All kinds of cute

I know that people must get tired of hearing parents boast about how wonderful their own children are, but I'm going to anyway.  I have the cutest kid ever.  And he just gets cuter every day.

Now that he's talking a little more he's starting to string 2 or 3 words together.  This week he started saying, "Thank you mommy" when I hand him something (only it sounds like "tayne-too mommy").  How freakin' cute is that?  My heart just melts every time.  I randomly hand him things just to hear him say it.

Another favourite is one he just started saying on his own..."no way".  Not as a refusal but like, as an exclamation if you can imagine it.  Only he raises the pitch at the end so it sounds like a question - "No way?!".  I can't do it justice writing about it this way, but I can't get over how adorable it is.

The other thing he started to do recently is call us "honey" - I guess because my husband and I call each other honey sometimes.  He'll call me from the other room, "Unnie?  Unnie!?" (he hasn't quite figured out "h" yet) - I crack up every time. 

And he's learning to sing too.  He misses most of the words but just jabbers on with the music (and he does fairly well with the tune surprisingly) and he'll throw in the odd word at the end of a phrase if he knows it.  Like with Old McDonald he usually jumps in for the E-I-E-I-O right on time.  And with Ring Around the Rosie he knows just when "we all fall down!".  I'm pretty sure this doesn't impress anyone other than me and my husband, but like I said...he's just so darn cute.

Of course being a little sponge isn't always a good thing.  I'm now painfully aware of how often I say "shit".  Because every time I do he repeats it (and sometimes even when I don't...).  I really need to clean up my potty mouth.

Daredevil

I'm starting to get a little worried.  My son has only just started to take his first tentative steps (a late bloomer in that regard).  He has for some time, however, been working on various other stunts and acrobatics.  Mostly climbing.

For a couple of months now he has been able to climb up and down from the couch pretty gracefully.  Once he got bored with that however, he started trying to climb over the arms and back of it.  Then he moved on to the coffee table.  Then it was his "stand and learn" table:

 Instead of "standing and learning" he climbs up on top of it and perches there like a cat.  Now he steps up onto the electric baseboard heater to get up on the window ledge- and he just clings there like spider man. 
Today he started with the chin-ups on the kitchen counter.  He can't get his chin all the way up yet, but he can get both feet off of the floor and then tries to scale the cupboard.  How am I ever going to baby proof my house now?

My friend was telling me the other day about a little guy she knew of the used to balance on the arms of furniture and dangle from ceiling fans.  For reals?  I'm terrified.  I've had a hard enough time keeping up with him on all fours!

Chew, chew

As I've mentioned before, my son has a bit of an issue when it comes to biting and chewing things.  And people.  Actually I guess it's more accurate to say that I'm the one that has the issue with it, but whatever.  It's an issue.  I've tried to be as patient and understanding as possible, because I can't imagine how uncomfortable it must be to have teeth gnawing their way out of your gums like hungry piranhas.  But now that he's got all of his front teeth, he's can do some pretty significant damage. 

Don't be fooled by this innocent grin:

I've tried every kind of teething apparatus you can think of - smooth, rough, squishy, hard, vibrating, edible - all to no avail.  For some reason, my son would rather chew furniture.  Wood furniture in particular, but he'll have a go at our leather chairs every once in a while to keep things interesting.  I'm pulling big splinters of wood out of his mouth on a daily basis.  And I can't give him books any more because he can bite chunks out of them in a matter of seconds.

Consider the evidence:

The crib rail



A hardwood bench

One of many chewed books

The other day I could hear him tap-tap-tapping what sounded like a toy block on a piece of furniture; I looked over to see that he was banging his teeth against the edge - like a flippin' woodpecker!  This can't be normal...do other children do this?  I've only known puppies to inflict this kind of damage to furniture. 

I've tried to teach him not to do it.  I tell him "no", and move him away from whatever he's chomping on.  He patiently waits until I stop paying attention for a second and then crawls back.  If he sees me coming he'll crawl away and then looks back all casual like, "What?  I wasn't doing anything."  So he knows he shouldn't do it, or at least that I don't want him to.  So what, then?   


I'm at a loss here, people.  This child never ceases to throw me curve balls.





Where's your nose?

I've been trying for the last little while to teach my son the names of his body parts.  He might not be able to say much but I know he's developmentally at the age where he can understand quite a bit.  We sing "head and shoulders" and name eyes, ears, mouth...and every chance I get I touch him on the nose and tell him "Nose." 

Every once in a while I ask him, "Where's your nose?" and then wait eagerly for the moment I've imagined, when he'll put his little finger on his nose and look up at me proudly as though to say, "Here it is, mommy!  Here's my nose." 
But he doesn't do it.  He just looks at me with this kind of puzzled expression.  So I touch his nose and tell him again, "Nose."  He pushes my hand away as if I'm totally annoying him and crawls away to do something more exciting.  Like chew furniture.

Bath time is always a good time to name body parts.  Lately he's taken a particular interest in his littleman parts (maybe he's making sure they're all there after our little testicle scare ).  Whenever I get him into the tub he spends a good few minutes checking things out.  "Penis," I tell him.  He quickly learned to anticipate this response from me; grabbing hold and then looking up at me expectantly.  "That's your penis," I tell him.  He grins.

Well tonight at bathtime we had a breakthrough.  On this particular evening he was much more entertained by splashing the bejeezus out of the water and thoroughly soaking me than exploring his nether regions.  I took advantage of the opportunity for a little anatomy lesson.  "Where's your nose?" I ask hopefully.  Nothing.

You've probably guessed by now where this is going.  I gave it a shot:  "Honey, where's your penis?"  Without hesitation he reached down and grabbed a hold of his little wanker, beaming up at me proudly as though to say, "Here it is mommy!  Here's my penis!" 

Not exactly the way I imagined the moment, but I'll take it.  That's my boy.

Because I must...

What is the fascination babies have with emptying everything?!  Blocks in a bucket?  Empty them out one at a time.  Clothes in the drawer?  Same.  Toys in a basket?  Ditto.  A cupboard full of tupperware?  Well, see for yourself:

Needless to say I've since more thoroughly baby-proofed the kitchen cupboards.

It's not just emptying either.  If I stack objects he'll come tearing over from across the room to knock them down.  He has a little toy that has a row of animals that pop up, and once they're up he's determined to put them back down.  Like obsessively. 

Cute and harmless baby quirk?  Perhaps.  But the other day I watched him as he determinedly gobbled up the Cheerios I had sprinkled onto his highchair tray for him, and I wondered....does he eat them because he's hungry, or just because they're there?  Because he must?  Food for thought...

Into the mouths of babes

What is it with this child putting everything in his mouth?  Seriously?  It's not even 8am and so far this morning I've pulled out a pebble, a splinter of wood (I think he chewed it off of a piece of furniture), a chunk of one of his board books, and a piece of dried rice from the kitchen floor.  Previous culinary exploration is too vast to cover here but appetizers have included a couple lady bugs, a dead fly, and cat kibble.  All this and he GAGS over a spoonful of pureed carrot.  Good grief.  Plus now that he's got so many teeth I can't fetch anything from his mouth without getting bitten.  HARD.

So I know what you're thinking: "clean your floors lady!  He can't eat bugs if they're not there!"  I know, right?  I do clean, I promise.  I don't know how this crap gets dragged in so quickly (but I'm willing to point a finger or two at the cat and my husband).  Lord only knows what the poor kid snacks on when I don't catch him in the act - and believe me I watch the little monkey like a hawk.

You know the childhood expression, "God made dirt so dirt don't hurt"?  Yeah, well I'm not really a firm believer in the concept.  In fact I'm a bit of a germophobe, so needless to say I'm having some personal issues with this whole oral exploration stage.  But don't worry...I'm sure it'll be over soon.  It'll be over soon, right?