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January 15, 2003

Hi Everyone!

Josh is becoming more and more independent every day. As the days go by I find he wants to do more and more things himself. He definitely wants to feed himself! I usually feed him some finger foods and he picks those things up and eats them without my help, but things like applesauce, yogurt and oatmeal I have been feeding him with a spoon. Sometimes, I will give him a spoon, put a small amount in a paper bowl and let him work with that while I continue to feed him the larger portion. I always give him eating utinsils so that he can practice with those, but he still has a hard time getting things to stay on the spoon long enough to make it into his mouth! Lately, he has refused anything I feed to him and he wants to do it himself. It is hard for me at times, because he makes such a big mess! I don't mind so much at dinner because I just give him a bath after that, but at breakfast I don't have time for more than just a quick wipe down before it is off to daycare.

Part of this new found independence also relates to teeth brushing. He does not want me to brush his teeth anymore! He throws a fit when I try! He wants to do it himself and he basically just sucks the tooth paste off the brush and chews on it for a while. I am concerned that he is not getting a thorough brushing every day, but I don't know what to do. When I fight him to brush his teeth I can't do a good job and when he does it himself I don't think he is getting his teeth clean. Anyone having the same problem? I know I have to keep trying to get his teeth brushed, but in a ddition to that are there other things I can do outside of brushing that will help keep his teeth healthy? I have heard conflicting things about floride treatments. I know one mother that swears by them and I read an article in Parenting magazine that said floride treatments could discolor your childs teeth. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Josh has also started terrorizing our cat, Phoebe. His intentions are good, he loves her so much. He just wants to hug her all the time, but as you can imagine his hugs are not always gentle. He squeezes her and tries to pick her up. I never leave him alone with Phoebe, but sometimes I don't intervene quickly enough and I know she doesn't like it. I am happy to say that she has never tried to scratch or bite Josh no matter how rough he gets. She will run away when it gets unbearable, but she has been very tolerant.

I also wanted to mention an incident that we had at Babies R Us the other day. As you may know, we have had an ongoing problem with Josh biting. Although he doesn't do it often, he will occasionally bite another child in his daycare or bite me when he is angry or frusterated. I have been told by some other parents to bite him back, but Josh's pediatrician advised me against that idea and I am glad because I really did not want to do that. I have also been told by Josh's teachers and his doctor that this is a phase many children go through and he will grow out of it. I always reprimand him when he does it and give him a teether or an alternative object to bite. Anyway, we were shopping for a shower gift at Babies R Us and, being the independant guy that he is, Josh wanted to walk beside me instead of riding in the cart or being held. That was fine and he held my hand as we walked down the isles. At one point, we ran into another Mother and her daughter (about the same age as Josh). The Mother was looking at some clothing items and the daughter approached Josh. I told him to say hello to the girl and he did. She then, grabbed his hand and I thought it was so cute that she was going to hold his hand. Instead of holding his hand she put his hand right up to her mouth and bit him! Josh started crying, but she wouldn't let go! I was telling her "No!" and still nothing (by the way, the Mother was still looking at clothes. I reached down and litterally pried her teeth off Josh's hand and then she bit me! Finally the Mother realized that something was wrong and she ran over to see what happened. I explained what happened and she was very apologetic and I am sure very embarassed. Both Josh and I left with teeth marks on our hands!

I comforted Josh, but also explained to him that it hurts to be bitten and that is why we don't bite our friends. I am not sure how much of that he understood, but my hope is that this biting stage of ours can finally be put to rest for good. We will have to wait and see if that actually happens.

As for me, AF showed up yesterday. I was kind of blue about that yesterday, but that was only my second cycle TTC. Today is Cycle #3 day 2, wish me luck!

Thanks for reading!

Janet and Josh