Fruity Bean

Zane has been making good use of his new teeth to bite into yummy fruits. Sunday we walked to the farmers' market, and I gave Zane fruit to hold on the way back since it keeps him entertained. He's done that before without molesting it. This time he went to work with his new teeth, producing this little work of art that looks like a mouse got to it. Yesterday I gave him a nectarine to try, and that went over pretty well, too. I was impressed with his one-handed fruit eating skill.

Zane has also unfortunately been exercising his teeth on me. He always used to gum me and that was just fine. Then he got the bottom two teeth, and they were a little sharp, but not too bad. Well, holy guacamole, now that he's got a matching set up top he's biting the bejeezus out of me. See exhibit A of my left arm. Three areas are quite bruised and there are some raised welts you can't see in the picture. Starting today I will no longer stand for it. I say "Ow!" really loudly (that part is easy), and then I put him down and walk out of the room for 30 seconds or a minute (that part is hard). He seems to be getting the picture pretty quickly. Not only does it hurt, but I don't want him to be a social outcast with the toddlers.

Monday we went in for our latest developmental testing, and Zane scored above average in fine motor, problem solving, and social skills, and average for communication. I'm supposed to work on simple word games with him. The idea is to get him to begin to copy sounds I make, not just make them randomly. He certainly talks a lot, but as far as I know he doesn't copy me. He wants to do all of his own talking. Tuesday he began sticking his tongue out at me when I waggled mine at him, so that's a start.

Wednesday our friends Uma and Olivia came to play. Uma is one month younger than Zane, and we know her from a support group and from library story time. Mostly they played near each other and not together, but that's what I understand babies do. It's called parallel play.

Zane's top two teeth are both finally through, and his cold is gone, so we expected to have some good sleep. Sigh. Now something else is going on which mystifies me. I can go through the going to sleep routine for night or naps, and he relaxes and falls asleep, or almost asleep. As soon as I try to put him in the crib he wakes up, and starts crying and writhing. I pick him up to lull him back to sleep and he bucks and writhes and cries and screams, all with his eyes closed! This happens in the middle of his naps, too, and I used to be able to shush him easily for another sleep cycle, but not anymore. He's so clearly very tired, but doesn't want to be asleep. I can't tell if he's hurting, or afraid to be alone, or afraid to sleep, or what. I don't want to give in and always hold him for naps or bring him to bed for sleep. I hope this is just a weird phase and not something actually wrong with him.

I'm working on Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep solution book, so I hope to work on our nighttime sleep and get it better under control. I'm so tired I'm getting very cranky, and I worry I'll get sick, too. Her no cry nap solution really cleaned up Zane's naps, so I hope the night sleep will follow. I did a sleep log last night, and although he was in bed from 9pm to almost 7am, he really only got eight and a half hours of sleep. This is pretty normal for Zane, but not enough for babies his age who should be getting 11-12. At least he's getting his nap quota now.

Well, right now he's had an almost 2 hour nap, but we had about 15 minutes of bucking and crying in the middle of it. I wish I knew what was wrong ... Hopefully tonight will go well. Every night I hope.

Monday morning. Phew, a pretty good night. Zane asleep at 8:30 and me at 9:30. Up for nursing at 12:30 and 4:30 for only 15 minutes each. He started to fuss after the 4:30 nursing, so I just brought him into bed so I could sleep, and we slept until 6:45! Yay! We both feel pretty good today.