Friday, October 24, 2008

Darth Vader or Cowardly Lion...

If they only sold finger-flavored teethers...

Did anyone else's kid go through the spitting food phase? Have to say - not my fave. Someone has rediscovered his ability to blow raspberries. I have no problem with it 80% of the time but once food enters the picture, two words: Jackson. Pollock. The annoying part (aside from, oh, the spitting) is that I can't get mad about it. It's not like he's spitting at me - it just happens to land on my face and my hair and the floor. I'm not even sure if there's anything I can do to curb it. He's not old enough to understand taking the food away and I'm trying to limit the use of the big N-O for major infractions (like flipping on his stomach and trying to crawl off the changing table. Dude! Enough already). I feel like I spend the bulk of our day telling him not to do things. Yesterday we went to a Baby and Me yoga class and the boy went gonzo. He cackled and shouted and kept trying to kiss all the babies which was adorable. Unfortunately he's still mastering the art of the pucker so his "kisses" are more like open-mouthed mawlings. Combine manic excitement with lots of plump, biteable baby cheeks and some fancy new teeth and you've got lots of cuddly little lawsuits on your hands. I hated having to tell him no when he was just trying to get his love on, but he'd already pulled a little girl's hair ("Gentle petting! Gentle!") so I wasn't taking any chances. I try to find ways of getting around overt discipline (redirect! redirect! redirect!) but playing Bad Cop, even for his own good, just makes me feel hovery and mean.

In other news, my baby is turning into a Muppet. TEETH! So many teeth! So much pain because of so many teeth! It must get pretty bad because whenever I go to his crib I find him latched onto the railing, gnawing away. He refuses to take a teether (plastic, wood, cold washcloth - you name it, he's refused it) and won't me near him with the Orajel (not that I blame him. Have you tasted that stuff?) and there's only so much Tylenol/Motrin a gal feels comfortable dosing. Luckily it hasn't seemed to affect his sleep, unlike the 5 bags of Halloween candy his mother is quickly working her way through.

I took the boy to Central Park for the first time today. Man that place is great. I had forgotten that the nearby schools use the park for gym class and we had fun watching 7-year-olds running laps under the trees. I parked the boy near a trumpet player and tried to keep him from eating leaves. I know it's almost November but I'm still surprised by how quickly winter is coming. The leaves are changing, the temperature is falling, and I seem to have thrown out every stitch of winter clothing. (I blame a hormone-induced pique while pregnant last year.) Still, it's my favorite time. Layering! Red wine! Fondue suddenly acceptable! Not to mention the fact that in 8 weeks my baby will be one year old. I haven't even come up with his Halloween costume yet...

8 comments:

Fraulicious said...

I love your blog. Our kids are almost the same age (mine will be one in two and a half weeks) and she's also into the spitting-food right now and teething. Not to mention trying to throw herself off the changing table. I may have to direct people that ask me about my daughter to your blog and just ask them to substitute her for his ... you describe things so much more eloquently :)

Fraulicious said...

Oh, and cute pic!

Ali said...

Thanks! That just made my day! (And almost made up for the fact that I lost my stuffing this morning after the boy's 9th attempt to crawl off the changing table. 5 am is waaaay too early for such shinanegans.)

Missy said...

Ahh th no years. What fun. I am glad to hear that you are not going the take the food away route. I know love and logic devotees would disagree with me and you on that one. Love and logic has it's good points, but my biggest complaint is that it ofen does not seem to take in to account a child's developmental abilities across the ages. You can't convince me that a 10 month old equates the removal of food with spitting or other such infractions. But enough of my soap box.

I vote cowardly lion for halloween. Let's face it, you will only have a few precious years to dress him in the cute costumes you love before he will begin to insist upon other things that may not be as exciting to you.

Ali said...

What's Love and Logic? Not that I will investigate it, seeing as how I've sworn off any guidance books. (Guidance from friends, however...)

Missy said...

It is a rather popular parenting method. I don't recommend reading the book at this point in parenting. It has some good ideas,but I can not prescribe to the whole method.

Woman with a Hatchet said...

LionLionLionLionLionLionLionLionLionLion.

Why would you cover that FACE! *squeezes cheeks*

As for the changing table, we have to full-on wrestle Logan. Half the time I have to throw a forearm across his chest to finish changing him. Sometimes it's just safer to change them on the floor. Emma isn't near as bad. Caitlin was easy-peasy in retrospect!

Oh and Love & Logic worked for me with Caitlin until about 5. Now she's a nutjob and I can't L&L her anymore. Nothing seems to work but threatening to punish her and actually punishing her. Putting the twins at risk is not something I can be all calm, loving and rational about. Siiigh.

Missy: help!

Oh and...

LionLionLionLionLionLionLionLionLionLion

Anonymous said...

You could do the trick where you lay baby down on the floor between your legs (feet towards your crotch) and rest your legs on his arms. May seem medieval but it is really effective, and makes the whole process a lot quicker (and better than having him roll off the table). Great for giving medicine too.

I'm voting Lion too. You have many years of super-heroes (and manly-men characters) ahead of you.