Because I Said So
My life as a Mom

Put Pickle to sleep last night. Five minutes later, hear crying. Wait it out. Doesn’t stop. Go in to rock him back to sleep….find him STANDING UP IN THE FRELLING CRIB.

Now, this isn’t the first time he’s pulled himself up to standing, or even the first time he’s done it in the crib. But it’s the first time he’s done it (a) at bedtime, (b) from lying down, and (c) wearing a sleepsack.

He’s napping now. As soon as he wakes up, we are going to Babies R Us and cleaning out their babyproofing section. Gates are going up EVERYWHERE. Padding will be afixed to the edges of EVERYTHING. (Meanwhile a part of me is thinking, wouldn’t it just be easier to cushion the baby?)

I’ve just deleted a crapload of spam and have changed the comment settings to prevent such things in the future - going forward, you now must have a previously approved comment in order to comment. This means that if it’s your first visit, your comment may take a while to get through moderation because I don’t remember to check the queue every day. Be patient!

I don’t think the Pickle has an excessive amount of toys, but we do have a fair amount.  Between gifts and hand-me-downs we’ve recieved and the occasional Babies R Us impulse buy, he’s got a pretty decent collection.  And yet, his favorite things to play with are, in no particular order:

• my glasses
• the remote control
• plastic cups
• the top to one of our tupperware containers
• his own hands and feet
• random bits of paper

Sigh.  Babies.

The flouride issue has been making the rounds of a local parenting Yahoo group. I was dissmissive at first, but now that I’ve done a little more research I’m completely paranoid that Pickle has been getting too much flouride since we mix his powdered formula with tap (or Brita-filtered) water.

I’d estimate about half of his daily milk intake is formula at this point, and I’ve been strongly toying with the idea of giving up pumping once he hits 8 months. (Arguments in favor include (1) I HATE PUMPING and (2) my supply is less than great these days anyway. Arguments against include (3) some breastmilk is better than none! and (4) ZOMGWTFFLOUROSIS????)

The easiest fix would be to switch from powdered formula to premixed, which is prepared with unflouridated water. The major downsides to that are premixed formula doesn’t keep nearly as long as the powdered stuff, and is REALLY FUCKING EXPENSIVE. But probably still cheaper than investing in a reverse osmosis filter.

And it’s a short-term problem because in another 4 months he’ll be switching to cow’s milk anyway (or goat’s milk, or soy, if he suddenly develops a dairy sensitivity), so maybe we should just suck it up and do it. I can probably find somewhere online to buy in bulk and save, right?

Gah. One more thing to ask my ped about at our next well-baby visit, I guess. Or maybe I’ll just email Dr Mike.