Don't Toy With Me

Just like every other child, Eddie loves to play with things that are not really toys. Today, we decided to compile photos of Eddie's favorite non-toy toys.

1. Door Stops: Eddie loves our springy doorstops. The most accessible one is the one in his bedroom, which is right next to where we keep his diaper-changing supplies. Now that he can roll onto his tummy, it is a struggle to keep him from rolling just so he can have a better angle for playing with the doorstop. I'm considering removing the non-essential stops from our house before this becomes a nuisance. Besides, once he learns how to remove them, they'll really have to go. They're quite pointy on the other end.


2. Mail: Eddie gets this from me. I love getting mail. The difference is that I don't eat the mail like Eddie does. He isn't picky about what comes in the mail, as long as he is allowed to play with some of it. I realize it is probably filthy, but I will usually let him play with the sturdier pieces of junk mail, which take him longer to soak through to where he's actually eating pieces of it. Hopefully it's bolstering his immune system.


3. Cords and/or Strings: It seems like all babies are fascinated by strings and cords. Now that Eddie is getting more mobile, he gets ahold of the cords that are lying around our office. And he loves it when we wear hoodies or drawstrings pants so that he has convenient toys right in his reach. We try not to encourage the cord fixation, but we're not really sure how to discourage it. In the plus column though, Dave's shoelaces have helped Eddie get through church on more than one occasion.


4. Kitchen Utensils: Eddie loves kitchen utensils, which is actually pretty convenient if there are no other toys handy when we're in the kitchen. He especially loves spatulas, serving spoons, and the wisk. We try to keep the more dangerous utensils out of reach, because he'd probably love those, too.


5. Wipes: Eddie will often pass up all his surrounding toys for a chance to bang on the top of the wipe container. He likes to try to close the lid, even though he's not usually successful. At least he hasn't figured out how to get the wipes out of the container yet. Let's keep our fingers crossed that he never does.


6. CDs and DVDs: Now that Eddie can move around the room, he usually makes his way over to the CD rack in our office. With a beautiful array of colors in shiny plastic cases, this is a big attraction for him. He just learned how to pull the CDs off the bottom shelf. He tries to put them back on, which I think is pretty funny to watch, because it usually results in more coming off. For some reason, he especially likes the Best O' Boingo case. Truly he is his father's son. As a side note, I would like to mention that our baby is not freakishly bottom-heavy. He's just wearing giant pants.


Now, as promised, here is that greatly anticipated photo displaying Eddie's two teeth (you'll have to zoom in on the photo to see them). Don't be alarmed at his halfway angry face. It was the only way to get the teeth in the shot!

Eddie's Therapy: Session 2

Monday, we had Eddie's second physical therapy session. Luckily, I was able to get Eddie to take a decent nap just before Julie came, so he was in a pretty good mood for her. At first, he was so serious, and would only stare at her with his very serious face. So, Julie and I spent the first 20 minutes or so talking and taking care of paperwork. Eventually, Ed warmed up to her and kept leaning forward to try to look at her face. Then he'd yell something at her. If she'd look at him and talk to him, he'd get very serious again, but if she pretended to ignore him and just repeated what he said, he got all excited.

She said that his language development is really good. She said we should work on getting him to say different sounds. So instead of him just repeating "mamama" over and over, we should try to change it up and get him to say something like, "ma-me." We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, once Eddie was comfortable with Julie, we got to work. She was really impressed at how well he does on his hands and knees. He doesn't get there on his own yet, but once he's there, he is pretty stable and will even bounce sometimes. So now, we're working on teaching him to get back to sitting from his knees and to go past center while he's on his knees. I guess babies have to learn how to shift their weight forward and side-to-side before they can master crawling. We're also still working on getting him to get into a sitting position from lying down.

He is learning really quickly. Just yesterday, he rolled onto his tummy for the first time (on purpose). And this morning, he went from sitting onto his tummy on purpose to get a toy. So, we think that with a little bit of practice and proper motivation, he'll improve really quickly.

And, since we don't have any pictures of Eddie's therapy, I thought I'd include this cute one from a couple of weeks ago. He doesn't like to keep his hat on, but looked so handsome that we tried to put it on really fast to get a picture. You can see how that worked out.

Ten Months Old

Eddie turned 10 months old this week (and I was too busy to remember to post on the appropriate day)! So, here's a little update on our boy:

Eddie is now sick with his fourth or fifth illness of the year. This is his second ear infection of the year, and the pediatrician says that if he has four within six months, then he might have to get tubes installed in his ears. We're really getting to know the pediatrician since we've seen her 3 times in the past 6 weeks. Eddie is learning to dislike doctor appointments.

Eddie is working on becoming more mobile. He's better at rolling from his tummy to his back, and will occasionally roll onto his side, but he'll never choose to get on his tummy. He is able to move around somehow, though, while he's sitting up. He's pretty sneaky about it and will suddenly be in a different place, but we're not exactly sure how he does it.

Eddie had his check-up with the neurologist this past week. I had prepared myself for a terrible experience, full of all sorts of tests. But, after we got all checked in, the doctor came in and asked me a bunch of questions. Then she watched Eddie do his stuff for a few minutes and checked out his muscle tone. Finally, she announced that she doesn't think he has anything too serious. She called his condition "Disassociation of Motor Maturation." Apparently some babies just have this, and nobody is really sure why. One of the tell-tale signs is that the baby will lift their legs up instead of putting their feet on the floor. Basically all this means for us is that Eddie should eventually catch up, but will definitely be a late walker. We sort of assumed that anyways.

Eddie is very social and loves to imitate Dave and I. He makes some great noises. The newest one sounds like he's shivering. We're not sure how he does it, but it sure cracks us up. He calls pretty much everything "dada," but we're not sure if he knows what that means.

And finally... The biggest news this week is that Eddie got his first two teeth - the bottom front ones (photos are sure to follow, if we can get him to stop puckering and open his mouth for us).

Eddie's Bowl-a-Rama

We spent Friday evening hanging out with all of Eddie's cousins from the Barton family. First, we went bowling. This was Eddie's first out-of-womb bowling alley experience. He enjoyed himself immensely, especially when his daddy let him lick a dirty, greasy bowling ball.


I imagine that he's thinking, "this may be the dirtiest floor I have ever seen. I should try to crawl all over it." Fortunately, he didn't follow through.


After bowling, we went to Cheryl's house for dinner. We took advantage of three babies being in just their diapers and stripped down the fourth for the photo-op. Here is Sarah, Eddie, Kyle, and Trevor -- the four youngest Barton cousins. Eddie refused to make any other face for the photos. We call this one "Magnum." After all, he is turning left.

Eddie's Therapy: Session 1

As promised, I want to give an update on Eddie's physical therapy. We met with Eddie's therapist, Julie, for the first time this week. She will be coming over twice a month to work with Eddie. Here are a few of the exercises she gave us to do with Eddie:

For this one, I sit Eddie on the edge of my knee, then pull his feet back a little bit behind his knees. There should be something he wants on the floor in front of him, so that he'll lean forward on his pelvis to get it. The theory here is that he'll learn to sit forward on his pelvis and not lean back and straighten his legs. Unfortunately, Eddie doesn't like any of his toys enough to do this one right, so it usually just ends up with him sitting on my knee. If nothing else, I guess it makes him sit up straight!

For this one, I sit Eddie on my knees, then brace his knees with my hands so that he will stand on his feet. The first time I watched the therapist do this, I had to laugh because Eddie looked so much bigger standing up! His knees are kind of like jelly, so this one takes a bit of effort for me to hold him up like that and we don't last too long. I guess the goal here is to strengthen his legs.

This one is supposed to help Eddie learn to get onto his knees. He is pretty good at swiveling to the side and reaching for things, but usually he'll either back off or fall flat on his face. We are supposed to give him a hand by tucking his leg under and lifting his bottom, so he can see that he can get on his knees and not always end up on his face. He has actually gotten onto his hands and knees a couple of times this week, but doesn't know what to do and ends up sliding down onto his belly.

There are a few others we are also supposed to do, including one to help him learn to get into a sitting position from lying down. That one is a lot harder and I've only been able to get him to do it once for me. Julie seems to think that Eddie will be mobile pretty soon, and even joked that we might regret signing him up for therapy. If nothing else, Julie's visit inspired me to start baby-proofing our house -- starting with bumper pads on our metal tables.

A Piece of Cake

As a possibly crazy first-time mommy, I tend to worry about things much more than necessary. The latest obsession has been deciding on a birthday cake for Eddie. I realize I've got two more months, but for a person like me who (1) has lost track of several months of her life, and (2) has to have ample time to mentally prepare for something like making a cute cake, the more time, the better.

In light of the aforementioned reasons, Dave and I decided to put the question out there for all of you faithful readers to answer. What kind of cake should I attempt to make for Eddie's first birthday? The polls are open, so please cast your vote. Feel free to leave additional thoughts and suggestions in the comments. We have narrowed the choices down to the following:


Disclaimer: All cakes subject to availability and may differ from photos. Dave & Kristen reserve right to override final poll results and choose any cake they want.

Cool Baby Products

I've been getting Parents magazine for free for the past year (I'm not sure how or why, but I won't argue). I really enjoy reading a lot of the articles and they always have a page dedicated to cool kid products. That is what has prompted me to compile a list of cool baby products that I either plan to get soon or hope to get the next time around. I've linked them all for your viewing pleasure. If anyone has any others, feel free to leave details in the comments. I'm always open for ideas.

Note: I got most of these ideas from a mommy blog I found called CoolBabyKid.com. Check it out.

Nap Nanny

This product was featured in the most recent Parents magazine. Since I have recently been compelled to get a part-time job, I have been lamenting Eddie's bad napping habits. Most days he is a really good napper when we're at home, following our normal routine. But trying to get him to sleep anywhere other than his crib is a chore. So the next time I have a kid, I want to get a Nap Nanny and put the kid in there for naps from the very start. It's portable, it's comfortable, and it's safe for them. The down side: it retails for $129.99.

Slurp & Burp Nursing Wrap

Sure, the name sounds disgusting, but after trying to deal with nursing a wiggly, sweaty baby in various public places (including church, the park, the dinosaur museum, and the zoo), I would be willing to give this a try. It may not be as discreet as some people prefer, but it makes it so you don't have to have a blanket over the baby's head while they nurse. By the time the kid is 6 months old, they can pull the blanket off anyways.

The Baby Keeper

I became aware of this product because Dave Barry featured it in his 2008 Holiday Gift Guide. Yes, it is a funny concept and I laughed about the great photo included in the guide. However, about a week after seeing this, I had to use the restroom at the grocery store and had nowhere to put Eddie. Let's just say that is a complicated situation... especially for a germ-a-phobe like me. So while it may seem strange to want to be able to hang your baby from the bathroom stall, I would much rather do that than set him on the bathroom floor. So, bring on the Baby Keeper!

Dapple Cleaners

I've always thought there ought to be a safe way to clean things that go into a baby's mouth (besides just normal old dish soap). When I clean toys, I have to separate them, sanitize them with my Clorox wipes, then keep them separate until they are very dry because I know as soon as Ed gets them, they'll go straight in his mouth. I might just have to make a trip to Babies R Us to pick up some Dapple wipes.

Squirt Spoon

Trying to feed a baby is a messy task. If they're really hungry, they don't want to wait for you to turn and get another scoop. Or if you're not paying good enough attention, they'll just grab the food container from you and make a huge mess. Believe me... I know. So it make sense to have a spoon that contains the food within itself. That way, you've got your other hand for deflecting little hands reaching for said spoon. I'd like to give this one a try and see if it is as good as it sounds.

Begin Smart Books

I'm all about giving my kids every possible advantage when it comes to their development. I love reading to Eddie and really believe that I'm helping develop his language skills... and hopefully his attention span. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with also trying to "encourage the physical, social, emotional, and intellectual growth of babies and toddlers" like these books claim to. I plan to search the county library to see if they have any of these ones and give them a try.

BumpyName Orbit Labels

I saw these in pretty much every issue of Parents magazine and think they look pretty neat. It's a personalized, microwaveable, dishwasher-safe, reusable label for all sorts of containers. I imagine these would really come in handy for a kid who was in daycare. They come in all sorts of fun colors and you can even get a braille version. The down side: they only use Comic Sans font. Ugh.

An Eventful Four Days

We spent this past weekend in Cedar City with the Andrews fam. Friday was Riley-bug's first birthday and we were there to celebrate. At the moment, Jeremy, Natalie, Dax, and Riley are living with my parents (until the end of the month anyway), so we got to spend a lot of time with them. Dax was so excited to see Eddie and didn't want to leave him alone all weekend. I think he even got a few slobbery kisses from Ed.

Here are the sleepy babies, Riley and Eddie, having story time with Grammy. Riley then took a nap. Eddie did not. I think he only took a one hour nap all weekend.


On Saturday night, we had Riley's birthday party—complete with a pony cake. Natalie's sister, McCall, gave Riley some balloons, which were a big hit. What is it about kids and balloons?


McCall also gave Riley a cute stuffed frog. Dave and I found it funny that the frog has the same bad posture that Ed does.


Hopefully there won't be bad posture for long, though. Monday morning, Eddie and I met with Shaun from the Jordan Child Development Center for an evaluation. Shaun has a really cool job. He came and played with Eddie for an hour and got him to do things that I didn't know were possible. He confirmed that Eddie is a little behind in his gross motor skills, but not really far behind. He seemed confident that once Eddie starts moving around, he'll catch up quite quickly. So now we just need to get him moving. He showed me several exercises to do with Eddie to help his muscle tone and strength -- including in his pelvis, which will help that posture.

In less positive news, yesterday we found out that Eddie has an ear infection, which is causing him to throw up a lot. The nurses at the Insta-Care tried giving him an IV to restore his fluids and give him some antibiotics, but his arms are so chubby that they couldn't find a vein. They tried giving him one on his ankle, but he moved at just the wrong moment. So they got the doctor to help them hold Ed down and tried his other ankle and couldn't get it. Eventually they decided to just give him a shot of antibiotics since he wasn't terribly dehydrated. After all that, we came home at 10:00 last night and put Eddie in bed. He actually slept really good, so I thought he was doing better.

This morning, we had our appointment with the neurologist at Primary Children's. So I got up and got us all ready to go and as I picked Eddie up to walk out the door, he threw up again. So, I called and rescheduled our appointment. Now I'm just working on getting him to take sips of Pedialyte and hoping that he'll keep it down so that they don't have to stick him with more needles. So now we don't get to see the neurologist until the beginning of March, but hopefully by then we will have gotten through every possible winter illness and will be healthy for once. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Nine Months Old

That's right, folks... our boy is nine months old today! Time really flies when you're having fun, I guess. I took him in to the pediatrician this morning for his appointment and it sure was more than I bargained for. Lucky for Ed, he's all caught up on his immunizations, so he didn't have to have any shots today. He was in a pretty good mood at first and flirted with the nurse and stole her papers and snorted at her. He is turning into a huge flirt with the ladies.

Eddie now weighs 19 lbs 13 oz. He is 28.94 inches long... which means that he has to get a new car seat before he grows another .6 inches. He's in the 39th percentile for weight and the 74th for height. His head is catching up to the rest of him and is in the 57th percentile.

As I've said before on the blog, Eddie just likes to sit and doesn't roll over much. We haven't been too concerned about this, thinking he is just taking his sweet time and that he was just content doing things at his own pace. This morning, however, I learned that he is taking too much sweet time and may have some developmental problems. Apparently he has "low tone" in his arms and legs. The doctor thinks that because of this, he is unable to support his weight as he should. This explains why he won't ever stand up. She also said that his gross motor skills are delayed, which explains why he doesn't roll or get himself into a sitting position. Any of you who have seen Ed in action know that he doesn't have low tone in his abdomen, though. I guess that is something to be thankful for.

So, we have been referred to a pediatric neurologist (which sounds so scary). We have our first appointment next week, so we'll be sure to keep everyone updated. We will also be meeting with therapists from an "early intervention program" to see if he qualifies for therapy to help develop his gross motor skills.

On a happier note, Eddie's social skills are developing just as they should, along with his fine motor skills. He has recently gotten a little cuddlier than he used to be and sometimes will even lay his head on my chest when I hold him. He is very ticklish and has a great sense of humor. He loves exploring his little world as much as he can and wants to grab (and taste) everything that comes within his reach.

Ed's Eccentricities

Eddie is a little weirdo sometimes. He makes us laugh a lot. I recently set up a not-so-hidden camera to capture some of his quirky behavior. Unfortunately, he won't do this stuff when he sees me taping, so I had to set up the camera where he was in the frame, turn it on, then just leave it there for a while. After a few minutes, he forgot about the camera and acted naturally. The following clip was the result. Be sure to have your speakers on so you can hear him "doodling." You can hear it most clearly when he leans toward the camera about halfway through. He does this all the time now and it cracks us up. You may also notice that he doesn't bother using his hands to play with toys... apparently his feet work just as well. Enjoy!