We had a nice weekend at home, me and my little family, and are now halfway through another week so all is well and blessings can be counted! Over the weekend Ruckus did not particularly enjoy his first sugar free Popsicle. He seemed a little put off by the flavor I chose, Pina colada, but still seemed to enjoy the feel of it on his gums. I have never had to throw away a Popsicle after giving it to a child before this so I guess there really is a first time for everything.
He did seem to enjoy gnawing on a bit of watermelon, the rind in particular, which I had to fish out of his mouth lest he make a meal of just rind and none of the good stuff. He eats anything he can fit into his mouth and seems particularly interested in eating whatever is on my plate, which means that sometimes we have to arm wrestle over particularly tasty morsels. Luckily I always cook for more people than I'm feeding so there is plenty to go around.
On Monday we went to baby's 9 month checkup. The doctor herself is actually a nurse, who resembles Kathy Bates but is
not as creepy in person as that thought may imply. When she first came
into the room she did not acknowledge me in the least but went past me,
straight to my husband and said how familiar he looked. I spoke up and
reminded her that we'd been there before, months ago, so perhaps that is
why. At which point she realized I was also in the room.
She asked
our permission to let a student doctor observe the appointment and after
granting permission to let him in we were off to the races. Ruckus has been in good health lately which has kept us out of the doctor's office, so I really had no clue how much he was growing, other than A Lot. This time he weighed in at 21 lbs., 4 oz, and measured 29 inches tall.
The checkup appointment went well and was a good thing for us as parents
as we always doubt our own abilities to spot signs of trouble and
wonder if certain things are normal or otherwise. He is perfectly
normal and growing and developing on track. The doctor wrote a
prescription for a mild hydro-cortisone cream for his eczema which in
spite of getting better has not disappeared altogether. I am hopeful that we can have professional photos done again soon which do not feature abnormally rosy cheeks.
A summary of the changes over the last three months:
Gained 2 lbs., 10 oz.
Grew 2 inches taller
Grew six more teeth
Mastered sitting up
Learned to grasp things
Learned to feed himself small crunchy things
Learned how to crawl
Learned how to stand up
Learned how to fall down without landing on his head
Other things which I am so used to him doing now that they don't spring to mind as 'new'
After the appointment he went home with dad and I went to work. He has been in a better mood the last couple of days and I'm hoping that it is due to less pain from teething and that we will have a break between tooth number 8 and 9. We shall see what happens.
Today I am going to try to find some new baby clothes at a reasonable price. Ruckus has officially outgrown most of his wardrobe so I've got to find several basic items in 12-18 mo. sizes. The 18 mo. size is just a little big on him right now but I hate to invest in a bunch of things size 12 mo. which he will grow out of in about a week. Many of the things that seemed comfortable for him when he was smaller are difficult to find at the moment, probably because of the season, such as footed pajamas. Soon the weather will warm and I won't have to worry about his feet getting cold for a while, which is great since they now poke out the bottom of everything he owns.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
Ruckus The Terrible
My mom used to say that if you don't have anything nice to say, you should say nothing at all. But silence isn't always golden, and sometimes we all have to let it out. It can be good for the soul. Let's hope this is the case now...
Ruckus has been living up to his name as of late. I knew that parenting would not always be easy but I was not expecting it to become so challenging so quickly. This morning I left home knowing that I would be coming back in about eight hours, and wondering if that would give me enough time to be ready to tackle things again. Lets hope I am, as I am in for:
Hair Pulling. Ruckus enjoys grabbing a handful and 'teasing' it, or simply finding one strand and pulling it out, over and over again until there are five in his hand and you are frowning, cursing under your breath, and sore. To say the least.
Slapping. Ruckus likes to smack his mom and dad in the face, usually in the mouth that sings his lullabies, or in the eye that is bloodshot from a lack of sleep. Sometimes, he slaps us in the nose too, just to mix it up a little.
Punching. Baby likes to punch but his aim is not controlled, so you've got to get your best boxer's avoidance moves going at all times he is within arms reach.
Pinching. Ruckus does not seem to know that pinching hurts, but boy does it get a reaction from mom and dad. What fun!
Screeching. Baby likes to hear his voice, and experiment with high pitches and sound levels that usually are reserved for fire trucks parked right outside your eardrum. Screeching is prominent in play time, meal time, and bed time. So pretty much all day and night.
And my personal favorite:
Biting. Ruckus now has eight teeth, separated into two neat rows along the top and bottom. His jaws are very strong. Before I left for work this morning baby bit his dad twice, drawing blood on both arms which mistakenly thought that baby wanted to cuddle.
So lets let the good times roll, baby! Can't wait to go home. Honest.
Ruckus has been living up to his name as of late. I knew that parenting would not always be easy but I was not expecting it to become so challenging so quickly. This morning I left home knowing that I would be coming back in about eight hours, and wondering if that would give me enough time to be ready to tackle things again. Lets hope I am, as I am in for:
Hair Pulling. Ruckus enjoys grabbing a handful and 'teasing' it, or simply finding one strand and pulling it out, over and over again until there are five in his hand and you are frowning, cursing under your breath, and sore. To say the least.
Slapping. Ruckus likes to smack his mom and dad in the face, usually in the mouth that sings his lullabies, or in the eye that is bloodshot from a lack of sleep. Sometimes, he slaps us in the nose too, just to mix it up a little.
Punching. Baby likes to punch but his aim is not controlled, so you've got to get your best boxer's avoidance moves going at all times he is within arms reach.
Pinching. Ruckus does not seem to know that pinching hurts, but boy does it get a reaction from mom and dad. What fun!
Screeching. Baby likes to hear his voice, and experiment with high pitches and sound levels that usually are reserved for fire trucks parked right outside your eardrum. Screeching is prominent in play time, meal time, and bed time. So pretty much all day and night.
And my personal favorite:
Biting. Ruckus now has eight teeth, separated into two neat rows along the top and bottom. His jaws are very strong. Before I left for work this morning baby bit his dad twice, drawing blood on both arms which mistakenly thought that baby wanted to cuddle.
So lets let the good times roll, baby! Can't wait to go home. Honest.
Friday, June 15, 2012
The Hunt Begins
My husband has been having a rough time lately with the baby now that Ruckus is on the move, so he has started thinking about going back to work. As surprised as I am that my husband no longer wants to spend his days at home playing with the baby, I can also understand how one day can bleed into the next and your sense of identity becomes a little hazy after months of just being Parent and not anything else. So I am trying to be as supportive of his choice as possible. Part of being supportive is to help solve the problems that him going back to work brings about, so we have begun searching out a person or persons who will be able to watch our little darling while we are at work.
Today we visited a daycare near my job, and I thought it was a pretty good contender. The lady who greeted us and showed us around was a very round person with a hole in her shirt and mismatched socks, and she was extremely nice and helpful and tried to answer all of our questions. Ruckus seemed to enjoy her holding him so I took this to be a good sign. She showed us first where the older children were and they all seemed reasonably happy and well adjusted as they sat at three small tables and ate their lunches. Next we were asked to take off our shoes so that we could go into the baby room.
Small stars hung off of the ceiling and little art & craft projects hung on a line to dry and await pickup by the babies' parents. There were three babies in the room. One was a large 7 month old Hispanic baby with a unibrow and a wide grin. He was fussing as we came in and an older Hispanic lady came to get him and give him a bottle. He settled right down, just as a skinny white 10 month old girl picked up the crying where he left off. She fussed and cried in an excersaucer, suspended out of reach of her caregiver who was busy with Unibrow for the next several minutes.
Another, slightly older, Hispanic girl sat in one of those tables with a chair in the middle of it, eating some kind of a snack. She didn't make a peep the whole time we were there. But she seemed happy enough.
Eventually the Hispanic lady put Unibrow down and went and soothed Skinny White Girl, and we could hear what our tour guide was saying again. Each baby gets their own crib, and their own snacks, etc. Since it is summer there is daily water play time outside, and the toys outside looked safe and clean and like fun for the little ones.
The caregiver to baby ratio is one lady to four babies so this is not too terrible, assuming they are not all on the same schedules. Should a fifth baby be added to the mix a second lady moves into the baby room to help out and thus the ratio improves greatly for all of the babies.
All in all I think it is a nice place and if my husband does decide to go back to work it will likely be where our son will be spending his days. That said, my husband looked as though he might cry and/or throw up as the tour was concluding, as the reality of it all started to set in. I am not sure he is really ready to be done with the whole stay at home dad thing after all.
Today we visited a daycare near my job, and I thought it was a pretty good contender. The lady who greeted us and showed us around was a very round person with a hole in her shirt and mismatched socks, and she was extremely nice and helpful and tried to answer all of our questions. Ruckus seemed to enjoy her holding him so I took this to be a good sign. She showed us first where the older children were and they all seemed reasonably happy and well adjusted as they sat at three small tables and ate their lunches. Next we were asked to take off our shoes so that we could go into the baby room.
Small stars hung off of the ceiling and little art & craft projects hung on a line to dry and await pickup by the babies' parents. There were three babies in the room. One was a large 7 month old Hispanic baby with a unibrow and a wide grin. He was fussing as we came in and an older Hispanic lady came to get him and give him a bottle. He settled right down, just as a skinny white 10 month old girl picked up the crying where he left off. She fussed and cried in an excersaucer, suspended out of reach of her caregiver who was busy with Unibrow for the next several minutes.
Another, slightly older, Hispanic girl sat in one of those tables with a chair in the middle of it, eating some kind of a snack. She didn't make a peep the whole time we were there. But she seemed happy enough.
Eventually the Hispanic lady put Unibrow down and went and soothed Skinny White Girl, and we could hear what our tour guide was saying again. Each baby gets their own crib, and their own snacks, etc. Since it is summer there is daily water play time outside, and the toys outside looked safe and clean and like fun for the little ones.
The caregiver to baby ratio is one lady to four babies so this is not too terrible, assuming they are not all on the same schedules. Should a fifth baby be added to the mix a second lady moves into the baby room to help out and thus the ratio improves greatly for all of the babies.
All in all I think it is a nice place and if my husband does decide to go back to work it will likely be where our son will be spending his days. That said, my husband looked as though he might cry and/or throw up as the tour was concluding, as the reality of it all started to set in. I am not sure he is really ready to be done with the whole stay at home dad thing after all.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Always Something New
Little Ruckus is 36 weeks old now! In real-life terms, that is eight and a half months which has me thinking about his first birthday party, among other things. In my head I want to celebrate this in a big way, but in reality I must acknowledge some important things: a) he is going to be one year old and will neither comprehend nor appreciate nor remember most of what goes on at a typical birthday party; and b) he has no friends. This sort of disappoints me and makes me want to get him involved with other babies as soon as possible, so there is at least one baby friend in attendance. I don't think I'm going to actually do this, but it sounds nice on paper.
I have joined two mommy groups for potential playdates and have not found anything that will work just yet, as the most appealing ones take place during the week when I am at work. In addition to scheduling issues, many of the activities are simply not suitable for a baby as young as Ruckus. But I have confidence that eventually we will find one and Ruckus will finally get to meet a baby his age which will hopefully be fun for him.
The past eight months have been full of 'firsts', for the baby, and for us as parents. Some of them are major firsts and some of them sneak up on you because it doesn't occur to you that the baby has never seen or done something until that moment comes and he has a surprising reaction to whatever it is.
This past weekend Dad and baby and I went to visit one of our neighbors for a little while, because we hadn't been to their house in ages and needed to get a little fresh air. So we put Ruckus in his stroller and walked up the small hill that goes to their house. We went in and Ruckus immediately became fascinated with their cats. I think they have about six of them, and their house is set up so that the cats have an aerial catwalk complete with a tunnel through a wall between the kitchen and living room so that they can go from room to room without having to use the floor. Until this moment, Ruckus had never seen a cat and it was very funny to see his eyes get wide as saucers and his jaw drop as he stared in fascination at these new creatures scattered throughout the room.
Also this past weekend we took Ruckus on a hike at one of the local parks and he behaved marvelously in spite of the heat and wind, and being confined to his stroller for about an hour. Short outings like this are important for us right now, as we tend to coop ourselves up to just 'get through the day' and this is not the best thing to do all the time. A change of scenery does one a lot of good, and the baby seems to enjoy being out and about as well.
The most exciting part of this weekend is that Ruckus finally crawled forward, for the first time ever! He has been scooting around backward and rolling around all over the place for a long while but he is now actually crawling and it has brought about a few new challenges. He can now actively choose a direction and get to his goal in record speed, so we are having to follow him around a lot more to keep him safe and out of trouble.
His favorite destination right now seems to be his uncle's room. He starts out playing with a toy in the middle of the living room floor, then will lie down and take a couple of rolls toward the hall. Then, he is up on all fours and on the move, very determined. If you 'chase' him he will giggle and pick up speed, like he is trying to get away. It is very cute!
Ruckus has figured out that if he kicks his baby gate enough times in the same spot it will fall down, allowing him access to the very enticing kitchen. Luckily there are not many hazardous things within his reach, and he is not left alone to explore the few things that might prove dangerous.
We have made a lot of progress with baby proofing the main areas of the house by blocking off the obvious hazards like cords and things that could be pulled down on top of the baby, which has saved us from a lot of chasing the baby around. In spite of only having a few days of experience in crawling he is now starting to try to pull himself up to a standing position, and has chosen a few things which are not particularly stable or heavy, like his bouncer and his toy box, so we will have to get creative and anchor things down somehow. I am confident that as soon as we do this he will start running and all bets will be off, again.
I have joined two mommy groups for potential playdates and have not found anything that will work just yet, as the most appealing ones take place during the week when I am at work. In addition to scheduling issues, many of the activities are simply not suitable for a baby as young as Ruckus. But I have confidence that eventually we will find one and Ruckus will finally get to meet a baby his age which will hopefully be fun for him.
The past eight months have been full of 'firsts', for the baby, and for us as parents. Some of them are major firsts and some of them sneak up on you because it doesn't occur to you that the baby has never seen or done something until that moment comes and he has a surprising reaction to whatever it is.
This past weekend Dad and baby and I went to visit one of our neighbors for a little while, because we hadn't been to their house in ages and needed to get a little fresh air. So we put Ruckus in his stroller and walked up the small hill that goes to their house. We went in and Ruckus immediately became fascinated with their cats. I think they have about six of them, and their house is set up so that the cats have an aerial catwalk complete with a tunnel through a wall between the kitchen and living room so that they can go from room to room without having to use the floor. Until this moment, Ruckus had never seen a cat and it was very funny to see his eyes get wide as saucers and his jaw drop as he stared in fascination at these new creatures scattered throughout the room.
Also this past weekend we took Ruckus on a hike at one of the local parks and he behaved marvelously in spite of the heat and wind, and being confined to his stroller for about an hour. Short outings like this are important for us right now, as we tend to coop ourselves up to just 'get through the day' and this is not the best thing to do all the time. A change of scenery does one a lot of good, and the baby seems to enjoy being out and about as well.
The most exciting part of this weekend is that Ruckus finally crawled forward, for the first time ever! He has been scooting around backward and rolling around all over the place for a long while but he is now actually crawling and it has brought about a few new challenges. He can now actively choose a direction and get to his goal in record speed, so we are having to follow him around a lot more to keep him safe and out of trouble.
His favorite destination right now seems to be his uncle's room. He starts out playing with a toy in the middle of the living room floor, then will lie down and take a couple of rolls toward the hall. Then, he is up on all fours and on the move, very determined. If you 'chase' him he will giggle and pick up speed, like he is trying to get away. It is very cute!
Ruckus has figured out that if he kicks his baby gate enough times in the same spot it will fall down, allowing him access to the very enticing kitchen. Luckily there are not many hazardous things within his reach, and he is not left alone to explore the few things that might prove dangerous.
We have made a lot of progress with baby proofing the main areas of the house by blocking off the obvious hazards like cords and things that could be pulled down on top of the baby, which has saved us from a lot of chasing the baby around. In spite of only having a few days of experience in crawling he is now starting to try to pull himself up to a standing position, and has chosen a few things which are not particularly stable or heavy, like his bouncer and his toy box, so we will have to get creative and anchor things down somehow. I am confident that as soon as we do this he will start running and all bets will be off, again.
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