Waaaaah!

My little man is cutting a new tooth directly above the bottom tooth he has already cut. That's got to be the most painful way to do it. That tender, achy skin getting constantly pummeled by the 1/8th inch of tooth already sticking out.

Anyway, as a result of my cute whimpery son not getting much good sleep last night, we both got into the teething position last night. I think that's what I'll call it for short. I buckle him into the bouncy seat, turn the vibrator thingy on, lay down in the twin bed on the floor beside him, and bounce the bouncy seat in my sleep every time he whimpers. Apparently, my right foot knows what to do when it is within 6 feet of that bouncy seat, even without my input. While this setup sounds labor intensive, it's not. I can make Quint feel better without actually having woken up, without getting up, and without really being aware of things.

This morning, when I went to get him up, he cuddled with me for a minute. My little boy is not that cuddly, really, and it's seldom that he'll lay his head down on my collarbone and cuddle. Usually, when I'm holding him, he's got his hands braced against my chest so he's more upright. So he cuddled for a minute, and then moved to get down, as if to move onto the bed I was sitting on. If he were crawling, he would have crawled off right then. Suddenly it struck me that once he can really move on his own, I won't spend nearly so much time holding him. I'll be lucky to get a knee hug on the run. I'll still hold him to nurse him, but he won't be in my arms nearly so much.

I'm not really ready for him to not be in my arms so much! I'm not ready for him to be a toddler! I want my baby for a good while longer!

This made me very sad and I seriously thought about staying home with him so I could hold him. Which he probably would not have tolerated well. I spent the entire drive to work wondering if I could reduce my hours at work and us still make ends meet...fruitless circular thinking.

So basically.... WAAAAAaaaaaaaah! I want my baby to be a baby longer!!

Feeding Fun

Feeding my little guy vegetables has become quite fun. It's a huge mess, of course, but that adds to the fun. Lately I've gotten better at swiping his lips with the spoon BEFORE he gets his hand in his mouth which makes things lots neater. Still, the process is still a two-washrag-endeavor. One big kitchen washrag and now a baby washrag. I finally figured out that he hates for me to scrub his face after eating, but he loves to chew on and play with a washrag himself. Duh! Give him a washrag to clean himself up!

Friday at supper was the first time I just left him with a rag. The entire range of emotions on his face was absolutely hysterical. I wiped off his hands with my rag, put his rag on the tray, and walked over to the kitchen. He saw the baby rag, his eyes lit up as if I'd left him a cupcake, he tentatively pulled it toward him while looking like "ooooh, she left this by ACCIDENT and now I'VE GOT IT!!!" He drew it into his mouth, completely looking like he got away with something BIG, saw me watching him, and (I swear), blew me a raspberry! He had his fun with the washrag and got his face really quite clean! And no crying was involved. We now have a new procedure.

Another time this weekend, I gave him two saltines after his meal, mostly to play with, but one day he'll learn how to actually consume them. Right now, he chews them apart, making a wonderful mess, but probably consuming very little of them. While he was "eating" his crackers, I asked him if he was having fun with his crackers. I swear he said, "oh, yeah!" I look over and his head is tilted back, dropping cracker parts into his mouth from above. Hubby was upstairs out of sight and said, "did he just answer you?!" Yes, I believe so!

Oh, and he hates butterbeans.