A Fun Day

At least, we hope it was, given the carnage:

Dennis said, "I'm actually kindof proud of him. I feel like I want to take a picture."  So, take a picture we did.

And, a closeup:

As it turns out, his left knee is actually stained with whatever that is (mulberry juice?).  Soap didn't help. Scrubbing didn't help much, and we didn't have the heart to scrub those scraped-up knees too hard anyway.

All that, and he actually didn't even get dressed and go outside until 3:21, AND he had a post-lunch shower because he was covered in blueberry yogurt.  So, that's what less than 6 hours of outside fun will do to you, if you're Dexter. :)

Dexter's Inujries

They just keep coming! He'd better get the hang of this walking thing soon, or we're going to be in big trouble.

Between July 20 and August 6, he had a black eye, a bloody nose, TWO separate episodes of being bitten at day care (not his fault, but geez), and now, a bloody lip!


This time, he was just standing up, holding the remote control. He fell backwards onto his cute little butt, and somehow his lip got smooshed between the remote and his teeth. There seemed to be a lot of blood (although a lot was probably spit), and then he rubbed it all over his face, so it looked more like he'd been in a bar fight.

Again, he wouldn't let us near him with ice, but the bleeding stopped quickly, and he's long since moved on with his busy little life.

Here's hoping we can pretty much retire this "injuries" tag now. (ha!)

Dexter is TEN Months Old!

Double-digits! How did that happen?!

Dexter slept in to celebrate his month-i-birthday (~7pm - 8am!) and was all smiles when we did pictures in the morning.



Developmentally, he's making slow but sure progress. Despite our (ok, my) predictions, he is not yet walking, but he is stumbling between people who try to make him walk. :) And, of course, he's standing on his own and babbling more and more. After 5 months of our dedicated efforts, though, he still won't wave bye-bye.

Still, he's about the happiest baby you could ever imagine, despite his streak of injuries. And yes, I'm going to add an "injury" tag, since he now has *another* one - a bite from another child at daycare. They don't tell you who did the biting, but they do tell both sets of parents. I think I know who it was, though, and I can't imagine it was malicious (they are babies, after all). No broken skin, but he has some neat-o teeth marks on his wrist. I just hope I'm not on the other end of a note like that anytime soon (or, you know, ever).



Speaking of teeth, let's go over our list of current Dexter facts, shall we?

• Teeth: Dexter still has only 7, although there is a white spot where #8 will soon be poking its way through. Sometimes I think I can feel a bump, other times not so much.
• Hair: Too much! I can see a haircut in his future, but I'm trying to hold off until October. It's not in his eyes yet, so I think we're OK for a while.
• Knees: Raw, as you can see in the photos above. I keep trying to tell him that his knees would feel better if he'd walk, but he just doesn't listen (or just doesn't care?).
• Weight: 25.4 pounds, fully dressed with diaper. We feed him often, but he really just never stops moving.
  
• Height: Unknown. He's definitely getting taller, but - as one might expect - it's slowing down a bit. He can hook his arms all the way over his crib rail, though, which is something he couldn't do a few weeks ago.
• Sleep: Hit or miss. We had a pretty good month overall, because he wasn't really sick or teething in earnest, but he still often decided he needed a little hug in the middle of the night. Still, we'll take one wake-up over the 15 we were seeing back in February.
• Food: We're moving more and more to table food, but he still loves his purees. Favorite table foods include the usual suspects (bananas and cheerios) but also cantaloupe, donuts (ok, not too many of these), black beans, peas, carrots, corn, green beans, macaroni, and crackers.
• Verbal: He's still got his moments of chattiness, but we haven't yet identified a sound as being tied to a specific thing. We still read to him every night and talk to him all the time (and wrestle him to put hydrogen peroxide in his ears to get/keep them clear of excessive earwax) to make sure we continue making progress in this area.
• Gross Motor: Not much that hasn't already been said. Standing on his own (either positioned or stands himself from a squatting or bent-over position) and stumbling between people.
• Fine Motor: We are seeing continued improvement on the pincer grasp, but I'm not sure it's 100% yet. He's also stacking things and putting nesting cups/boxes within one another. I'm not sure where that fits in the motor development categories, but it's something!
• Books: No new real favorites. We added "That's not my Lion," "That's Not My Monster," and "That's Not My Car" to the repertoire. He still loves the touchy-feely books and will sometimes talk to them at night while we feel the fuzzy parts.
• New Tricks: Not many. Supervising the deck work is taking a lot of concentration.
• Personality: He's still our HAPPY Dexter! Not sure how we got so lucky in that department, but I am not asking too many questions.

Dexter's First Bloody Nose

Ever since last summer when we found out we were having a boy, I've been told over and over to expect lots of bumps and bruises and scrapes. Yet somehow I still didn't anticipate a black eye and a bloody nose within 2 weeks of one another at the ripe age of 9 months.

The scene of the incident:

Yep. His usual hangout - by the window in the living room, watching Dad and Granddad work on the deck. There was nothing there - no toys, nothing to slip on or trip on. I didn't see him, but my best guess is that he just lost his balance and whacked his nose on the window sill. I heard a thud, and the crying began as I was on my way to investigate. There was much screaming. When we went out onto the deck to tell Dad we were OK, the bleeding started.



The screaming and crying lasted continuously for at least 15 minutes, then continued off and on for another 20 or so. Granddad had him laughing before too long, though. In the meantime, Dad was on the phone with the pediatrician making sure we didn't have to worry about a concussion or anything really serious. (the verdict: no worries) Naturally, despite our best efforts, he would not allow us to put any ice on it.

He ended up taking a nap for about an hour (fatigue leads to clumsiness, which is the only thing I can think of to have caused such a thing) and woke up with a still-achy nose. We're giving him all of the hugs he can tolerate, but he's still not sure whether he'd rather be held or crawl around and play.

And there's definitely some bruising and swelling. Poor baby isn't going to look super-handsome in his 10-month pictures on Tuesday!

Here's hoping I don't need to add an "injury" tag to this blog.