So Many Firsts, So Little Time

You can't see his tooth yet, but it's there!

 So it’s finally happening.  Dominic is 8 ½ months old and finally getting his very FIRST tooth ever!!  He’s been gnawing on anything and everything and drooling since he was 2 months old.  As a result, I’ve been fighting off comments from every woman we come into contact with about how “he must be teething.”  After the first couple of months, Brian and I started getting a bit annoyed when people would say this to us, so you can imagine how pestering these statements have been to us 6 months later. 

 I’ve been rubbing his gums basically daily, feeling for a little tooth…whatever that was supposed to feel like, but never felt anything.   Tuesday night I felt “something” and managed to get a look inside Dominic’s mouth at his gums – not an easy feat – and saw some small, white spots that were like breaks or openings in the gums.  When I looked again Wednesday morning, there appeared to be something white below the gums and that has now become kind of a sharp, rough feeling “something” in his gums now.

The average age for teething to start is around 6 months.  Basically since Dominic was about 4 months old whenever he was having a runny nose, fussy, not sleeping, or experiencing anything else out of the ordinary, we would always say, “He MUST be teething.”  Obviously, that hadn’t been the case until, so it’s such a relief to us now that he finally actually is teething. 

We did have a false alarm at one point when we spotted something on one of his side gums that appeared to be white.  It turned out not to be a tooth, but a clogged gum or something and eventually disappeared.  Dominic hasn’t been acting differently other than taking shorter naps here and there the last couple of days.  He hasn’t been especially fussy…yet.  Brian and I are excited for this huge “First” for Dominic!  He’s growing up!  Honestly though, I’m worried what is in store for us as each new tooth continue to pop up in Dominic’s mouth.  One saving grace for us is that after 6 months old, infants are able to take Motrin/Advil, which is supposed to be very helpful for the teething pain as opposed to Tylenol which doesn’t work as well.

Our adorable, little monkey on his 1st Halloween

Another “First” Dominic experienced this week was his first Halloween!  As I already wrote about in my last blog, he dressed up as a monkey.  We got him dressed up for Brian’s dad before we went to a little get-together with our playgroup and then dropped by my parents’ house after the party to also let them see Dominic in his costume.  Each time we put Dominic in the car seat, we had to take his costume off, and then put it back on him when we arrived at the next stop.  That wasn’t a fun process.  Quite a busy afternoon!  We never actually went trick-or-treating, but enjoyed dinner with our playgroup. 

It was the first time the husbands met, which was interesting after hearing so much about them during playgroups.  Things got a little crazy here and there with 4 babies playing around, but I have to say how incredibly nice it was when a baby had a meltdown that the other parents barely seemed to notice.  This is contrast to dinner with our non-parent friends who usually are very nice if Dominic starts crying at the dinner table, but honestly they sometimes seem a bit uncomfortable with it – even annoyed at times.  We’re going to start having monthly dinner parties with the playgroup, which will be a lot of fun.  It will be nice to bring Dominic without having to worry about imposing, and the idea of Brian socializing with some other younger dads sounds terrific. 

Avocado, not Dominic's favorite food

Dominic had some other “Firsts” with food this week.  Yes, I ignored the wait a week between first foods rule.  He tried some avocado, which was not very successful, as well as cottage cheese, which failed as well.  Turkey was Tuesday night’s “First,” and that went extremely well.  I gave it to him as a finger food, and he seemed to really like it.  Looks like he’ll be ready for Thanksgiving dinner in a few weeks!!  

Daddy feeding Dominic turkey, his new favorite food

Dominic continues to be on a 3-meal a day routine.  He’s doing pretty well with his breakfast and lunch but is having a harder time eating his dinner.  I’ve started feeding him his bottles immediately followed by the solids.  However, it seems like he may be full by the time it comes to his dinner solids, so the last couple of days I’ve been spacing out the dinner bottle from the dinner solids.  I wonder if his trouble with eating could have anything to do with his tooth. 

Eating spaghetti

(don't worry, we actually fed it to him in small pieces)

 

Either way, I’m trying to aim to have Dominic eat dinner with us and have some of whatever we’re eating each night.  It will make things easier for me, allow him to participate in our family dinners, and keep him occupied in his highchair (I’m hoping).  My thinking is that this will transition him to eat “regular” food by the time he’s around a year old.  I’m curious when he’ll slow down on the bottles though.  I’d love to drop a pumping session soon!

dada" will be next!  A recent development for Dominic is that he’s now able to open his hands when we do pat-a-cake together.  Before I’d make him clap by pulling his hands for him, but he would just hit his fists together.  Then a couple of weeks ago, Dominic started opening one hand but keeping the other in a fist.  Now he’s opening both fists and actually clapping (with us still guiding his hands).   Hopefully, independent clapping will come soon!  

Waving?

On a hand-related note, Dominic has started holding up his hand and watching it intently as he moves his fingers around.  I guess he’s examining this new discovery of his hand.  It’s so interesting to me as he develops each of these little things and becomes more and more grownup.  It’s also a little sad though.  

Already a little tree climber!

Dominic has really experienced many new developments and “Firsts” this week!  It makes me excited for the many firsts yet to come like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and his birthday!  I’m so lucky to be here to witness all of these firsts for my little angel. ♥

Our baby is growing up!