okay not to have time to do my hair. It's okay if the toilets don't always get cleaned once a week or if I go 3 weeks in between mopping. It's okay to go to the store in sweats with no make up and it's okay if I don't manage to cook homemade meals at least 5 days a week. Because what I won't get back is that extra hour I spent playing on the floor with my boy William. Or that hour we spent sleeping together on the couch. I won't get back that day I never showered because I was so enchanted about him laughing for the first time that I spent all his waking moments trying to make him laugh.
What amazes me is how much I've forgotten already. I thought my first entry could be a catching up on these past 9 months because there's no way I could forget. But you do. I forget exactly what those 13 hours of labor pains felt like before they finally told me I was having a C-section because he wouldn't descend and his heart rate was slowing. I forget the utter delirious exhaustion of those difficult first nights in the hospital that my mom spent with me where, determined that I would succeed at breastfeeding, I struggled until I was sweating to get William latched on. I've forgotten being a zombie those first two weeks with my mom staying with us, Mike staying home from work and my sister over as much as possible to try to help me somehow get rest in an endless cycle of nurse-pump-eat-wash pumping stuff-sleep if possible and start over. I've forgotten the emotional roller coaster of returning to work and taking him to daycare that first day. I've forgotten packing a "lunch box" full of food for the nursery each night so that I could sustain my energy while nursing William every 2-3 hours. I've forgotten the hand-off with my husband as he took the last late-night feeding and anything else that happened prior to 2 a.m. while I took anything that happened after 2 until we both got up at 6:00am to start all over. I've forgotten the elation of realizing my son slept through the night for the first time on Halloween.
Mike, William and I have now settled into a pattern... or as much of one as you can have with an infant. Teething, fevers, developmental milestones, etc... can interfere with it, but we still have a pattern. Mike gets him up & dressed in the morning while I feed him and pump. I feed William at lunch. When we get home we share the duties of getting William and the dogs fed sometime between 6:00 and 6:30 while getting our own dinner going as well. Then we juggle cleaning up, William's bath around 8:00 and getting him to bed by around 9:00. He'll usually sleep until 6:00 or 7:00 and then we begin again.
It's a good life. An awesome one actually. I thought that tonight as I watched my husband sitting on the floor making his son laugh. I have two beautiful gifts looking me in the face every day... the love of my life and the miracle he helped me create. On second thought this is not the road to hell... but heaven. :)
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