Jekyll or Hyde?

We have entered the frustrated-toddler time. We knew it was coming, but were still unprepared for what has been unleashed upon us. Sure, you may think I’m being hyperbolic, especially because Felix is such a good boy when others are around. But … argh.

Felix is getting frustrated by not being able to get what he wants, do what he wants, or communicate with us. Coming in from outside before he wants to results in a puddle of boneless, grunting Felix on the floor. Frustration at not being able to use a fork results in the fork and as much food as he can get a hold of being flung on the floor, and whatever’s left on his tray being smeared around by flailing arms. Knowing the animal crackers are there, but me insisting that he make even the most half-hearted “more” sign before I give him another results in even more grunting and bonelessness.

There is a bright side. His desire to communicate means he’s picking up on words and signs pretty quick. The other day, he overheard a neighbor say “eat” and he signed “eat” (I wisely, IMHO, took him inside for dinner then). I’m trying to work on “please”, “thank you”, and “hurt” now.

And then there’s the sitting on other kids. This week, Felix has decided that he wants to sit on his classmates at day care. Where he’s getting these bullying tendencies from, I don’t know. Is he trying to get his pent-up frustrations out? Is he truly not able to differentiate between “gentle” and “hard”? In any case, his daily sheet from Tuesday had the note that he sat on at least one child's head during naptime. We don’t let him sit on us at home or hit us. I know this is probably just a phase, but is I’m hoping we can break him of this sooner. Unfortunately, I only hear about it after the fact, so my saying "friends are not chairs, cushions or pillows" doesn't have a great effect. I'm considering buying a doll for him to play with to help model gentle behavior.

He can be such a sweetie, but there are definitely Mr. Hyde tendencies in him.

He's also getting bumps and bruises like it's his job now.  Yesterday, I signed two accident reports at his day care.  On Tuesday, he banged the bridge of his nose on a table (second time for that in a week), causing it to bleed and get a little bruised.  Yesterday, he was bit on the hand by another child.  I left him at day care this morning saying that I did not want to sign an accident report today.  Days since last accident: 0.

Felix: 14 mos

Tempers and Tantrums

Felix threw his first tantrum this weekend, when we wouldn't let him have more cinnamon roll.  And again yesterday, when I wouldn't let him go outside at that minute.  Cue the grunting, flailing, stiffened back, and screaming.  I suppose I'm glad it took a nice long time for the temper tantrums to begin, but I still could have waited longer.

It probably hasn't helped that he's teething again.  Here's the best picture I've gotten so far with his bottom two teeth.  He cut his top right front tooth on Saturday.  After reading a bulletin board post about the effectiveness of dark versus light Baltic amber for teething pain (apparently light is better), I took his necklace off after his bath last night.  We proceeded to have the worst night of teething we've had since I got the necklace for him (presumably for the upper left front tooth).  I put it back on at 4 am, and he was better after that.  I think there's something to it.  I ordered two more for him, light yellow amber this time, so we'll be set with the next teeth.

Felix: 14 mos

Where did my baby go?

Sometime in the last few weeks, someone snuck in and replaced my baby with an adorable little man!  Maybe it was his grandparents on their recent visits.  Or maybe the start of football season is the cause.  Either way, Felix is a baby no longer.  He's getting better at walking, and currently has two speeds (stop and RUN!).  He loves rolling on pillows or cushions on the floor.  He's starting to sign when he wants something (yesterday morning he signed "food"), and has a few other simple words in his vocabulary.  He is a total boy, preferring to play with balls and cars.  He's also showing other preferences, like not wanting to sit in his car seat or wanting something we've just taken away.  Trying our patience, in other words.  I'm getting very good at distracting and toddler-wrangling.

Felix is also 14 months old as of Sunday, and still only has two teeth.  He's been working on the top ones for over a month now, and they're so close to cutting through.  I'm not used to seeing him with any teeth in his mouth, and I think having top ones will continue to throw me for a while.

I'm glad that fall is coming with its cooler weather, because we can dress Felix in his many, many pairs of overalls, and he looks so gosh darn cute!

Felix: 14 mos

Badger Family Fun Day!

On Sunday, Felix wasn't feeling like napping, so we decided to check out the Family Fun Day at Camp Randall.  It was pretty warm, but we parked close and had water and the stroller handy.  It's always a thrill to go down on the field (only my second or third time) and look around.  There were lots of players signing autographs and displays of equipment, plus free team posters and trading cards.  We had just entered and saw... Paul Bunyan's Axe!  Right there!  With no line!  Naturally, we had to get a picture.  The significance of the moment obviously hasn't struck Felix yet.

The next (and last because it was too darn hot out) thing we did was stand in line for Coach Bielema's autograph.  We finally got there, had him autograph the team poster, and took a picture of Felix with him (again, unimpressed).  It'll be fun to whip out if Bielema (or his successors) come a' recruitin'.  :o)

Felix: 13 mos

Bad to Worse to Better

Oh, the end of last week was bad. Bad, bad, bad. Felix developed a 102°F fever on Wednesday morning, so I had to go get him from daycare. The fever persisted into Thursday, so I stayed home with him again and took him to the doctor. His pediatrician looked him over top to bottom, checked out his ears, eyes, nose and throat, and pronounced him fine… except for the fever. So we went home to cool him down and wait it out. Because it was so warm at night in our bedrooms, we slept in the basement on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday night, Felix woke at 2:15 am fussing. We found his temperature had risen to 105.4°. That immediately put us into high gear. Instead of taking him straight to the ER, I called the nurse-on-call line through our health insurance. The nice nurse we talked to said that because he had just been to the doctor that day, the doctors in the ER were unlikely to find anything else wrong with him. She suggested we do everything we could to cool him down (difficult, since we were already in the coolest part of our house and Felix was only wearing a diaper) and keep him comfortable. Our sleep for the rest of the night was shot, since Felix fussed unless he was on/near me on the couch, and that wasn’t comfortable for either of us. He managed to fall back asleep a while later. The next morning, he had cooled down considerably, to the point we felt comfortable taking him to daycare. I had a field visit planned for that day, so I wasn’t around in case he really wasn’t ready to go back to daycare. Sure enough, just an hour after Nick dropped him off, we got a call saying we needed to come pick Felix up, since his temperature was back up to 102.7°. Argh! Nick picked him back up and stayed home with him. I was lucky enough to get back early to help out.

By Saturday morning, Felix’s fever had broken and he was doing much better. Then… teething struck. He started cutting what we assume are his top front teeth. Irritable, cranky, just plain unhappy. That was our Saturday and Sunday. Felix was back to his old pre-fever self on Monday (thankfully!), but he still hasn’t cut those teeth. I caved and went a bit granola yesterday, ordering a Baltic amber teething necklace from an Etsy seller in Latvia. Soon, Felix will be rocking his first piece of jewelry! I’ve heard a lot of anecdotal evidence that they work, and with a whole mouthful of teeth yet to cut, we’re willing to try it. Heck, it might even work!

Another new development yesterday - we have an official first word! Ball or “ba!” hasn’t been spoken again, leading us to wonder if it was just a babbling coincidence (he does know what a ball is, just not how to say it every time). Yesterday evening, Felix and I were crawling up the stairs. I pointed to the top and said “up!”. Felix took over the task, pronouncing “uh-puh” over and over (funny little “p” sound at the end). He still got it and said it today. Woo-hoo! First word! We can see the wheels turning as he figures out more about the world. It’s such a joy to watch him figure out something new - his face just lights up with a smile.

Felix: 13 mos

First word?

Forget Mama or Dada.  He's been saying those a lot, since he was 8 or 9 months old, but not specifically to either of us.  Mama is said mostly when he wants food or is eating.  Twice he has come to me saying mama, but he could have just been hungry, as usual.

What we've been waiting for is his first real word, and I think we got it this morning!  I held a little baseball up to Felix and he said "ba!"  Granted, I haven't heard an L-sound out of him yet, so it may have actually been ball that he tried to say.  What to you think - first word?

Felix is officially in the 1-year-old room, as of yesterday!  He seems to enjoy it.  This morning when I dropped off his bag in there, he went over to the toys, started playing, and gave me a huge smile.  I'm happy he's happy.

Felix: 12 mos

Moving Up a Room

Felix has started transitioning to the one-year-old room, and he's loving it. He spent a few days there last week, and apparently didn't like having to go back into the baby room. That's a good sign.

Felix's walking is improving, and he's also cutting his second tooth. The teeth are coming a little slower than I expected, but it's making it a little more manageable.

Nick had his left knee scoped on the 30th. He tore cartilage two years ago playing basketball and finally got around to fixing it. He's recovering well, though he's still pretty immobile.

We had visits recently from Nate and Laura with their son Jack (getting so big!), my family, and Nick's family. It's always nice to have company for a short period.

Felix: 12 mos