Mr. Stinkerbobinker

My apologies for not writing yesterday. I kept putting it off until later in the day and then at 10pm I realised I was much too tired to write anything with any substance. I decided to get up early this morning, before we go to clinic with Parker and write an article then. Well, I will say that getting up early was not a problem for me today. Parker had both myself and his mother up at 4:30am. We heard him stirring around in his crib so we figured that if we got him a bottle, he would be full and then sleep until 7:30am. What happened instead was Parker thought it was time to play and decided that he did not want to go back to bed. So, I decided at 5:30 to take it for the team and go in his room and play with him for an hour to tire him out.

I have to say that babies, at least my baby, seem to have quite a bit of energy first thing in the morning. He is the most mobile and vocal when he first gets up. So, this morning we played chase the balls. Parker has always enjoyed playing with the little plastic balls we gave him. From a very early age he was able to pick up the balls with a couple of fingers to inspect them. Now, he enjoys taking two of them and banging them together. He also like pushing them with his hand while he is on his stomach and then chase them by either dragging himself across the room to them or performing his newest method of transportation. Now that Parker is able to get into his sitting position by himself he uses it to get from one place to another. He will sit, then get to his tummy and then sit again a few feet away. How effective is this?

Yesterday, I left Parker on his ABC mat to play with his toys as we do all the time. Parker has come accustomed to playing by himself so when we leave the room for a minute he is able to keep himself occupied and content until we return. Yesterday, when I left the room for a moment, I was surprised to not find my little boy on the mat as I entered the room. Then, in the corner of my eye I noticed a little boy leaned up against the sofa in the corner of the room. The little monkey was very pleased to be off the cushioned mat and on the hardwood floors. I don't think he will be doing that again anytime soon because as I was snapping pictures of the little guy he lost his balance and bumped his head on something a little harder than a foamy letter 'P'. Of course, I picked him up and gave him a kiss and he was just fine.

have two teeth on the bottom. We have been waiting for a while for him to get the same two teeth to come in buAs most of you can tell by the pictures of Parker he doest on the top of his mouth. Although, it does look like we can see them through his gums he just had a tooth elsewhere in his mouth break through his gums. Parker's tooth that is adjacent to one of the top two has recently come in. To be honest, I don't know what I was thinking when I stuck my finger in his mouth yesterday, but when he bit down, it hurt. A lot. Parker really enjoys using his teeth and for that reason I have decided that it is important to feed him the food with bits of carrots, potatoes and corn in them. He loves chewing and loves in more to show his dad the little bits that he has chewed the larger ones in to.

I was on the Internet a couple of days ago, and I was on the American Dental Association website. It said that as soon as infants get teeth we are to begin brushing them. I never thought of that. I will be asking the nurse today during clinic and then we will pick up Parker a baby toothbrush, I am not sure if he is going to like that very much.

I seem to have quite a bit to write about today. I have one more story to tell you about before I sign off for the day and take Parker down to Sick Kid's in Toronto. Yesterday afternoon my wife had gone out and I was left to watch Parker by myself. This is not a big deal in itself as I watch Parker all of the time. We played for about an hour when I noticed an unpleasant smell coming from my son's general direction. So I asked Mr. Stinkerbobinker if he had left a stinker for daddy to change. When I got upstairs and lifted his shirt I noticed that it had made its way up his back. So, not normally being the one who changes Mr. Stinkerbobinker I started to get a little nervous. As I pulled off his shirt, I some how transferred it to his arm. Now, I had to find a way to change him and not let him get any "poo" near his face. As I wrestled with him to get his pants off he proceeded to wipe his arm on his stomach and legs. Now I had a baby immunocomprimised baby with excrement on him wearing only a diaper and then the phone rings. Thinking it is my wife and hoping that if it is I can persuade her into coming home to help me I answered it. It was not my wife, so I quickly made my way off the phone.

By now, I figure he has to have a bath. So I make my way to the bathtub, I finally get his diaper off and I place Mr. Stinkerbobinker's bum under the warm running tap. After I felt that his bottom looked clean enough to be placed in his ducky tub I quickly held him in one arm, cleaned the tub, placed his ducky tub in the main tub and let water run into it as he sat there looking at me. We finally finished the bath and Mr. Stinkerbobinker left and I finally had my son back.

My wife came home about an hour later. As she walked through the door and picked up her son. She noticed an unpleasant smell. Mr. Stinkerbobinker had returned for another visit.