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Raising The Boys

We don’t want to lose any of our 3 readers. Mom. Dad. Honey.

Hahaaaaaaaaaaa see you there!

Oh wait…that was “Chay-chay-chayyyyn… chain of fools….”

My bad.

Regardless… there is some change a’coming! No one likes change! Except for my kid standing in front of the prize machines at the supermarket.

We have a change coming…bloggity change. Good change. Fresh change. Smell what Barack is cookin’ change.

Be sure to come back Friday for a link to CHANGE!

I’m very excited today because for the first time it was extremely clear that Shea is definitely using the signs I’ve been teaching him. His movements are still a bit spastic as he learns to control his arms and hands, but he is definitely doing them. I’m beyond THRILLED about this.  I used baby signs with Liam and they eventually did take when he was about one year old. He didn’t start signing in earnest until then.

Seamus turns 8 months old on Saturday. Ok… so he can’t really roll over yet and he still hates tummy time with a passion because of his giant cannonball head. And he is very much into “stranger” anxiety and not wanting me out of his line of vision. And he still spits up a bunch. He also won’t really nap at anyone elses’ house and he has quite a bit of a temper.

But clearly… he’s brilliant, no?

He can sign more, all done, and milk. He also understands the sign for eat.

And all this signing is making Liam interested in signing again too. Which is cool.* Very.

*Anyone know the sign for Time Out or No More TV or Don’t Use That Tone with Me, Young Man?

Liam: Hey Mom - look at me!

Me: *looking towards Liam*

Liam: *with pajama pants waistband slung unter his penis and testicles - hands in the air, all “ta-da” style*

Me: Liam, put those away, honey. Those are private.

Must be genetics, DAN *add The Look here*

While Shea and Liam are opposites or just plain different in so many ways, I try to resist that parental urge to compare. It is especially hard at Shea’s age when I compare his development to when Liam started crawling, walking, rolling etc. One of the biggest ways that they are different is that Liam was breastfed until he was one and Seamus nursed until he was 4.5 months because of the allergy/sensitivity thing. Because of the nursing, Liam had a VERY efficient digestive system. And when he did go on a poop strike, the breastmilk made things loose enough that it wasn’t a painful experience when he finally DID go.

Shea on the other hand is on soy formula. Soy formula is typically given to babies who are sensitive to other variations of milk and/or have bad diarrea. He did have bad diapers and now he doesn’t. But since he started eating solids, he’s been getting constipated. And I’m starting to sense things are getting uncomfortable for him. I am seriously feeding the kid prunes for breakfast and he is still just squeaking out a semi-hard small poop. And he does QUITE a bit of work to get that accomplished. He doesn’t like many fruits…or he’ll play fickle and like them one day and not the next 5.

Seamus isn’t so far gone yet that he isn’t pooping at all. And like I said - it’s not a rock. But I’m still scratching my head as to what I can do to help him out. It seems like he was having a lot more productive and patty-like experiences before he was eating so many solids per day. I don’t give him rice cereal…he has baby oatmeal. He has fruit mixed in with it. Shea also eats his veggies. Loves sweet potatos best. And I’m starting to think the carrots do not agree with him. I don’t give them to him very much.

So any advice? Give me the straight poop. How can we keep things moving?

Aren’t you glad this topic wasn’t a picture post? HAAAAAAAAAAAA!