Amongst all the allergy issues (of which I know make my own detergent and Jacob only uses the same soap that I use for the detergent which isn't a real soap for bathing and we're still trying to discover what I believe is one culprit which is so random and rare that I think I know, but I'm not certain) Jacob has been teething like crazy! Needless to say, sleepless nights were so normal that anything more than a hour at a time was heaven.
Something I did notice was that Jacob would break out every time his teeth bothered him, and when I'd give him pain killers the redness went away. I also noticed that if he rubbed his skin, it would immediately flare up. In other words, he has extremely delicate skin.
But with all that, Jacob finally cut in two teeth - he was around 8 months old. In fact, he got sick twice in a three hour period and then was fine and six days later cut the first tooth. Then, a week later, he got sick once and was fine in less than two hours and six days later cut the second tooth. See a pattern.. I think maybe, but we'll have to wait for tooth number three to be sure.
What I loved this time around was that I actually got to see the whole process. Yes, I've seen the blister before. Yes, I've seen the tiny white line just after it pops through. But I'd never seen the tooth inside the blister and watched it actual move upward over the course of the day. I got to do that with Jacob! It was such an amazing and neat experience.... maybe only a mother can appreciate the odd joy there, but it was something I know I'll always look back and smile on.
He's been a lot happier (although even at his crankiest,
Jacob found ways to be happy and smile and giggle... what a huge blessing). He loves those little teeth and biting things. In fact, he loves to bit so much now that his top teeth have begun to bother him that he can't understand why we keep telling him no. He doesn't understand that those bottom teeth hurt and therefore make such biting on people no longer acceptable.He went back on food around 8 months too... and has done very well. He is able to eat everything so far except cold dairy products... as in, if milk is in something baked, he seems to be fine, but he appears to have an issue with cheese and yogurt. So, we'll hold off on those for a while longer and see what happens. I must admit I was surprised to learn that not only can he eat eggs with out problem, but he LOVES egg salad - which was discovered after he ate a bunch of Bud's potato salad!
Getting Jacob to move - roll over consistently, crawl, that kind
of thing - has been a little tricky. He'd been able to roll over for a while, but didn't do much of it until we cleared up the weepy rash back in January. Even then, he, being a 5th child, found that there was generally someone around to do the work for him. And if he was sitting up, he was happy. But after much encouragement, Jacob finally managed to get on the move - ever so slightly. Just on his tummy, digging his toes into the carpet, and only maybe an inch. He'd do it often enough that we knew he was really doing it, but he wasn't happy enough with it to really go far, although he loved to spin in circles.After that came about a month of leaning forward from his sitting position, rocking on the one leg and one knee and immediately coming back to sitting. Cautious - Beth had once been that way. We kept encouraging, but I was seriously giving up and resigning myself to haven't the baby suck to me - because following me wasn't really an option.
My friend let us borrow a push behind walker, which Jacob loves - but he can't turn it himself, so someone still had to be with him while he used it. He also loved holding someone's hands and walking - most especially if that someone was Peter and they were both all but running down the hall to the boys room (where Jacob loves most to play) - I love those moments because Jacob will laugh the whole way down the hall.
Next I noticed Jacob start flopping to his stomach, and then he learned how to pull one leg back up. Then he was starting to butt-scoot. Anyway, he still wasn't getting very far until one more, one week and three days before Easter (so that would have been April 14th... exactly 9 months old) he figured out how to scoot on his hands, with on foot down and one knee down. By afternoon he'd figured out how to go with both knees down, but found it less satisfying and generally chooses the former. Three days later (Sunday before Easter) while everyone else is busy doing things around us, Jacob is trying to get a block out of the block basket (one of those collapsible toy basket things) while holding on to my hand and standing. Not content with what he can reach, he let go of my hand, one hand on the edge of the collapsible basket, and took three steps. I know he had no idea what he'd done, but he'd done it all the same... and without any coaxing.
I'd been saying all along that he'd probably do it all at the same time, just the way he was doing things, but it was still a shock to me. A little later I set him just away from me and he walked to me. Later still, Bob had him walking to him and the it was back and forth between us. I didn't get pictures until he was worn out and tired, but I did get a couple that night. That first night he took 6 steps in a row - that was the most.
Since then he'll walk to the kids as well, walk along the furniture, and even tried to walk to the TV. He's not really a walker yet, but he's certainly stepping away. I'm sure it won't be too long before he's steadily running - but for now, he's happy to crawl around as fast as he can, exploring the house in a whole new way.
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