Impending Doom

It's coming.  It's just under the surface,  ready to explode.  If you listen carefully you can hear the faint strains of the "Jaws" theme, coming from the nursery, signaling an attack. Da Dum.......Da Dum.........   It's looming like a dark cloud and when it finally attacks, Brett and I are toast.

Toddlerhood.

It's almost here.

Crap.

Over the past month, Max has developed several new skills and habits transitioning him out of infancy. I'm starting to see that having a toddler is going to be no picnic.

First, there's this:

This means that walking is just around the corner.  Walking means that more baby gates need to be installed and everything that isn't a toy will need to be at least three feet off the ground.  No remote, power cords or dropped potato chip on the floor has been safe since he started crawling.  Now I can no longer leave my cups on the ottoman or my laptop on the couch.  He is mere inches from pressing the buttons on the TV and it's time to double check the strength of all furniture mounted to the walls.   I used to be appalled by baby jails like this.

Now I'm wondering if I can find one on eBay.

Max has also started to develop food preferences. I started giving him peas as finger food.  Now he refuses anything pureed. When I try to spoon feed he bats the spoon away leaving sweet potatoes stuck to the ceiling and me.  The other day I came back from the grocery store and realized I was shopping with mashed cauliflower in my hair.

Along with wanting to feed himself, Max decided he'll only eat fruit and peas.  Meats get thrown to the floor, green beans stuffed in the corners of the high chair and broccoli spit across the kitchen.  I'm contemplating a dog just to help aid in clean up.  Oh, but if I plop down on the couch to enjoy a quick snack, you can bet Max will be up in my grille immediately, clawing up my leg to get a bite.

Rice Cakes?  I love rice cakes!

Finally, there is the talking...rather, screaming.  The baba's, dada's and yaya's are cute. I love to listen to him babble as he tries to figure out a new toy or wants to join in the conversation.  However when he's mad, his choice babble is of course, MMOOOOOMMMOOOOOMMOOMM MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA!!!!!! He's also started full on screaming when upset.  Not just crying but a full high pitched screech to let us know he's mad as heck and he isn't gonna take it anymore.  He's started to throw tantrums at bath time, complete with screeching, yanking, biting and flailing of limbs.   I'm trying to laugh it off now, but I see tantrums being a lot less funny when they occur in public places.

So, it begins.  I know that with the bad, there will also be good.  To have him make the connection that I'm "mom" and Brett is "dad" will be incredible.  Giving me a hug for the first time will turn me in the blubbering mess. Knowing that as of now he is developing right on schedule, is an answer to my prayers.  However, when those terrible toddler traits rear there ugly head more frequently, I think I'll spending a bit more time with my own sippy cup.

I got TWO of these for Christmas.  My family thinks I'm a wino.
They're right

A Random Update on Max

Every time *random* people ask me “How’s Max?”  I’m not sure how to respond.

“He’s good, thank you” leaves out a lot of information.

I don’t want to be that mom and say “Well he’s pretty much the most adorable baby ever conceived. I’m pretty sure he’s freakishly strong and all signs are pointing to him being the one to disprove String Theory at age 16”.

Nor do I want to be the mom that says “He’s great but he has been fighting this cold for 2 months and he has a cough that sounds like a barking seal.  The doctor says that since he has no fever there’s nothing we can do but he also has this horrible diaper rash that won’t go away.  Here, wanna check it out?”

So instead, I just say the first one and maybe add in how he’s starting to be mobile.  Then, I’ll walk away feeling awkward and *random*.  I suck at small talk.

But in case you do want a full blown update (minus the medical issues) *randomly* recounting Max’s new developments.

We’re one week away from 6 months and Max is doing totally great.  I assume he’s reaching all appropriate milestones but I stopped reading the parenting guides because they made me paranoid.  Brett keeps up better than me.

The biggest thing going on is that Max is mobile.   He has a very efficient army crawl and can get from point A to point B in the blink of an eye.  Of course, instead of going after his toys, he seems to find only the *random* things lying on the floor. Shoes, cords and the cat are all far more interesting then the expensive toys people have given him.  They also happen to be significantly more dangerous.  We’ve quickly started to baby proof the house.  While he is not full on crawling yet, he can get up on all fours without struggle.

I give it another week and the kid will be a crawling machine. When that happens, we’re screwed.

Max has also developed a “Scared as Hell” cry and it’s absolutely heartbreaking.  If he learns to use it at *random*, I’ll pretty much give him anything he wants. Currently the cry only happens when Max is actually scared but soon he will learn to use it for manipulate me and he’ll be eating cookies for dinner every night.  Seriously, those big eyes filled with wet tears is simply killer.

The best news, other than Max being a perfectly normal 6 month old, is that he has continued to (basically) sleep through the night.  It’s been about a month and I don’t think I’ll ever stop being excited.  Once a night, usually around 5 or so, he’ll fuss for a few minutes but he usually puts himself back to sleep before it’s enough to drag our butts out of bed. Now, if I could just convince my body to not wake every 3 hours, life would be perfect.

On that note it’s also wonderful that Max no longer requires a big song and dance to fall asleep.  We have a simple routine.  Bath .  Bottle.  Plop him in his crib.  Turn on his Baby Einstein aquarium and he’s out before the music is over. Gone are the days that required swaddling, bouncing, re-swaddling, humming, pleading, and trying lay him in his crib without waking him up.  Goodbye and good riddance.

I know the next 6 months will be filled with even more major milestones and I’m trying to savor the moments instead of counting down the seconds ‘til he moves out the next major development.  Food beyond rice cereal, crawling, walking, first holidays and first words are on the radar.  I already have a pile of *random* baby items that need to go into storage until I’m crazy enough to want to do this all over again.

Until then, I am just trying to enjoy the ride.

Wordless Wednesday: First Cereal!

 

Link Up Here:

Wordless Wednesday

Seven Clown Circus

Live and Love...Out Loud

Wordless Wednesday: Sippy Cup FAIL!

Our pediatrician suggested we start giving Max a sippy cup with water.  The first attempt went like this:

Max's New Tricks

I know it sounds cliche, but at this very point, I wish I could just pause time. Max is at such a great age. He's still a baby but he's getting more and more interactive.  As he laughs at his daddy or grabs at a toy, I start to catch glimpses of him as a little boy.  Not a baby, but a little boy. 

I'm not ready for that.

So instead, I try to savor every moment.  I cheer at his development but at the same time each new accomplishment is one step closer to him moving away, wining a Super Bowl ring, getting married and making grandbabies.

Ok, kidding, I'm not looking that far ahead. 

Remember my pity party where I thought Max was a pain in the ass, fussybutt because of teething?  Nope.  No teeth.  Instead, I think he was going through a development spurt. Within the last week he's started doing all kinds of new things.

The cutest is the "singing".  While he's not making distinct syllables (or winning any Grammy's), he's started babbling to himself. In the car or when he's falling asleep in his crib he "sings", coos and "talks".  It's adorable.  I wish Brett and I could capture it on video but as soon as he realizes someone is paying attention to him, he stops.

While he's a totally champ at rolling from tummy to back he is still working on back to tummy.  As you can see from the picture he's almost there.  He gets soooo close and then decides "Nope. Not today".

The biggest development is that he can sit up on his own.  Well, not really sit up, but balance on his fat rolls.

He can't actually get to that position on his own.  Brett and I have to prop him up and then hover over him as a spotter lest he do this:

But still, we think it's pretty awesome. Max however is pretty indifferent.  He's just glad he can get a better grip on his bee!

Next thing you know, I'll be watching him at Bears training camp! But for now, I'll just enjoy my baby boy.

4 Month Appointment!

Max had his 4 month appointment yesterday and our doc confirmed our suspicions.  The child is totally awesome. Ok, so maybe Dr. R didn't say that but he did say Max is doing really well.  He's 15 lbs 10 oz and 25 inches.  75% percentile for both height and weight. He's keeping mommy's dreams of having a Chicago Bears Linebacker for a son alive. Too bad he won't inherit any athletic ability from either parent.

He also got 3 shots, which went well.  Some moms say they get more upset than their kid when it's time for shots. Can't say I have that problem.  While I don't enjoy watching Max get stuck, it doesn't tear me apart.  I think I got all needle stick trauma out of my system when at 3 days old, Max was admitted to the hospital.  There, several nurses, most of whom looked barely old enough to drive, stuck him SEVEN times before they called in the seasoned vet to put in an IV. Compared to that, a simple vaccine is pretty much a non issue. 

Max didn't seemed bothered by them either.  I put a bottle in his mouth just before the nurse stuck him. 

With the first shot,he basically gave the nurse a dirty look and went back to eating.

The second shot he fussed for a second then realized "Hey! Food!".

The third shot, the one with the fattest needle, prompted a brief wail before going back to his bottle.

The boy finds comfort in food.  That's a trait he sure got from his Momma.

The whole appointment was basically a success, except for crazy long wait.  Max dealt with the wait by doing what Brett and I wished we could do:

Speaking of sleep, I had to deal with a fussy baby during the afternoon but Max slept like champ at night.  I put him in his crib at 5 PM for what I thought would be 10 minutes while I put away the laundry. Much to my surprise he fell asleep and stayed asleep until 10:30.  No bedtime routine or even bath.  And when he did wake, to eat, he promptly went back to sleep and stayed that way.  We had to wake him up when it was time to get ready for day care. 

I need to start scheduling his shots on Fridays so perhaps we can get an extra few hours of shut eye on Saturday morning. 

Am I a terrible parent for thinking such things?

Don't answer that.   

Sixteen Little Weeks

How did this little lump of a human,

turn into this adorable, squeaking, smiling, grabbing at things little person, with massive personality, in just 16 short weeks?

When Max was first born I wanted him to hurry up and grow.  I was depressed and overwhelmed. Now, I wish time would stop.

Maximum Max- a week 15 update

Ok friends and family, I hear you.  You aren't coming out and saying it, but I can hear your thoughts. "Laura, that's great you and Brett starting eating steak on Sunday and you make cake in the microwave.  Sure, you love a couple of Dad's and you took a picture of a train. Good for you.  But we aren't reading this blog for you.  We want to know about Max!"  Fine.  I'll stop talking about myself for a minute.

You really want to know about Max?

Really really?

Well...he's a bit constipated and a bit cranky.   Oh, and now he has a cold.

Sorry, you asked

Actually, besides the issues mentioned above, Max is developing right on track.  At least I think so.  I stopped comparing him to what the "experts" say he should be doing because it makes me a bit insane. He's a week ahead in some places and a week behind in others. The past few weeks have had some pretty major milestones however.

The biggest development is that Max has started using his hands. He skipped the "batting at things" stage altogether.  He's grabbing at things and it's obviously intentional because when he gets a grip, the object goes directly to his mouth.  It was fun the first few days as he would swing and miss but now he's pretty accurate.  The only downside is I need to temporarily put away all my dangling earrings!

 

Another ADORABLE development is he is more verbal.  From yelps to coos to gurgles and the best- laughing, he is able to communicate more than "HOLY CRAP I'M PISSED SO FIX IT". It's totally awesome. Plus, he does this the most when we are changing his diaper, thus making a unfun task completley awesome!

I no longer dread car rides now that Max doesn't scream bloody murder the whole time. Instead, he looks around, maybe yelps once or twice and falls alseep.  It's adorable. And blissfully quiet.

Other things changing include:
-He notices himself in the mirror...and thinks he's hysterical
-He's working on sitting up and no longer despises his bumbo.
-He's able to play in his exersauser though he isn't 100% sure he likes it.
-He has rolled from tummy to back 7 times but most of the time does it when no one is looking.
-He still loves that damn bear

The only thing that isn't going well is the lack of sleep at night.  He's an adorable angel during the day but at night he's screaming  every 2 hours.  We've tried EVERYTHING but he doesn't want to sleep.  It's one thing after another.  When we finally figured out a good feeding schedule, he decided he doesn't want the swaddle all night long.  When he finally broke the swaddle habit, the constipation thing happened.  Once his tummy troubles were under control he got a cold.  So, we keep trying things to get him to sleep for more than a few hours at a time.  We all keep begging praying that one night a switch will flip and he'll sleep for a long stretch, every night. Unfortunately, my gut is telling me we have another 9 months of this.  Brett and I no longer find coffee effective.  Instead, we just ingest caffeine into our veins.

I don't want to complain too much. He's healthy and that is all that matters. All in all, he's a pretty wonderful kid and my life is better with him in it.

Saturday Ramblings

1)  We joined the local food co-op tonight and placed our first order- a fruit and veggie box. Now I can pretend to be all crunchy with my organic swiss chard and other vegetables I have no idea how to cook.  And yes, these days, Friday night fun means going online to join the food co-op.

2) I'm not actually crunchy because I just made a cake in the microwave.  THE MICROWAVE! I love you Deep Covered Baker.

3) At 2:30PM this afternoon I saw a guy running.  I didn't see anyone chasing him so I am guessing it was for exercise. Normally, there is nothing wrong with running but IT WAS ONE HUNDRED AND FREAKING NINE DEGREES today.  What masochist runs in 109 degree heat? I hemmed and hawed about even going through the grocery store for fear I would melt.

4) I somehow ended up watching a bit of the 4th hour of the Today Show.  My God, it is exactly like the SNL skit that mocks it. It's quite the mid morning possibly boozed fueled train wreck...and I LOVED it! I'm so ashamed.

5) Max learned a new skill today.  He discovered the toys on his swing and started moving them back and forth.  He was absolutely fascinated. My kids totally a genius...which he didn't get from me since I can't spell genius without spell check.

And yes, that is a Colbert onesie.

Evil in Toy Form

This flippin' bear is haunting my dreams. It's blinking red nose was part of my nightmare last night. It's calypso version of "Pop goes the Weasel" plays repeatedly in my head during quiet moments. When I accidentally turn on "motion sensor" instead of "off" it causes small heart attacks during late night bathroom breaks.

Yet, we can't get rid of it.  Max LOVES this bear and it has prevented many a breakdown during tummy time.  He talks to it, smiles at it and holds his head up high, strengthening his neck muscles, as another obnoxious, electronic tune begins.

I'm sure this is just one of many toys that I will learn to hate throughout my life.  It's probably karmic payback for the time I bought my nephew, then a toddler, a drum kit, set it up in my parents house, then promptly hopped on a plane back to Savannah.  

Mom.  Dad.  I'm sorry.

Coffee, the exlir of life.

This wonderful machine,

 

which produces this wonderful cup of coffee,

has been my saving grace over the past few weeks.

I knew sleep would be limited when I became a parent, but I had NO IDEA how difficult it would be.  Sleep is my obsession these days and I've tried every hint, tip and technique out there to get Max to sleep more than 2.5 hours at a time during the night.  

Occasionally he will go down for a blissful 6.5 hours but sadly my body is now trained to wake up every two.  So when morning comes and Max's squeals drag me out of bed I fumble to my Keurig and in less than 2 minutes I have a fresh cup of coffee to help me feel human.  No boiling water and grinding of beans needed. Those steps are too complicated for my clumsy, exhausted self.  The french press sits silently in the corner, waiting for the day when I'm able to be a coffee snob again.  Until then, I blissfully sip my instantly brewed cup of joe aware it's ridiculous to have so much affection for a machine.

And now, obligatory cute Max picture.  Look who discovered his hands!