If It's Not One Thing, It's Another...

Someone loves the bath tub. 

Just as we managed to get Dominic’s whining under control, and we were enjoying having our sweet boy around again, a new problem arose.  Dominic has been incredibly fussy and has even started throwing tantrums.  Kicking, screaming, crying, yelling, rolling around on the floor, and basically acting like a crazy person.  He’s had minor ones before, but last week I witnessed Dominic having full-blown meltdowns.  I thought this wasn’t supposed to start until the “terrible twos,” but I’m honestly thinking he’s entering this phase on the extreme early side...I guess he's advanced in that area. ;)  Hopefully, that means that he’ll be through this phase early then (fingers crossed!).  Everything I’ve read about these horrible tantrums has said that ignoring the behavior and staying calm is the best way to handle it.  Easier said than done! 

Between the fussiness and the fact that Dominic has literally ripped holes in 2 different pairs of my jeans in the last few weeks with his teeth, Brian and I have basically concluded that all of this recent behavior is due to teething.  When we give him ibuprofen, Dominic acts perfectly like himself again.  He’ll be sweet, happy, and independent.  Dominic doesn’t act drugged up on the Ibuprofen.  He just acts like normal minus the fussiness and clinginess, supporting the teething theory even more.  Like a clock, every 6 hours though he’ll get fussy again – which is exactly when the ibuprofen wears off.  I hate drugging Dominic continuously every 6 hours, but I don’t know what else to do when he’s in this much pain.  I’ve tried teething rings, but he loses interest pretty quickly.  I’ve read that orajel can be dangerous (a choking hazard due to the mouth numbness).  Dominic’s pediatrician had told us that ibuprofen is the best thing to give him, and that seems to be the only thing that works anyway. 

 Adding to the fun is the fact that Dominic has learned how to fake cry.  The way we know it's fake is that he makes the noises but no tears come out of his eyes.  On the one hand, I'm extremely worried that he's already such a manipulator, but on the other hand, I'm kind of proud that he's so smart because as a teacher I always knew that the most manipulative kids were the smartest ones.  Another problem is that he is trying to learn how to make himself cry with tears.  He squints his eyes and even sometimes gets watery eyes from it.  Brian and I are trying to use the ignoring technique.  It's seriously always something!

In other news, Dominic *appears* to be dropping down from 2 naps to 1!!  At first, I wasn’t sure if - when the time came - this would be good news or bad news, but after his naps have gone from both being 2 hours long to now only about an hour long each, consolidating those naps into one big nap is truly wonderful.  These are usually 2 to 2 ½ hours long but a couple of times Dominic has slept for 3 hours – a monster nap.  The best thing about these long naps is that I’m able to get things done and also have a few minutes to check my email and just have time for myself (naps included).  Those short, hour naps have been horrible because basically I only have time to get a little bit done before Dominic would wake up again.  It seems like he takes longer naps, the later I put him down.  So now I’ve moved his nap from 11:00 to noon.  If he takes a 2^nd nap, it’ll be around 4:30 or 5:00. 

I am continuing to put Dominic down in his crib twice each day because I firmly believe you shouldn’t make a child drop a nap unless he or she is ready…even if it’s easier for the parents.  Some days Dominic opts to take the 2^nd nap, while on other days he just plays in the crib for 30 minutes until I finally take him out because it looks like he’s not going to fall asleep.  From what I’ve heard and read, during this transitional period, that’s what will happen.  Dominic hasn’t been getting too fussy, which is a good sign.  Hopefully, the 1 [monster] nap a day will continue! 

I have a confession to make: before having a baby I had a list of things I said I would NEVER do as a parent.  Yes, I knew that I would surely break some of my own rules, and that’s exactly what has happened.  The latest one of my never's that I've broken is letting Dominic watch videos, specifically Baby Einstein ones.  I know the research says that they are not beneficial to young children, but from what I’ve read it’s because parents will let the video babysit their child instead of parents interacting with their kids and letting them learn and develop through that interaction.  Well, I broke down and bought Dominic the Baby Einstein video about body parts (facial features, head, shoulders, knees, and toes) since that's a skill we're working on learning (i.e., "Where's Dominic's nose?").  I didn’t think it would end up amounting to much, but Dominic immediately LOVED watching the video.  He was laughing hysterically at the puppets and stayed glued to watching the video for 20 minutes straight.  This is insane considering that his attention span usually won’t exceed 5 minutes.  I'm not sure how much he's actually learning from it, but he seems to really enjoy it.

Considering how clingy Dominic has been recently, it’s hard for me to do anything including making his lunch or dinner.  That’s a real problem.  So, letting him watch the video while I do those things is perfect.  He still won’t watch for more than 10 minutes alone, but that’s 10 minutes when I can make his meals that I wouldn’t otherwise have.  My thinking is that 10 minutes of video viewing won't kill him and will lead to me staying a much calmer, loving mother to him.  The fact that he absolutely loves the video makes me feel better about letting him watch it too, but I do put limits on it.  I don’t want him sitting in front of the TV watching videos all day or for even more than 30 minutes a day (if that).  Basically, I only have him watch it when I absolutely need that time.  

Playing outside with Daddy

 As Dominic turned 14 months old this week, he’s doing some funny things.  He’s playing “Pat-a-cake” now (so cute) and is very proud of himself.  He loves clapping in general.  Dominic has also started giving people 5 (at least at times).  Perhaps the funniest – and most boyish – “new thing” Dominic is doing is whenever he passes gas, he starts hysterically laughing.  Such a little boy, right?  I have to say I laugh when he does this too.  Bad example, I know, but it’s pretty funny.  He's been climbing up on the slide for months, but now he can independently slide down it and loves that.  One of his favorite new toys is a microphone that he moans and babbles into.  It makes me laugh every time.  His favorite books are ones that have buttons on the side for him to push.  Dominic absolutely is thrilled any time he can go outside.  Another amusing skill/thing he's doing is squinting at new people he sees.  People keep referring to this as Dominic giving him "the eye," as he checks them out.  

Fascinated with the bunnies

Over the weekend, Brian and I took Dominic to Lemonade Days at the park down the street from us.  Basically, it’s a carnival with rides, a petting zoo, shopping, and that kind of thing.  Of course, Dominic was too small for most of the rides, but he was able to go into the petting zoo and on the merry-go-round with Brian.  He seemed rather unaffected by the whole experience, but it was fun for Brian and me.  I think it’ll be a ton of fun for all 3 of us in another year or two when Dominic can actually go on the rides.  I can't wait for that!

First time on a merry-go-round