December 2, 2011 ~ Under the Moon

Today really began yesterday. I didn't get to see Billy yesterday, having worked late on a project that had to go out this morning. Often, like on Tuesday, I can leave projects in the capable hands of my coworkers, but on this project I took point and had to stay.

When I got home everyone was asleep. But soon enough, as I was getting ready for bed, crying was coming through the monitor. I had to go in and console Billy, rock him back to sleep. An hour later, I had to repeat the process. Then again, at 4am, I had to get up and rock him back to sleep. He was so tired that he pushed me away when I tried to kiss him goodnight again. He either wanted to be in my arms or in the crib, but no kisses.

It was nice to see him in the middle of the night, but I don't like that it's because he's in pain.

It's a bottom molar. And it's hell for us all.

He doesn't want to eat because it hurts. Even french fries weren't very appealing. I gave him frozen raspberries (partially thawed and coated in sugar) to help ease the pain. Since he's on antibiotics for his ears right now I don't want to give him other medicines, especially herbal remedies.

But when Daddy picked him up from daycare he was in a better mood getting to go outside. He looked up, pointed and said "moon!". Then he pointed to the other side of the sky and said something unintelligible. Planet, that's what he was trying to tell Daddy. I have been teaching him the difference between the moon, the stars and the planet currently in the night sky. He knows the words and loves to look at them all. His nightlight is a projection of the planets. I name each one for him and he is starting to get it. It's pretty cool.

Unfortunately, he has already woken up tonight in pain and had to be soothed back to sleep. I suspect it will be a long night for all of us.

December 1, 2011 ~ An Ode to Cock and Caca (It's not what you think!)

There comes a point in every toddler's life when pronouncing simple, common words produces hilarious and often unintended results. Simple English words are transformed by Toddlerish into inappropriate meanings. The toddler, of course, remains completely unaware that what they are trying to say has become something entirely different.

Billy has reached this phase in learning to speak.

I remember when a dear friend of Billy's was learning to talk. Unable to pronounce his R's, he tried to say the word "fork". It was cute, disturbing and hilarious to hear him try to ask for an eating utensil and say something one never expects to hear out of the mouth of a babe.

Yesterday, Billy said to me "Mom, caca. Caca!" I'm thinking to myself, "did my son seriously just say that?" He walked around continuing to "caca, caca!" until, after about a half hour he found caca. He held up his hand to show me an animal cracker. "Caca, Mom." Yep.

Then in the bath he pointed and said, "cock!" Again, dirty word, innocent meaning. He was pointing to his rubber duckie. "Cock, cock!" That is, apparently, what the duck says. Last week the duck said, "ack, ack!" He's clearly trying to get the QU sound, with very funny results.

So here's the thing. What do you do with a kid that's saying something dirty but meaning something innocent? He's so proud of himself for knowing words and gets the sounds close to how Mommy and Daddy pronounce them. I just smile and squelch the laughs that are begging to come out.

November 30, 2011 ~ Rewind

On this date one year ago Billy weighed less than 12 lbs.

He was only sleeping 4-5 hours at night and only drinking milk for food. His big accomplishment was rolling over from stomach to back. He did get to go on a tall ship and vote with Mommy. Every Friday we went to Mommy and Me and that's where we met a good friend of Billy's.

Now he is running everywhere and talking.

November 29, 2011 ~ Hello Yeyow

Today Billy pointed at the color yellow on a toy and said "yeyow!" I tried him with the other colors- no success yet, but yellow seems to be one of his favorite colors anyway, so I'm not surprised that it's his first color to know the name of.

This morning I woke up to the sound of the crib mobile. Now, that little wind up mobile lasts for only 2 minutes (Ok, why two minutes? Seriously? It needs to be on for 20 minutes!). Then...the sound of giggles. Ok, he's up to something. I found the mobile pulled down sideways, still attached to the crib. Hey, at least it kept him occupied. How he managed to turn the crank and get it to spin and sing I'll never know.

Tickle time! Billy wanted to Tackle and Tickle all afternoon. Mommy always covers him in kisses when he wants to Tackle and Tickle. He let out some of the best laughs and giggled all afternoon. He got piggyback rides (his new favorite) and the Mommy Monster came for a visit.

Then it was bedtime. Only, Billy decided it was time to practice death-defying feats on the high wire (aka the rolled up rug sitting in our front hall). We're still not unpacked from the move and mess is everywhere, although contained. I'm going through it but I'm also working so there's not too much time to work on stuff. Meanwhile, the very heavy large rug that will go in our bedroom is sitting in Billy's path. It's an awesome toy. It will be more awesome in the bedroom where it belongs. Anyway, Billy refused to go to bed, but instead kept running away and giggling. Yup, he stretched out bedtime by a half hour. Fortunately, he didn't fight me at all about getting in the crib- he was too tired!

November 28, 2011 ~ The Polite Thief

According to daycare Billy has a new habit. He walks up to another child, rips a toy out of their hands and then runs off, saying "tan-oo!" That's right, he's polite enough to thank the child while making them cry. I'm not worried. He's very good at sharing and I have seen the other kids at daycare rip toys out of Billy's hands. But, hey, he knows how to say "tan-oo!"

I don't have much to report today because Billy came home and took a nap, getting up only to eat dinner. He was so tired that he didn't want to play, he just wanted to lay in my lap and hold a toy. He fell asleep immediately.

When I got him up for dinner I did try to give him his medicine. Do you know what he said? "I don lie dat" and shook his head no. He didn't want to take it and I had to struggle with him to take it. I finally squirted it into his mouth. He had big puffy cheeks and a look of death on his face. He swallowed it down, but he was not happy about it.

If you're feeling confused that Billy went from a few words last week to phrases today, don't be confused. It has actually happened that way and I haven't skipped over him learning to speak. Last week it was Mamma and Daddy. Today, thank you and I don't like that. Yup, just that fast.

Good night,
sleep tight,
don't let the bed bugs bite,
see you in morning's light.

November 27, 2011 ~ Moving Day

We moved today so I'm going to make this super short. We're still living in the same place, but we had to move all of our stuff in today. We're not done but calling quits tonight.

Anyway, Billy decided to growl today. When I play tug'o'war with Buddy I say "grr" to let him know that we are playing that game and not fetch. Buddy "grrs" back. It's not a fierce growl- just a play growl. So, Billy picked up a Buddy toy, walked over to Buddy and started "arrrrrrrrrrg". Maybe it's a pirate growl.

Billy also learned today what a fish says: glub, glub. He repeated it back to me and thought it was so funny that he continued to repeat it an laugh all day. He's very proud of knowing what a fish says.

So, the total list of words we know Billy has in his vocabulary are: Momma, Daddy, plane, cack cack (quack), glub glub, banana and a host of other words he parrots but doesn't know the meaning of.

Ok, signing off out of sheer exhaustion.