Is it Easter?

The month of April has been a whirlwind. And very literally, if you look at what the mini tornado did to our side fence last night.

Last weekend we hung out with Shannon's side of the family (Brandi, Angel, Krysta, Caden, Ted, and Shane) and spent part of the day in Euless watching Jason (Shannon's Bro-in-law) play hockey and the other part either napping (that would be Adam and me) or grilling (that would be Shannon and the group). The weekends always seem to move too quickly lately.

 

I'm almost to the point where if I write that Adam is NOT sick, that would be more like "news" than to report that he is sick. On Monday Shannon took Adam to the pediatrician because of a sinus infection + bacterial infection in his eyes. Though he was smiling as brightly as ever, the daycare called to say that he looked like crap (although they used nicer language). More antibiotics for us.

On Wednesday morning I dropped my mom and sister off at the airport and told them to remember to drink wine at every meal (even breakfast) while in Rome for the next ten days. My brother and I are house sitting while they are gone.

So Adam spent the weekend with me at my parents' house and FINALLY slept well in a bed/pack n' play that wasn't his own. Either that, or my sister's room is the perfect place to sleep. My parent's house isn't completely baby-proof, and Adam had a love-hate relationship with that concept. (On one hand, I can touch a whole bunch of things that I've never touched before and am not SUPPOSED to touch... on the other hand, mom tells me "no" WAY too often). He loved wrestling with Uncle Chris, "showing" Chris the house, and in general climbing on him. We even had dinner just the three of us at El Fenix, and Adam flirted his way into free sopapillas.

Ice Cream Sandwich Face

Adam is frequently using the words "hi," "mom," "dad," "adam," and "dog." He screeches in what still sounds like an attempt at "Eli" whenever he see Eli. He waves "hi," "bye bye," and "good night." And he is already training to be a rock climber. He climbs better than he walks, and he spent all afternoon on, off, and in this laundry basket. Somedays I wonder why we buy toys.

King of the Laundry Basket

While Adam spent the weekend away, Shannon was "lucky" enough to get to do some much needed housework - like weed, mow, trim hedges, landscape, clean, do laundry... I married well (and trust me, I know it).

Adam's hair is beginning to look like Doc Brown from Back to the Future -- with little wings and a comb over. I know it needs to be cut, but it will be a two-to-three person job and I don't want to part with the baby curls.

Great Scott!

It's one of those mother's irrational attachments. Like his pacifier - I've always said that I would take away the paci before my kid can toddle around with one in his mouth (and Adam truly only gets his paci when he is napping, sleeping, sick, or in rare situations. He typically doesn't have one in his back pocket at all times anyway.)  When I think pacifier, I think "baby." And this kid is trying to grow up so fast as it is, that I think I'll have the harder time letting go of it.

So when he took a nap today and didn't need his pacifier, it was a little bittersweet for me. 11 days until his 1st birthday. Can it be true? Is it already Easter?

 



Lemon

Adam's first taste of a lemon on Friday. He liked it. Just ignore my stupid background comments.

Grinning

Guess who was grinning ear-to-ear when I dropped him off at daycare this morning?

My little handful of a toddler, that's who.

Adam decided over the weekend that he is a walking baby, not a crawling baby. He toddled everywhere, and while he still needs to crawl sometimes, his ability to take steps, turn and go other ways, and stop and stand for minutes without falling has improved times 100 in just the two days that made up our very short weekend.

When I walked in to daycare on Monday, I dropped him off in the infant room and he cringed, but didn't cry. I mentioned that he was walking all weekend, and apparently he hit their target for what graduates you out of the "boring" classroom. On Monday afternoon, I was picking him up in the Mobile Infant room, from a new teacher (who I already LOVE). Shannon dropped him off yesterday in that room, and when I picked him up he was the happiest I've seen him in a long time. When I dropped him off this morning he was thrilled to be there. And I was thrilled to see that there were only 2 other kids in the classroom. I believe in his room they've organized it to one teacher and 3 or 4 kids. FABULOUS.

I get to pick up smiley Adam and get tidbits about his day, like that on Monday he loved playing with the puppy puppet and trying to make animal sounds. And on Tuesday, he giggled uncontrollably while playing peek-a-boo. And even better... he saves some of those giggles for me when we get home.

That smile couldn't have come at a better time. Adam was definitely not feeling well last night (we believe it was probably a tummy ache -- although in the back of our minds we figure at SOME point he'll be teething). He was up crying literally every 2 hours (sometimes every thirty minutes), and I think by the time I rolled out of bed this morning I had gotten about 2 hours of sleep.

Luckily, he was feeling a little better this morning. He finished his antibiotics for the strep yesterday though, so it's only a matter of time before another sinus infection comes rolling through. I'm already seeing signs of one.

Between his constant illnesses, my own sinus infection, other family stresses, and my lack of sleep last night, if I had left him at daycare in tears this morning I might have just collapsed in tears in the parking lot and set up shop there for the day.  But now I can continue with my day knowing he's happy.

Adam is 49 weeks old today. Along with walking, he has picked up a nasty habit of hitting if he's mad or doesn't want something. If he's not thirsty he can't stand for his sippy cup to be on the highchair and will sweep it off. (As in, "I just had a sip, my cup can't be by my plate while I eat dinner.") If you open and close the refrigerator door, freezer door, dishwasher door, etc before  he has had a chance to check it out, he sticks his forehead to the floor and cries for a few seconds. I'm still trying to adjust to having a toddler instead of a baby. Toddlers require much more patience. It snuck up on me.

But he giggles at pretty much everything. He loves when I "pounce" on him. When I squeeze the backs of his thighs he rolls over in a giggling fit that's contagious. He dances. He is already trying to run. He likes to cuddle with me now (as long as there's nothing more interesting to do).

I cannot believe I'm planning his first birthday already.

Splashing

Yesterday Adam woke up hoarse and coughing and I immediately called the pediatrician for an appointment. He had just been in on Tuesday and got a clean bill of health for his ear infections... on Thursday he finished his last dose of antibiotics, and on Friday he woke up with STREP and croup. We got more antibiotics, some steroids, and have been giving him Advil for his inflamed tonsils. I'm going to stop saying to myself "when Adam is healthy, we'll..." -- I think it's just jinxing us.

However, by Friday night you never would have thought that he was sick. He was smiling, walking (of course, he waited until Dad got home to practice so there would be a good audience), and only slightly had that croupy cough and hoarse voice. Since he got the strep while he was already on antibiotics, maybe it was a lesser strain. Or maybe he has the pain tolerance of a horse. Who knows. (All I know is I remember being miserable when I was younger and had strep.) Anyway, we've had a smiley, happy baby who is eating great and has no fever.

We set up Adam's baby pool because we wondered if the 91 degree weather today would be warm enough for him to enjoy some splashing around. I questioned whether it was smart to let him play in the water with him being sick, but it seemed to be warm enough and when I took him outside just to play around, he was immediately attracted to it and went right for it. I managed to get a swim diaper on him, but he couldn't bear to wait for me to put on his swim trunks and top.

Walking

Adam is now able to take 9 or 10 steps at a time and is much more adventurous in attempting to walk from place to place. If he falls, he finishes the journey by crawling, but he'll try to walk first -- and most times he'll get about 6 steps in before gravity wins. Today he was even able to stand up on his own without needing a prop to help him up.

On Wednesday night, the day after Adam turned 11 months old and the exact day that he was 48 weeks old (yes, yes, I'm still counting the weeks. Only 4 more to go until he's 52 weeks. *sniffle*), Adam just turned and started walking across the living room floor and almost made it to the other side. Shannon and I were in shock, but when he hit the ground we cheered and clapped, and he turned around and giggled. He loves applause.

I've dubbed him "Bullet" since he can't do anything slowly. When he wants to get somewhere fast (usually towards someone), he will put his head down and crawl as fast as he can in a bee-line, wiggling his butt the entire way and squealing. My parents call him "Wiggle Butt". I think he'll be running by his first birthday.

Here he is with his dinosaur on Tuesday night:

Here are two videos of him walking today - these are short trips that he's making, not the best he can do but the best I could get:

 

Adam's legs are probably strong for walking because he's learned to CLIMB and has been climbing far longer than he has been walking. He will push his toys up to the coffee table or TV stand and use them as steps to get up on them. He can crawl onto the couch without a step, can crawl from the couch to the recliner and back like it's the easiest thing in the world, and is in the process of learning how to scale the back of the couch onto the windowsill. I swear someday I will walk into the room and see him standing on the windowsill.

If I'm able to catch video of him climbing (SAFELY), I will post it. He's elusive though.

Just Pictures

Watching Dad with the leaf blower in the front yard.

Crazy Hair. This is the look he gave me after Dad banned him from manning the grill.
It looks kind of like he's saying, "I'm not worried. I'll be back."

Anxiety

Lesson for Mom #476: When you say something about your kid, be ready to immediately eat your words, because most likely they will prove you wrong.

I quote myself from a previous blog post, Pile It On: "[Adam] has never really had any fits (so far) when I've dropped him off anywhere."

I should have just kept my big mouth shut.

Adam has (some would say finally) developed separation anxiety due to the change of daycares, I believe. Last update, he was grinning on his way to school. The new school. One day, same old day care - Happy. The next day, new daycare - Happy. One week later - Misery. Tears. Anxiety. I don't know what happened.

Here is what I think happened though: The first week we were there, Adam was put in the "Mobile Infant" classroom ages 12 - 18 months. He's 10 months, but because he's so mobile and slightly advanced, and since they had room for him, they put him in that classroom. Great. Big kids, stuff to do, things to learn, none of that boring baby stuff. He was nervous but liked it there.

Week 2. Cue me carrying Adam into the mobile infant classroom. Cue frantic daycare teacher changing diaper. Cue other teacher feeding kids. Cue 6 toddlers at my feet, some of them crying. It was like they let the flood gates open and children were everywhere. She looked at me and said, "we're going to have Adam move to the infant classroom."

Now, I don't know how I really feel about being told that my baby will be in one room and then another immediately after because they enrolled 18 new kids in a day. But I wasn't about to argue with her when she was clearly right - he didn't need to be in that environment of screaming toddlers more advanced than him - he's just not quite walking as well as those kids, and not eating the same things just yet. Not that Adam minds. He thinks he's a two year old in a 10 month old's body (well, a 10 month old's body that is the size of an 18 month old - but I digress). So I walked him over to the adjacent "infant" room. Sterile, quiet, and babies -- little bitty babies -- trying to lift their heads and sleeping in swings. I could see the tears of boredom develop in little Adam's eyes.

Immediately he clung his legs and arms onto my body and held on for dear life. He knew something was up, and he knew he wasn't going to like it. I told the other teachers his schedule, etc. etc. I tried to put him down and he used my arm as a rope and climbed back up like a monkey.

I finally handed him over and he screamed, he cried, he looked at me with that sad down-turned mouth and the fear washed over him. I had to run out of the room. By the time I made it outside to the window, I peeked in and he was fine. I cried all the way to work.

Every day of drop off for the last two weeks has been similar. He cried at drop off every day that first week in the NEW new room (poor kid probably doesn't know where he'll be dropped off next), then over the weekend he developed the double ear infection and sinus infection, we had family play day on Monday, he cried when Shannon dropped him off Tuesday (we were called an hour later to pick him up because of the fever). He stayed home Wednesday, and cried Thursday and today. In the more recent days, he cries when I initially hand him over, but she turns him around to look at something else and he stops crying before I even get to the door. So it's getting better.

He's fine and happy when I pick him up, and I'm pretty sure he gets more one-on-one time there. He's eating the table food (most days - not quite ready for corn dogs, chicken nuggets, or fish sticks (even though he ate the fish sticks just fine from what I hear - luckily he wasn't allergic). I think he's still bored out of his mind and ready to move back up into the other classroom though. They try to do things with the "older" infants but I have a feeling it's just not the same.

Today when I dropped him off, both teachers were engaged with other kids so I sat down with Adam to play with some toys and let him get comfortable. He kept one hand on me at all times and didn't want to sit - he was poised to spring if I were to make any sudden movements away. Finally we got comfortable but he never let his guard down. (Did you think I was born yesterday, Mom?)

While sitting there, one of the teachers asked me if he usually gets nervous around new people or in new places, and I had to tell her no... that this is a new development that we've noticed in the last two weeks, suddenly. She told me a story about how yesterday she took him up to the front office with her so she could make some copies, and he got incredibly nervous and clung to her. She let one of the office managers hold him and she walked a few feet away to make copies and he FREAKED. She took him back and as they were walking back to the classroom, he gave the other lady (the one he freaked out about) a flirtatious little smile.

She said that it just doesn't seem like his personality to be so anxious about strangers since he's clearly a little social flirt. I agreed with her. He hasn't been himself lately - he's even throwing tantrums at home and can't stand to be left alone. He's acting out and smiles at me when I tell him no... and has gotten a time out or two for not listening. Half the time it's "I don't feel good," cries, and I definitely feel for him - the other half of the time it's "I didn't get what I wanted" crocodile tears. I've actually been wondering if it's possible to hit the terrible two's at 10 months old.

However, his stranger anxiety is not consistent. He sat completely still on Tuesday when we went to the pediatrician as Dr. Kim (a doctor in the practice that we hadn't seen yet but who was filling in for our normal pediatrician) cleaned out Adam's ears and checked him out. Adam flung himself into this new guy's arms twice, and Dr. Kim commented on what a sweet boy he was and how lucky Dr. Han was to have him as a patient. [This is after Adam and I fought for twenty minutes about what he could and could not do in the patient room (books, YES - drawer full of medical supplies, NO). He almost won. It was long battle, and he's starting to think I just tell him "no" to be unfair.]

I don't know whether it's the ear infections, or the new daycare, or a combination of the two, but I'm worried that I've overloaded him with too much "new." I feel guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty. He liked where he was before, even though he didn't know any better. I know he will adjust, I just hope it's soon. I got to see a glimpse of my normal, sweet child this morning - I just hope it sticks around as he starts to feel better.