video babynip

At least once a week, I struggle with Elias in order to clip his fingernails (and, less frequently, his toenails). This has got to be one of my least favorite baby chores. I've accidentally nipped him twice. So a month or so ago, I decided to temporarily lift our usual ban on television, thinking a little daytime entertainment might distract him long enough for me to trim all ten fingernails. That worked for a few weeks, alternating between cartoons, Ellen, and, the one time I tried this in the afternoon, Judge Judy. I can't decide if he prefers to watch animated, puppet, or real people. My preference, for what it's worth (and it's not worth much), is Ellen.

Anyway, none of the above seemed to be working this morning, so Neal had the brilliant idea to turn on the video catnip, the DVD for which was already in the DVD player. And voila - ten trimmed nails! It wasn't entertaining enough for me to get his toenails, too, but as always, I'll take what I can get.

Yet another way babies are a little like cats...

I want to break free

I'm seriously slacking on my baby blogging. Today was better but Elias continues to fight naps and has been taking a little longer than usual to fall asleep at night. His napping ways have never been great; I think I can pretty easily count on one hand the number of days he's taken two good naps in one day during his entire 9+ months. He almost always seems to wake up from at least one nap still a little sleepy. But I can usually count on one solid one and a half to two hour nap, typically in the morning. That nap became a struggle right around the time we began to wean Elias from his reflux meds. I think the last time I posted an update from the spit-up factory he was still spitting up a fair amount. In short, around the 7-month mark, we experienced dramatic improvement. He rarely spits up at all. So at our last appointment with the GI doc, we got the green light to begin our exit strategy, weaning him off of half his meds after another couple of weeks of little to no spit up. We put the process off when he came down with that nasty stomach bug, but about four weeks ago, started giving him half what he'd been getting before. I'm not sure if the lack of napping is coincidence or if it is indeed related. There are other things we can blame it on, like teething and general developmental stuff (according to Wonder Weeks, he stopped napping right around week 37, the world of categories), so we've been hesitant to put him back on the full dose. Every day I choose the wait and see approach because I'm so eager for him to be prescription medication free. We'll see how this week goes...

Along with napping, Elias has been really inconsistent with his solid feedings. He's taking his bottles just fine and while we were well on our way to three squares, these past few weeks I'm lucky to get one good feeding in, plus a snack or two. At 22+ pounds the boy is clearly not malnourished, but it's frustrating nonetheless. He's far more interested in playing, exploring, and this little spoon trick Neal is encouraging him to practice in this video:



One of the things that frustrates me most about parenthood so far is how inconsistent babies are. I just don't understand why something that was going so smoothly for a couple of months - like sleeping or eating - suddenly becomes challenging again. On a positive note, though, while he still prefers smoothly pureed food to chunkier blends, he can finally feed himself a handful of Cheerios without gagging.

Meanwhile, I've been trying really hard to launch a project I've been working on in one way or another for over four years. Things I could have accomplished in a weekend pre-baby now take weeks. Not that I'm complaining, but the balance we seemed to be striking for much of 2009 so far has definitely been off over the past few weeks. I feel like I'm beginning to, on the one hand, catch up a bit, and on the other hand, let go of the expectation that, for example, said project will be done by the end of this weekend.

9 months

Elias celebrated his nine-month birthday this past weekend with a number of new experiences. He took a ride in his new convertible carseat, still rear-facing, of course, until after his 1st birthday...


...to Cambridge, where he took his first, albeit brief, subway ride...



...to Harvard Square to meet his "uncle" Mark (every kid's gotta have a few aunts and uncles that aren't actually relatives, right?) and check out the famous glass flowers at the Museum of Natural History.


He seemed to enjoy all the new experiences, even though it basically meant missing the afternoon nap altogether, an unfortunate trend of the past couple of weeks. He still takes a pretty decent morning nap, beginning about two and a half to three hours after he's up for the day, but if I go out for anything more than a walk or a quick grocery run following that nap and mid-day feeding, he falls asleep in the car on the way back, about five minutes from home, waking up the minute I park the car. This surprisingly restorative little cat nap seems to sabotage what had been our typical afternoon routine for the past couple of months. I think I might have to make an intervention and help this kid transition from one and an occasional half nap to one solid, afternoon siesta.


Otherwise, Elias has been busy crawling straight to all the things we don't want him to get into but don't quite know how to babyproof (like the heater vent pictured above).


He had pulled himself to standing a couple of times several weeks ago but just within the past few days has been doing it pretty regularly, one time in his crib during an unsuccessful attempt at a late afternoon nap that ended with him screaming at the top of his little lungs, I'm assuming because he had no idea how to get back down. He occasionally "cruises" just a bit around a music table he has (or the box of diapers in the picture above - yet another way babies are a little like cats, preferring empty boxes and paper towel tubes to anything you can spend money on at Babies 'R' Us), but he seems mostly content to just stand there for now.

All of this activity and lack of napping has resulted in a bit of fatigue - mainly a result of the fact that I've been staying up later than I should - and frustration. I know that getting out during that mid-day cycle means potentially sacrificing a solid afternoon nap but some days I'm frankly bored to pieces hanging out on the floor or following Elias from room to not-yet-sufficiently-baby-proofed room or guarding him as he stands against the futon or music table should his legs decide to suddenly give out. I think we both need to get out of this apartment on a daily basis; I just need to figure out how we can do that and all get the sleep we need!

On that note, while I have more to say about the 9th month of Elias's life, I'll wrap this up for the night and pick up where I left off later this week. Night night!

boy meets dog

By all accounts, Elias seemed to enjoy his first significant canine interaction this past weekend, when we visited my brother, his family, and their new puppy, Jed. My Aunt Karen and Uncle Tom took the train north from their winter home in Florida and we all rendez-vous-ed in central Connecticut for the delightfully spring-like weekend.


It was our first weekend away since tackling the sleep situation a couple of months ago so I was curious to see how Elias would do, especially since we all shared a room again, kicking my niece out of her bed for a couple of nights. Not surprisingly, things didn't go quite as smoothly as they usually do here at home, but overall everyone managed to get a decent night's rest. The first morning we were there I could hear him cooing and then go quiet for a bit and when I rolled over to peek at him he was sitting up in his pack 'n' play, staring at us. I enjoyed the many months we roomed in with him but I have to say, the experience this past weekend made me appreciate having separate sleeping quarters.

The second morning Elias was up for the day earlier than usual, around 6 a.m. Which might not sound terrible (I know plenty of parents whose babies and toddlers regularly wake up even earlier) but I had a hard time getting to sleep before midnight each night. Neal took care of the morning routine while I got another hour of sleep. We've concluded that while I'm usually the default parent during those middle-of-the-night episodes, Neal handles the earlier-than-usual wake-up calls much better than I do (especially if, not surprisingly, the early morning follows an interrupted night of sleep). I don't know how single parents do it. Anyway, here they are taking in the sunrise together while everyone else was still asleep.


Even Elias looks tired.

Otherwise, we've been spending as much time as possible out and about the past few days, as Spring has begun to tease us in typical New England fashion.

mmm, book

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a week since I last blogged. We haven't taken many pictures this past week, either, seriously falling behind on documenting and mediating this baby experience. In short, all's well, just busy. Elias has been quite the character the past couple of days, barely napping but in exchange for sleep, smiling and laughing even more than usual. Here are the few pics we've taken over the past week or so.

Peek...


...a...


...boo!


More later. For now, sleep.

please don't touch the baby

Since Elias seemed to be feeling much better today, I decided I'd take him along for my weekly grocery run (as if he has a choice as to whether or not to accompany me). Between all three of us having some version of this bug (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that in my last post) and another eight or so inches of snow dumped on us between Sunday evening and Monday afternoon, I was eager to get out of the apartment. And I figured a short outing to go grocery shopping would fix my cabin fever without overdoing it as far as Elias's energy and general temperament go.

Now, Elias is a pretty friendly baby, even, apparently, when he's still recovering from the worst illness of his young life. And I'm grateful for that, but I think people interpret his downright coquetteishness as an invitation to get a little too up close and personal, especially for his mother, whose personal bubble is significantly larger. It's become a major pet peeve of mine when people touch his hands. That's usually what they go for. And at least in that case, I can wipe them off or rub in a dab of Purell (yes, I've turned into one of those Moms who keeps a small bottle of Purell in every nook and cranny). But this older man today, as innocent as I'm sure his motives were, went for Elias's nose! And not even in a gingerly way, basically putting his entire hand over Elias's mouth and nose for a couple seconds. Good grief, give the kid a fighting chance, at least. You might as well inject him with your germs! I was really annoyed but it all happened so fast; he literally did this as he walked by us in the cereal aisle. I almost said something when I passed the same man later in the store. It was too late for Elias, but perhaps I could save another vulnerable young child from having their button nose fondled like so. I mean, honestly, people, what are you thinking, especially in the midst of a New England winter and all the related germs and bugs floating around?! I would never touch a stranger's hands or nose, so why do complete strangers think they can touch my baby?

I didn't say anything, of course. I never know how to handle those situations without coming off as a total paranoid jerk, but it really irked me. In fact, it bothered me so much, I've gone and opened a CafePress shop with a few infant/toddler items designed with the image above and the request: "Please don't touch the baby." I plan to order the bib and buttons and maybe the onesie or t-shirt for Elias and of course, the designs are for sale if you feel the need or know of a little one who could use some protection from well-meaning but ultimately unwelcome stranger affection.

And please, whatever you do, don't touch the baby!

my virus is your virus

It's been a busy few days since the 8 month update. After I got back from my class on Monday, Elias and I went grocery shopping (I spent over $100 on mostly fruits and vegetables for a three week meal plan that will hopefully jump start my renewed efforts to lose weight and get back in shape...but more on that in another post). On Tuesday we made a mall run with our friend Maggie, who we've been getting together with almost weekly since we met in our first Mom's group when Elias was not even three weeks old.


After strolling around the mall for a bit, we checked out their children's play room, where Elias and Maggie first observed and then attempted to climb over one another.


Okay, Maggie was doing most of the frisking, I have to admit. Elias spends the first few minutes anywhere we go taking it all in and then proceeds with caution.


On Wednesday, we met another friend, Henry, at the Museum of Science where they have a discovery center for kids, complete with a separate infant area where the boys could roll around and put the communal toys in their mouths.


Elias has got some good-lookin' friends, don't you think?

On Thursday, we went to our music class as usual (week two of R&B). Elias would not sit still, until I lured him back to our spot with a scarf (we always play peek-a-boo along to that week's songs using a couple of scarves) and commented - to blank stares - how having a newly mobile baby was a little like playing with a cat. I guess they're dog people.

Anyway, when we got back from music class, Elias took a longer than usual afternoon nap...And then spent the next eight hours or so throwing up anything we tried to feed him and when he had nothing left in his tummy, proceeded to dry heave every 15 to 30 minutes. Yeah, fun night. Neal and I alternated holding him while he slept between episodes because when he did wake up he was so miserable and upset and didn't seem to remember, in those few minutes, how to roll over onto his side. Not much was coming out, but I of course was worried he'd choke on whatever he managed to bring up. Then I slept on the futon in his room until he'd been asleep for a couple of hours. He woke up once an hour or so later, after I'd returned to our bed, and was up for the day earlier than usual. I think I got about four total hours of interrupted sleep that night. I guess this latest bug isn't so surprising after visiting so many crowded, indoor places popular with kids.

In short, no part of the past three days has been quite as bad as those first eight hours, but it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride around here. He'll seem to be doing better for a stretch and then will take a step back, usually right after our doctor's office closes, prompting many a call to the night nurse. Let's just say the first stomach bug Elias had, about a month or so ago, has nothing on this one, that's for sure.

Needless to say, I'm hoping this week is a little less eventful than last.