Category: Kids & Parenting

A few months ago we decided to move Zach from his high-priced fancy-schmancy high chair to a cheaper, more portable booster where he could sit up at the table with us during dinner time.  There were several reasons for this change, one of those being that the table was bigger than his high chair tray and the possibility of him actually throwing his plate over the table onto the floor would be reduced.

Zach took to the new chair right away.  He was used to the chair as it had been used as a portable high chair for him when we traveled or were invited over for dinner at a friend’s house.  For some reason, sitting up close to the table with Mom and Dad was exciting.  He started eating better and the amount of food on the floor was reduced quite a bit.  Since then he has found ways around the table and still manages to feed the dog half of his meal, but meal time feels more like family time now and I like that.

As he gets more and more proficient with telling us his wants and needs, he has started a few habits which I have tried to break.  One of these habits is that he likes to push his chair away from the table when he is done eating (or is unhappy with the choices provided to him).  This isn’t a problem except that the chair that his booster seat sits in has rubber feet on the bottom.  When he tries to push himself back, the feet stick to the floor and instead of scooting back, he tips the chair.  I generally watch him very closely because of this and we have been able to catch him before he pushes too far and tips the chair completely over…until this morning.

As I was getting ready to leave for work, Granny fixed Zach some breakfast.  I put him in his chair to eat and then turned to get a sippy cup out for his milk.  Before I even knew what had happened, I heard a crash and instantly knew what it was.  He had finally managed to tip the chair over.  The strap held him in the chair well and he even managed to lift his head up as he hit the floor so there was no major damage done.  I think the worst of the damage was actually to my heart the instant I realized what had happened.  He cried a little but I think it was more because it scared him rather than because it hurt.  He’s a tough little guy.

Hopefully there won’t be any bumps and bruises on him when I get home, but I feel so bad for not being able to catch him this time.  I’m not sure what to do about the chair.  I certainly don’t want this to happen again.  I might have to go back to the high chair that I know he can’t tip over.

The boy has been driving me a little bit bonkers the last couple of weeks. There are so many different things going on that I can blame, but the main part is that he is not sleeping.  He screams and screams when I put him to bed.  I let him scream for 5-10 minutes until I can take it no longer and then I go get him and he ends up falling asleep in my lap around 9:00-10:00.  After he is in a good, deep sleep I put him in his bed.  Usually within an hour or two he is awake and the screaming commences again.  At that point, I give up and bring him to bed with me where he snuggles up and sleeps (with a little tossing and turning) for the rest of the night and I sleep very little.

Here is the list of things that I keep running through my head that might be attributing to the problem:

1. He is teething again.  He has 4 teeth pushing on his gums right now trying to break free.  I can feel the points through his gums so I know they must be a little painful for him.
2. We have had extra people in the house for the last two weeks and there is pretty much no 1-on-1 time for him with Mommy or Daddy.
3. His daily routine has been disrupted.  He is staying home with Granny all day instead of going to day care where he has other kids to run and play and wear himself out with.
4. His allergies seem to be in overdrive causing itchy eyes and a runny nose.
5. He is learning so much right now that his little brain just can’t settle down.  Plus, his mouth rarely stops moving.  The kid just wants to talk, talk, talk.  I have read that when kids are going through periods of rapid development that they often have sleeping problems.

All of these things have been haunting me.  I knew it had to be one or a combination of all of them that was keeping him awake.  Then lastnight I figured it all out.  About 2 weeks ago, when he went to the doctor, she had me start him on Claritin for his allergies.  It is supposed to be the non-drowsy formula so I wasn’t worried about him being sleepy during the day on it like he tends to be on Benadryl.  I didn’t think about the fact that the Claritin could be keeping him awake.

Lastnight, instead of his usual dose of Claritin, I gave him Benadryl instead.  At 8:00 I put him in bed.  He cried (no screaming) for a couple of minutes and then fell asleep.  He slept until I went in to get him up at 7:30 this morning.  It was blissfull.  I felt so refreshed this morning after actually getting to sleep all night and Zach must have too because he was in a particularly good mood when I left him with Granny.  I’ll be calling his doctor today to see if we can change him to a different allergy med.

Did I mention how things have been, um, busy around here?  Seriously, when I can’t even find time to blog, something is just not right in my world.  Screw work, I need to blog.

Yesterday Granny and Papa brought Zach over and met me at his doctor’s office, which saved me about an hour round-trip driving.  Zach had his 15-month check up and is doing absolutely splendid.  The doc said that he is a little bit ahead developmentally (I already knew that but hearing it from the doctor made my overachieving self very proud).  He weighed in at 27 pounds, which totally made me laugh when I watched Survivor lastnight and saw the girls struggling to carry their 15 pound bags of sand.  Ha!  I tote 27 pounds around all the time with very little effort and have a nice protruding bicep on my right arm to prove it!

It was funny to watch him at the doctor’s office because I could tell that it was a very different experience for him this time.  He was much more aware of what was going on around him.  He made the funniest face when I sat him down on the scale and I wish I could have taken a picture of it.  It was an expression I have never seen before, a combination of goofy and a “what in the heck am I doing up here?” look.  He ran around the exam room exploring things and flirting with the nurse.  He was having a great time until the end of the visit when he got his immunizations.

He had to get three shots this time.  I gave him his pacifier ahead of time (now used only for sleeping and church usually).  I put him up on the table and he watched with fascination while the nurse got everything ready.  He barely flinched when she gave him the first shot, but the second one must have hurt a little because he started crying.  Then came the third and it was an all out screamfest in the exam room.  It was the kind of screaming cry that just cannot be comforted.  I felt so bad for the little guy.  After what seemed like forever (but was probably less than 5 minutes), I got him settled down and dressed and we got out of there.  Just as a comparison, previous to this he has rarely even cried when he got his shots.

He was pretty unhappy for the rest of the evening.  After dinner, I took his pants off to start getting him ready for his bath.  He kept pointing at the band-aids on his thighs and crying.  Since I know he isn’t very fond of band-aids (although I’m sure that will change in the near future) I decided to take them off.  After the band-aids were off, he still kept pointing at his legs and crying.  I thought perhaps it was hurting where he got the shots, but he didn’t even flinch when I touched the spots.  I really think he was just trying to tell me that he didn’t like what that nurse did to him.  I think for the first time he actually had a memory of getting the shots.

Now I know that the immunizations are important and are protecting him from some pretty yucky stuff, but it just about broke my heart to see his reaction this time around.  I can only guess what the next doctor’s visit will be like if he remembers this by then.