April 1, 2011

Life of Wilder: Week Eighteen

Soooo, yeah, the Tooth Fairy's evil step-brother, the Tooth Monster, has chosen Week Eighteen to strike our house with full force. At least I hope this is full force because I don't think we can handle anything worse than what poor Wilder's been going through the past few days. As you know he started chewing on things a couple of weeks ago but now he's gnawing on everything he can get his hands on (even his hands) and usually cries while he does it, is much less interested in eating, is super irritable for a lot of the day, and wakes up at night crying in pain. I've tried using Orajel but I'm pretty sure it washes off immediately and probably numbs his tongue and throat more than his gums. He gets the worst look on his face when I offer him frozen teething rings and it's hard for him to hold most things in his mouth in order to chew on them in a satisfactory manner so he's been resorting to his poor little fingers when I'm not there to hold something between his gums. He managed to chew on one of my fingers the other day and it hurt like hell so it makes me feel awful to see him gnawing on his tiny little ones. Infants' acetaminophen helps but not quickly enough. 

A friend of mine, Brittany, had blogged a while back about some teething tablets that were a lifesaver when her son Ryder was teething. So the other day I walked Wilder down the street to look for them at Walgreens, CVS, and Fresh-n-Easy where they were out of stock at every store. I thought "Man, there sure are a lot of teething babies in my neighborhood!" but, alas, that wasn't the case. When I got home and googled the tablets it turns out they had been recalled. Luckily I then typed in "teething" on Amazon and found a plethora of teething solutions, including a different brand of tablets and a couple of cute and easy-to-hold things to chew on. Hopefully my mini teething-themed shopping spree will help my sweet little Wilder ward off the Tooth Monster more effectively. I hate seeing him in pain and feeling so helpless! Plus, I'm not about to let that awful Tooth Monster mess up the awesome sleep schedule he's been on for the last six weeks. As it is, this is what I've been waking up to at ungodly hours on the monitor this week:

So, anyway, that's been the big thing going on with us this week. What else... We're soooo enjoying having Paul home on break. Wilder absolutely adores him and it's so cute seeing them together. Normally when I nurse Wilder we sit in the recliner with Wilder's back to the couch. Now that Paul's been home so much he's often sitting on the couch behind Wilder so now every time I sit him up to burp him he turns around to look at Paul. Even when Paul isn't sitting there he still turns around to look for him. It is seriously the sweetest thing ever. I'm going to be so sad when Paul goes back to school and is rarely there when Wilder looks for him. But, I don't want to think about that right now. Now I'm just enjoying these moments with all three of us together. 

So, I was going to take Wilder to Gymboree on Monday to check it out, but that morning the teacher called and said that day's class was really full and she didn't want us to be overwhelmed for our first class so we rescheduled for Thursday. But then on Thursday we decided to go ahead and drive up to the LA area to pick up Paul's computer. We were supposed to do it on Friday but freeway traffic is such a nightmare anyway it would be the absolute worst with everyone trying to get home/go out of town for the weekend and we wanted to avoid that as much as possible. I didn't really mind missing Thursday's class anyway. I saw the girl I met at the dog park last week again on Monday and she said the ladies in the Thursday class were a little, shall we say, hoity-toity. As in, they dress up their kids in tutus and jeans for class, have designer diaper bags, and Louis Vuitton changing pads. Soooo not my scene. Anyway, we're definitely going to Gymboree this coming Monday barring any other unforeseen circumstances. Hopefully we'll even make it to yoga on Wednesday too. All this traveling and teething has had us totally messed up but I'm ready to start getting out of the house again.

Yesterday we went to pick up Paul's computer, like I said, and since La Habra was on our way I had Paul drop Wilder and me off at Amber's house to have a little playdate with her and Henry. Henry has now officially taken his first steps on his own -- so proud of that little dude! Wilder was fascinated by and, I think, a little jealous of all Henry's moving around. He desires the super-power of self-locomotion more than anything else in the world (except maybe an instant, pain-free set of pearly whites). Whenever he's on his stomach, which is most of the time these days, he is working his arms and legs and huffing and puffing so much you'd think he was swimming the English Channel, although to his great frustration he's not going anywhere but maybe a few centimeters. Also, now whenever I prop him up in a sitting position he does little baby crunches trying to sit up by himself. If he can't do it he straightens out his whole body in a prostrate, overly-dramatic "I give up" pose. This boy just wants to MOVE! And I have a feeling that once he does, Lord help me, he's never going to stop. 

Kicking those legs
Pushing up on his arms
Trying to sit up
Playing with cousin Henry
Playing (and chewing on those darn fingers)

Since Wilder's go-to mood has been set to "irritable" this week I've been going out of my way to entertain him and make him happy. This has resulted in a couple of cute videos, even though by now pretty much as soon as he sees my phone pointed at him he turns the enthusiasm down about 8 notches. 

To our great delight we've discovered that 
Wilder is ticklish under his chin(s)...

Also, even though I know he is totally infatuated with Paul, 
it gave me a huge confidence boost the other day when I got this on video...

This weekend I think we're going to try to go hike part of the Torrey Pines trail with Wilder and just enjoy spending more time with Paul. Also, Paul and I desperately need a date night so that's my next project -- finding a babysitter. Several friends of ours have offered to watch Wilder for us, but he goes to bed at 6:30-7:00 every night so really all they would be doing is sitting bored at our house being bothered by the dogs for a couple of hours instead of getting to play with the baby so I kind of feel bad asking them to do that. However, if any of those friends are reading this and don't mind doing that please let me know ;)


Here are a couple more cute pictures from this week...
 Asleep with his links in his hand on the 
way to see Amber and Henry
Alright guys, hope everyone has a great weekend! I have a super-duper sandwich recipe waiting for you on next week's Mid-Week Minute so stay tuned :)

3 comments:

  1. MaryCollis got her first tooth this week! I can tell you this: The weeks leading up to the tooth are much worse than the tooth actually popping through. Promise! From experience, Orajel doesn't work... but I actually have some teething tablets (bought before the recall), and they don't really work either. :( I know it's tough... but there is hope! MaryCollis has taken the best and longest naps ever this week! Must be exhausting cutting teeth!

    ps. i LOOOOVE the "mama" video!!!

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  2. I think I'm going to need to read some products reviews from this teething inspired shopping spree. So far, none of my purchased have helped and I need some new ideas!

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  3. Thanks for the encouragement Annalee! And yes, I'll definitely let you know if anything I got is the miracle cure, Kayla. Unfortunately, I didn't have the forethought to pay for expedited shipping so I'm still waiting (very impatiently) on my order :( Product reviews to come though!

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