October 26, 2010

The Amazing Nocturnal Toothless Wonder

Okay, that's not entirely true, but "toothless" sounds better than "toothy", so I'm gonna go with it. Riley got his first tooth about a week ago, closely followed by his second. He went from fussy baby to happy baby literally overnight, and there was much rejoicing. Just don't get too close to that charming little grin...he's got a bite a 12-foot gator would be proud of.



Naturally, I expected that such a big step would launch him on the path to independence, but to my dismay, not much has changed around our house. I mean, he still expects me to feed him by hand and wipe his cute little buttski, and he yells when I'm not fast enough.  Sheesh.  And he's still not sleeping through the night. I had a serious talk with him about this the other day, but he just tooted and gave me a drooly grin, which I took to mean, "Dad, I'll do it when I'm dang good and ready." Hard to argue with that, especially since he doesn't speak English yet.

By day, Riley is one of the happiest, most content little guys I've ever seen. He'll play in his little baby saucer for hours, jabbering merrily at his toys in Cantonese (I think) and watching his siblings play until he poops and politely asks to be changed. By night, however, he transforms into the Amazing Nocturnal Toothless Wonder, fearlessly fighting sleep between one and three AM and not resting until he's gotten a snuggle and a bottle. We've tried all the tricks, like putting whiskey in his bedtime bottle, but he just laughs and asks for another shot. OK, I'm kidding.....no second shot.

All parents go through that weird emotional mix of sleep-deprived panic in the wee hours of the morning at one point or another, so I know none of this is unusual, but I'll still be glad when the Toothless Wonder decides to hang up his cape and sleep through the night. I'm a little tired.

2 comments:

  1. I love gummy smiles! What an angel (in the daytime, of course). Hang in there! Sleep will come soon!

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  2. Aaron, I love reading your blog!!!! You are putting smiles on many people! Love you all so much, I'll have to get over there after we get back from Colorado.

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