Sigh

It's been that kind of morning.

The kind of morning in which all you can do is sigh. And sigh some more.

And more.

Started off with a teething (at least four teeth, maybe five) boy crying from the time he woke up, all the way through breakfast until his dad left for work. I could not put him down to clean our juicer (which, by the way, fresh carrot,spinach,apple juice roooooocks), so I pulled out a bottle of milk for Sal. I look into the living room where our ONLY carpeted surface is, and he has drained his bottle onto it. Sour milk, anyone?

So, I pull out new toy that I had just finished telling NZ I was going to hide and save for him (no willpower here) to use as redirection. It's a super cool latch board with six kinds of locks and closing mechanisms from Melissa and Doug. Since Sal likes opening doors, and cabinet locks, why not make him a professional locksmith by the age of 2? There are no child labor laws in China, right?

About time he makes some money (I kid, I kid).

He was amused for a short while by the latch board, so I cleaned up the spilled milk and then B-lined it to the bathroom to try and brush my teeth, put on deodorant and make myself somewhat "sweats dressy" before his attention waned and he needed his mama to "hold-me-right-now-not-later-all-day-even-though-I-weigh-24-lbs" fusspot.

**insert:LOUD crack**

I ran out to the living room.

The first grin of the morning. Oh no, why is he smiling...and what is my iPad doing on the floor, upside down next to his new latch board??

..do I really want to turn my iPad over? Think positive....maybe it's just scratched?

I flip it over and my heart sinks.

iPad meet latch board.

Latch board just kicked your ass.

Cracked screen.

All of this by 8:15am

I'm happy to report, our day has gotten better. We took a nice long walk and bought Sal some new shoes, priced iPad repair at the fake "official apple" store and ate lunch....

Nap time has finally arrived.

Sigh.

EIGHT months old

Eight is great!

Sometimes I look at how quickly time is passing, and just want to scream "NOOOOOOOOOOO!". My baby is growing up way too fast. Kenny Chesney's song "Don't Blink" couldn't be truer. I am so afraid that when I wake up tomorrow Sal's going to be graduating High School.

He's doing awesome.

Mmmmm, kitty food. Bet it tastes soooo yummy!

This past month was a huge one in terms of growth and motor development. He has now found that he is not limited to the living room--and this new found mobility means he has found a number of things to get into. He's going to get sick of hearing his mama say " Stay Out". It's "Stay out" this, and "Stay out" that. "Stay out of the shoes", "Stay out of the cat food", "Stay out of the shoes..." Yes--I just said "Stay out of the shoes" twice in this post....that's pretty much his go-to item these days. DIRTY ol flip flops. Sooooo tasty!

Mama, wherez all the DVD's go?

He even got called by his full name ( that's how you KNOW you're in trouble!) this past month for getting into Beaver's litter box. I swear, I turn my back for a split second and the kid has his hand in something I'd rather he not. With the threat of toxicplasmosis, I felt that the stern "SALVATORE NICHOLAS" was warranted.

The "Oh shit What mama?" look on his face was priceless. It was all I could do not to smile and laugh. But playing in litter boxes is a HUGE no-no. I'm currently on the hunt for a baby gate that will fit our doorway to avoid the situation all together.

Sal has also been working on FOUR upper teeth all at once. He's been a trooper, and I hope that he gets a little break from cutting teeth long enough for us to have an easy flight to the states and back in a few weeks. A mom can wish, right?

My favorite thing that he's begun doing more often are the huge belly laughs. They come from deep inside and once he's on a roll, it's hard to stop him ( and who would want to stop such cuteness, anyways?). He is one happy boy.

Our nights ( don't kill me Amy!) have been stellar. Most of the time, he sleeps from 7:00p to 5:00a without waking for a feeding. Most being the key word. We still have our nights, but he spends a greater percentage of nights sleeping through than not. I wish I could say the same for naps. I have contemplated removing one of his morning naps, in hopes of a nice long afternoon nap, but so far, it's backfired on me--all we end up with is a cranky napless son come 5:00p. I'll keep trying until we get it right. So much of parenting is trial and error. And no two moms or babies are the same. That's for sure. I'll keep my nights over naps if I have to choose.

Mama, I think I needs a bigger pool.

Other milestones this month were solo taxi rides with mama ( it's not easy taking a baby anywhere by taxi here..between stroller, car seat and groceries), a trip to Nanchan Temple, lunch dates, coffee dates and play dates at his buddies house. I've also been filling a plastic tub with water and he really gets a thrill out of splashing in it out on our balcony.

Sal is a very social baby, and I hope he continues to have his dad's gregarious spirit over my shyness. The move to China has been good for his social development, that's for sure! So many friends, so much attention, so much love--he's one lucky kid!

Annnnd, some outtakes from our monthly onesie shoot.....

Mama, how much longer does I has to smile? Can I play yet?

What da???? What is dis behind me?

Dat's it..I'm outta here.

I think I'll lift some weights instead

Ahhh, my sippy cup. I love guzzling water and making a spill proof cup, Spill.

Am I missing something?

Okay, a disclaimer...we've been spoiled with our son's overnight sleep habits from early on. I've got a few friends, they know who they are, whose children have an aptitude for late night shenanigans and WILL. NOT.SLEEP. So, I really don't intend to complain here, but rather give a little hindsight on how I just about missed a major  milestone!

What? You mean to tell me you actually need sleep, mama?

The past two weeks have left me pulling out my hair, wondering what I am doing wrong to cause my once "goes down at 7 and wakes at 4 and back to bed till 6" child to adopt the "fights going down at 7upat8upat9upat11upat1upat2willnotgobacktosleep unless mama is holding me" schedule. It's exhausting. It's sad. It was making me feel like I was going to lose my mind. Babies need sleep. Moms and dads need sleep.

So, then I thought I figured it out. It must be one of the solids he's been eating. Surely, it's gas. Eliminated that particular solid from his diet, and still....up up up all night long.

Then I blamed teething. But, a quick look in the mouth, and nothing. Nada. Zilch.

One day, he felt warm. Took his temperature. 101 f.

OH MY GAWD what a bad parent I have been! He's got a fever! That's why he isn't sleeping. Oh me, oh my, it's all my fault. How did I miss this?

I did give him Motrin, and monitored his fever. Up and down between 99 and 101 for a few days straight.

Okay, my baby is sick. But he acts fine during the days. Happy actually.

I had a pediatrician appointment scheduled for the 26th, and it was the 23rd. I could wait 3 days. Other than the fever and night waking, he seemed in normal spirits.

And then, on the 24th, as we were playing a game of pat-a-cake which is like oh so fun and evokes a ton of giggles, I saw it.

A tooth!

Yes, Sal cut his first chomper.

Hence the fever and the night wakings.

What a stud.

He took a trip to the pediatrician yesterday, and he got weighed in kilos, and measured in centimeters. It was all Greek to me until I pulled out my iconvert app and punched in the numbers. 15 lbs, 14 oz and just shy of 27" tall at six months. That's a 2 lb and 2 inch gain in 2 months. Not too bad! Since he has had a fever, we will be going back for immunizations some time in the next couple of weeks, once it subsides. The ped seems to think he may have a virus in addition to the teething, hence the prolonged low grade fever. Nothing serious, and it should run it's course. No sense overloading him, even if he is a stud.

SIX months old

Yay! I'm 6 months old!

Mom & Dad can't believe it!

Oh mama, enough with the pictures!

It's hard to believe that 6 months have passed since delivering Salvatore. Sometimes it seems like just yesterday, and others, it's hard to remember what it was like to have a newborn. I'd almost forgotten what those first few weeks were like, and thinking I'm ready to do it all again....that was, until the past few nights when Sal so kindly decided to be up every 3 hours or so. I'm not sure what it is, but I think we might have the trifecta of growing, gas and teething to blame.

I've been putting frozen fruit in his mesh teether and he just goes to town on it. Add to the fact that fruit over here is to die for, and well, his mama might have let him have too much nectarines this week. Tummy troubles kept him up well past bedtime a few nights. Lesson learned.

I think my favorite thing he's started to do ( well, most of the time anyways), is his pterodactyl shriek. He sounds like a bird/dinosaur and does it whenever he is excited. Sometimes we put him down for bed, and he will just do the pterodactyl till he tires himself out. It's not a cry, it's a happy little scream. Remind me in a month that I claimed to "like" it in this post. Haha.

Sal can get up on all fours, but has no idea what to do next. His attempts at crawling end there. Or on his face. Or about 3 feet behind the toys he was aiming for. He scoots backwards right now, but I have a feeling he will get those arms and legs moving together and take off pretty soon.

He got a BUMBO chair, and seems to like sitting up in it to eat. I have balanced him a few times to sit on his own, but he topples over with the slightest breeze. I know some kids crawl before they sit, so he will do it on his own time.

 We met some new friends and moms that are all expats over here and attended a playgroup for the first time. I'm looking forward to going to more and giving him a chance to interact with other kids near his age. It will be nice for him to have "friends" to play with as he ages, and it's nice for me to be able to hang out with a group of nice ladies.