The Butterfly and the Bear: The Flustered Butterfly

Terr-bear had his one year checkup on Wednesday. It was a little hectic due to the change in routine and schedule, however, as usual he was a little hero. At the one year checkup they get two shots and have blood drawn. He barely cried when he got the shots, he laughed and giggled as the doctor gently pressed on his belly and sides, he chatted away and smiled at the nurses and doctor. Now, I may be biased but when the doctor said his communication skills were advanced for his age I thought, “Uh, tell us something we don’t know! He’s a baby genius!” He was a pure delight.

After meeting with the doctor we headed downstairs to the lab to wait for his blood to be drawn. It was a little crowded in the waiting room and we had to wait for a half hour or so. At one point when Robin, his Mother, went to the bathroom he began to fuss so to distract him I stood up and started swaying and slowly dancing with him. He loves dancing and started kicking his legs and bopping up and down in my arms. Suddenly the front of my sun dress felt warm, I pull him away and a stream of urine sprays out just barely missing some innocent bystanders and hits one of the waiting room chairs. Shocked I quickly pulled him in and pressed him against me to abate the stream. Oh boy. A nice woman who had narrowly missed getting caught in the crossfire asked, “Do you need help.” To which I competently replied, “Uh, uhm, uhh, no, his Mom will be back in a minute.” Robin came out and we went into the bathroom, I changed his diaper while she juggled him in her arms. The front of my dress was drenched in urine. Great, I thought, everyone will be wondering who the homeless woman is with the cute baby and nice woman. Finally it was time for his blood to be drawn and again, he was a total angel, cried for the briefest moment and then was back to his happy self.

Once at home I was anxious to take the doctors advice to have him try some baby puffs before his meal. Because he got his teeth late he hasn’t really caught on to the whole chewing thing. So with the doctors blessing we were going to try to get him to eat some puffs. I placed 5 or 6 on his highchair tray as I prepared his jar of food and got him his water. Naturally he flicked them in the air, shoved them in his lap, threw them on the floor, essentially put them everywhere but his mouth. I went over put one in my mouth and chirped, “Look! Look! Yummy! YUM-MEEEE!” He looked at me like I was insane. So I took one and placed it on his lips. He rolled it into his mouth and immediately looked disgusted. In my mind I heard, “Uh-Oh.” As the puff retreated further into his mouth he looked totally revolted. Then the gagging started, and as I am reaching to get him out of the highchair the vomit began to flow. Once, twice, three times. Damn puffs! DAMN PUFFS! Once it was all up he stopped throwing up and I felt terrible. Why did he need to chew anyway?! Crazy doctor! Why not stick with pureed food until he is say, 6 or 7?

So now we REALLY needed a bath. The bear loves his baths, he is a total water baby. Up we went and I placed him in his little tub. Usually his bath has a calming effect on him. Not this time, he was splashing, squirming, trying to stand up and/or pull me in. Funtimes. So I go to dry him off and we have to do his least favorite thing in the world: place him on the changing table. He starts flailing, crying and banging his head. I am beyond frazzled and for some reason the head banging while not a new occurrence, totally upsets me. However every time I say, “No.” in my stern I’m-not-messing-around voice, this makes him laugh uproariously. Then he would resume his crying and head banging, and again I’d say no and he would laugh hysterically. Oh boy. I finally managed to fasten his diaper and I picked his squirming body up and placed him in the crib for a “timeout”, probably more for me than him, and went to drain the water from his tub. At this point my sister who was working downstairs came up to see what all the crying/laughing and repeated “No banging!” was all about. She went in and picked a disgruntled and crying Terr-bear out of his crib and explained that he is still too young to understand a timeout and that if the head banging was hurting him, he’d stop. Right. I know this. I am a logical person. I felt like a total idiot and I felt bad that I had allowed myself to get so flustered and had let him feel my tension and anxiety. My sister of course was wonderful and told me not to be so hard on myself. I was having visions of him crying and pointing his little pointer finger at me and instead of calling me “My Mandy” changing it to, “Mean Mandy!” However, luckily 12 month olds don’t hold grudges and he seemed to forget all about the puff induced vomiting and the crib timeout.

Yesterday when I went to change him he started up with the squirming and head banging and I pretended to not see it and instead said, “Oh, look, I’m putting on your diaper! Is that Elmo on your diaper?!” He looked at me and stopped his head banging and looked around and clearly was asking himself, “Hmmm, what else can I do to get a rise out of her.” So instead he took his little hand and began slapping his mouth and laughing uproariously. Sigh. He is my nephew after all.

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Can't wait to see him and you this weekend!

Posted by: Pooh Bear #1 | 07/23/2010 at 12:11 PM

Ok I was laughing sooo hard that samantha came over and asked what was so funny. So I read it to her and her laughter made me laugh even harder!

As for the gagging, it is normal. Anytime I gave Samantha a food that was a different consistance she gagged and threw up. For a while I thought it was my cooking, then I finally caught on. Keep trying he will get used to it. Love you all!

Posted by: Claire | 07/23/2010 at 01:00 PM