Neil Yan Dot Com

The latest thing to worry about is teeth. Ben has sprouted 4 teeth in the last 2 months; 2 on the bottom and 2 on top (correction from my previous blog where I thought I felt 3 on top). He’s been teething “well”; there’s hardly any crying involved, although I’m probably jinxing myself. But he has been biting everything in site, including his parents. Sheila’s got a few war wombs and I got my first mark yesterday on my left forearm. It almost looks like a little vampire bite, 2 little puncture marks. Which might explain my sensitivity to light today. If I become allergic to garlic, Ben’s got some explaining to do

So, what do we give Ben to bite on? Electrical wire seems to be his favorite choice. Unfortunately replacing my laptop power cord would cost me a nice dice, not to mention the good jolt he would experience if his tiny teeth ever puncture the plastic shielding. All his toys have been slobbered on; much like a dog marks his territory, Ben claims his toys with spit! We’ve gone to a few stores to see what teething toys are available. His favorite, a teething ball with “spiky” points all over it. He loves that ball! Even when it went to toy “heaven”, we had to pick up another one (toy heaven currently contains his lion-head rattle, teething ball, some onesies, and whatever else we have claimed as being at the “other” house). He’s also taken a fancy to this “hospital grade” plastic ring. There are 3 of them of different softness (manufactured by a company called Dano out of the US). When in doubt, we give him one of the Dano rings. 

So, we’ve gotten Ben into the habit of brushing his teeth before he goes to bed. Lesson learned from other parents is that we don’t give him sugary drinks (like juice) before going to bed. The sugars can/will rot his teeth. We’ve gotten him used to wiping his teeth with wet gauze, and then brushing his teeth is a #1 soft toothbrush for kids. He loves it!! As soon as he sees the toothbrush, he opens his mouth! We want to keep his pearly whites white. And with perseverance, he’ll pick up the torch (his toothbrush) and go with it when he’s able!

Here’s a link to Dano 2 USA

There are a lot of cool free stuff in the world that we’ve taken Ben to, but one of the coolest thing so far is the Canadian College of Massage & Hydrotherapy free infant massage session. On the weekend, we went to 2 free sessions that was sponsored by a charity called Liddle Kidz Foundation founded by a travelling therapist by the name of Tina Allen. She’s spreading the word of nurturing touch in children by offering certification to massage therapists around the world.

We got to learn a few basic massage strokes that we could use on Ben to help with his teething, constipation, and just general touch. Supposedly, children who are nutured through touch at a young age grow up less violent and tend to play with other children in a more caring manner. That could explain why I “accidentally pushed” my younger sister down the stairs when I was a child or why we locked our youngest sister in the basement…ALL THE TIME.

So, one of the massages they showed us was one for constipation. Well, the timing couldn’t have been better. Ben hasn’t gone in 2 days. So, this morning, while on his morning pottie session, I massaged his lower back with motion towards his hips. In class, you’re supposed to massage around his belly button, again, pushing towards his hips. Maybe it gives his shit an idea of which direction to go…since it doesn’t seem to know. Anyways, after about a minute of massaging, HE POO’D!! It’s always a relief…for him and us!

The best part of this whole free session, THERE’S MORE FREE SESSIONS TO COME! We signed up to be hooked up with a personal massage therapist for Ben who needs clinical experience with an infant before they get their certification. That means she’ll spend a few hours with Ben to practice what she learned from Tina! Win-win for all of us.

There is some science to some of this voodoo sometimes. We’ll try and see if the facial massage helps with his teething.

Here are a few sites that we’ve discovered while chatting with other parents this weekend in the class:

http://www.lifewithababy.com (social gathering of like minded mothers and children in the GTA)

http://www.liddlekidz.com (Tina’s foundation)

Ben has officially been upgraded to Ben 2.0! He’s old enough to sleep in his own crib in his own room. That’s what we’ve determined over the past week. It hasn’t been easy for him. For the past 6 months, he’s been half a “roll-over” to his favorite (and only food source) any time of the night. I got the best looks when I told people that Ben slept in our bed in between us! “You’re going to roll over on him!”, I was told over and over again.

Well, here’s to the nay-sayers, “I/We didn’t come close to smothering our pride and joy!” If anything, we lost most of our realestate in our bed (Ben got half, so he wouldn’t roll of the edge, Sheila and I got the rest, I usually clung for dear life on my edge of the bed throughout the night). It didn’t seem fair that someone only 20lbs and 60+ cm got most of our bed! So, now that Ben can crawl and flip on a  dime, it was time to cut the cord and make him sleep in his bed.

Sheila read every book and every post on every website on the internet to get ideas of how to do it without given Ben the feeling of abandonment. What we’ve discovered is that there 2 schools of thought; 1) put the kid in the crib and close the door and let him cry it out…eventually he’ll get tired of crying and fall asleep; or 2) get in a strict routine every night before going to bed so that the child knows that it’s bed time…you can still let him cry it out, but not too long…BUT, DON’T HOLD HIM TOO LONG, OTHERWISE, HE’LL GET USE TO FALLING ASLEEP IN YOUR ARMS. Then he’ll associate sleeping with you holding him. We decided to got with the one with more work and less heartache.

We had to build a routine; change into his PJs, brush is teeth (with a stage 1 toothbrush), read a book to him, hold him, kiss him, lay him down, let him cry a bit, and hopefully, if he’s tired enough, the crying will turn to sleep in under 5 minutes (give or take an hour!). So far, he’s been up sleeping in his crib for a week. He’s up twice in the middle of the night for a quick feed, but he’s back into his crib!! He still puts up a fight going to bed, but his parents have to learn to tire him out before 8pm!

Next challenge: feeding him something solid that he likes to eat

Ben’s a fantastic baby, if I say so myself! He’s an early riser; happy as a puppy right from the get-go. Around 8am, he stretches, pushes himself up into the seated position, and starts waking up the mom. His mom, on the other hand, is not a morning person but because the boy is ready to play, she’s up! First things first; the potty! It’s a guaranteed piss, but the odd #2 (which usually happens around noon now) can creep out; those “turtleheads” are sneaky. Fresh diaper and a change of clothes and he’s off to the races! It’s been that routine up until now.

Ben’s been on solid foods for over 6 weeks now. He has his good days and bad days. We’ve come to realize that he’s not into sweet potatoes, and more into the green stuff (just like his dad). Rice cereal and oatmeal he can do without. So, his last blood test shows he’s slightly off on the iron level. So, now we’re in “IRON FORTIFIED FOODS” mode. Peas and beans seem to work for him. We’ve even gone out to get him some iron supplement (1 ml of Palafer per day)! The beauty of it all, Ben’s still his playful self. He’s immune to it all; although he’s a bit more cranky now, which some say is a symptom of his lower iron level. I thought it was an inheritance from his mom

Aside from that, he’s standing better, taking the few odd steps with assistance, crawls forward in a funny way (uses only his right leg and his bum to move forward, not even using his left leg…..video to be posted soon). I think he’s going to be a pretty good rock climber, just like his mom. We’ve had to put the crib mattress to the bottom setting; he’s attempted to pull himself over the edge a few times. Teeth, he’s got lots!! Two on the bottom, and 3 on top. His new trick, chomping like Pacman! I’m sure he’s got a few more tricks up his sleeve.

It’s Ben’s first Simcoe Day Long weekend and what better way to celebrate it than to go on a road trip. We decided to parade Ben around Windsor for a day so he can meet some of my friends and family that still live there. It was a quick and dirty trip, 4 hours (actually 5 hours) to get there, stay the night, have breakfast, visit a few friends and then back on the road. It was my first road trip with Ben over 200Km (the previous one was to Elora for mother’s day). This trip would be a good test to see how well he does over 3 hours in the car seat.

Runners, particularly marathons, have a rule of thumb: never try anything new on race day. Well, I threw that out the window on this road trip and decided to try out a new car seat for Ben. He’s outgrown his first car seat (lengthwise and weight). We got a hand-me-down from his cousin; the Eddie Bower Deluxe 3 in 1. It’s larger and more spacious. Why wouldn’t Ben like it? Lucky for us, he did! We only had to stop twice between Toronto and Windsor! I’ll call that a success! Crying was limited to only a few minutes. The rest of the time, he was either sleeping or playing. Wheewwww! Our boy is a good traveller! It must be in the genes!

To find out more about Simcoe Day, click here.