Showing posts with label growing pains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label growing pains. Show all posts

8/15/2012

Anneli had a crying fit, so I spanked her once. As I got out of the shower, this is what I saw on the floor in front of the bathroom:



Notice all the question marks around the drawing.

9/29/2011

Milestone: First Teeth!

Eric now has two teeth! They appeared over the weekend, and he's been chewing on everything in sight. He's been a bit cranky, but he's not crying all day like some other babies I know. His teeth have come in a little later than Anneli's did. Anneli is very excited about his teeth; she likes to remind us that he has two teeth now. :)

Anneli's tantrums have mostly gone away, although there are some flare-ups here and there. She had one on Sunday because she did not want to take a nap. (She eventually fell asleep.) I do blame her behavior on my parents, who coddle her and basically undermine me. I've talked to them about enforcing the rules when I'm not at home (and also not bending the rules because she cries), but that will take some time.

Eric is still growing... big, fat roly-poly baby. I squeeze him into one of Anneli's old fleeze footie pajamas (size 12 mons) and had a hard time zipping him up. I had to take him out and put him in one of own pajamas that actually fit properly. He is the size of a one-year-old; imagine having to carry a one-year-old everywhere. He no longer wants to lie back in the tub; he kicks angrily and wants to sit up. I end up with water all down the front of my clothes. We've been showing him how to take steps, and he can swing his legs when we hold him up. I think we get more of a workout than he does.

We've not really solved the poop issue. He still doesn't poop every day. It happens every 4-5 days, which I guess is regular...? Enormous, adult-size poop. Gross. He had one yesterday, so we'll see when it happens again.

8/09/2011

Milestone: Eric 6 months & other stuff...

Weight: 20 lbs. 4 oz. (90th percentile)
Height: 26 in.
Head: 17.5 in.
Chest: 18.25 in.

I'm not surprised that he gained weight, but geez... 20 pounds?! The doctor was not concerned with his weight, as he is on breastmilk. He did ask me if anyone in the family has a big head (I don't know what constitutes "big"), as he measured Eric's head twice to confirm the measurement.

Anneli has not been eating for the last two days. She starts to cry and gags when I try to get her to eat. Today, she did eat a little at lunch--about half of what she normally eats--but I was thankful for that and didn't push it. She came home and had a half cup of milk and some Doritos, so I hope this means she's getting her appetite back. We've had a tough go of her behavior this past week, but I think she's just acting out for two reasons: (1) she is jealous of the time and attention I give to Eric, and (2) she misses her grandparents (my parents). As to reason 1, I've been trying to give her more individual attention when Eric is asleep, but Eric is not a heavy sleeper, so that gives me at most 30-45 minutes I can spend with her, if I don't have to pump. It's difficult to work in time with her when I have so many things I need to do (laundry, cleaning, cooking...). (I'm on the computer right now because she said she would rather watch an episode of Backyardigans than read with me. And if you know how much she hates Backyardigans, you know how surprising this decision is.) As for reason 2, she has been telling my parents that she's been "waiting too much" for them to return. My mom will be back in two and a half weeks, my dad another week after, so the planets will realign in her universe in short order.

But she has been well-behaved today, so I caved and bought her a My Little Pony book. (We had some time to kill before the doctor's appointment, so we stopped at Barnes & Noble.) She's taken a liking to My Little Pony (the strange reincarnation of the '80s show), and it's pretty harmless so I let her indulge.

7/27/2011

A little bit of a change here... I've decided to add Eric to this blog, so I don't have to update one for each of them. Not only is it easier with just one blog, but it makes more sense since their lives are so intertwined.

So today Anneli and I had another knock-down-drag-out screaming match. She got angry when I wouldn't change the channel on the TV; she started stomping her feet and threw herself on the floor. I told her to go to her room, and she got up and smacked my stomach. She continued screaming as she ran away from me, but I eventually dragged her to her room. She kept screaming, so I told her I wouldn't talk to her until she had calmed down. At that point, she claimed she was hungry; she repeated that several times until she realized I wasn't buying it. I left her in her room for five minutes. When I went up, she had calmed down considerably and was just lying on her bed. We talked about what happened and why I had gotten angry. I took away her pig and blanket for the night. She wanted to cry in response, but I told her I would keep them an extra day if she started crying again. A little harsh I admit, but those two things are the only things I can use against her. The threat of losing them keeps her in check. At bedtime, she looked like she was going to cry again, so I lay in bed with her until she fell asleep. She was out in 15 minutes, a record for her. Hopefully she'll be better tomorrow...

Eric must be going through a growth spurt because he's a bottomless pit; he is constantly hungry! Today, he had 5 oz. at 6:00 pm, but he was crying for more by 7:30 pm. I fed him some cereal (probably 3 tbsp.) and 4 oz. of milk; it must have been barely enough because he wanted more. I'm still producing more milk than he can keep up with, so I don't worry about having enough. (I think two freezers entirely filled with milk should give you an idea of why I don't worry.) If only selling breastmilk weren't illegal... I could be rich!