7th Tooth and More Accomplishments!

Yesterday morning I discovered Sweet Pea had gotten her 7th tooth!  That is 3 teeth in 8 days!  Poor little girl!  Here is the recap of what and when:

• Top right molar: Friday, Sept. 3rd (just one corner of it)
• Bottom left tooth just in front of where molars would be: Tuesday, Sept. 14th (entire top width had broken through)
• Top right front tooth: Saturday, Sept. 11th (entire top width had broken through)

Now she will have 2 teeth on top and 2 on bottom in the very front.  She was already using the 3 she had there to chew so I'm sure that will only increase.  Have you ever tried chewing with just your front teeth?  Let me tell you, it is not easy!  She has to put her fingers in front of her mouth to keep the food in.  But I'm happy that she is starting to chew more and more each week and I can continue to hope that with more teeth it will become easier for her.  Now if we could get some opposing molars I think we'd be making some big progress.  (Don't worry Sweet Pea, I'm not really asking for you to be in more pain right now than you are already in.  You are doing great!)

In other news, Sweet Pea has learned that trash cans are a delightful toy filled with all sorts of special surprises.  Daddy shared this lovely news when I got back from the workshop I attended yesterday and was feeding her lunch...she got into two different trash cans.  One wasn't too bad as it just had a tiny amount of not dirty trash...but the other had her diapers in it!  Icky!!!!  I'm proud of her for investigating, but not so happy that we will have to be much more diligent about taking out the trash.  That and trying to teach her that trash is NOT an acceptable toy for her.  Something tells me we will have better luck with emptying the trash than teaching her that, but I have to keep trying!

Unfortunately Sweet Pea also displayed another new skill during that very lunch...putting food in her mouth (good), then taking it back out and offering it to me!  Oh what a lucky mommy I am to get pre-chewed food!  I'm happy that she is being kind and offering food, but I have now started to tell her that you can't offer food after you have already put it in your mouth.  The good thing is that she is normally willing to put it back into her mouth.  She did this countless times with Kix cereal at lunch and I was a broken record with "put your food back in your mouth."  Don't know how long this lovely trick will stay!

Just this morning, in the midst of writing this post (I take many breaks during most posts to play/feed/change/etc her) Sweet Pea decided to show me another, not so lovely, trick.    Apparently, now that she has opposing teeth on the front left of her mouth, she thinks that clicking/grinding them together is fun!  I don't know if I should be worried about this latest trick or just hope that it is developmental and will not become a habit once she gets bored with it.  I'm trying to go for the second option.  I know that it is a fairly common sensory issue for some of our kids so that is what is making me worry at all. 

To close on a few positive notes...Sweet Pea has learned how to put rings on the stacker stick.    We have both the Fisher Price plastic version (ours actually has more of the clear rings with the colorful beads in it, but that picture is close and the Melissa and Doug wooden version too.  (Yes, I know, I know...this girl is definitely spoiled.)  On Friday at daycare during her OT session Grandma witnessed her playing with the rings on one side of the room, saw the stacker stick across the room, Sweet Pea crawled across the room to get it and brought it back to the rings across the room again and started putting them on it!  Go Sweet Pea!!!!  I love that she is putting so many things together right now and realizing that moving can get her things that she wants.  I've seen her put the rings on the stick a few times this weekend, but of course when the camera comes out she decides not to do it.  Here is all we have captured on video:



And I may be crazy, I have been accused of it before, but I really think that Sweet Pea is starting to say her version of "moo" when we are reading books that have cows and I say "moo" and ask her if she can say moo.  It sounds more like "mmm", but if she is really doing this I am going to be thrilled!  A little sad that her first word might be moo instead of mom or dad, but it's still a first word.  I noticed it for the first time a couple of days ago when she did it a couple of times during a book and she did it again today a few times so if she does it again I will call it official.  I'll keep you all posted!

Sweet Pea has also decided that TV is pretty darn cool.  Of course, the only thing we let her watch is Baby Signing Time DVDs and she now loves them.  She was sitting across the room in her circle of neglect and I had turned the DVD on.  She was okay watching it for a few minutes from her circle of neglect, but then decided that being across the room was just not acceptable.  She started fussing and wanting down so I put her on the floor and she immediately crawled over to within 3 feet of the TV and sat up and didn't move for the next 20 minutes.  I finally realized I should capture this momentous occasion on camera and she did turn her head to look at me for a minute, but then went back to Rachel and the rest of the cast.



I have more to share, but I believe that this post has gotten plenty long so I will share a cute video that our house guest Crazy Aunt R captured this morning (sorry Uncle E, more cute videos to try to get Messy Aunt J and you out here) along with some other photos from a couple of days ago at a later date.

Have a great Sunday!