Childproofing

Ramon's favorite toys are not toys. This week he is crawling for real. Before I could say he was oozing like a slug leaving a trail of drool wherever he went. Now he is full on moving. He has discovered the living room book shelf and the joys of crashing piles of DVDs. His favorite is Chi Running (when Ray found this out...he said "Of course it is! He knows!"). All the DVDs that have made it to the floor have chew marks on the corners from the 8 teeth that munch and crunch. His other favorite toys are Daddy's shoes (Ray's response, "Gross!"....then he actually put his shoes away!?!?). He discovered the wall behind his play area a few days ago. There's this really cool hour in the evening when he really just wants to be left alone to play with his toys. So I have taken to wandering around and picking things up around the apartment. I was putting clothes away in the bedroom when I began to hear a rhythmic thudding on the other side of the wall. So I meandered in to investigate. What did I see but Ramon facing the wall....both hands firmly planted leaning forward and trying to eat the wall...thud...leaning back to grin at the wall and chatter and then leaning in to try to eat it....thud....repeat a few times while Mommy tried not to pee her pants and decide if she should be concerned and interrupt this conversation :). He did have a red mark on his forehead when he finished the game but he seems otherwise undamaged. The next day he repeated this investigation while I spotted him in a stand :).

There are molars coming in so the drool faucet is on for real. I broke down and bought him the $20 piece of French rubber I swore I would not buy. Sophie the giraffe is a really cool piece of squeaky rubber. Ramon chatters at her and makes her squeak and she reaches the molars because she has long giraffe legs. Ruta got really jealous though because of the squeaker. So we had to give him the rubber chicken with the Mom tattoo that we stole from the Kai, Tucker and Mia. That rubber chicken has worn Ruta out but after 24 hours has lost all his stuffing and the squeaker and is really only half a chicken....reminding us why we stopped giving poor Ruta toys.

Crawling was preceded by a lot of downward dogs while he tried to get to his feet instead of his knees. He has settled for his knees for now but continues to pull himself up. I lowered the crib two weeks ago when I watched him push himself up to a sit and then go for the rails. Last night we had to go in to resettle him 3 times as he pushed himself up to a sit and got stuck there...crying meekly but still sleeping. He hasn't slept all the way through the night since he was 3 months old. He is back to 2 night wakings most nights but screamed for 3 hours on Monday night we think because his first molar was pushing through....but then he also really crawled for the first time the next day so who knows, really?

Ramon has started waving at people. He especially likes the ladies at the grocery store and the guys at the deli. He grins and jumps and waves.

He has been saying Da Da and Daddy pretty clearly in the morning when he wants to play and go for a walk with the doggies and at night when daddy comes home. This morning he looked over at Ruta and shouted Doggie and bounced and danced while pointing at him! He says Ma Ma or Mommy less clearly and mostly when he wants milk or is sleepy and wants a nap.

So the title of this post is childproofing because that's what I'm thinking about doing this weekend. Ummmm..does Ray picking up his shoes count as childproofing?

Stupid garbage truck outside is causing honking and beeping and now Ramon has woken from his nap....grrrrr.