The "No"-Sayer

Our smiley boy

Who thought cold season was over?  Apparently, it’s never over with kids around.  Dominic caught a cold in April and was generous enough to share it with me.  He’s always so sweet to do that. ;)  His cold made for a lot of fussiness and wrestling matches over wiping his little nose, but all and all it wasn’t so bad.  It made me feel like I got hit by a truck and have even less energy than I had already (which wasn’t much at all).  The worst part was that Dominic and I weren't sleeping well.  Dominic was crying out in his sleep randomly throughout the night, and he woke up a few times here and there, forcing me to wake up with him of course.  Dealing with a sick a child in the middle of the night is no fun when you’re pregnant and already exhausted. 

Eating sand. Delicious.

The toughest challenge since I became pregnant came last Sunday night when after going down at 9:00 for bedtime, Dominic woke up around midnight inconsolably crying and wasn’t able to fall asleep again until after 2:00am.  I was up with him, trying to calm him down, but nothing worked.  He would fall asleep for 2 minutes at a time and then wake up again crying hysterically.  The poor, little boy wasn’t feeling well at all, and I recognized that behavior from the fun experience he gave us when we were in Asheville and the nights after that.  I knew it had to be an ear infection.  After he woke me up at 7:00 that next morning - crying hysterically once again, I took him to the doctor at the first available appointment of the morning, and the pediatrician confirmed that it was in fact an ear infection in his right ear that developed from the cold.  He was put on Augmentin, an antibiotic which makes for a lot dirty diapers…always fun for me, but Dominic has been feeling so much better the last few days.  Thank God!  He’s been cheerful, happy, and sleeping ridiculously well.  He even took a 4 nap, allowing me to take a 2 hour nap (unheard of) one day.  He’s sleeping through the night again, and I’m sleeping through the night again!  It’s amazing how much better I feel with some good, quality sleep under my belt and after spending the day with my little, angel – as opposed to the demon child he can sometimes be when he’s sick.  I’m considering keeping Dominic in a bubble to keep him healthy and in this good mood.  

Chasing Dominic around the house

Aside from his cold and ear infection, Dominic has picked up a few things over the last week or two especially concerning his speech.  This week he went from having 2 words in his vocabulary (mama and dada) to 5 words!  I had been a little concerned because most of his little girlfriends are talking a lot, but I know that speech is a skill area with a huge range in toddlers.  Plus boys typically do not develop in their language as soon as girls.  Anyway, I was/am extremely happy about his burst in language over the last week or two.  

Dominic's 3^rd word happens to be the word “No.”  He says it as he shakes his head usually when we’re trying to give him food he doesn’t want.  He’s known the word for quite a while and even in the last 2 months has started actually complying when I say “no” to him (a big win for me as a mommy).  For example, if he’s trying to go into the bathroom where he’s not permitted, I’ll say no.  A few months ago, he would have just stopped, look at me, and continue into the room, but now when I say “no” to Dominic, he stops, looks at me, and then moves on to something else, demonstrating that he understands that he shouldn’t be going into the bathroom and is following my directions!  Big step, right?  Of course, he doesn’t comply all of the time, but I would say it's happening more and more.  He has also been shaking his head no for maybe 3 months now, but in the last week or two he’s added actually saying the word “No."  It had sounded more like “Nah” as he shook his head at first, but now it’s developed into a clear and definite “No.”  Usually, when he shakes his head we’ll respond, “No thank you?” so maybe a thank you won’t be too far behind.  I can dream, can’t I? 

Someone loves his daddy...and the feeling is mutual. :)

I have to admit I was pretty alarmed that such a negative word would be one of Dominic’s first words.  I wondered had I been saying it too much to him?  That’s a big “no no” (no pun intended) in all of the parenting books.  I read up on it – as always – and found out that no is actually a very common first word because it’s such a short, easy word to say. 

The next term Dominic has been saying is “Whoa.”  This automatically takes me back to the 90’s TV show Blossom where her brother Joey would say it as his signature phrase on the show.  Dominic says it as he slips, falls, or anything like that, giving it the appropriate meaning in context.  Therefore, I feel it constitutes a real word for him.  It’s really cute.

Dominic and his favorite toy - his ball. :)

Dominic’s 5^th word in his repertoire is “ball.”  Currently, his favorite toy is the blow up beach ball I got him out of the dollar section at Target.  It was the best $1 I have spent in a while.  He loves kicking the ball, bouncing it, laying on top of it and rolling the ball around beneath him, and when we throw the ball up in the air.  He clearly understands when I tell him to go get the ball and only in the last day or two will call the object “ball.”  In addition to the new found terminology, Dominic continues to babble like crazy and repeat more and more of the sounds that we make like, "hi," "yeah, yeah, yeah," "ow," and "ice."  There's no meaning attached to those words yet for Dominic, but we're working on it.  

Along with his new vocabulary, Dominic is doing some other interesting tricks and developments.  I discovered that Dominic now officially knows when he's looking in the mirror, he's looking at a reflection of himself.  He was wearing a baseball cap in his carseat when I was unbuckling him to get out and noticed that he was looking in the mirror that hangs from the seat (he's rear-facing) and playing with his hat.  It was apparent to me then that Dominic was watching himself playing with the hat in the mirror.  This is basically what I read in books that he would do when he had figured out the whole reflection thing or was at least getting it.  

climbing on the coffee table

Dominic's favorite activity is walking on furniture – the couch, his crib, our bed, and the coffee table.  It’s not the safest activity, I know. :/  Needless to say, Dominic’s latest pastime have lead to some near falls and a lot of stress for me.  He’s also standing on chairs and continues to get into everything (as usual).  The little monkey is climbing on every object he sees, and the fact that he’s so much taller just gets him into even more trouble!

Dominic loves knocking down his blocks.

And Brian likes to build block towers for Dominic to knock down. 

Another favorite toy and activity for Dominic these days involves his blocks.  One of Brian’s family friends gave Dominic a nice set of cardboard blocks for his baptism several months ago, but we just now got them out because we were worried that he would destroy them considering his need for everything to go into his mouth.  As soon as he started playing on them, Dominic had made bite marks in several of the blocks, but overall they appear to be okay.  Dominic is learning to build towers, but honestly he prefers – or actually loves – to knock them down.  Brian loves the blocks too.  When people ask if I’m nervous about having 2 kids, I have started telling them no, because I’m used to living with 2 kids already, thanks to Brian’s recent obsession with using Dominic’s blocks to build huge, intricate towers, which of course Dominic immediately tears down with great pleasure. J  But seriously, Brian and Dominic love those blocks and have so much fun together playing with them that nothing could make me happier. 

Dominic is adjusting really well to drinking 100% cow's milk now.  I had been worried about getting him off of breastmilk, but he actually loves cow's milk.  The only other liquid we give him to drink is water, but Dominic greatly prefers milk.  Since Brian hates milk and I love it, I guess Dominic got his good taste in beverages from me. ;)  He's drinking an 8 oz cup of milk two or three times a day (16 - 24 oz) total in addition to 1 or 2 yogurts a day and cheese.  Of course, the cheese hasn't been as frequent since I'm no longer giving Dominic grilled cheeses.  Even though it was a favorite food of Dominic's, the smell of of them makes me feel like I'm going to throw up.  It's horrible.  So now we have to wait until the weekend when Brian can make the grilled cheese for Dominic.  Hopefully, my disdain for grilled cheeses will go away in the next few weeks, so Dominic can enjoy them more often.  

My little man makes me so happy. 

Pregnancy Update: I’m 10 weeks along in my pregnancy now!  My nausea continues to be a problem but has gotten better at least some days.  The "morning sickness" is bothering me more at night too.  I had started taking B6 supplements a few weeks ago which I think has helped ease my morning sickness a bit.  I had read a lot about it when I was pregnant with Dominic and suffering through morning sickness with him.  About the time I started taking the supplements with him, it was the end of my first trimester so I attributed my lessening of morning sickness to timing but perhaps it was the B6.  The biggest and best thing is that I also have a lot more energy than I did a week or two ago.  I even managed to clean my closet, which I had needed to do for weeks (Brian was happy about that).  I’m still not even close to 100%, but I don’t feel like a train hit me, so that’s good.  One thing is how easily I've been crying at TV shows, movies, and even commercials these days.  I'm not a big crier normally, but things like the latest Publix commercial makes me cry.  It's so weird to me, but I guess it's just those hormones.  I made an appointment to get a 3-D ultrasound at 16 weeks so we can find out if it’s a boy or a girl.  6 weeks till we (hopefully) find out!!

:)