it's all fun and games until someone poos on the bathroom floor

In the wake of Bailey passing, life goes on.  I'm not sure Teddy even remembers her; he's too young.  Nonetheless, we won't forget her and he can look at pictures!

In Oliver's world, we transitioned him to a crib a mere week after he started sleeping through the night; this was possibly a mistake on our part.  He started waking himself up (probably by flailing about in his huge new bed) and once he was up, I'd give him a bottle.  This went on for about two weeks before I stuffed him back in the Rock n' Play, where he's been sleeping soundly for 8-10 hour stretches.  Eventually he's going to grow out of the darn thing, but I swear, until he can crawl out of it himself, he's staying in there.  It may not be the "safe sleep environment" that the home nurse talked about when we came home from the hospital, but I feel he's safe and he and I both sleep way better.

Oliver has discovered his hands and very recently, his feet.  He coos and smiles all the time (except when he's crying, which thankfully is more rare than his brother's tears, both past and present). He can grasp toys (on purpose) and brings them to his mouth.  He kicks his feet voraciously sometimes which never fails to make me laugh.  In our double bath last night, he was kicking so fiercely that I was cracking up.

Oliver had his first course of antibiotics this past week because of an infection in his finger of all places.  Apparently, by putting his hands in his mouth he can cause an infection in his nail bed due to cracks in his cuticles.  It caused a big red blister between his nail and top knuckle.  The antibiotics are over today and his finger looks much better!






As far as Teddy's world goes, we've been practicing using the potty.  I prefer the seat on the big toilet because he can't get off easily.  When I tried to put him on the little potty, he just jumped right back up and got mad at me when I tried to hold him down.  I don't want it to be a negative experience, so I didn't push it.  He's peed many times on the big toilet and I've managed to catch one poo in there, simply because I was fast enough when he was diaperless in the bathroom.  It was more luck on my part because later that night we tried the same thing.  I knew he had to poo but wouldn't do it while seated on the potty.  I let him play in the bathroom without a diaper and while his bum was facing away from me and he was examining the hairdryer I heard a little grunt and it was all over.  On the bathroom floor.  Oh well.  Accidents are going to happen.

He's working on his vocabulary but I think I'm the only one who understands him.  I translate for Ed so he knows what Teddy's saying, though sometimes I don't even know.  For those who might try to hold  a conversation with Teddy, here are some translations:

Pee-uh:  please.  Sometimes he says pees or peesh.

Tattoo: thank you.  Basically if it starts with a sort of T-sound and ends in OO, it's thank you.  He uses this along with pee-uh if he wants something.  He uses it correctly sometimes.

Go: go. He first used this word when I was getting us all situated in a shopping cart.  He said, "Go!" very forcefully and I obeyed, mostly because I was so surprised to hear him issue a command.

Nown: down.  Used when he wants to get out of a high chair or off a toilet.

Ree: read.  He'll often bring you a book to help with the deciphering of his speech.

Ball: ball.  This was his first word.

Baba: cup of milk or water or water-juice.

Ba:  as far as I can tell this means blocks or box, anything vaguely cube shaped.

Ha ha ha: hot.  I always say, "Hot hot hot!" obviously when something is hot.

Boggie: doggie.  Alternatively he may say, "Woo."

He also says mama and dada, asking, "Ah dada?" or, "Ah mama?" if he wants to know where the other is.  He holds his hands palms up to reinforce the question.He says his name.  He also repeats words, or approximations of words.  He responds to commands (when he wants to), like, "Bring me (insert object here)."  This morning he was playing with his farm animals and I asked him which one goes, "Mooooooo!" and he handed me the cow.  I was pretty amazed, so I asked which one goes, "Bock, bock, bock!" (or however you spell it) and he handed me the chicken!  I think he might know the color blue, possibly more because of the Big Bird color book.

These are the areas in which he is advanced, as far as I know.  An area where he is not very advanced is in the tooth-growing arena.  He got his first two teeth at seven months and then didn't get any more for about six more months.  He now has six (well five and a half).  He started drooling at three months and never stopped.  He drips like a leaky faucet and I'm halfway convinced he might continue until college.

Teddy is strong-willed and very clear in his desires.  He cries or whines a lot if he doesn't get his way.  We've been treated to a few extremely dramatic displays which include throwing himself on the floor and crying.  I ignore him and let him have his moment and it's generally over quickly.  Luckily, Oliver is as laid-back and sweet as Teddy is obstinate!  Hopefully he will remain that way into his twos and threes (or heck, ones).

This got long, so I'll now insert some pictures to make it more entertaining!