Saturday, May 26, 2012
Alias
When the baby was just a mere fetus, I used to call him the bean because he looked like a pinto or lima bean in that first sonogram. I continued to call him that through the 9 months because well we didn't really choose a name until the end. And now that he's born, we've developed even more nicknames. They say when you speak to a baby you should speak in 3rd person so that he learns his name and he knows who you are and who daddy is, etc. So I've been trying to do that but at the same time strange nicknames have cropped up like "Mister Mister". Not sure why we started calling him that and didn't even realize I used it so much until my mom started referring to our son as Mister, Mister in her emails. Ha! OOps, I guess that one might stick around. I also refer to him as the Little Man..but more so when I'm speaking about him than to him. Sometimes it's Nic Nic which makes sense...Sometimes I call him Bubby. This probably stems from the Yiddish "Bubula" which was a term of endearment (which I think means: child) that my former coworkers used to use with each other (it was a family owned company). My hubby sometimes calls him Prince. When he's in a bad mood, we call him grumpy grumps. My latest alias for him has been "Pudge, Pudge" as in Pudgy, although he's not that pudgy. It's just a cute sounding word. At his 9 month check up, he only fell into the 5th percentile when it came to weight so we've been trying to get some meat on his bones by feeding him full fat yogurt, avocados, peanut butter, hummus, what have you. I wonder what other concoctions of names we'll come up with and if there will be that one that everyone will call him. I grew up hating my nickname especially when I was a teenager. Some of my family members still continue to use it to this day but now that I'm older, I've come to terms with it and don't mind it at all.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
growing at the speed of light
Wow the little man is now over 9 months old! He can crawl normally now, no longer looks like a mermaid on dry land. But he still will glide across the floor like a seal at times because it's definitely much faster to get to the other side of the room. Only possible on the hardwood floors though.
He can now pull himself up to standing position - holding on to a ledge or even using the wall for support - so his little legs are getting stronger. He can push a chair across the room while standing/leaning against it so he's definitely learning the basics of walking. He also likes to pull himself up by grabbing on to a person's legs...and today I helped him walk across the kitchen into the living room while he held on to my legs. He was totally laughing and enjoying the trip. It was so cute. I guess it's cool for him to see how his legs can work.
He's also eating up a storm. Today he tried rice for lunch with edimame..It was his first experience eating with chopsticks...well, me holding them, him eating from them. I'm not sure if he actually chewed the edimame or just swallowed the halves whole but I guess I'll see later. He'll eat anything which is a good thing - he's not picky like I was as a kid...but it also means he'll eat anything...a dust ball on the floor, a napkin he pulled off the table, the cotton ball he grabbed from the bin, the soil from the plant, the phone charger, the plug, the coasters, a penny (he didn't like the taste of that one and spit it out...apparently that happened while my sis was babysitting). You name it, he must have tasted it. I know it's part of the learning experience for them, but it can be a bit crazy.
He already has 4 teeth (2 on the top center / 2 on the bottom center) and it looks like he has 2 more teeth coming out - one on each side of the top center 2.
He does a sort of wave hello now to people which is cool, and he can clap his hands on demand.
He's a great hugger and can (sort of) kiss, which I love!!
He's now fascinated with closing and opening doors..trouble for cabinets. Yes we need to install our safety locks still.
He has this house with a bird hanging underneath it - his grandparents gave it to him as a present. When you pull the bird, it plays a song ("Are you sleeping Brother John?"). We have it hanging on one of the corners of his playpen. He now knows how to pull it himself! That's pretty cool. It's amazing to see the little man grow and learn new things each day!
So we put him in our bed when he cries in the middle of the night and he always seems to assume the "H is for Hell" position. It was something I saw on facebook - baby sleep positions. And at the time, the little one was fine in his crib/bassinet so I thought some of those positions seemed far-fetched. But it is an unfortunate actual position. Mom and Dad are each at the edge of their side of the bed, while the baby lies vertically - his head at the dad's stomach and his feet at the mom's stomach, actually that would be baby kicking me in the ribs...ugh. If he stayed in the middle, right side up, it probably wouldn't be as uncomfortable. If only we had a king or queen bed...not just a full. I remember my friends saying you should get the biggest bed possible! Now I know why. I know you're not really supposed to advocate babies sleeping in the bed, but if he's not quieting down and it's 2 or 3 or 4 AM and you just want him to go sleep and you want to sleep yourself...really what are you supposed to do? I am sure our neighbors appreciate it. It's not the same if you live in a house - I suppose you can let your child cry for 20 minutes which they say will work to wean the baby off of waking up each night...and then you're supposed to extend the crying time for longer each night until eventually they stop. But the 20 minutes seems like an eternity when it's that late at night...I think we tried for about 5 minutes and then we just deal with the crying in the middle of the night and move him to the bed because it works to keep him quiet and he does tend to fall asleep soon after, although there are times when he does want to play or it feels like he's kicking me for hours before he sleeps. There are also times when he does sleep through the night and doesn't wake up until 6:30..so you never know really. It's a little different for us also because the crib is in our room..it's hard to ignore a crying a baby when he's pretty much at the foot of your bed, and when you look over - he's standing, holding on to the crib railing, staring and crying at you.
He can now pull himself up to standing position - holding on to a ledge or even using the wall for support - so his little legs are getting stronger. He can push a chair across the room while standing/leaning against it so he's definitely learning the basics of walking. He also likes to pull himself up by grabbing on to a person's legs...and today I helped him walk across the kitchen into the living room while he held on to my legs. He was totally laughing and enjoying the trip. It was so cute. I guess it's cool for him to see how his legs can work.
He's also eating up a storm. Today he tried rice for lunch with edimame..It was his first experience eating with chopsticks...well, me holding them, him eating from them. I'm not sure if he actually chewed the edimame or just swallowed the halves whole but I guess I'll see later. He'll eat anything which is a good thing - he's not picky like I was as a kid...but it also means he'll eat anything...a dust ball on the floor, a napkin he pulled off the table, the cotton ball he grabbed from the bin, the soil from the plant, the phone charger, the plug, the coasters, a penny (he didn't like the taste of that one and spit it out...apparently that happened while my sis was babysitting). You name it, he must have tasted it. I know it's part of the learning experience for them, but it can be a bit crazy.
He already has 4 teeth (2 on the top center / 2 on the bottom center) and it looks like he has 2 more teeth coming out - one on each side of the top center 2.
He does a sort of wave hello now to people which is cool, and he can clap his hands on demand.
He's a great hugger and can (sort of) kiss, which I love!!
He's now fascinated with closing and opening doors..trouble for cabinets. Yes we need to install our safety locks still.
He has this house with a bird hanging underneath it - his grandparents gave it to him as a present. When you pull the bird, it plays a song ("Are you sleeping Brother John?"). We have it hanging on one of the corners of his playpen. He now knows how to pull it himself! That's pretty cool. It's amazing to see the little man grow and learn new things each day!
So we put him in our bed when he cries in the middle of the night and he always seems to assume the "H is for Hell" position. It was something I saw on facebook - baby sleep positions. And at the time, the little one was fine in his crib/bassinet so I thought some of those positions seemed far-fetched. But it is an unfortunate actual position. Mom and Dad are each at the edge of their side of the bed, while the baby lies vertically - his head at the dad's stomach and his feet at the mom's stomach, actually that would be baby kicking me in the ribs...ugh. If he stayed in the middle, right side up, it probably wouldn't be as uncomfortable. If only we had a king or queen bed...not just a full. I remember my friends saying you should get the biggest bed possible! Now I know why. I know you're not really supposed to advocate babies sleeping in the bed, but if he's not quieting down and it's 2 or 3 or 4 AM and you just want him to go sleep and you want to sleep yourself...really what are you supposed to do? I am sure our neighbors appreciate it. It's not the same if you live in a house - I suppose you can let your child cry for 20 minutes which they say will work to wean the baby off of waking up each night...and then you're supposed to extend the crying time for longer each night until eventually they stop. But the 20 minutes seems like an eternity when it's that late at night...I think we tried for about 5 minutes and then we just deal with the crying in the middle of the night and move him to the bed because it works to keep him quiet and he does tend to fall asleep soon after, although there are times when he does want to play or it feels like he's kicking me for hours before he sleeps. There are also times when he does sleep through the night and doesn't wake up until 6:30..so you never know really. It's a little different for us also because the crib is in our room..it's hard to ignore a crying a baby when he's pretty much at the foot of your bed, and when you look over - he's standing, holding on to the crib railing, staring and crying at you.
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
PukeFest 2012
Welcome to the exciting world of solid foods. You never know what you're going to get. It could be rounds and rounds of throw up depending on what the little one has tried to ingest. The other day, the little one threw up while sitting on the floor, saw it - wondered what it was and then proceeded to pat his hands in it. The good thing is we have hardwood floors. I had to whisk him off the floor and run to the kitchen sink to wash his hands, and he then proceeded to throw up some more. I heard a small clanking sound in the sink..what was it? It was a small clear plastic disc...a furniture glide from the piano bench. Hmm not sure if he actually swallowed it or if it was just stuck in his mouth so that's why he started to up chuck. Anyways, it looks like this kid will try to eat anything now that he's learning to eat solids. It also means we really have to be careful about what he can reach at floor level.
And then a few days later, he was on his bouncy chair happily bouncing up and down when he spewed big time. All over. Inside crevices and dripping out of the chair legs onto the floor. Of course baby starts jumping up and down on top of the puke. So I rush and grab him out of the chair, clean him off as best and quickly as possible and put him down in the play pen to keep him away from crawling into the disaster zone. I start wiping up the floor which was an immense mess to say the least. I was hoping and praying I didn't start gagging myself. It appeared that a piece of mango was the culprit. I had fed him fresh bananas and mangoes that morning. I had to remove the chair from the hanging device to properly clean it out, as well as clean the chair itself. I did start gagging actually. If you had the visuals and the odoriferous vapors wafting your way and the actual tactile joy of touching the stuff, you probably would have to. I also starting wishing my husband was home so he could share in the fun of the clean up. He totally missed out. I never saw so much..ugh. Not to mention, while in the playpen, he apparently wasn't done and proceeded to throw up some more in there too. OMG. So I had to clean him again and then sop up the mess in the playpen. I was like, "Is this going to continue all day long? I'm never feeding him fresh bananas and mangoes again." The festival did end after that though so I did get a reprieve.
Not sure if I want to participate again in PukeFest 2012, but I have a feeling I won't really have a choice.
And then a few days later, he was on his bouncy chair happily bouncing up and down when he spewed big time. All over. Inside crevices and dripping out of the chair legs onto the floor. Of course baby starts jumping up and down on top of the puke. So I rush and grab him out of the chair, clean him off as best and quickly as possible and put him down in the play pen to keep him away from crawling into the disaster zone. I start wiping up the floor which was an immense mess to say the least. I was hoping and praying I didn't start gagging myself. It appeared that a piece of mango was the culprit. I had fed him fresh bananas and mangoes that morning. I had to remove the chair from the hanging device to properly clean it out, as well as clean the chair itself. I did start gagging actually. If you had the visuals and the odoriferous vapors wafting your way and the actual tactile joy of touching the stuff, you probably would have to. I also starting wishing my husband was home so he could share in the fun of the clean up. He totally missed out. I never saw so much..ugh. Not to mention, while in the playpen, he apparently wasn't done and proceeded to throw up some more in there too. OMG. So I had to clean him again and then sop up the mess in the playpen. I was like, "Is this going to continue all day long? I'm never feeding him fresh bananas and mangoes again." The festival did end after that though so I did get a reprieve.
Not sure if I want to participate again in PukeFest 2012, but I have a feeling I won't really have a choice.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)