Friday, July 30, 2004
As I reflect on Gavin's first year of life, some things really stick out in my mind:
* That first night in the hospital. He cried so loud all night long.
* His first bath at home. He cried the entire time but we video taped it anyway.
* The first time I was alone with both boys and it occurred to me that I was outnumbered.
* The two days I was miserably sick with a breast infection and he slept along side me for 23 hours (only to wake up to feed every 3). That was the best sleep I've had in a long time!
* Taking him and Tyler to the Picture People three times because he bawled uncontrollably the first time and Tyler lost it the second time. Third time was the charm!
* The crazy things I did for sleep: sleeping while sitting upright holding and/or nursing him; putting him in his bouncy chair placed in the co-sleeper so he could vibrate cozily all night; letting him take all his naps in the bouncy seat (big no-no but ahh it worked!)
* All that time he spent in that amazing bouncy seat placed up on the kitchen counter out of Tyler's reach.
* Tyler's reactive crying every time the baby cried that first month.
* The first time he took a bath with Tyler.
* His inability to sit still in the bath. Complete opposite from Tyler who had a hard time staying awake every bath.
* The time he flopped out of the bath and the sick feeling I had while picking up his naked soaking wet body off the floor trying (and failing) to remain calm so I could calm him down. It took Dada to calm everyone down and figure out he was fine. Phew.
* The first cold he caught and how angry I was at myself for letting him lay on the prop-blanket at the Picture People.
* The tenth cold he caught and how many sick days Dada and I used to get him through that first year of daycare.
* Getting bit with his razor blade teeth the first time. I jumped so high, we're lucky I didn't drop him.
* The fun he had in the doorway jumper. If only they made them bigger!
* The adorable way he makes brrr brrr brrr sounds as he scoots along throughout the house.
* Being informed he was eating grass while sitting at my feet at Mack's birthday party. Hello!!!
* Oh yeah, his passion for paper! He really is in love with paper. Toilet paper, paper towels, envelopes, receipts, "My Day" forms from daycare, any paper will do. When he finds it, he doesn't let go.
* The time we were in the emergency room for Tyler and Gavin surprised and entertained us all with a game of peek-a-boo by holding his blanket over his head.
* His love of bananas. Doesn't every kid go through this?
* His despise of the changing table. Wiggle worm does not describe the way he twists, turns and contorts his baby body.
* His ability to nurse in any position. Cradle, cross over, side-lying, upright, we've done it all. Just recently his preference is to nurse while in the downward dog position: his feet pressing on the bed, his butt in the air and head down. (yes, we are still working on weaning. Well, *working on* is an overstatement. I should say we are still not weaned.)
* His third haircut when I said outloud "How am I going to cut the back of your hair?" and he suddenly dropped his head forward, holding perfectly still like he understood me perfectly.
* The rug burn on his knees from crawling in shorts.
* His first shoes--so cute and so frustrating because he can't pull them off!
* That first night in the hospital. He cried so loud all night long.
* His first bath at home. He cried the entire time but we video taped it anyway.
* The first time I was alone with both boys and it occurred to me that I was outnumbered.
* The two days I was miserably sick with a breast infection and he slept along side me for 23 hours (only to wake up to feed every 3). That was the best sleep I've had in a long time!
* Taking him and Tyler to the Picture People three times because he bawled uncontrollably the first time and Tyler lost it the second time. Third time was the charm!
* The crazy things I did for sleep: sleeping while sitting upright holding and/or nursing him; putting him in his bouncy chair placed in the co-sleeper so he could vibrate cozily all night; letting him take all his naps in the bouncy seat (big no-no but ahh it worked!)
* All that time he spent in that amazing bouncy seat placed up on the kitchen counter out of Tyler's reach.
* Tyler's reactive crying every time the baby cried that first month.
* The first time he took a bath with Tyler.
* His inability to sit still in the bath. Complete opposite from Tyler who had a hard time staying awake every bath.
* The time he flopped out of the bath and the sick feeling I had while picking up his naked soaking wet body off the floor trying (and failing) to remain calm so I could calm him down. It took Dada to calm everyone down and figure out he was fine. Phew.
* The first cold he caught and how angry I was at myself for letting him lay on the prop-blanket at the Picture People.
* The tenth cold he caught and how many sick days Dada and I used to get him through that first year of daycare.
* Getting bit with his razor blade teeth the first time. I jumped so high, we're lucky I didn't drop him.
* The fun he had in the doorway jumper. If only they made them bigger!
* The adorable way he makes brrr brrr brrr sounds as he scoots along throughout the house.
* Being informed he was eating grass while sitting at my feet at Mack's birthday party. Hello!!!
* Oh yeah, his passion for paper! He really is in love with paper. Toilet paper, paper towels, envelopes, receipts, "My Day" forms from daycare, any paper will do. When he finds it, he doesn't let go.
* The time we were in the emergency room for Tyler and Gavin surprised and entertained us all with a game of peek-a-boo by holding his blanket over his head.
* His love of bananas. Doesn't every kid go through this?
* His despise of the changing table. Wiggle worm does not describe the way he twists, turns and contorts his baby body.
* His ability to nurse in any position. Cradle, cross over, side-lying, upright, we've done it all. Just recently his preference is to nurse while in the downward dog position: his feet pressing on the bed, his butt in the air and head down. (yes, we are still working on weaning. Well, *working on* is an overstatement. I should say we are still not weaned.)
* His third haircut when I said outloud "How am I going to cut the back of your hair?" and he suddenly dropped his head forward, holding perfectly still like he understood me perfectly.
* The rug burn on his knees from crawling in shorts.
* His first shoes--so cute and so frustrating because he can't pull them off!
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
It blows my mind to think Gavin is almost one year old. I saw a newborn baby at the pool last weekend and really reminisced on the past year. It went way too fast, but I can't say I'd want to go back and do it again at the moment. I'm still not adjusted to the increased hours of sleep I'm finally getting now that Gavin is sleeping through most nights.
Friday, July 23, 2004
Oh Gavin is so all over the place. If he's not cruising down the hall on the heels of Chili, he's standing up on everything to get in to everything. He's made his way up on the coffee table, the kid's picnic table and several chairs. He does not react to my demands to not touch the dangerous stuff the way Tyler does. With Tyler, I would just have to use my fearful voice and say things like "Oh no, we don't touch that. Very dangerous." while waving my hand at the electric plugs, night lights, plants, or whatever else he would get into, and Tyler would understand and leave it be. But, Gavin seems convinced that I'm playing the "Opposite Game" with him and he does whatever he is not supposed to do, and when I offer him a safe diversion, he pushes it out of his way to get to the unsafe hazard. You cannot turn your back on this kid for one second. Tyler is like my boyscout, he will come running down the hall telling me "Mama, baby is touching that." With Tyler, I know that whatever "that" is, is bad. Today it was the nightlight in the front room, even though I had just put Gavin down in my bedroom and walked ten feet away to the closet and the physical possibility of Gavin getting that far away in such a short amount of time was unimaginable to me. Yeah, he does appear to be on track to being my problem child :)
Monday, July 19, 2004
Gavin will not stay seated in the bathtub. This has been a problem ever since he learned to stand up. It is so dangerous and frustrating that his baths are getting shorter and shorter. I'm beginning to think he will be our "problem child." Let's hope the biggest problem we have is his inability to stay seated during the bath. Anyway, the other night was especially frustrating, I was having to repeat my demands for him to sit down at least every 60 seconds, usually following that with forcing him down on his bottom. Tyler obviously sensed my frustration because all of a sudden Tyler blurted out "Sit down Gavin Michael Curt!" Nevermind the fact that Tyler almost always refers to Gavin as Baby, I don't even recall ever telling Tyler what Gavin's middle name is. This blew my mind! It didn't work though.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Baby has a new trick. He holds his hands out, palms up, as if he's saying "I dunno." I'm not sure what this means but it is very cute and he knows it. He is getting really good at waving bye-bye and saying bye-bye. He also says Ba for bottle. Ba for brother. Da for dog. Mama and I think he said Daddy this morning.
Monday, July 12, 2004
We *let* Gavin cry it out last night. It was a rough weekend for everyone he was around. It started on Friday evening when I told Shawn I thought he was going to be our problem child. Gavin was on a mission of turning our living room into a full-fledged mess. Everything he could reach needed to be pulled down, knocked over or turned on. It didn't stop there. Saturday and Sunday were both consumed by guessing what was wrong with him since we couldn't seem to keep him content. He's hardly eating anything and he's crying a lot, inconsolably. It was one of those weekends that I wished I could just dump my kids on somebody else, but I never would do that to anybody else. As part of the guessing game, I'm taking him off whole milk and putting him back on formula. No diary beginning today for one week. We'll see if that does it. If not, I'm pretty close to going crazy.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
We've been taking Gavin out on the boat so much, he is getting his "sea legs." This little man can't even walk unassisted yet but he loves to stand up on the boat. We were on the river yesterday and it was croweded and rough water in some places. He just stood on the floor, holding on to the seat, and rode those waves up and down, side to side, like a sea-faring captain. Now he just needs to be able to face into the wind without gagging. When we get going fast (which is any time Dada's driving) the wind resistance gets strong. Babies have a reflex to stop breathing when you blow on them or when wind blows on them. That's why they say to teach a baby to hold their breath under water, you blow on their face right before you dunk them. So while his legs are good and sturdy on the boat, he doesn't do so well facing forward.
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Gavin has a passion for paper. Toilet paper, paper towels, a piece of paper, magazine paper, he doesn't discriminate. If he sees any form of paper within his reach, he is blazing a crawling trail to get to it before I notice and intervene. This morning while getting ready for work, I turned to see both his hands holding a paper towel up to his mouth. He took a big bite and just froze, clutching a piece of the paper towel in each hand and another in his mouth.
Last night we were outside BBQing. Shawn and I were preoccupied trying to figure out the new rotisserie. Suddenly Tyler is saying "Baby is on the table. Hey baby is up on the table." I might tune that out normally but luckily, those words were not registering to me so I turned around to see that Gavin had somehow climbed up and was sitting on top of their kids-sized picnic table. Granted, it is kid sized, but that still would have been a good 2-foot fall had we not paid attention to Tyler. He definitely saved his little brother last night, what a great big brother!
Last night we were outside BBQing. Shawn and I were preoccupied trying to figure out the new rotisserie. Suddenly Tyler is saying "Baby is on the table. Hey baby is up on the table." I might tune that out normally but luckily, those words were not registering to me so I turned around to see that Gavin had somehow climbed up and was sitting on top of their kids-sized picnic table. Granted, it is kid sized, but that still would have been a good 2-foot fall had we not paid attention to Tyler. He definitely saved his little brother last night, what a great big brother!
