October 29, 2011 ~ Post 1 ~ Rewind

I will not have computer access tonight, so I will post the day's activities sometime tomorrow. Until then, here's a rewind- a look back at Billy one year ago.

On this date one year ago, Billy weighed only 9.5 pounds and was 22in long.

At this point he still had black hair from when he was born, but it was falling out. He was just learning to hold his head up and push up with his arms when on his belly. He could not sit up or roll over.

On this day one year ago he smiled for the very first time. 

 He was still getting breast milk, but moving on to formula (due to complications on my end). He had a clear taste preference for Mommy's milk, but since there wasn't enough to go around and he was hungry, he'd take the formula with some coaxing. He was drinking 5oz of milk every 2-4 hours.

At this point he would be awake for 2-4 hours and then asleep for 2-4 hours. The longest he had slept was 5 hours during the night. Usually, he would wake us up for 2 night feedings. He had only had milk at this point, no other food or drink.

He liked to stare at the ceiling fan and enjoyed Pat-a-cake and Peek-a-boo with Mommy. He couldn't sit up, so all games and activities had to involve "assisted sitting"

Finally, I leave you with a picture from Halloween 2010.

What a difference a year makes!

October 28, 2011 ~ Cars and Stripes

Today was a day of Split Personality Billy. One minute hre would be laughing and the next minute he would be in tears. He sat down on a small ball: tears. Mommy tickled him: giggles. He tripped: tears. Buddy chased a toy: giggles. So, let's just talk about the good parts.

It's the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, so when the news ran a segment on it, I pointed to the tv and started to explain to him what he was looking at. He paid close attention, taking it all in and never looking away from the tv. I'm not sure how much he understod, but I think he got that whatever it was, it was important.

Then a commercial came on with a dog jumping in slow motion across the screen. Billy pointed and laughed. He just thought that was the funniest thing. That prompted him to want to play with Buddy. So, he started chasing Buddy around the room. He grabbed one of Buddy's toys and tried to give it to him. Then he had me throw the toy for Buddy.

Billy often wants to play with Buddy but is never very successful at it. He wants to give a toy to Buddy, but he doesn't know how to throw yet. When he hands a toy to Buddy, Buddy grabs it and starts to play tug-o-war. This usually ends up with Billy in a heap on the floor. Buddy isn't a strong dog and he certainly isn't trying to be mean. But Buddy only has two speeds- on and off. On is a slow, plodding speed, but he's still a lot stronger than a toddler.

I tried to get Billy to play with his cars since I knew that Buddy would eventually cause Billy to fall down and cry. Last week the cars were his favorite thing. He wanted to push them around everywhere. Today? No Go. He was not intereted. Puppy dogs are just too cool to want to play with other toys.

FInally, I was able to distract him with his Fridge Farm. The pieces are difficult to insert, but he's working on it. It looks like a barn and has animal heads and bums that you try to match up. It sings lots of songs and let's you know when you've made a match or haven't. Only, today Billy decided after a few tries with the matching that he wanted to do something different with his animal parts.

He decided the pieces needed to be in the ice dispenser. They are still in the ice dispenser.

Finally, Daddy came home from his trip. Billy didn't want Mommy. He wanted Daddy. So, Daddy did the bedtime ritual. Apparently, though, Billy only wanted to play with Daddy. He fussed and wouldn't sleep until I went in and did Bedtime Ritual with him. I rocked him with a bottle. Every night I tell him why I am proud of him (or rarely why I'm disappointed) while he gets his bottle. The nI give him lots of hugs and wish him a goodnight. It's nothing special, but it's his ritual and he goes out like a light if I stick to it. He whines if I don't.

So, now he's fast asleep, probably dreaming about dogs jumping in slow motion.



October 27, 2011 ~ Yankee Doodle Dandy

Today's big adventure was a trip to the Macaroni Grill with Grandpop and Uncle Alex. Grandpop arrived at our house at the same time we did, so we waiting for Uncle Alex and then went out to dinner.

What kid doesn't love a place where you can draw on the tables? He grabbed the crayons and began scrawling in red and blue while sitting in Grandpop's lap. They were very busy so it took awhile to get a highchair. When the chair finally arrived he got to move to a new seat with clean paper in front of him to continue drawing.

It was clear today that Billy is highly impressed with Grandpop and didn't really pay any attention to me. When Grandpop was reading the menu, Billy started beatng on it. "Hey, pay attention to me!" Grandpop would make a silly face and then Billy would laugh and squeal. Then Grandpop started plaing with the light hanging over our table. He pointed it in Billy's face, not unlike an interrogator would in an old crime movie. Boy, was the cool. He was a little unsure at first and then giggled with glee. Yup, Grandpop is a winner.

Finally, dinner arrived for hungry baby. I ordered him the mac'n'cheese. Billy proceeded to decorate the floor with macaroni. Maybe this is where they get there name... if it wasn't before, it is now! Macaroni went everywhere.

When he was done with food he moved on to tossing toys around. He made friends with the couple at the next table who have a grandson not uch older. Billy kept throwing his book their direction. So, he got to make some new friends and provide them with a little dinner entertainment.

I try to keep him calm and under control when out to eat but it's a hard task. I always hate eating dinner with a screaming baby nearby and a parent not paying attention (or caring). I also hate when the slightly older kids are bratty and distrubing other patrons. So, I try really hard to keep Billy quiet and calm. Unfortunately, he's in the 'throw a toy or food so someone has to fetch it for me' phase. At least there was no crying.

We were at the Macaroni Grill all evening and Billy went straight to bed when we got home. Therefore, nothing more to report than a good trip for some good food.

October 26, 2011 ~ Back Bends and Belly Flops

Today was a day of giggles.

I got Billy started in the morning with Mommy Monster. He was not happy about waking up, but on the changing table there was an attack of the Mommy Monster. This is just me blowing raspberries on his belly, but I make a silly monster face and roar before the raspberry. It usually produces giggles. So, we started out the day on a good note.

When I picked him up from daycare in the afternoon he didn't want to get in the car. Instead, he wanted to go play with the leaves. Of course, the leaves are all very interesting this time of year and there were many colors on the ground in the parking lot. And of course, it poured this afternoon, so all of those pretty leaves were sopping wet. He was not thrilled about me keeping him away from those leaves. But when I stuck out my tongue at him, he was all giggles and the leaves were forgotten. Every few seconds I'd stick out my tongue again and receive another fit of giggles. Happy baby.

We had to run to the grocery store to buy more milk. The whole short trip around the store he was leaning back in the cart staring at the ceiling. Basically, he was doing a back bend. I couldn't get him to sit up. Apparently, the grocery store ceiling is fascinating. Who knew? When we got home he continued to do back bends and giggle every time he did one. I think he's highly impressed with his ability to "look up".

While playing on the floor I decided to lay on my back and see what he's do. I always loves it when Daddy or I are down on his level. So, I was kicking my feet around trying to see what he would do. He walked over to me and "Timber!" He belly flopped right onto me. Giggles and more giggles. Then he got up and did it again and again. Every time, more giggles. Mommy is like a pillow pile, but even better!

We spent the whole evening laughing and went to bed happy.

October 25, 2011 ~ A New Take On Face Painting

One of Billy's favorite foods is yogurt. Since he's been under the weather lately, I decided to give him yogurt for breakfast. That was all fine and dandy until somebody had a better idea what to do with it.

At first he was just swinging the spoon around and accidently got a dollop of yogurt on his forehead. He was perplexed, but after realizing what it was he thought it was funny. So funny, in fact, that he started tapping the spoon all over his head, getting yogurt all through his hair.

Then he managed to get a big swipe of yogurt out of the container when Mommy wasn't looking. He painted his face ear to ear and laughed hysterically. Ok, it was pretty funny. But he was covered in yogurt up to his elbows, across his face and all through his hair. I wiped him up several times, but every time the water would dry I would find more yogurt hiding on him. Needless to say, he went to daycare dirty.

It took me twice as long this morning to get him out the door. Once he saw the daycare bag it was all over. He didn't want to go. He stayed home with Mommy yesterday and he was going to stay home today too if he had anything to say about it.

Going to school today may have been pushing it. He's been tired and run down with being sick and when I picked him up it was clear that he was absolutely exhausted.

We had to run by Grandma's to get a costume piece for next week and he whined and whimpered the whole time we were there. If I went out of sight, even for a second, he would launch into a full out wail. I tried to get him to visit with Grandma, but he just wanted to be held. I did get him to settle down a bit with a banana, but as soon as I walked into the other room to get a toy for him he started screaming again. I think he is remembering last week when I left him there to go back to work. He kept standing in the doorway crying. I think he was attempting to make sure I couldn't leave without him.

So, I didn't leave without him. By the time we got home he was so tired that we had a quick dinner and off to bed early. No complaints on his part. I could hear him playing in his crib for awhile, but he was content and is now fast asleep. I hope tomorrow is better for him and that he's better!

October 24, 2011 ~ Sick Day Cultivates Budding Artist

Since yesterday Billy came down with a fever, it was obvious that he was going to have to stay home today. Fortunately, his fever broke sometime between 2 and 5am. Yes, I know this for a fact.

In the dark of night all of a sudden there was loud shrieking. Not the typical, "wah, wah" of a regular baby cry, but a definite voice-cracking, terrified scream. I ran in to check on him. He was sitting up, wide awake, whimpering. He saw me and put his hands up, begging for me to pick him up. I rocked him, but he was clearly not going to just fall back to sleep.

Unfortunately, Billy is prone to night terrors. It's been a long time since he's had one. But since he was just a tiny lil guy, he has often woken up in the middle of the night screaming- about since the time that we stopped swaddling him. He often talks in his sleep saying "Mama" or "Dada", so I suspect in his terrors he is alone. When he wakes up he neds company for a long while.

So, I brought him into the bed with us. I even gave him is own pillow (a very flat one.) He was content for about five minutes until he started giggling and clapping. Then he started slapping Daddy on the back. Ok, time to go back to the crib. He went right back to sleep in his crib.

We started our morning examining his art hanging on the wall in the kitchen. He was so excited to see the pciture he drew (I loosely use that term) yesterday, that I decided to give him crayons first thing this morning. I had to break open a new box sine he broke all of the crayons I gave him yesterday. He was excited to see new colors in the box and colored furiously. He kept going back to see his art hanging up. He's so excited that I hung it up. But I had to take the crayons away after he wanted to carry the crayons all over the house and presumably try them on things other than paper.

I decided to take him up to Sam's Club to get more fruits and Chobani. I needed food for his lunch and dinner, so I figured, since he seemed ok, that we would go get him some treats. We came home and he had Chobani for lunch. He even picked out which flavor he wanted out of the fridge and handed the container to me.

The day deteriorated from there.

He refused to take a nap. I tried everything. More stuffed animals in the crib. More milk. More rocking. Nope. I finally gave up and got him up to play. But, because he was so tired, he was miserable. We tried all kinds of toys. I set up his tent fort. We threw toys for Buddy. He would be happy for a few minutes, but every little thing would set him off. It doesn't help that Buddy has a cone on his head and keeps running in to Billy, knocking him over and setting him to wailing.

Finally! Finally, he was so tired that I was able to get him to go to sleep. It was a fitful sleep and didn;t last long, but it made a world of difference in his mood. Grandma had suggested I drive him around, but he wakes up as soon as I get him out of the car and then refuses to go back to sleep. And of course, if I'm driving around for naptime just to have him sleep, then i lose those crucial minutes of time when I can get things done. This time is important to me- he wants to help me with whatever I'm doing, and if I'm doing something that would be dangerous for him (like cleaning the toilet with chemicals), then I don't want him around for that.

It's not that I don't want him around. I tried once to clean the den with Green Works. I'm constantly cleaning the coffee table. So, I decided to try to clean it with him around. Buddy did something that required being yelled at. In the two seconds it took to yell at Buddy "Hey, stop that!" I turned to find Billy putting his mouth over the back of the spray bottle. 1.) thank God it was the back and 2.) it was like Billy was lying in wait for me to turn my head for literally 2 seconds to try to kill himself. He wasn't even near the bottle at the time I started yelling at Buddy. So, now I don't do things like that when he is around.

Here is how I knew he was ready to take his nap:

Billy, don't squeeze the Charmin!

After naptime Billy was a happy baby again. We learned all about cameras and cell phones, took a turn around the court on the Green Piece of Awesome, chased down some big sticks, played with airplanes and just had a good ole time. I let him play with clay and took his handprints in the clay.

So, I'll leave you today with a picture of Billy learning about size.

Billy went and got Daddy's shoes and asked me to put them on him. He quickly learned that walking in Daddy's shoes is much harder than he thought, no matter how much he tried.

October 23, 2011 ~ Feverish Fun

Billy woke up very late today- 10:30, which is about 3 hours later than he normally wakes up. Not that I'm complaining- I got to sleep in.

He started his morning with cheerios, yogurt bites, apples, a chocolate cupcake and a cinnamon bun. Yup, a very healthy, well-rounded meal. He also drank two whole bottles of milk. But, Daddy gavce him all of those sweets, so I imagine he was thirsty.

Today during play he learned how to use a foot stool. Grandma got him his very own for his birthday. So, I thought him how to step up so he can wash up and brush his teeth. He washed his hands three times before I finally made him get down.

Grandma came over during naptime so I could go get some errands done. When I returned, she was feeding Billy some mac'n'cheese that I had made for his lunch. He was shoving whole handfuls of it into his mouth. Noodles were escaping down his sleeves and down his shirt front. It was a total noodle explosion.

After Grandma left, I noticed he was feeling hot. Our thermometer wasn't working, so I grabbed Billy and the thermometer and ran out to Radio Shack so I could replace the battery and check his temp. What happened next is why I hate that you can't get mercury thermometers to use as a back up.

So the clerk tells me that he's totally sold out of the battery I need. Ok, where can I get one? "Um, I dunno." Are there any stores nearby that sell them? "Um, I dunno." Are there any Radio Shacks that have them in stock? (Are you serious? Come on, this is Customer Service 101). So he pulls up the list of stores on his computer and starts reading them off to me. Ok, do any of them have it in stock? "I dunno." Can you call them and ask? "Ok, they have 2 and will put one on hold for you. But they, like, close at six, and um, well, you'd have to get there before then." Ok, I just told you that my baby has a fever and I need that battery. I'm 15 minutes away from the next store and it's 4:30. Did he think I was going for a stroll in the park to stare at the trees? Blah, annoyed.

A 15 minute jaunt to fetch a new battery turned into an hour and a half dragging around a sick lil man, who was very quiet and understanding through the whole process. So I brought him home, took his temp (101.3), gave him meds, and then gave him ice cream. Ice cram always made me feel better when I was little with a fever. Poor guy.

Daddy came home with dinner and Billy went straight to helping him cook. Clearly, he was feeling better. He tried some of the soup, but it was too peppery for him. Then he tried the grilled squash- not his favorite. He used to eat pureed squash, but of course, this has a different texture. Then he tried some broccolini. Nope.

But when Mommy sat down to eat he wanted what Mommy was eating. He didn't want Daddy's food. Nope. Mommy's. He wanted to take my fork from me, as it turned out, so he could feed me for a change. He would pick up a morsel from my plate and hand it to me. Very sweet, kinds messy, and I had to keep him away from the fish. He's never had seafood, not interested in food testing on a fever.

After dinner he ran around happy as a clam. He giggled with delight over his toy ducks. He put the toy cds into his toy cd player over and over again, squealing with glee.

Then it was bedtime and he waved goodnight to Daddy. He went to bed, still feverish, but happy. I guess yesterday I was right, he's got a bug. I hope it's over quick and he'll be back on his feet for all of the festivities next weekend!