When I plan a busy day that is perfectly scheduled around Maddy's naps, she won't nap at all and throws it all off.
When I am super tired and sort of looking forward to that really quiet adult time right after Mads goes to sleep for the night, she will nurse and start to fall asleep in my arms in that beautiful baby way. But then, she will let out a huge poo poo confronting me with the moral dilemma of whether or not to change her (knowing it will extend the going-to-bed routine by at least 30-45 more minutes). (I always change her, but I admit that I do think about it.)
Words of wisdom: Always remember that you are the responsible one but you are not in charge.
Just when I think I have everything going smoothly and am feeling all proud of myself, especially out in public, that's when Maddy has a poo poo blow out. Inevitably I don't notice until it is all over me too.
Just when I think I have everything going smoothly and am feeling all proud of myself, especially out in public, that's when Maddy will freak out when we nurse. Her arms flail, the blanket I am using for modesty at first looks like I am hiding a wild animal under there and then gets tossed off completely exposing how Mads has managed to remove the vast majority of my shirt, she snorts and grunts (adding to the wild animal effect), and milk goes all over both of us and sometimes even projectiles onto nearby objects. By this time there are always at least three people watching me in horror. By the way, she never does this at home. What gives with that?
Words of wisdom: Never be too proud or too confident.
Mads has discovered that it is totally awesome to suck her thumb. The problem is that her thumb is still attached to a wild animal that she has no control over (her arm and hand). This poses some problems for her. Similar to when she was a newborn, her arms can still keep her awake but now out of thumb-desire frustration whereas before it was because they would bang her in the head unexpectedly. And now, when she is kind of tired her arms flail around even more, making it even harder to get that thumb in her mouth when she really needs it, making her more frustrated and more tired, resulting in even more arm flailing. It is a vicious ironic auto-catalytic cycle.
The other day she suddenly went into that oh-my-god-I-am-definitely-dying cry during a thumb-sucking-crazy-fest. It took me a while to figure out what happened and where the little bit of blood-tinged saliva came from. Turns out she scratched the inside of her mouth from the extremely enthusiastic thumb sucking (which often entails the entire hand being shoved inside of her mouth). Poor thing. I couldn't help but laugh once I realized what she'd done.
If I can keep her hands from going crazy I can often times help her fall asleep. This is very similar to the need to swaddle her as a newborn. While she doesn't do the night time swaddle anymore, she does still appreciate a good swaddle when she desperately needs a nap during the day.
Words of wisdom: He who controls the hands controls the child.
Ha ha ha ha! I read some of this aloud to Eric, and he thought it was hilarious, too. These babies, honestly!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you are much of a fan of corny 80's comedies, but we've been quoting Bill Murray in Caddyshack to P lately: "You've been acting psychotic lately... why?" (must use retard voice) ha ha h!
Super funny and all indeed very true.
ReplyDeleteYou have done well, young Padawan (a Jedi apprentice; M is your Jedi master, of course).
I LOVE this!!! Keep the fabulous stories coming!!
ReplyDeleteIt. Gets. Easier.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely promise.
Mommy to two under two after rpl and ivf.
Ha! First off -- yes to all of your words of wisdom. Usually b has an apocalyptic poop blowout as we are leaving the house, requiring a bath and wardrobe change (since he only poops every 4-5 days, it happens when I am on my own and have somewhere to be)
ReplyDeleteSecond, even feeding from a bottle, we still get the thrashing around in pubic, yeah, I know Im not supposed to feed my child from a bottle when he is lying down on his basck, but you try telling him that.
On the hands in the mouth -- yes yes yes. B shoves his hand in so far he gags. Eventually he will be smarter than the dog, but he isnt yet. Not by a long shot. Nd we are still swaddling at night -- dh and I get more sleep and so we are waiting until the Moro reflex is well and truly gone, hoping that the flailing arms will calm down and he won't wake himself up as much. Yeah, I know we are just delaying the inevitable, but....
LOL! I know ALL of that (well, except the nursing in public part, I never had the courage for that). We call the fist in the mouth "hand sandwich" because she wants a bite of that deliciousness at all times. She has begun just sucking the thumb here and there, but nothing is as satisfying as a nice juicy hand sandwich. Have you tried a pacifier at night? It may help soothe her.
ReplyDeleteAnd my girl tends to have massive spit ups that require changes for me and her before we go out, while we are out and usually on our way home too. I am that new mom that smells like spit up all the time. :)