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• Roly-Poly

  It seems that Axel may have mistaken himself for a doodlebug - the woodlouse, also known among all the Kick the Can players in my old neighborhood as a roly-poly.  The child thinks his purpose in life is to roll, especially when he's on the changing table or getting dressed after his bath.  Attempts to prevent him from rolling are not appreciated.  In fact, he seems to think that any of them - the changing table strap, my hand on his stomach, a stuffed giraffe head attached to a blanket (actually, a bodyless giraffe is a little creepy now that I think about it) - are just mean-spirted attempts from the man to keep him down.   He throws all fourteen pounds of himself into resisting such attempts, at times devolving into hysterics over the horrors of being forced to stay on his back and not play with a pack of baby wipes.     Hey, I'm all for motion.  He can roll and spin 360 degrees and crawl backwards all he wants when I'm not trying to wipe the poop off his butt or put on a new diaper.  All I want is a few minutes of motionlessness, or of motion restricted to arm waving or his newest talent, shaking his head while giggling, to keep him from sitting in a dirty diaper.  I explain this to him, but babies are far lower on Spock's illogical scale than Captain Kirk.   He hasn't come close to falling off the changing table, but he has created some particularly disgusting poop messes through all this wiggling about.    Short of investing in a baby straitjacket or getting the dog to sit on his chest during diaper changes, what can we do to keep him on his back and mostly calm?  He's too young to be bribed with chocolate.  Any brilliant roll-preventing insights from you experienced parents out there would be appreciated!       Posted May 28 2008, 02:13 PM by knockedup with | with 15 comment(s) Filed under: rolling over, doodlebug, kick the can is my favorite game, roly poly, rolling on changing table

• Blah Blah Blah

  Axel's becoming a big baby loudmouth.  "Gu UUUUUHHHHHHH,"  he'll say, looking at me with an earnest expression.  "Arrrgggurgglegrrrrr."  I try to do the give-and-take/conversation imitiation thing, but Axel doesn't quite get that he's supposed to wait his turn.  Once he's started, he just keeps on going with a low moan at the same mini-Frankenstein tone, "uhhhhhhhhhh."   He - flirt that he is - loves to babble at strangers.  In the check-out line at the grocery store, he had very important things to tell the checker, like "aaahhhhrrrrraaaahhhhrrr."  The checker found this to be adorable and talked right on back, fuelling more gurgles and groans.  Axel primarily speaks in vowel sounds right now, with the occasional "guh" and motor boat "brrr" powered with a generous glob of salivia.  Despite my best efforts to enunciate "Mama," there's no m-sound.  The most mama-melting thing he does now: while he's nursing, he'll pull off to gaze up at me, and then he'll slowly touch his face, then touch my chest, then go back and forth again, peppering his me-and-you touches with smiles and "guhs."  Yeah, it turns me to mush.  When he does this, I don't even care that he's getting distracted and can take a long, long time to finish off a meal.    In other development news, Axel's rolling like a madman.  He blasted through whatever barrier had been preventing his back to side rolls from making it all the way to his belly.  He'll roll back to belly, then to back, all the while twisting himself around in circles so that his head ends up where his feet had been.  If he were doing this rolling and rocking routine in a field of high grass, it would result in mysterious mini-crop circles.    Amidst this developmental flurry, we're preparing for another baby milestone: the first day at daycare.  With Axel's more limited sleep during the day, and raised activity level, he's not such a workplace-friendly baby anymore.  A few hours here and there are fine, but not a full day.  So, the time has come for Axel to join the other babies at daycare - we finally got a spot, after being on the waitlist since last May.  He'll go for a few hours Wednesday, then most of the day on Thursday.  Next week, he'll start going three days a week.  I used to work at a daycare and as a nanny, so I am comfortable with the world of childcare in general.  But, I'm still a little nervous - Will he actually take naps?  Will he eat?  Will he bring home every contagious disease under the sun? Will the other babies like the new kid?  I'll report back later this week.     Posted Mar 16 2008, 10:16 AM by knockedup with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: rolling over, babbling, baby talk, starting daycare

• The Baby King of Rolling

  Axel rolled over again!  This confirms that the first time (more than a week before the recent second occurences) was not a fluke.  Both times were fuelled by tummy-time induced rage. The anger inspired lots of thrashing, which combined with arm pushing to cause Axel to roll from belly to back - three times in a row!     Axel believes tummy time was created to torture babies - or he did, until he discovered that, while splayed on his belly, he can sample many delicacies, like his fist, sleeve, or blanket.        Yum, red fleece.   Since making this discovery, Axel seems less inclined to exert the herculean effort required to roll over.   Even so, this rolling over has made me both incredibly proud (even though it's not exactly uncommon for babies to roll over), and filled me with fear - first rolling, then sitting, then crawling, then walking, and all of this interspersed with pulling vases off of tables and on to his head and sticking metal objects in to light sockets.  Rolling means I can no longer leave him alone on the changing table; I know I never should have done that but, sometimes, when your hands are covered in poop, you really want to wash them good before picking up the baby that created the gross yellow stuff.  It means the time that he will lay on his back on a blanket, without wiggling off to less comfortable parts of the floor, is limited.  It means that we really should get with it and start baby proofing.    Even though I know all babies roll over, it's still shocking when it's your own kid, moving at light speed from newborn bundle of grunts and poop to small person with moderate control of his hands and body.   Here he is, dressed up in a hoodie with ears - ears being the clothing industry's device of choice to suck mamas and grandmamas into purchasing unnecessary but teeth-achingly adorable hooded towels and sweaters for the babies in their lives - happily flailing about his newly-discovered hands.        Slow down, baby boy, and give us a minute to get the knives off of the counter and the outlet covers in place!   Posted Jan 16 2008, 03:05 PM by knockedup with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: tummy time sucks, eleven weeks, rolling over, babies in hooded sweaters