Hanging in there when he should run

Sam is fully capable of getting away from Megan when he wants to.  It doesn't matter if she is holding his hand or his clothing, he is strong enough to pull away and take off across the room.  I have been teaching him that if she is getting him and he doesn't like to just get away from her.  He does this really well on his own and every once in a while I have to remind him. 

Well, yesterday the boy just sat there and held out his hand to her and let her bite him.  Seriously?  She wasn't holding him down, she wasn't even holding his hand in her mouth - he did it for her.  And of course then he cried when she bit him.  So, now you would think he would crawl away or at least put his arm down....but nope - he went back for round two.  I was heading to him to pick him up and the boy put his hand back up to her mouth.  I tried to stop the second bite but I think Megan's attitude was that he was giving it to her so she ignored me telling her to stop. 

The bites were not that hard -she nips at you more than anything (and yes we are really working to stop this now before it gets worse), he doesn't even have marks on his hand after a couple of minutes and he calms down within a few seconds as well; but REALLY Sam you shouldn't put your hand in your sister's mouth after she just bit you. 

The drool is back

I think Sam is working on his 1 year molars because he is drooling like crazy again.  It seems nuts but I hadn't realized that he had stopped drooling so much until he started doing it again.

I felt his gums yesterday and still don't feel anything but who knows.

Brushing teeth

I brushed Sam's teeth for the first time tonight with his new toothbrush.  He let me do it without any issues and wanted the brush back when I was done. 

Raviolis

Sam had raviolis for dinner.  Of course he loved them.  It is really cute when he eats something for the first time that he really enjoys - there is no question he shows it.

I did it - finally something...

Sam's feet are now bigger than Megan's.  He is still a little bit shorter than she is and I am not sure about the weight difference at this point but she can wear shoes that he no longer can. 

PB&J

I decided to go for it today and give Sam a PB&J for lunch.  The boy thought he was in heaven!  He loved it.  He got so excited after the first bite that he would lean forward and grin.

I tried having him take bites out of the sandwich but he is not quite ready for that so I ended up cutting the sandwich into bite size pieces for him. 

Tuna!

Sam ate tuna for dinner tonight.  I got out some baby food just in case, but it was not necessary.  He ate his entire portion, followed by some pears, puffs and cheerios.  He is a growing boy. 

Current meal plan

Sam has been doing great with his new meal plan. 

Breakfast: 1/2 bottle, plain cereal (he used to get baby food fruit mixed in), and pieces of fruit
Lunch: 1/2 bottle, baby food veggies and fruit - he isn't really up for waiting around to chew yet this time of day
Snack: alternating cereal bars and apple sauce - can't wait to add yogurt in a few weeks
Dinner: 1/2 bottle, cut up veggies and fruit for dinner.  If we are having a meat that he can chew he gets that too

He is not getting any baby food for dinner and he is doing great. 

He is also doing pretty well with feeding himself.  He is grabbing the food in his hand and then working it until it comes out the top of his hand and then he puts it in his mouth.  This works pretty well unless he puts it up there and it falls off before he gets it to his mouth, or if he is working on something that just crumbles in his hand. 

Tonight we fed him some all beef, no-nitrite wienies and man did he love them.  It was actually his first exposure to something other than fruit, veggies or bread/cereal.  It was adorable.  After the first bite he would scan his tray to find another piece of the wienie.  He got strawberries for his fruit but he couldn't pick them up off the tray.  I cut it into really small pieces so he wouldn't choke on it and then of course it was wet/sticky so I forked them and fed them to him. 

Riding in the wagon

We took our wagon out for a spin for the first time today.  The wagon has seat belts so we were able to just go without having to be concerned about Sam climbing out.  He did great, except that he wouldn't lean back against the seat - he sat forward the entire ride. 

Food and more

A couple of days ago I was making tuna for lunch and Sam was sitting beside me in his highchair and was asking for some so I gave him a little piece of egg.  I ended up giving him some tuna and he ate it up.  That was when I decided it was time to go for it. 

So, yesterday was a BIG day for Sam with regard to food.  I gave him a couple of pieces of banana with breakfast and then decided to let him take a bite.  He did really well with taking bites and he left such cute little teeth marks in the banana. 

For snack I have been giving Sam applesauce or baby food fruit.  I decided to give a cereal bar a try and let's just say it was a success.  He ate the entire bar and wanted Megan's leftovers.  I told him it was a little early for him to be eating everyone's leftovers.  I was holding the bar letting him take bites and had him grab it to help and he tried to shove way too much into his mouth so the helping part didn't last long.  He doesn't like me restraining him while he is helping - meaning me keeping him from shoving so much in at once so I had to just take his hand off of it. 

For dinner I gave him the following items: broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, and carrots.  He ate everything - it was a little more difficult for him to eat the broccoli but he did well.  So I will begin weaning him off of baby food until he is just eating regular food.  I just stocked up on Friday so I can continue to supplement as we work up to a full meal from the table. 

I have been trying to get Sam to clap his hands for some time. He is clapping toys but doesn't want to clap his hands.  But last night he clapped his hands for the first time.  I am not sure he meant to do it but he got so excited after he did it that he threw his arms up in the air and squealed.   A little while later he was sitting in my lap and I was clapping my hands and he grabbed onto each hand and clapped my hands together several times, pretty hard.  I would take my hands away and hold them about 24 inches apart and he would grab one, and then look for the other one and grab it and then start clapping my hands again. 

Finally!!???

I had a thought yesterday...why don't we use painter's tape on Sam's crib.  It comes off without ruining the wood and will cover the area I can't get to with anything else.  I put it on this morning and put Sam down in his bed for his morning nap.  As expected it didn't take long for him to go to his favorite spot.  He got there, bit it once or twice and then sat down and didn't go back.  He is currently asleep in his bed.  Yippee!

It will take a few more naps/nights to be sure that this has done the trick and I will have to change out the tape every two weeks in order to keep it from ruining the crib; but it will be worth it if it stops him from trying to eat the wood. 

Test run back in the crib failed in 10 minutes

Sam has been spending all of his sleeping time in the pack-n-play because he won't stop chewing on the crib.  He isn't biting it or teething on it he is chewing on it and getting wood slivers in his mouth.  Obviously this is not something we are okay with so he has been spending his time out of the crib until I come up with a solution. 

I thought I had a good solution - I wrapped the teething guard in fabric so he couldn't take it off like he did last time.  The area that he is really gnawing on is in an awkward spot that I can't cover with the fabric so I lowered his mattress so that he couldn't reach it.  I put him in his bed and then watched as he got on his tippy toes, reached around the corner of the bed with both arms to pull himself up a little more and then he started chewing on it.  UGH!!!

He got put back in the pack-n-play for his nap and I am back to the drawing board to find something that will keep him from doing this. 

Amazing restraint/willpower

This morning while Sam was playing in the floor I took a toy away from him because he was chewing on it and I put it on Megan's bench.  He crawled over to get it and I moved to floor just under the edge of the other side of the bench; and for the first time Sam went looking for it.  He leaned over the bench and reached down to get it.  He normally acts like it magically disappeared. 

Now to the amazing restraint.  This morning Will was feeding Megan early (she had an appt) so Sam was still playing in the floor instead of eating at the same time.  Megan threw a piece of pear on the floor and Sam crawled right to it and was going to pick it up.  Will told him no and he left his hand about 1/16" of an inch from the pear, but he didn't touch it.  He would stare at it, and Will would tell him no and then he would look up.  This continued for a couple of minutes before I picked him up; and he got lots of kisses and praise for listening to/obeying daddy and showing amazing control.