Funny boy

Sam's teeth are coming in fast and furious, #4 is through, #5 will be through any day, and #6 is working its way in . With the arrival of teeth, some odd side effects have emerged.

1. Sam has a funny little rash on his face, especially on both cheeks (it makes them look rosy) and on either side of the crown of his nose. It doesn't seem to bother him, and some days its worse than others, but I find it rather curious that teeth can have this effect.

2. Sam has a terrible, terrible diaper rash. It's so bad I have been soaking him in a baking soda bath every night for the last several evenings. In fact, it was so raw on Saturday night there was actually a little blood when I wiped his bottom. My poor little guy. Every morning the rash seems a little better, and then by the end of the day, with all the pooping (because my son is a poop-a-diaper kind of guy), it's all raw again. But on the whole it seems to be improving. Again, an odd side effect from teeth, but nothing in his diet has changed....and I've heard from other moms they experienced the same.

3. The weirdest side effect is his demeanor. Lately Sam has been much more clingy, and not necessarily just with me, but anyone who will give him attention. He doesn't want to be left alone, and as long as someone is playing with him/sitting with him/carrying him, he is ok. A perfect example of this happened this evening...

I was trying to get a few things together for his meal, so I put some cooked chopped veggies on his tray along with some pieces of cheese. I was working in the kitchen, running downstairs a couple times, but always within earshot and never out of his sight for more than a minute or so. At one point, I looked over at Sam to see how he was doing, fully expecting he'd be done. He gave me this little wave that he's started doing recently that I think means "come here". So I went over to him. He had quite a bit of food left on his tray. He looked at me and made a sound - "num-num" - which is a sound he makes to indicate he's hungry. So I showed him the food on his tray and tried to give him some. He turned his head in refusal and made the sound again. I wasn't about to waste perfectly good food, so I went and got a bowl and spoon, put the food in the dish, sat down and just as an experiment, tried to feed him. He took the food without complaint and proceeded to eat every last morsel that I fed him. The little goof! All he wanted was for me to feed him! He wanted my attention. It's cute, but at the same time made me realize that my son is learning not only the importance of social interaction, but also how to manipulate mommy!

Anyway, it's an ongoing adventure, and hopefully the teeth will come in quickly and I'll get back my easy going, independent little man.