Benjaminh is feeling soooo much better today.
Not eating much of anything but continuing to drink his bottles.

We are enjoying fabulous weather up here in Southern Ontario this week and I'm starting to dream about cottage time, just a couple of weeks away.

Ahhh, I love a 25 degree day with sunny skies and a slight breeze.
Out to the garden I go...while the little Manh finishes up his nap.

We had a crappy day... (photos at the end)

Literally.
From morning to night every diaper was a disaster.
About 8 or 10 disasters in total.
Worrisome.
Teething?
Yesterday's introduction to oranges?
A bug?

The dude was sickly to say the least.
Whinier than usual.
Unhappy about diaper changes as the best of times today he developed acrobatic diaper defensive skills usually seen in the 'terrible two" set.

I called telehealth for some advice
her: Stop food and formula and feed only pedialyte for 6 hours...
me: ummm, dude doesn't do liquids, he aspirates liquids
her: you will have to make an exception, he needs the pedialyte
me: he doesn't physically have the ability to swallow liquids
her: give him pedilyte popsicles
me: when those melt, in his mouth, they will probably be LIQUID

Yikes...
anyway, in the absence of any other indications of illness at all (no fever, no loss of energy or decrease in activity, bright eyes, lots to say...) I'm waiting and seeing until morning and have continued to feed his rice thickened formula and even lived on the edge and served him a bit of toast twice today.

Here are some photos of my poor sick boyduring our lead up to bedtime...



Looks pretty good, eh?

Easy-ish (sorry the camera is not at home today...)

A wee picture from the olden days...Benjaminh Manh's first flight.

There is no getting around it.
The little manh is easy.
Smiles easily.
Cuddles easily.
Enjoys being out and about
or playing in the livingroom.
Adjusts to routine changes
and enjoys a good party
if mama stays nearby.
Charms mama by holding her face
and charms rooms full of strangers from mama's arms.
Eats a bit of virtually anything in his hand
marigolds
onion skins
limes
pinecones
to name a few.

Then there is the -ish bits
3 new teeth in 3 days
disrupted sleep...
3 hour nap today
no nap tomorrow sort of sleep
wake up 5 times Friday night
sleep through last night
with mama waking up 5 times to check

uncontrollable gag reflex
apparently brought on by random cheerios
of a slightly different size perhaps
or a bit of ground beef
or a bottle nipple inserted just a bit crookedly
causing projectiles...nasty ones...
unpredictable at best

and

he bites
me, only me
not in frustration or anger
but in love
mid cuddle, mid kiss, mid nuzzle
breaking the skin

Making me wonder
when he holds my face and gazes into my eyes
is he thinking
hmmm, she looks delicious?
Making me a cautious cuddler...
something I don't want to be.

No ish in my love though...
even the puke covered biting will he sleep again bits

Forever a Family - 5 months ago today

Popped in to school today
on my way out to dinner with the wee one and my sweet friends.
Realized I am not missing it at all.
Realized I am going hours, days, sometimes a week
without thoughts of school crowding my mind.
Realized, as I walked those halls with my sweet baby
that that first hour,
first day,
first week back at work
is going to be beyond devastating for mama.
I would not go back if I really had a choice.

In Vietnam yesterday,
forever a family for 5 months today,
working tomorrow
-8 1/2 months later...
time seems compressed.

Off I go to bed
so that I can enjoy every waking moment
with my baby boy
once the sun rises...

Goodbye Oral Aversion ...or..."I thought Pit Bulls were banned in Ontario"

There have been some big developmental changes at Chez Manh in the last week. Seems the little guy takes his goals seriously and has pretty much kicked the oral aversion out the window this week. Here are some of the signs that self feeding is in and oral aversion (mostly) is out...

The baby used to refuse to even put his own hands in his mouth
Now?
puts all sorts of mama parts in his mouth
and bites hard
and locks his flippin jaw
must be pried off
draws blood
note to self-
call liz, she will know how to get bloodstains out of mama's clothing

Dude did not put toys in his mouth
Now?
found licking the dog's food bowl
note to self-
wash dog dish more than once each century

Dude (still) turns his head away from the first taste of food
from every dish
not trusting mama to feed him things he actually likes
Now?
chewing...in the upstairs hallway
food of choice? large dog hair dust bunny
note to self-
take the vacuum upstairs already

chewing in the downstairs hallway
food of choice? wrapping tissue
note to self-
time to clean up from the birthday parties that never end

chewing on the kitchen floor
food of choice? no idea
note to self-
the swallowing delay is LIQUIDS
He has quickly figured out that he needs to swallow found items quickly

Today at the local coffee hangout mama got up and did a little jig
Why?
Little Manh self fed a cheerio for the first time ever
and the second time and third and forth and fifth...
note to self-
those teens will never babysit for you cause you're a freak

Needed mama to sing (the ABC's and only the ABC's would do)
and pat his back as he went to sleep
with her
in her bed
Now?
mostly self soothes himself to sleep
in his crib
chewing on his "Softie Giraffe"Used to play with spoons
tapping them together and hitting the pots and pans
Now?
feeds himself at least a couple of bites
from every single bowl

The list goes on and on
So many signs that I must increase my vigilance cause little Manh eats everything now

He had his 1 year appointment at the doctor
78cm and 10 kg 380 gms
(on a side note, he was 73.2 cm last week at a different doctor...umm...strange)

And he decided to walk yesterday.
Everywhere.
Even stopping to get his balance occasionally.
His profile in this shot clearly demonstrates he is eating well...

Is there barium in that banana?

Is there barium in that cheerio?

Is there barium in that cheese?

Is there barium in that yogurt?

Is that barium spread on my roti?

My boy has become suspicious. Rightly so. The barium drinking test was today and it didn't go quite as planned.

Baby boy is stubborn. Opinionated. Obstinate. Inflexible. And very very patient.

A test that should have taken 10 minutes took nearly 5 hours because that boy would NOT drink the barium. No matter how hungry he got. No matter how long we waited in between our efforts... No matter how many teas from the cafeteria I enjoyed while he watched and smiled at the other hospital goers and charmed them while drowning in their concern for his health as he sat in his stroller gussied up in a baby hospital gown.

He was happy. Out and about. enjoying the fountains and the art displays and the attention of his newest fans.

I met and chatted with a lovely set of grandparents to be waiting patiently for nearly 4 years to see the face of their grand daughter from China...another "interesting" woman who is also "doin that", you know adopting from Vietnam "cause I have 4 and want another but I've been waiting 5 years" Um, yeah, she couldn't name her agency, "it's slipped my mind" and apparently didn't know Vietnam was CLOSED 5 years ago...but whatever.

I was visiting and Benjaminh was happily starving to death. And they wouldn't let me get the dude's outstanding blood work done because they didn't want him upset for the barium test...WHAT BARIUM TEST! He won't drink the flipping Barium!

So he won in the end and barium was added to his regular formula/cereal/thickener mixture making the test nearly useless because he doesn't aspirate the thickened goop. But it got done. and I had a word with the doctor and told him to tell me he gleaned very important info from the test-so that I could feel like I hadn't just lost 5 hours of my life into an abyss (and 21 bucks for parking).

So guess what? The test was a success and they gained all kinds of insight into B's swallowing and reflux issues.

Are you buying it?

Me neither.

And when we got back? After the nap time window had closed? He found the dog's water dish. Trashed the house in 10 minutes flat.

So we went to auntie Carol's searching for sanity in the sun on her back deck.
And some Indian take-out.

I'm One!

Well, it is official.
I'm one.
I spent my special day doing some of my favourite things (but mama's camera batteries were dead so I'll give you the morning recap in words...)


First mama took me to a GREAT park for the morning, with lots and lots of special toddler climbers. My friend Reilly and his mom came too. We will be going every week for sure!


We went for a quick visit to Auntie C's (and she had batteries, bless her heart)
and then home for a late lunch.


Getting tired.
A bit of evidence on my hand that I am at least trying to get some food into my own mouth, one of my goals for my second year of life...
No napping for this boy...didn't want to miss a single minute of my day. So I convinced mama to take me to my favourite little swing and sand pit for a bit of fun. Boomer came along.
Love my Boomer.
Gives me cuddles andHelps me get around. Finally, near dinner time Auntie Kristen and Uncle Chuck came and brought another party for me! Even a balloon!

And this great new toy!
See how my hair blows in the wind as I race down the sidewalk?
Think I might like it just a little bit?I'll probably love it even more once mama gets new batteries...
it has lots and lots of noise buttons!