Uli is a Vampire

I say this because it seems he prefers to be awake than asleep when the sun goes down. I have taken the boy to the pediatrician a few times to make sure all is well; she insists that he is the picture of health and that he is just manipulating us to stay awake at night.  So... back to the drawing board. The kicker is that when all of this started, we thought he was teething. No teeth. Four weeks later, I think he really is teething. When will we ever get to sleep???

As an aside, the boy can gracefully ascend and descend the stairs now. Walking is all that's left to do...

Playing in a pile of oat flour today. He had a pretty good time, although he wasn't as entertained as I anticipated. Perhaps he's just too advanced for such silly past times. :)

Looking adorable after breakfast on Saturday. 'May I please be excused?'

Happy Father's Day!

We had a mellow Father's Day, staying in most of the day due to the rain. Late this afternoon, we decided to go out on our first family bike ride on the Assabet River Trail in Marlborough. It was good to get out as a family, and we thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air. I totally dig my new Chariot Sidecarrier - way worth the money to be able to see the Uli-Man while we ride!!!

Froggy Pond

We've had a heat wave here since Saturday, and I can tell you this isn't the easiest way to slide into summer. One day we needed fleeces to leave the house, the next day you can't make the air-conditioning cold enough.  On Monday, it got the hottest (almost hit 100 degrees) it has been, and the power went out! Must have been the surge of electricity going to all those air conditioning units. Needless to say, it became quite hot and unbearable in the house.

So, I ran off to Wally World to buy my son a wading pool. LaLa stayed behind to watch the boy (car seat fiasco, that's another story), while I went to scour the shelves. I found the cutest little inflatable pool, which is in the shape of a little green frog. He seems to like it - we went out again and played in it today. I think he thinks its like bath time and is a little confused about why its a cold bath, but he still digs it.

Teething?

Well, as far as I can tell, my son is teething. He has started waking up in the middle of the night again, and after many nights of trying different things, we are back to going in, putting something on his gums and then letting him cry. After almost 4 hours with him up last night, and most of it spent playing around, we decided Uli's trying to manipulate the situation in his favor. I do believe he's waking up due to teething pain, but he's resisting sleep so he can stay up with his favorite people in the world.

During this process, I have found that both Tylenol and the Hyland's teething gel both have parabens in them, which I have read is not good to use topically, so I can't imagine they're good to ingest. I have also discovered that the teething gel and tablets contain 'baby speed' - a.k.a. coffea cruda - which is what we think is keeping him up. We are down to the amber teething necklace (questionable efficacy, although apparently they're very common in Europe), and topical diluted clove oil. I hope his teeth come through soon, this is wearing us all out.

On another note, I reread 'The Phantom Toll Booth' and loved it just as much as I remember. I can't wait to read it with Uli. I also read 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' which is the first book I can say I don't like better than the movies. I was a little disappointed. I will still read it with my son though. :)

Finally, the big event of the last week was the day my mom and I locked ourselves out of the house while Uli was asleep inside. I have never had a bigger panic attack in my life. I ended up crawling through an upstairs window and pushing the window AC unit into the house so I could get in. Can you believe Uli slept the entire time? All I can say is thank God my husband likes to leave things strewn about our backyard, otherwise I am not sure where I would have gotten a ladder big enough to get into our window. Needless to say, I was pretty stressed out, and when Uli woke up, I loaded him up into the car, and LaLa, Uli and I went and got ourselves some ice cream. Ice cream cures all worries.

Uli trying ice cream for the first time.