Bubble Boy

Kids Are Losers Too

Tonight while watching -- more like it was on and I was doing other things-- a football game, a preview of the new season of The Biggest Loser came on the television. I haven't watched much of the show. I am familiar with the concept, and I have watched here and there. I think it's great how most of the contestants find it a life changing experience, and improve their lives for their friends, families, and most of all for themselves. I think it takes a lot of courage for those who are ridiculed, and sometimes on their way to an early death, to go on national television determined to make a change for the better.

When I saw the newest season preview, I was VERY surprised when I saw kids on the screen. For the first time in it's history The Biggest Loser has a few contestants (I'm not sure how many) who are between the ages of 13 and 17. My initial reaction was not only of surprise but I was unsure if this was a wise idea. The adult contestants usually have a VERY difficult go on the whole. So how would a 13 year old do? Also, the ridicule an over weight teen undergoes on a daily basis could just be exasperated when displayed on national television.

However, my next train of thought made me a believer in the idea. If by doing this competition these teens are able to make a life change early in life, they may be avoiding further humiliation and health issues in their future. If the coaches on the show are able to instill in the youth a healthy life style, and mold their futures, they could be saving their lives.

The commercial I saw is not the video link I have here. In the preview on television there was a short bit about a young boy who said his body would not do what he wanted it to because he was suffering from obesity. If this show can illustrate to him how to live a long healthy life, then I am on board.

Jillian Michaels talked about it here. And you can watch a preview here.

What are your thoughts?

He's a Genius I Swear

18 month check up was awesome. Of course my skinny little boy only gained one pound putting him at a whopping... 20 pounds! And he grew another inch as well. Talk about tall and skinny!

In other news... this just in... my son is in fact a prodigy. His vocabulary is now at 60+ words. To which our doctors said, "WHAT?!" The average, apparently, for children his age, including the ever superior girls, is 4-10 words. 4-10! What the crap?!

I'm not sure where he gets his averages. But here is what I found:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_your-18-month-olds-language-and-cognitive-development-speaki_1213794.bc
http://www.babycenter.com/400_my-18-month-old-still-doesnt-say-a-whole-lot-of-words-when-c_865181_753.bc
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Pediatrics-1429/2010/4/words-17-18-month.htm
http://www.parents.com/blogs/red-hot-parenting/2012/02/23/health/the-25-words-a-2-year-old-should-be-saying/

So, from just what I can find on these websites the range is anywhere from 4- 50 words. Who knows!

I'm sticking to my original assumption.... Gideon is a genius.

Firsts

There is a first for everything. Or so they say.

We have experienced many firsts with Gideon.

First steps
First teeth
First food
First word
First time sleeping through the night (which we have had... though not consistently yet)

And now... first time out. Yes, there is even a first for discipline! Two of Gideon's favorite things to do are bite, and hit in the face. Two things I severely dislike. In fact both make my skin boil and I want to shove my fist in his face and rip out his brain. Of course, I have resisted, and instead take my revenge by enlisting the "time out chair". Really it's more of a little stool.

I have a little, I'm not sure how to call it, stool. It's more like a step, but anyway, it's big enough for him to sit on, but still have his feet hit the ground. We've been struggling with him for a while now with these two issues, and felt he was not ready developmentally for time out... until now.

So at the first opportunity I placed him in time out. And, so far it has worked. He has not bitten me since he was in time out. I will not call it success yet, but it worked so far.

Also, I start a new job tomorrow. So going to bed asap.

Busy, But Not Really

I'd like to say I've been really busy. And in a way I have. But in a whole other way I haven't.

Much has happened. The school where I taught Kindergarten, and also loved all the staff and families at, closed on September 29th. It was a terrible, tragic event. I won't go into all the specifics because this is not the venue. But this means that I have been a "stay at home mom" since the closure. And I do mean stay at home. More like "you have to stay home because there is not enough money to go and do anything, so all you can do is sit and get bored at home".

Luckily Daniel does have a part time job, that as of late has actually been closer to full time, so we do have some income coming in. It's not much, but it is something, and anything helps. But that would be why I'm stuck at home.

I have been looking up things to do at home with Gideon to keep us both busy. There's only so many times a day I can go on a walk, and play the theme song from "How I Met Your Mother" for him to dance to.

By the way, I know I said he had one tooth, he actually got four teeth in two weeks. And now, after careful investigation, I can feel some more teeth coming in. But of course my son is always different so the teeth are not the expected. I looked up this chart:

Source: healthmad.com via Allyson on Pinterest

As you can see my son should have not only his central incisors, which he does, but also his lateral incisors. He should also have his canines and first molars coming in. So, instead of having his lateral incisors coming in,  which is what SHOULD be coming in, the teeth I felt coming in are definitely the first molars on the top.

Now I need to go tend to my four tooth wonder.

"An Heir and a Spare"?

Lately I have been seriously entertaining the thought that one child is enough. This thought process began right after Gideon was born simply due to the pain of labor. Since that time, however, it has escalated to be more of a parenting preference than out of the burden of offspring.

I, as with many other parents, was asked immediately after Gideon was born, when not if we would have more children. It was never "if", it was always "how many". The more I read, the more common I find this type of comment.

At first, as I said, I didn't want to go through labor again. But since then I went from not being able to function without sleep for another 6 months- God knows how long, to not wanting to have to balance love and affection, funds, etc. on more than one child.

I've read several articles about pros and cons of having an only child. Apparently, these families of three are becoming more common. Women having only one child has gone from somewhere below 20% to over 20% in the last ten years. Many studies now are also showing that the stereotypes of "onlies" (not my term) are not always accurate. In fact many only children have higher IQ's and achieve more in school, and are closer with their parents. What more could I want than a genius child who worships me?

That said, there are also plenty of reasons why having more kids is beneficial. But, it seems to me that the only person it benefits is the current child. Most of the "pros" have been things like having a life long friend, or having someone to help take care of the parents when they're old. How does that benefit me?

Needless to say the debate is still going on in my head. I am completely torn. Having one child is hard enough financially, emotionally, and physically (you don't even want to know what my boobs look like), to think about doing it all over again is a bit daunting.

Here are some of the most helpful articles I've read in case you are interested:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/15/single-child-families - You'll have to get beyond the UK slang.
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/whats-wrong-with-having-one-child/
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=2178396&page=1#.UD2XqcFlTeg
http://www.bellybelly.com.au/child/one-child-families-advantages-disadvantages-of-having-one-child

News

After 15 months of waiting we have a tooth! Right smack dab on the top (of course my son who is different in every which way would get teeth on the top first). Everyone I have seen whether a friend, family member or stranger always says, "How old is your son? And he doesn't have any teeth?!"

To which my reply was "Shut your dirty pie hole you god forsaken wench!"

Ok, not really. Mostly I just said, "Yeah, I know."

But many people were very supportive giving me examples of people they knew whose children did not get a tooth until very late, sometimes even 18 months.

So it is with great pride that I announce the arrival of Gideon's first tooth. And there are many more behind it. We can see one more on the top and a couple on the bottom.

Apparently new teeth should be accompanied by the use of the most annoying word a toddler can say, "no". I guess I should just be thankful it took this long for him to learn that word.

In other news, sleeping is finally getting better. His is still waking up at night but only once or twice a night, which is TOTALLY fine by me. Our pediatrician thinks this is a big problem, and suggested we "ferberize" Gideon. I, of course, don't agree. Call me a hippie-new-age-thinker, but I feel like Gideon just took longer in this arena. A friend of mine (you know who you are), told me not long ago that she thinks sometimes kids just need their mom and dad a little more some nights when they are working through something. I think Gideon was just taking his time and enjoying being with mom and dad. I am under the impression that he will grow out of this waking up in the night and will eventually not need our help anymore.

Also, the kid is growing only up and not out. He is only 19 pounds. I'm not surprised by his weight since I was always very thin as a child, but his height is definitely NOT from me. He is 32 inches tall. Somewhere in the 95% as I'm told. If he keeps this up he'll be taller than me by 5 years old.

We're up to about 20 words now which is fun. Of course we are usually the only people who understand his 20 words, but there they are none-the-less.

Life carries on...

This is what we do...

D got a job. Finally. It's been a year. It's not the most exciting job, but it is doing what he wants to do, so that is a definite plus.

I am off of work at the moment so Gideon and I have been spending a lot of time doing... what we do. Swimming in the kiddie pool, going for (very short due to the heat) walks, taking naps, and this....

Cheapies

Being on a budget is difficult. Very difficult. We are lucky to have three sets of very generous parents, and a slew of generous people who love our son. We haven't had to buy much for him at all except for diapers and wipes. Most of his clothes and toys have come from baby showers, and gifts over the past year.

But every once in a while we HAVE to buy something for the boy. Like a new "big boy" car seat. One of my best friends, and fellow mommy, told me about this website. BabySteals.com where they post a special item twice a day. Things like diaper bags, and baby carriers at half, or more off the original price.

For those of us watching our money, this is a life saver. If your kid is older, not to worry they also have "steals" for the big kids too.

So this may have been an advertisement, but I promise I'm not getting paid for it. Though if the baby steals peeps wanna throw something my way I would gladly accept! Anyway, I know that many of us are counting our pennies these days and this can help everyone out.

One and Some

I could be the worst mommy blogger ever. It's taken me almost a whole month to post on Gideon's first birthday. The big one. He is crazy. He is wonderful. Everyone is always commenting on how cute he is and I'm sorry but I can't be humble or modest about it, I just say, "I know, right?"

He is RUNNING around, he squats down and gets up. He falls down, and usually doesn't even cry about it, but just gets right back up and runs.

And the kid is skinny. 10th percentile. Meanwhile, 90th percentile for height, and 75th percentile in head circumference! Holy God! It's amazing the kid doesn't fall over from the weight of that noggin.

It seems like I'm in a time warp sometimes. It can't really be possible that a year ago the baby was born. Not only that, but I was already back at work. I only took 3 weeks off. Three weeks! Physically I was totally ready. Emotionally, I am still not ready. I thought eventually it would be no problem leaving for work in the morning. But it is a problem. I am so jealous of the time D has with him. Every day I wish I could just stay home and cuddle and play. Stay at home moms, you have a hard job, but you also have the best job. I would give anything to trade places.

Now, our sleeping is a roller coaster. Some nights are great, some are terrible. I don't know what it is. I do the same routine, at the same time every night. Two nights ago I thought we had a breakthrough. The kid didn't wake up until 4:45 AM! I thought I died. It was awesome. I even had drool dripping from my mouth when I woke up. So when I put him to bed last night, I was hopeful. I thought maybe we would have a repeat.

WRONG!

Kids goes down at 9:30. Wakes up at 11:30. Wakes up at 1:30. Wakes up at 5:15, at which point D decides to spread out all over the bed, and well I have to get up in an hour anyway, so I lay the monster down and leave.

I'm not sure what we are doing wrong. I feel like we are doing everything right, and yet the boy is still waking up. This is the sole reason I keep feeling like I don't want to have anymore kids. I'm being serious. I cannot take another year or two (God help us if it takes that long) of my life living like a zombie. I.just.can't. So unless something improves, we may be a family of three.

Huge

One year ago today was my due date. I was living on the edge of my seat, with every practice contraction an omen of what was to come. I was anxious and excited, and had no idea what was going to happen.

The day came and went. I was sad... and fat. Here's proof:

I went to work that day and everyone said, "You shouldn't be here." or "What are you doing here?" or "You don't even look like you've dropped."

All things a 9+ month pregnant woman wants to hear. 

It all worked out in the end I suppose. 

Sleep-less Beauty

I feel like I am on a roller coaster of sleep. We started keeping the kid in his crib all night. I'm not bringing him to bed anymore, and D is being awesome and helping me with getting up and putting the monster back down. Some nights, like Sunday, he only woke up twice. TWICE! And he only nursed once. It was the best night of sleep I have had in over a year, as I didn't sleep terribly well while incubating. But then the very next night, last night... oh God... a little something like this:
9:15- in bed
12:30- wake up and get put back to sleep
1:30- wake up, nurse and go back down
2:00- wake up, and get put back to sleep
2:30- wake up, and get put back to sleep
3:30- wake up, cry forEVER- mom wants to poke her eyes out, nurse, fall asleep, but NEVER GO BACK TO SLEEP!!!!!!

We tried putting him back down, but he INSISTED on staying up. Our solution: get out of bed at 5 AM and have breakfast all together- something we NEVER get on the weekdays.

So work was, well, interesting. I can't say I was all there. To top it off I think my allergies are attacking me.

Here's hoping tonight the roller coaster is set to coast.

Hands Up!

I love that when babies start to run they throw their hands up for balance. It is by far the cutest thing Gideon has done. We were told it would be a fast transition from walking to running. The books/blogs/parents didn't lie. All the boy does is run laps around the living room. And we are blessed/cursed with a dare devil. The kid has no problem when he eats it face first into the ground. He's running, full speed, then BAM! eats it hard, crawls over to whatever is close, stands up, and gets to running again. No tears, no whining.

I have been getting a lot of advice: (thank you very much!) on sleep solutions. Nothing has changed yet. In  fact last night I suffered this sleep log:
11:20- get him from the crib and give him a teet.
12:20- roll over to the other side and pull out boob.
1:20- roll over and pull out boob.
3:20- roll over and pull out boob.
5:20- roll over and pull out boob.
6:15- final alarm clock goes off. Because, well,  I set 4.

That's what it's been like the last couple weeks. I want to stab myself in the eye.

Other than that the boy is a joy.

God save me from my restless nights....

Sleeping.... or not....

I realize that I have posted bits on this same subject in the past, but as I have a baby/ toddler (wow that sounds weird) it is an ongoing conversation.

I don't remember learning how to sleep. I must have. I had to learn how to eat, crawl, walk, talk, read, so I must have learned how to sleep. All the books/blogs/articles/well-to-do old ladies, say babies have to learn to sleep. I'm almost certain (though to be fair I've never asked) that my parents used the cry-it-out method on my brother and I. I can feel the judgement of my parents, and others from their generation and older, when I talk about not letting G cry-it-out, or running out of the room when we hear him crying on the monitor.

It is against every fiber in my being to let my baby cry alone, in the dark. I just don't think I could live with myself knowing that my baby cried himself to sleep. He needs to know we are there. If I learned anything from child development it's that the biggest fear of children is abandonment. ABANDONMENT. And you're telling me to let my son scream and cry for his mommy and I SHOULDN'T RESPOND????? No. I.can.not.do.it.

Now, for those who have used the cry-it-out/Ferber method, and it worked for you. Kudos. You are made of steel. And seriously, no judgement here. I believe you have to do what works for you and your family.

But, for me I feel that when my baby cries, I need to respond. I need to instill in him that mommy is here, and will always be here. Ok, I know I'll die one day, but we don't need to look that far in the future.

That said, Gideon is still not sleeping through the night. And yes I am talking about the pediatric "sleeping through the night" of 5 hours. He still wakes, usually several times a night. Several meaning at least 3 times. Often he wants to nurse. I am well aware he doesn't need to nurse especially when he latches on and immediately falls back to sleep. The boy loves a boob. He needs it when I get home from work, when he's hurt, going to sleep, waking up...

Now, he is good about going right back to sleep, but when he's just going to wake up again in 1-2 hours, it's not really something to be happy about. Especially when he wakes up at 4:30 and I get up at 6.

And society is telling me that he should have been sleeping through the night (5 hour blocks) at 3-4 months. Now when people ask (because it's one of those stock questions), "Is he sleeping through the night?" I hide my head in shame and say, "No" and scurry away before the judgement begins.

But then I read this: http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2012/04/liner-whiner-notes-423.html . And even though Rebecca's twins are 6 months old, and Gideon is 11 months old, I somehow find comfort in the fact that there is at least one other mother in the world who struggles with her baby(ies) not conforming to what our perceptions of "healthy" babies are. So thank you Rebecca. As always you bring new light to old conversations. I am truly grateful to know you.

Any advice? Seriously. I'm not interested in letting the boy cry, but I am interested in sleep.

Hopefully before he's one.....

On Walking and "Family Restaurants"

Tonight I broke out the milestone calendar that I have so willingly neglected. My mom, knowing that I am NOT a scrapbooker, bought me a milestone calender when G was born. It's basically a calendar to keep track of all the cool stuff your kid does so you can brag about how smart he is. I am way behind. I mean so far behind that I missed about a dozen things. Things is I don't feel bad about it. I mean really what does it matter to know when your child turned over? Really? When Gideon is applying for college is he going to say "I began crawling when I was 5 months old." No. He isn't. That's if he even chooses to go to college.

I am all about bragging about the brilliance of my son. Believe me. He is my favorite subject. And that's above food. But, seriously, when did it become a competition?

That said, I dusted off the ol' calendar, filled in the *cough* 5 *cough* months I missed and added a new milestone; steps. Gideon took his first steps tonight. Yes you read that right; stepS, with a capital S... at the end... as in plural... as in holy shit did that just happen?!!!! The answer? Yes it did. And I screamed and yelled, and probably scared any other steps right out of his little legs with my excitement/fear.

It seemed surreal (just like every other thing that the kid does). We were sitting around, Gideon was standing at the ottoman, just like always and I reached my arms out to him just to see what would happen. He looked at me, turned toward me, and step, step, step. WHAT?????!!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!

Let's see if he'll do it again. Step, fall. OH MY GOD HE DID IT AGAIN!!!!!

Then it was turbo time. The hour before bed time when he goes into turbo mode and crawls around like crazy and does.not.stop. No I'm serious. He does not stop until I pick him up and take him to bed.

As a minor note, how can a restaurant be "family friendly" if they don't have a stinking changing table in the bathroom? This isn't just little hole in the wall restaurants either, there are major chains, that carry highchairs and claim to be "family friendly", and yet there is NO F-ing CHANGING TABLE!!! It didn't used to bother me so much. G was small enough to change his diaper in the car, but now that he is 11 months old, he is way to big. I have actually been putting him in the trunk to change him. I mean really, how much do those tables cost that so many restaurants are without them? Really, really?

Enough. I'm rambling. One more month to the big ONE...

10 Months

Could it be? Only 2 months until the one year mark. We have begun planning the big event, and already it seems daunting. Mostly because of the unwanted advice I get from people. "Make it about you", "That food will take too long", "That's too many people", "That's not enough people". All I want is to throw a low key get together to celebrate the fantastic being that is Gideon, and all I get is nay say, nay say, nay say.

I CAN DO IT WITHOUT YOUR INPUT!!!!!!!!!!

That said, we are having a robot theme and welcome any ideas on decorations, etc. So long as they are positive! (Insert happy, winking smile here.)

Gideon's growth has come to a bit of a plateau. He weighs just about the same and is about the same height as he was two months ago. He is now 50% in height, 10% in weight, and 75% in head circumference. 75%!!!!!!! Holy God he has a HUGE head. Except it doesn't really look it. If that's what it's been this whole time though, God bless my vagina! Apparently it's been through the ringer, even more than I thought.

I think I could probably watch him all day long. He is so busy with his toys and crawling around. I think he has become content with crawling so he has no interest in walking on his own. He can stand on his own well, and takes steps while holding our hands, but then gets down and books it via hand and knees wherever he wants to go.

His favorite things are crawling, and waving. He just learned to clap, so I think that will quickly rise to the top of the list.

Who knows what's next?

Eight Months... Almost

Gideon is now almost eight months old. In just 4 days I will have an 8 month old baby boy. Who the doctor expects will be walking within a month. We just met our new doctor, who we like very much. I have no doubt I will be looking up to my son by the time he is 12. He is now in the 80 percentile for height. The boy has tall genes... too bad they skipped me.

Joy abounds in our home. Seriously abounds. Even with only one income to speak of, we are finding happiness in watching our son flourish in everything he does.

D has a serious job opportunity also, so that adds to the joy.

Time marches on....