Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Too Little to Fail

This post was created by a guest blogger (and my sweet husband)
You can see more on his new blog about being a dad. www.WingingDaddyHood.Blogspot.com

We love our kids more than anything. We always want to pick them up when they fail. Our baby is in the smaller stages of his life. His failures consist of trying to put food in his mouth and it ends up on his face, clothes, the ceiling and the dog in the backyard. It's seriously like sand.

This is what were supposed to do. As parents we are wired to be there for them when they fail.

Unfortunately, we have put our kid in a bad situation. We have taught him that there is something he can fail at and it's completely okay. About a month and a half ago Paxton started pulling up on furniture. It was a slow learning process for him. He army crawls. He won't crawl on his hands in knees. While he can still crawl the 40 yard dash faster than I can run it, he still was having trouble getting his greasy hands on top of the coffee table.

Once he learned to get his finger nubs up there, he starting pulling himself up. What happened next? What goes up must come down. And he didn't know how to get down. So, he would fall into a sitting position. He wasn't hurt, but it would scare him so he would cry.

Our solution: clap and cheer when he fell on his butt. He wouldn't start crying immediately. He looked at us. He was waiting to see our reaction. If we coddled, he cried. So, we starting clapping and cheering like it was the right way to get down.

Now when he's pulling up and the apple sauce has made his hands slippery and he falls on his butt he starts clapping for himself. He has failed and we have encouraged the same negative behavior. I can see it now. He's will be in middle school, standing up and when he wants to get down he just falls all the way to the floor and stats clapping for himself. What an epic parenting fail. Oh, and did I mention that his clapping his him just flailing his hands in the air. He hasn't made the hands touch. We're still working on that.


Monday, February 27, 2012

Mess

Paxton has turned into a disaster during mealtimes. First of all, he has no interest in drinking a bottle. It is a fight to get him to drink four ounces of formula. Then, once we get him to the high chair for some solids, things go from bad to worse.

Today was an especially rough day. He's teething and has some allergies, so he's cranky. As I was putting the spoon in his mouth for a bite, he reached up at lightning speed, grabbed it out of my hand and threw it at me (full force). Let's put aside the fact that the kid clearly has an attitude problem way beyond his years (months) and focus on the fact that there is now baby oatmeal with banana all over my pants, the floor and the table.

After a quick wipe up (during which he screams continuously for more food), we are back to the meal. A few bites later, again with lightning speed, he reaches his hand into the bowl, grabs a handful and smashes it into his face.



At least he cleaned his hand off.



(and yes I documented the occasion instead of cleaning him off)

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Friday, February 24, 2012

Stay-at-home-mom-ing

I like to think that my job as a stay-at-home-mom encompasses a little more than babysitting...especially since I cost a little bit more than a daycare. To try to keep Jared convinced that "sacrificing my job" to stay home with Paxton is worth it, I keep some little projects going.

Baby snacks are expensive...and Paxton likes snacks. A few months ago, I spent $17 stocking up on these things:


And they lasted about two weeks...so I decided that since I was home, I could make snacks myself. I started with some baked sweet potatoes. These were pretty easy after the 30 minutes it took me to peel and chop all of the awkwardly bumpy sweet potatoes (a.k.a. not easy at all...but super cheap and tasty):


I just coated them with a little butter and cinnamon sugar and baked at 350 for about 30 minutes. After they cooled, I let Pax have a few and he loved them. They were really squishy so he could eat them pretty easily. (Jared loved them too...). After that, I just put the rest in ziplock bags and threw them in the fridge. Then, I would toss the bag in the diaper bag when we went out to eat and Pax would just eat them chilly.

I also made some little apple bites that were much easier. I peeled and sliced an apple, then put the little cubes in the microwave for three minutes. They come out the texture of pineapple so Pax won't choke. He loves them and they make him really drooly which is fun.



I got a Hobby Lobby gift card for Christmas from my sweet sister, Maesynne, and after a lot of pinteresting, I decided we NEEDED a yarn wreath for our front door...


All of the blogs I read with instructions said that the yarn part was tedious but not bad...yeah I thought it was bad. An hour of winding yarn around a wreath was not my favorite part, but I thought it turned out cute:


A fun little winter wreath.

Remember growing up when personalization was super cool? Pencils, keychains, magnets, and even lunch boxes came with names. Well...my name was never an option. Sure my mom put our names on everything (down to each marker) with puff paint, but it wasn't the same. This led to a tiiiiiny obsession with all things personalized. Somehow, Paxton made it this far without anything monogrammed...so I made him a personalized onesie:


Of course, the second time he wore it, we went to story time at the library and he army crawled all over that library floor and now the tummy is stained brown....so I guess I'll have to try again.


And here's my intro into the world of wreath-making...a very blurry fall wreath. (and yes, again with the personalization...maybe my obsession isn't so tiny).


So see Jared, I do more than watch trashy daytime tv...I provide decorations for our home, put clothes on our child's back, and food in his tummy (ok, you literally put the food on the table and the clothes on the backs...but still...). It takes a lot of effort to keep this little guy from destroying the house:






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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

ELEVEN MONTHS!!

Paxton is eleven months old today. This is his last month of being a "baby". I am a little sad about it, but mostly I am enjoying the growing up. It has been really fun to watch him develop. He has been such an easy baby: he has always eaten well and slept well, he is content to crawl around and play on his own, and he's pretty tough when he's sick or teething. Of course, this does mean that he hasn't trained us for our next baby who probably won't be as easy...and I'm sure we're in for trouble during his toddler years because he's already stubborn. But, we're definitely enjoying him now.

At 11 months, Paxton:

-is really developing in the language department. He still says dada all the time. Now a lot of the time he will look right at Jared when he says it, or say it as he crawls towards Jared. He still won't say mama. He says "bababa" for banana, but not when he wants one...just when he's already eating it. He also says "daDA" for dogs. The emphasis is on the second syllable so it sounds a little different than dada for daddy. Again, he only says it when he's actually looking at them. Every once in awhile he will say "ba" for bite. It's rare. He also says "uh-oh", but not in the correct context he mostly just says it as he crawls around and if someone else says it first. He still says "yay" whenever he claps. The most obvious difference is his participation in conversations. If you ask him a question, he holds eye contact and babbles back. He will go back and forth for a few minutes before he gets bored. A lot of his babbling sounds like words.



-is still pulling up on everything. He has gotten really fast and can pull up with only one hand now...which is very convenient for taking toys up with him. He is cruising pretty far distances now...sometimes he will go all the way around the coffee table if there's a drink he really wants to knock over.



-can stand on his own for a few seconds. He can stand really well with his bottom propped against something without holding on, but this last week he mastered it without the wall. We have a hard time showing off the solo standing because he is quick to sit down when you grab his hands.



-loves chasing balls or anything else he can throw and then go after. That's his main way of playing right now. He also likes to take toys out of containers and sometimes put them back in. He uses his chasing game to go places he knows he isn't supposed to like his bathroom. He will throw a toy towards the door, go after it, throw it into the bathroom and then look over at his shoulder after us like "what? I gotta chase it in there", then he chases it in there. He also really likes his toys that make noise or music.



-has started kind of a hybrid crawl. It is more like regular crawling than it has been, he gets his knees up under him but his stomach is still not off the floor. Hybrid crawling is way faster than army crawling.


-is sleeping a little less. He goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 and is awake between 8:00 and 8:30. His sleep regression phase is over and he has gotten pretty good at going to sleep when he's put down. He takes his morning nap from 11-1 most days and then his afternoon nap from 3-5. I always assumed that when he went down to one nap he would drop his 11:00 nap, but he has skipped his 3:00 nap twice in the last week and done okay.



-is not loving his bottles. He has gone down to about 19 ounces a day and it is tough to get him to drink that. He prefers solids. We have tried to cut back a little on the solids to make sure he gets enough formula, but it doesn't help. He would rather go hungry. I think he's ready to switch to milk. Until then, we aren't really worried because he isn't losing weight. He eats a fruit and veggie for lunch and a meat for dinner. I gave him some cereal for breakfast for about a week, but then stopped because he didn't really care either way. If we go out to eat we give him some snacks and part of our food. When we eat at home, we usually put him at the table with us and give him a little of whatever we're having. He drinks six ounces when he wakes up, four ounces before lunch and dinner and five ounces before bed. We were mixing rice cereal with that bottle, but we stopped that and have started cutting it back to get ready for the transition to milk. He hasn't minded at all.



-loves to be outside. Taking him outside immediately stops his fussing or crying. He loves going on walks and swinging at the park.



-loves pets. He loves to look out the window at our dogs and say "daDA". He loves when they come in and usually tries to chase them around. He also likes Sticker. We were at Papaw's house for his birthday and Aunt Linda's little Yorkie was there, and Paxton chased him around too. I like that he isn't scared of animals.



-is getting his top teeth finally. His left tooth has poked all the way through today and his right side has a bump. His bottom gums are swollen too, so he might get more bottom teeth soon.



-can still squeeze into his 9 month clothes but the shirts are tight and the pants are super short. He is wearing 12 month clothes and some 12-18 month clothes. All his pants are 12-18 month for his tummy. He is still in size 3 diapers but only because we are in the middle of a box. We are probably a little past the point of moving to 4's.



-is still really sweet and smiley when strangers talk to him, but has a little separation anxiety. He always looks back at me before he crawls to someone.



-hates getting dressed. He hates being laid down. He is ok for a few minutes if he has something to play with, but if you take too long, he's not happy. He hates having shoes, hats, and jackets put on and he hates getting strapped into his car seat. He has started taking his socks off as soon as we're not looking.



-has a definite preference for doing things he shouldn't. His ultimate mission is to get into a bathroom. We try to keep the doors shut, but it's tough. He pulls up to everything and knocks things off. He loves to get in my bag and get snacks and toys out of there.

We are really enjoying our time with Paxton and love playing with him and talking to him. We really do love him more every single day and miss him so much when we're away from him...even for a short time. We are so thankful that he made us a family and that we get to have him as part of our lives. He's gonna do great things, I already know. We can tell he's growing up, his face looks older and he's acting more like a toddler. I guess it's time to start planning his first birthday!

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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Park!

Since it was 65 degrees outside today (in February!!), I thought it would be fun to take Paxton to the park. We have a park about a block from our house, so that's the one we go to. We packed up the stroller and took off.




He loves the swings so we started with those:




Then, we decided to play on the equipment. This was Paxton's first time to play in here. He got to slide on Daddy's lap one time, but that's it. He loved it!




He tried to climb this ladder...I had to stop that.




And he climbed through this tube twice which I thought was pretty cool!




Thumbs up for the park!




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Sunday, February 19, 2012

Our Weekend

Our weekend started off with our weekly Friday lunch with Jared. This week we went to Old School Bagel Cafe which is quickly becoming our favorite restaurant. Paxton chowed down on little pieces of turkey...he loved it. He's so funny at mealtime now. He is not interested in his baby snacks. He looks longingly at whatever we're eating. He's a little higher maintenance since we can't just dump out Puffs anymore, but I know it's part of growing up...plus who wouldn't want tasty meat instead of apple flavored cereal?

Friday night was pizza night, just like every week. Jared and I are big fans of having certain "nights" throughout the week. It probably stems from our love of everything to do with tradition.

Saturday morning was gray and rainy. Paxton slept in...he made it until a little after 9:00 instead of his new normal: 8-8:30. We got ready and met Granny V and Papaw at Johnnie's for breakfast. Paxton was pretty difficult through the meal. He was not interested in eating (which is really unusual). All he wanted to do was try to climb out of the high chair and squeal.

After his morning nap, I finally got to go cash in my mani/pedi gift certificate Jared and Paxton got me for Christmas. I tried to save it as long as I could...I made it to February. I came back home to a refusing-to-nap baby. He didn't sleep at all until bedtime, and he didn't even seem sleepy or fussy. We took advantage of the extra awake time by taking a family trip to Old Navy. They were having an amazing baby sale and Paxton needs bigger clothes. After shopping, we stopped at Peach Wave for a treat.



Paxton loved it. He tried some blueberries and was a big fan. I think the cold fruit felt good on his gums, his top tooth is coming through and we can tell it's bothering him.

We came home and got Pax ready for bed. He is super crazy in the bath right now. He has re-discovered splashing and the whole bathroom gets soaked. He loves getting his face wet (which I think is crazy) and when he splashes himself in the face he gets so excited and splashes more. It's a hilarious cycle.




Paxton was up super early on Sunday morning. He was awake by 8:00 and super hungry. He ate a whole banana in addition to his bottle. He said his version of banana the whole time. I'm not sure if it counts as a word or not...but he's definitely trying to say it. After a nap, we went to lunch at Taco Bueno and then to Granny Pat's house.




(this is his new cheesy smile)

He is so funny with Granny Pat. She always asks him questions and it seems like he's trying to answer her back. He really tries to have a conversation with her. She's the only one he talks to like that and I love watching it.

Gramsy and the aunts came over to see Paxton before dinner and he was showing off all his tricks. He was cheesy grinning and fake laughing and saying "uh-oh". He's a ham for sure.

He got some new pajamas at Old Navy. Daddy picked them out and they are Darth Vader. He put them on and immediately turned into a toddler:




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Friday, February 17, 2012

Standing!

Paxton stood up completely on his own for the first time tonight! He started off practicing like this:



Then he got more confident and started cruising and only holding on with one hand. Then we taught him to stand like this:



(bottom against the wall for support)

And then tonight he stood up all by himself...holding on to nothing...leaning against nothing. Unfortunately, Jared and I were so excited when he first did it that we screamed and squealed really loud and terrified him. After that, he was a little fearful of doing it again. Luckily, we caught it on video before he got too overwhelmed.

YouTube Video

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!

Paxton's Valentine's Day photo shoot:
























Brief crying session:








Saying baba:


Playing peekaboo with Granny Pat:





Checking out his valentines:





Clapping:





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