Melon-morial Day

melon_1
Originally uploaded by doctorlizardo

Time to try feeding oneself!

Too Much!

I really have to get to bed, I have a terrible sore throat and suspect so does Limelet. Also he's teething like crazy again, so we've both/all had way less sleep than usual, and I have a dissertation meeting tomorrow morning. I may have to cancel if this throat doesn't get better ASAP. But so much has been happening...

We had two and a half lovely, blissful weeks of non-teething! It was amazing. That was right about when he turned 8 months old. That means he was teething almost non-stop from 4 months to 8 months. I guess being in pain hampers intellectual development! (I know it does mine.)

It was a Tuesday that he stopped teething, and all Wednesday he was (mostly) quiet and happy. As opposed to making that grounging noise and seeming vaguely dissatisfied when not being overtly entertained. The difference was like night and day, or any other pair of dissimilar concepts you like.

By that Thursday he started babbling "dada" and other cute syllables in a very conversational manner. Within a couple more days he'd developed his pincer grip, which was very cute except that he immediately started trying to use it on the nursies. (He also tried to pinch some ants, but so far he hasn't been able to catch any.) He started working on his unassisted sitting, and just...all kinds of developmental stuff all of a sudden.

He even started taking a few longer naps! On the other hand, he also started staying awake later at night.

Then, last week, the teething began again. One tooth's come through already, and I'm expecting the other one in the pair any day now. (I dreamed that I looked in his mouth and it was through, but it was only a dream.)

A couple days ago I started giving him food to touch (like watermelon, or broccoli). At first he mainly just wanted to squish it really, really hard in his little fists. He also did this weird thing where he would remove all the food from its container, then carefully hide it behind him, then he'd lean over and try to get it from where he'd hidden it. There wasn't a lot of eating going on there.

Then I got him some of those little fruit puffs for babies (they melt in their mouths kinda like cheesy poofs, so they're less chokey than other kinds of finger foods). They're not all-natural and they're definitely not mono-ingredient, but it's not like they're his primary food--they're training food. And it worked! He immediately pinched them and put them in his mouth. I started dropping a couple in his food so he'd get the idea.

It's only been two days and he's feeding himself now. He has to work at it a bit, but he manages. Of course, now he wants to grab all his food, even the squished-up kind that I'm trying to feed him with a spoon. Unfortunately, not much of the squished kind reaches his mouth successfully. However, he fed himself a number of little pieces of steamed broccoli tonight, which was as entertaining for us as watching a movie.

But, as I mentioned previously, must get to bed now. I'm not feeling too great. Maybe it'll be gone by morning. I hope poor Limelet doesn't feel too bad. (This is only the second time he's ever even had a runny nose.)

Sleeping for Once

Sleep Peace
Originally uploaded by doctorlizardo.

Little time and I'm tired, so only a small entry.

Limelet got to meet his first dog recently, a big long-haired Alsatian. I worried that he might be scared by her, but on the contrary, he was wildly excited and wanted to grab her and bite her nice soft ears. Poor patient doggy. He's also seen a few birds as well as a kitty cat walking in the grass near our place.

Once again, he had about three days in which everything was easy and there was little grounging, and most importantly bedtime was quick. That was just after those last two teeth came in.

During those times, he's amazingly carefree and happy; he "talks" to strangers and sings little baby songs for no reason; he eats and plays with no complaints; he laughs a lot more. But then the teeth return, and make him tired, sore, and cranky.

TheLimey points out that Limelet must really be suffering for his mood to be so affected. I hate to think that he's suffering, yet what else could it be called? Sometimes I've given him Motrin when he can't sleep, but I don't want to overdrug him. It's hard to know what's too often or too seldom.

In the daytime I give him teething biscuits (although it's really too soon for those, developmentally), and frozen apple or pear broth cubes in little mesh holders. He also has a favorite pen he likes to chew on, as well as other random objects around the house. Sometimes those things help a little; sometimes they seem to make it worse.

More teeth must be coming in now, because those three "easy" days are gone. He's back to being chewy and groungy and easily frustrated during the day, and battling himself for three or four hours to get to sleep at night (though curiously, never for his naps. Hmmmm....)

One recent night after three hours of trying to sleepify him, we plopped him into the umbrella stroller and wheeled him round and round the kitchen. He was out in five minutes. Too bad it hasn't worked since. Luckily he does still go to sleep in the jogger outside (if it's naptime).

Anyway, he was uncharacteristically awake a lot last night (usually stays asleep once he gets there), so I only got about 3 or 4 hours of sleep and am now pretty shot after tonight's additional bedtime battle.

Nursing has been getting harder for me with all these teeth, and all this teething. He forgets to not bite, and anyway wants to bite everything right now to find some relief. Sometimes he bites out of being sleepy or actually asleep. Even when he's not actually biting, those top teeth are pretty scrapey and pinchy (the bottom ones are covered by his tongue when nursing.) It sure makes it a lot harder for me to relax.

Nevertheless, aside from the usual psychological and health benefits yadda yadda yadda, I still appreciate the extra sleep it (usually) affords. Speaking of which...this really got longer than I meant it to. Guess I ramble when I'm tired.