Organically Growing

After a pretty long lull in the teething process, it appears as though Ryder has two new lower teeth coming in. The tell-tale white lumps have been showing up for a couple of weeks, but now they are hard and he is biting on everything!

It seems like things on the language development front have been moving so fast, I can hardly keep up myself, let along blog about it.

Here’s a little summary of all the nifty new tricks Ryder has put in motion over the last three weeks (or so), in as close to order of adoption as my memory will allow:

• Signing “more” at dinner
• Signing “milk”
• “do” – while pointing at dogs, everytime he hears a dog bark or spies one in a book (even the tiniest dog in the background he spots)
• Turns up his hands and shrugs when you ask him a question, as if to say, “I don’t know!”
• “du” – while pointing at ducks
• “ba” – while pointing at birds
• “ba ba” when he sees a sheep, including those on a flyer for Serta mattress, in a book and in reference to a stuffed toy.
• “ba” while collecting every ball in a 5 mile radius
• Signs for “banana”
• Will get all the different birds (stuffed, wooden, flash cards with bird pictures on them) out of the toy drawer when you ask him, “donde esta su pajaros?” 
• Can point to nose, eyes, teeth, belly button, tummy, MY belly button, head, feet and the nose on any toy when asked in English or Spanish (but he’s better in Spanish)
• Saying “ma ma”, as in “more more” while signing “more”
• Says “no” … but not to everything. He also shakes his head “yes”, so I think he gets the difference.
• We have blocks with animal pictures on them. He is learning the sounds (but mostly makes his mouth into the shape without any noise  coming out) for the following: Monkey, Owl, Chicken.
• Sticks his tongue out when he sees a picture of  a snake
• Bounces up and down for Kangaroo
• Claps for a Seal
• Moos everytime he sees a cow. Everywhere.
• Signs for “milk” whenever he’s thirsty
• Signs for “eat” when he wants a snack
• Says “papa” – potato
• Says “pulpo” – octopus in Spanish

It seems like Ryder’s development is going nuts in the last few weeks! He’s always been obessed with dogs (pointing them out and saying, “do” in every book, magazine and street corner), but now he is recognizing other anmials including: Bird (ba), Duck (du), Cow (va - as in vaca), Sheep (baba – as in the sound).

Also, when I show him the block with an Owl or Monkey on it, he shapes his mouth into an “o” as if you say, “whoo” or “ooo, eee”. So cute.

Other interesting stills learned to date: Pointing to nose, belly, belly button, hair, foot and teeth when asked in either English or Spanish.

So much fun!!

Last night went well. Ryder nursed at 10p, woke up at 1am crying and I spent about 30 minutes laying him back in the bed before he went to sleep until 5am. Came to bed with us. Feeling good.

On the flipside, he has a really bad diaper rash that has gone from bad to worse. This morning what was raw and red is now looking more like an open sore. A trip to see the ND at our pediatrician’s office didn’t do much to ease my mind. She diagnosed him with Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease and Fifths Disease before even looking at his bum. Fortunately, I’ve had so many weird interactions with this woman that I didn’t get too worried. Eventually was given an antibiotic ointment to use for a few days. They took a culture to see if it’s strep. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, so that’s good.

Oh, and the only reasonable explanation she gave was that perhaps he had eaten too much acidic food. Which is likely since he was on a strawberry bender for two days.

1. Laugh More
Remember that everyone is learning! I spent way too much time being critical of Marc for not putting a dirty diaper in the pail or for getting Ryder too excited before bedtime. This is time to share, learn together and have fun as a new family.

2. Buy good (cute) nursing bras and tanks
With any luck, you’ll be nursing for much of the first year which means you will get very, very tired of those ugly beige colored nursing bras. Buy something cute. And refresh your camis regularly! It’s amazing how good nice underthings can make you feel – even when you’re feeling like a cow.

3. Follow your instincts
Yes, you have them. One of the hardest things about being a new mom is learning to trust your instincts. You know what to do.

4. Stockpile breastmilk while you can
You never know if your supply will dry up before you’re ready or a friend may be in need.

5. Don’t put off your personal fitness
Of course, I’m not saying you should be jumping on the treadmill at 2 weeks postpartem, or going against doctors orders. But, for me – the 6 month mark was when the natural weight loss started to significantly slow down. If I had opted to hit the gym just a couple times a week and move toward getting back to even half of my pre-pregnancy workout schedule, I’m pretty certain I would buff and toned right now. Take advantage of the extra calorie burn with breastfeeding in the early months by working out a little bit (and you can still enjoy all the tasty cookies and treats!)

It was a goregous spring day in Seattle! Sunny and nearly 70 when I took our old flannel picnic blanket out to the front yard with my boy. I sat Ryder in the grass … which was kind of funny because he just kept rubbing his foot back and forth on the grass, but didn’t want to touch it otherwise. Once I moved him to the blanket, he would crawl all the way to the edge and try to reach for me without getting on the grass. He quickly got over his hesitation with the tickly green stuff when Marc put his Blackberry out for a “carrot.”

The fun really got going when he picked up a clod of dirt and promptly placed it in his mouth. Not delicious, yet he refused to give it up to me. Instead he made sour faces while mashing the muddy mess around in his teeth. A couple gulps of water and he was good to go.

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Marc’s right … I’ve lost my sense of humor and I need to get it back asap! The trouble is, nothing seems funny at 2am.

Take last night for example. Ryder woke up at 2am, started crawling around the bed and blabbering in his oh so cute (in the daytime) way. I heard Marc chuckling and he said, “isn’t he so cute?” And me, being grouchy and tired of having my hair pulled out by the roots could not find the cuteness nor the humor in it all.

This morning, I realized what I’m missing by being such a grouch. Marc manages to keep his good attitude at all hours of the day or night – truly enjoying each moment he gets to spend with Ryder. Now, maybe he gets to do that because he rolls over and goes back to sleep while I spend the next 30 minutes rocking or nursing the little guy back to sleep … but I will assume otherwise.

This whole parenting thing needs to be fun again. I remember the first week we had Ryder home and Marc and I laughed a lot (crazy from sleep deprivation?) while we learned out to change a diaper or give him a bath. We were in it together.

Now it seems like I’m taking on everything myself and getting increasingly grouchy for it. It’s time for me to let go (a little bit) and let Marc take the reins. He deserves it … and so do I!

Marc and I were sitting at Piccolino’s this afternoon having a cuppa joe. After reading an article in the Seattle Times about the 3 billion paper cups used at Starbucks every year, I got mine in a “for here” cup – a classic wide mouth porcelain cup/saucer. Ryder was on my lap and all was well going fine until I must have swung my mug too close to him and like the hellcat he is, he seized the opportunity to put his entire hand into my latte.

I cried, “help.” Marc jumped up to grab the cup. Long pause. Ryder assessed the situation and deemed it was cry-worthy. He wailed, in fact. The coffee wasn’t too hot to actually burn him, though I’m sure it was mighty warm on his fingers.

In a frenzy of wrestling with wrapping paper tonight, Ryder tried to pull himself up on a table (fists full of paper), only to slip and fall on one side. He banged his head on the floor, broke into crying hysterics and it was only after a minute of cuddling that we realized he had a bloody lip! One of his new teeth must have nicked his lip. It was so sad to see him crying and bloodied up, but our little bruiser recovered quickly and dried up his tears over a graham cracker. Yes, I’m comforting him with food.