Straw Cups - The Better Alternative To Sippy Cups

This was originally written on Saturday, April 11, 2009:

Good news - Logan's infection on his scar is almost gone! It just looks like a little red scab now which is good because he finished the antibiotics this morning. His appt. with the ENT is on Tuesday morning so hopefully all will be back to normal by then.

The bad news is that what I was afraid of happened (the antibiotics lowering his immune system) - he caught a cold. Who knows, maybe he would have gotten it anyway since he started going to a babysitter's for 8 hrs a week, 3.5 weeks ago, but his nose started running on Thursday evening. I had hoped maybe it was just because it was really cold that day (and raining) and we were outside for a few seconds because we went over to Lisa P's so that Logan could play with Lexi & Riley. It was so fun, I was amazed at how relaxed & comfortable Logan seemed there. He used to just observe first before jumping right in to playing with other children, but this time it was like he recognized Lexi was a kid right away and went over to play with her and all of her toys. He was walking around their house like he went there every day. That must be where the stereotype comes from of daycare making kids more social!

Babysitter had told me she wasn't going to have any other kids this past Thursday because it was spring break this week and asked if it was okay to take him to Wal-Mart. I said "yes" and when I picked him up she said he'd done wonderfully. Apparently at the check-out the lady said, "I know him but not you." Wow! I thought that was impressive. Yes, I had just gone to Wal-Mart the other day and the cashier had interacted with him, but I would not have expected her to remember him. I don't think I'd be able to recognize a baby who I didn't know, especially since I'm sure there were several others she had through her line!

I'm so glad that Logan did flawlessly all 3 mornings last week. Like I said, though, after next week (when we arranged another 3 mornings) we will go back to just 8 hrs each week because 12 hrs is too much. :p

Babysitter said with just one child she isn't required to keep him in the basement, so he was able to join her around the house and she said he was so excited, he acted like he was in Dinseyland. She said her daughter was home and he really loved playing with her, too. (She's going to UNL this fall to major in vocal music.) I learned that Babysitter & I go to the same hair salon, which then I went to yesterday to get my hair colored for the final time (this time it's dark brown w/ blonde highlights so it should grow out looking natural, unlike when I have it blonde or if I'd have kept it red, even though it really wasn't red, but whatever. This isn't exactly like what I was hoping for, either (not as many blonde streaks as I'd wanted), but oh well it's better than the weird color I had the past four months!

We had Logan's 12-month pics taken at JCPenney last night and he did the best he ever has. He only started crying at the end of the session (after 45 minutes), which is when we were doing a family pic, so I didn't like any of the family ones, but the main point was getting a pic of him and there were several excellent ones (probably the best pics we've ever gotten). I also liked the photographer the best compared to Target & Portrait Innovations, however even though we paid the same price as we did at both Target & Portrait Innovations, I like how they did things at Portrait Innovations the best. JCPenney was pretty much identical to Target as far as how they design the photos and put their packages/collections together and then they e-mail you the pictures in a week and we also have to wait a week before picking up the ones we ordered. We got a 2-year membership because even though we already had a coupon, that was going to make our total $5 less so we'll probably go there again. I think Wal-Mart is our only other place to try (so that will be next time at 18 months). Once we're done with all of them then we'll probably just stick with the same one from then on, whichever wins!

Anyway, back to Logan's cold -- so his runny nose continued all day on Friday and I heard Logan coughing throughout the night. Fortunately he hasn't had a cough today and I haven't had to wipe his nose yet AND he is in a great mood so hopefully it's just minor and he will fight it off now that he took his last dose of antibiotics. However, now I think I caught it because I've been coughing since yesterday. I went to bed at 8:30 last night (that was awesome!) and slept until 7 this morning so hopefully that will help.

Dang, we were just a week away from Logan only having had two virus' in his first year, now it will be three (hopefully he will be over it by his birthday on Sat)! But that's still good because the average is eight in a baby's first year!

I'm glad we realized it prior to today, though, because we were scheduled to go over to Chris' house this afternoon and meet her little guy who is going to be 2 months old tomorrow. But I do not want to expose him! I'm really bummed, I've been dying to meet Gregory and to hang out with Chris so I was looking forward to it all week - that was our only plans for Easter weekend!

In other news, Logan has weaned himself from all but one bottle (8 oz) a day now (you can read about him weaning himself in my post The Weaner), but I've discovered there's no way I'm going to be able to give him adequate hydration in a regular cup. Even though he does perfect with me holding it and will drink an entire glass-full, he needs something that he can regulate and where he can give himself water on demand throughout the day or else there's just no way he's going to get enough. I read that from this point on, 16 oz of milk is adequate for his milk supply (so obviously that was part of his weaning - he probably just wasn't as hungry) but since he won't take a regular sippy cup I am glad to have learned of another option:

Lisa P. recommended a straw sippy cup. I looked this up online and guess what? This is actually what is better for kids! The whole reason for this "no bottle" rule after 12 months is because it's the same as when kids suck their thumb -- it can cause teeth problems. Well, according to an article on WebMD, toddlers can develop lisps and other speech problems from use of sippy cups, as well. Joe had a speech problem when he was a little guy. He had to go to speech therapy until second or third grade. So I'm glad to have learned about the straw cups because I don't want Logan to go through the same thing, especially since (I don't think I've ever written this here before) he has an above average tongue. LOL, it's true. Whenever Joe sticks it out I always scream because it's like that Kiss guy (only it curls up, not down). We noticed around 5 months old that Logan totally takes after him! So I don't know if that was part of the problem, but the speech pathologist in the article says that toddlers tend to drink [the sippy cup] as if it were a bottle. "They have a hard object or spout with various shapes depending on the type of cup, and their bodies are tipped back. This hard object or spout misplaces the tongue and pushes the teeth out as the thumb can." Steer clear of sippy cups and use straws instead, she urges.

So we're picking one up today and I really hope that Logan takes it. Supposedly they are easier than a sippy cup anyway. . .I will let you know! (You can read the update here.)
P.S. I started my period last night, yeay I won't be a blob for Logan's birthday! :p

11.5 Months Old!

This was originally written on Monday, March 30, 2009:

Yesterday we took Logan to the zoo for the very first time! Joe & I hadn't been in 4 years but decided to get a zoo pass and it was a blast! Logan seemed to really enjoy it.

Also yesterday (two weeks after Logan took his first steps by himself), he easily walked from one side of the room to the other as if he'd been walking his whole life, but only walks about half of the day.

We bought bacitracin ointment and put it on Logan's scar yesterday & today but it looks really bad so I called the ENT and we are meeting with his PA tomorrow. I hope it's nothing serious.

Meanwhile, Joe feels like his diverticulitis is back (you can read about his experience here), despite following all of the rules since December, so he has a doctor's appt. this afternoon. :(

In brighter news, Logan's finally mimicking! We thought it was odd that he loves giving high 5's but has never done anything else on command, unless you count only 25% of the time since 7 months old he waves when asked. (This is why baby sign language hasn't worked for us - I've written a couple of posts on this topic. The first was More of Son's 7th Month when I explained the concept and said I was going to do it and the other was Catch Up Time when Logan was 10 months old, reporting that it's not working for us. He's shown no interest whatsoever. I mentioned in the Catch Up Time post that often times boys have a harder time than girls).

Well, tonight we easily got him to do everything we were doing: high 5's, waving, putting his hands to his face, clapping, etc. My dogs were getting jealous, it was funny, they were doing their tricks too because I was so excited and praising Logan! Welcome to our amusing evening, lol. Seriously, though, it's sooooo amazing to see the light bulb suddenly turn on above Logan's head and to actually try to be on our level now!!!!

This was originally written on Sunday, April 5, 2009:

I just had to mention again that I love this age! Logan is actually understanding me now when I talk to him!

"Go get a toy!"
He leaves my side and gets a toy.

"Where is the light?"
He looks up at the ceiling and points to the light.

"Can you turn on the TV for me?"
He presses the correct button on the television.

"Are you hungry?"
He goes to the kitchen.

"Do you want to watch your movie?"
He turns around and sits so he's facing the TV.

"Where are the dogs?"
He finds Bella & Cosmo

"Do you want a bottle?"
He starts whining, haha!

"Can I have a kiss?"
He leans in.

"Give me five!"
He pats my hand.

Those are just a few of many! It seems like he comprehends so much of what I say to him now! It's the best! He's still not talking himself (or signing) but at least there's communication for the first time between his pointing for me to understand him and for him to recognize not just words (which he has the past couple of months) but actual sentences and requests!

He's also walking ALL OF THE TIME now! Three weeks after he took his first steps (which was three days before he turned 11 months old), he's walking all over our house and is not crawling at all anymore! So exciting :)

On the downside, we had an appt. on Tuesday to find out what's going on with Logan's scar. Unfortunately, our ENT that actually did the surgery was booked full and wasn't able to see him. So, we saw another guy in his practice as well as their PA. But they didn't really know what was wrong (isn't that reassuring). So we were given a prescription for an antibiotic because if there's an infection then that should help. Since I had bought the bacitracin ointment last Sunday, we kept applying that instead for a couple of days because it had said to give it a week and I hated to give Logan his third set of antibiotics in a year!

As I said in my post, My Son's CT Scan (and other stuff), a lot of doctors aren't prescribing antibiotics anymore to children under the age of 2 or 3 because they have proven that antibiotics actually make kids sicker in the long run because it weakens the immune system. Logan had his first dose at 8 months old when he had his first ear infection and then his second dose (I forgot to mention it here) after his surgery at 10 months to (ironically) prevent infection. He was only on the second antibiotics 4 of the 10 days because it was a different kind than in December and so Logan had diarrhea. I immediately called the ENT and he said it was okay to stop giving it (they also said our stopping it had nothing to do with this current situation since it happened over a month after the surgery) and if Logan had 8 diarrhea diapers in 24 hrs then to take him to our pediatrician's office. I remember thinking, no way is he going to have it 8 times in one day! Well he had 7. Fortunately, he never acted like it bothered him and never had an 8th so that was that.

But, I breastfed for 9 months and splitting up his vaccinations have both helped him to have an extra strong immune system, so when the bump on his neck just kept getting redder & bigger, we gave him the antibiotics on Thursday, as obviously there ARE appropriate times for giving babies antibiotics. The bump is still there, but it is changing. . .it doesn't look any better, but Joe thinks "change" in general is a good sign. I hope so; I hate that they don't even know for sure what is going on. We have an appt. scheduled with our actual ENT for April 14th (by then the antibiotics will be gone so if it doesn't help then we have to go down another path). I thought we were done with this whole thing. :( Our babysitter had even mentioned the bump when I picked him up on Tuesday, because she thought it looked so bad and then called to find out how his appt. went on Thursday. To be honest, I was doing really well with this "surprise" until just a couple of days ago. Since it started with a tiny pimple on March 20, I just had the "I'm sure it's nothing serious" attitude and felt pretty relaxed about it. Now I'm starting to worry and feel like I could cry any second. Maybe it's because my period is due this week. I just have to focus on the fact that Logan hasn't acted like it hurts or is uncomfortable in any way. Today his cheeks have been a little red, but he's on the same antibiotics he was on at 8 months old and didn't have any reaction then so hopefully he'll do fine on it the remaining 6 days.

In other news, Logan has weaned himself from baby food! Even though I said that I hoped he would since he seems to wean himself from everything else at the appropriate times, I didn't expect it this week! It's just insane how there hasn't been anything in his life that we've had to help him wean from. But, as of Tuesday he's been refusing all food that he can't pick up and eat by himself. We won't be buying anymore, but we have a TON in the cabinet, so each day I've been sneaking him bites along with finger food so that we can finish it. So, he already switched to all of our meals with two weeks to spare before his 12 month birthday, eating everything we're eating!

He still seems dependent on bottles/formula but who knows what he'll be like by April 27th (even though his birthday is on the 18th we're going to wait an extra week because that's his 12-month check-up and also after the week he goes to Iowa). LOL, when I told Joe that we'll wait an extra week, before I'd finished my sentence, Joe was like, "Yeah, because he was premature." Um, no, that's not the reason, silly guy. (36 weeks+1 day is considered full-term.)

Not much else to report except that Cosmo had a vet appt. on Tuesday so I took him to that while Logan was at the babysitter's (Cosmo was due in December for his rabies vaccination but I hadn't gotten around to it until now)! Oh, and also nothing ended up being wrong with my car (when Joe got home from work he tried it out and it was perfectly fine, go figure.)

Joe took Logan to the babysitter's for the first time at 8 AM and he said that before he even left Logan started crying. :( I'm glad that happened for the first time with Joe and not me. Unfortunately, when I picked him up at noon that day he was asleep on Babysitter again (like his very first day, the previous Tuesday), only this time didn't even wake up while I talked to her for a good 15 minutes. She said that had been his hardest day, but it was actually a good sign that he'd cried before Joe left because he understood that was going to happen. Once they start to comprehend that "Daddy leaves," then they also comprehend that "Mommy comes back." I asked if some babies don't ever adjust? She said "No, they all do, it just could take as long as 8 weeks since he's only going part-time."

He did crawl a little and he did play a little, but needed her to hold him the majority of the time (see, my theory was right -- Logan is capable of wanting to be held all of the time, it's just that he has always felt naturally secure enough with me not to need it -- but there he's not secure yet. I hope she will soon see the happy, easy-going baby that he usually is)!

Don't worry, I'm not ready to throw in the towel. I know there's no avoiding this. Even if he'd been going to daycare since day one, all children go through a period when they don't want to be left somewhere. And, unlike if we'd waited until he was older, I think it's less traumatic on him now. I'm hoping that this will give him confidence for times in the future to know he is fine in this world without me, and then those future situations (whatever they may be) will be easier because of this. Babysitter said out of her own 7 kids, her oldest was the only one she never left with anyone and she honestly feels that he had a harder time in life because of it.

I really do think Logan will adjust soon, I don't know why this past week was harder for him than the first week -- I hope he's not getting into a habit of crying there (like, oh this is where I cried last week so I'm going to cry again today, etc). This week I'm going to take him and stay for a little while to see if that will help. Because, this weekend (aside from Joe & I going out to eat at The Summer Kitchen Cafe) we went over to Nick & Heather's house (she's who had her baby on March 25th so we got to meet little Eden!) and it was the first time in his entire life he'd ever acted scared or started to cry when we'd gone somewhere! I could tell it was because he thought we were going to leave him. :( But we stayed for a couple of hours and by the end Logan was crawling around, climbing on their furniture (Heather said she thought a newborn was exhausting until watching Logan, haha, isn't that the truth!), laughing at them and going up to them, and even playing with their Husky/German Shepherd mix dog!

Anyway, as I was leaving Babysitter's last Tuesday, the two year-old was also there (he's the one whose mom is a stay at home mom, too, but uses that time to workout). He's been going there since he was 6 weeks old so it's never phased him but when he saw me pick up Logan he said in the sweetest voice, "Where is MY mommy?" Babysitter said, "Your mommy will pick you up later." He said, "But I want my mommy NOW!" I thought, oh no, now I've opened a can of worms! I think he was used to all of the other kids being there until their parents got off work at the end of the day. I walked out the door at that point but it sounded like Babysitter was explaining everything to him.

The more I've gotten to know her, I like her even more!!!! I feel like I've found a "neighbor friend" forever! I'm so glad that she worked out. I almost can't believe how it almost didn't -- it makes me wonder if any of those other on our "top ten" list had said they had openings maybe I would have wrongly chosen one of the others, but God knew that this one was who would be best for Logan.

On Thursday, I had an appt. with my counselor but haven't made any future appts. so hopefully I can stop going regularly again without having another nervous breakdown. When I picked Logan up that day, he was in the middle of lunch, it was so cute. He was sitting in a booster seat with a bib on, feeding himself pork & green beans. He smiled huge when he saw me and he showed me his food like, "Look at what I'm doing, Mom!"

Babysitter told me to take a seat so I stayed for a half an hour and got to know the other kids (the 4 year old who is at pre-school in the mornings was there along with the almost-4 year old and 9 month old brothers). Logan seemed so comfortable and relaxed.  I said, "He looks like he's doing real well!" But Babysitter said it was still rough. That day he'd wanted to be held, but then when she did he would push away like to get down. He'd cried before Joe left again and had a hard time when she had to change the other baby's diaper (thankfully that baby, Joshua, doesn't seem to care at all, he's been going there since 6 wks old so he's laid back, doing his own things and playing with his brother).

Joshua's brother, Matthew (the almost 4 year old), said to me, "Logan cries." LOL. Babysitter informed him that he used to do the same thing. :p I guess he was 18 months old on his first day, so his adjustment was pretty dramatic, but now he acts like it's his second home. I could tell how happy he was there and how much he liked Babysitter and playing with the other 4-year-old, Henry. Henry asked Babysitter when he started coming. She said, "You were one." He said, "Did you like me?" She said, "I loved you." He said, "I was cute." Then Matthew said, "Logan is just soooo cute!" I thought that was funny to hear from 4-year-olds.

I was surprised at how articulate they were. I guess I don't know 3/4-year-olds very well because they seemed like 6-year-olds to me! They just seemed to know everything about everything, talking about all of the contestants on American Idol, they know all of Babysitter's kids names and their ages, etc. They refer to me as "Logan's mom" which is new and cute! "Hey Logan's Mom, look," etc.

When Logan was done eating I put him in his carseat and he fell right asleep! On Tuesday when I'd picked him up he'd spent the whole car ride home laughing and didn't take his nap until two hours later! See, that's why I'm still positive about the whole babysitter idea. Logan has just been in the best mood ever for me the remainder of Tuesdays and Thursdays and even on Wednesdays and Fridays. He just doesn't seem to need as much from me, because it's like he's getting the extra/different stimulation that he needs during those mornings. He just seems even happier and even more content than ever before. This, combined with my two breaks are putting me in a better mood than ever and giving me more energy so that I can then give him more and be my best self/best mom. So let's hope this coming week is the best so far and all the weeks after, so that we can continue this until he's in school!

Anyway, Nick & Heather's little girl was so tiny & precious when we went over there last weekend. . .she slept in my arms the whole time we were there. Joe held her, too, and we both remarked about how she was so still we'd forget we were holding her as we talked, haha! It was like we just had a doll! I can hardly remember Logan like that :( It's amazing how as much as I was "in the moment" and took a zillion pictures and videos -- it still seems foggy!

They are doing well, except Heather has mastitis so she was in pain. :( She had to stop breastfeeding when Eden was 4 days old.  The other night she began feeling dizzy/light-headed and started sweating and developed a high fever so she called her doctor and they said to go to the ER.

I know there are women out there that breastfeeding is easy for, but that doesn't seem to be the majority. It was hard for me, and now both of my most recent friends to have babies had to stop even though they were just as adamant about doing it as I'd been. Both of them researched a ton while pregnant in order to do it, and both of them worked with lactation consultants and did everything to continue. The majority I talk to DO find it difficult, even those who continue through a year, so it is amazing to me that this is what is natural! Animals have no problem whatsoever (nor with birth) but humans appear to be a completely different story. It's actually very fascinating.

Anyway, my next friend (Melissa) to have a baby is due this Wednesday but she isn't dilated yet. So she is expecting to go late, but I told her anything can happen! Heather said she was only 2 cm when she went into labor (she'd been asleep for an hour, feeling fine, and then woke up with hard contractions less than 5 min apart so they went to the hospital). She wanted to progress naturally so she didn't have pitocin but she had opiods from 11 pm until 7 am, then got an epidural, and was fully dilated at 12:30. A half an hour later Eden came out! It was fun to hear her birth story. I swear I could just talk for hours with everyone I meet about their birth stories, lol. I've mentioned here before that's what I look forward to most about having another baby, isn't that awful?! But it's just so exciting! My last friend (Brooke) is due in exactly two weeks and is 2 cm dilated.

P.S. We finally got our very first laptop today! (We still have our desktop so it will be nice to have two computers)