9 Month Post October 4, 2008

Have no camera. It is in Montreal with K, but this is from 10/1.

Stats:

• Weighs in at just under 22 pounds.
• Dunno how tall, but doesn’t seem much taller than before
• Cruising
• Standing on his own a couple of times
• “walks” between couch and coffee table
• Eating some table food
• Likes to bang on things
• Is increasingly curious about his world–is starting to look under our furniture for things
• Times eating cat food-2

captain Destructo

I am flying to TX sans Daddy at the end of the month. E has been a great traveler and flyer so far, but he was much less mobile. I am scared to death of being THAT mom with THAT baby. You know the one. I came across this online. I love it.

• There needs to be a word for babies that aren’t really babies anymore: Nine to 12 months, when they can’t walk or talk, but they can stay awake for hours, pull a shelf of books down on their heads and stick their finger in electric sockets. I vote for “Destructo.” Our boy hit the Destructo phase six weeks ago. He used to be the easiest, happiest kid! He could play with the same toy for an hour. He could sleep in restaurants or be smuggled into movies. No more. Now he gets his kicks from sticking his face in a dog bowl, or opening a drawer, pulling out all the clothes, then opening and shutting it until he slams his finger.You don’t want to travel with Destructo. We flew cross-country two weeks ago and I am still drinking two glasses of wine every night to recover. OK, three. All right, it’s a whole bottle. It was just me and him on the way back. Think about holding a 25-pound fish that’s wiggling to get back into the ocean for six hours as the fish emits bloodcurdling screams and you’re stressing that everyone hates you. Does that sound like fun? The one silver lining was the 12 different times we went to the bathroom. Destructo really liked the sound the toilet made when it flushed so I kept flushing it even though I was probably harming the atmosphere. When toilet flushing is the highlight of any trip, you know you’re in trouble.

  Some tips if you’re ever on a plane with me and Destructo. First, don’t empathize by telling me, “I know how it is, I just flew with our baby for 12 hours, although he slept the whole way.” Great! I’m glad your perfect kid slept the whole way and mine didn’t! UP YOURS! Second, don’t say, “Don’t worry about us, we’re used to this.” What does “this” mean? Being tortured? Just read your Vanity Fair and shut your piehole. Third, don’t keep glancing back sadly like you feel bad for me! Just don’t! Fourth, if he falls asleep, don’t walk by me and say loudly, “He finally fell asleep, huh?” Unless you want a dirty diaper stuck in your carry-on bag. Fifth, if you’re the pilot, don’t interrupt us every few minutes because you’re excited that we might get in four minutes early, or that we’re flying over the Grand Canyon when it’s pitch-black. You’re lucky that door was locked. And sixth, when it’s over, don’t pretend that Destructo was good as I’m holding clumps of my own hair in my hands and staring into space like a mental patient.

  Here’s what you can do: If you’re the flight attendant, keep bringing me wine like the nice lady did throughout our flight. I don’t know where you are, honey, but thank you again! And thanks for not judging me as I stumbled off the plane like Heather Locklear. No jury would convict me.

Not like the other babies

I bought E a Playskool popup toy. I thought, how could a kid go through babyhood without one of these? Push the button and SURPRISE an animal! I was so excited to see his reaction because he loves to play peekaboo. After extracting the toy from the 17 million twist ties made of titanium (why are they so hard to untwist?), I set it up for him to explore. The first time the panda pops up, nothing. The lion pops up, nothing. The monkey. Whatever. He just looked, like , eh big deal Mom. But as we played with it more, he started to do the funniest thing. As soon as I would pop one open, he would close it. Over and over, Mommy opens and E closes. He likes them closed to the point that if I open all of them, he will flip it over to close them all at once. He’s a funny one, this EMO.

Check out the concentration. He is all business.

All Nite Diner

I am done with it. Last night, I wore this sports bra that has about 15 hook and eye clasps (for reals, if you have large breasts Enell is the ONLY sports bra to mess with) to make it harder to just serve them up to the crying baby. I have begun wondering if the nighttime nursing isn’t adding to our problems…can the milk drip into the sinuses and add to the infections? Probably. So, long story short, the bar was closed. He went down at 7:30, was up at 10:40, 11:50, and 12:40. At 12:40 he was flipping out. Arching his back, crazy manic crying, not even picking him up and holding/rocking helped. I thought I was done for, but I wanted to stick with my plan so I gave him a bottle. He sucked down about 3 out 4 oz and drifted off into sleep. I was sure he would be up at the hour mark as he had been earlier…but lo and behold I woke up at 5:45! YAY! Four hours is huge right now. Especially in the wee hours of the morning.

Him want eat it

The infection rages on October 3, 2008

Eric has had ear infections for going on 5 weeks now. We are on our 3rd antibiotic, 4x in one year. Our ped said he is on the fast track to the ENT (e.g. ear tubes). K and I are DYing for lack of sleep. Dying. On good nights he is up about 3 times. On the worst of them, he is up every hour and a half completely inconsolable. On top of it all, the antibiotics are so hard on his tummy. He is averaging 3 blowouts per day. Eegads.

Even with all of this, still so cute.

excuses excuses

I was going to post yesterday, but the dang camera battery was dead. I know, I know. But while waiting for the VP debate I will post some pics. Also, don’t forget about Picasa webalbums. there are some pictures there too. Here is Eric with his new (older) buddy Loren, Pam’s son. He is a doll!