Teeth are for more than biting

This has been a teeth-centered week for Otter. Wednesday he bit me for the first time, just leaned over and bit me on teh arm hard straight through my sleeve. He seemed to be in the midst of a spirit of exploration, just as he has been in attempting to stick his tongue all the way out and lick the floor, the walls, his toys, his paternal grandmother....

Last night as we helped him brush his teeth after his Dinosaur DVD and before nursing at bedtime, we discovered one possible reason for his sudden crying while waking from naps, his (and thus our) disrupted sleep, his poor appetite: he's got a new tooth coming in, a tiny white bump shyly poking up to make a trio of teeth in the bottom from of his mouth. It's just broken through the gums, and now that we know, we used the magic of Infant Motrin to help us all sleep better last night.

All his other teeth have come in in pairs, roughly, so I hope the matching fourth tooth in the bottom front, the one that will make his smile symmetrical, arrives soon. Teething is not much more fun for the parents than for the child.

Sleep deprivation: it's not just for parents of new babies

I gave up trying to get Otter back to sleep and got up with him at at 4:15.

No one tells you that part of the excitement of language acquisition and co-sleeping for small children is the chance to kick mama --somewhat gently but definitely kicking-- repeatedly while chanting "kick kick kick kick kick."

And then saying "ow ow ow ow" and chanting "no no no no no" while signing "hurt" after Mama tells the child NOT to kick her ANYMORE because "NO kicking--OW it hurts mama".

This slides right into a deep and abiding love of music and rhythm when the child sits up, nestles into mama's shoulders and bangs on mama saying "dub a dub a dub a duh" (the generally understood toddler representation of drumming noises).

So we got up.

I changed Otter's poopy diaper and put him in one of his cutest outfits, as I needed a reminder why I love the child. Then I did laundry, Otter ate crackers (no trans fat!) and played his toy piano and "read" books, and we both crawled back into bed at 5:30am just as G got up for the day.

(I am grateful that Otter cosleeps with us so that I didn't have to wake up to a child screaming. Really truly I hate that, the waking from deep sleep to a wailing small one, more than any of the above.)

We got back up at 7:30 and I'm trying to be energetic and not cranky. I have succeeded in finding his antics marginally amusing but I think I'll need a nap before energetic happens.

VMOU: more new words and signs

Otter's new signs: LABEL (for tag), SLIDE, BREAD, BEAR (with an 'RRRR' sound), RING (for the chime next to his highchair)

Otter's new words: rainbow (as bobo), paper, burger, turtle, Nana, Grammy, puppet, hug, Loki, kiwi (which varies between teewee, teepee, and peewee--but he's getting there and we can tell what he means), clock, chime