That bites

Benjamin isn’t a happy camper when he is teething. He really could have used some pain medication when he was at his babysitter’s house yesterday. Apparently, his teeth hurt so bad, he bit himself in his sleep. He woke up screaming and with a full-mouth tooth impression on his hand.

As you can see, we are up to 12 teeth with the bottom canine breaking through to make 13.

 

We cope any way we can.

 

On a side note, tonight we took Benjamin to Olive Garden, and he was a champion! He was so well behaved, and he ate like a bottomless pit. He downed half a breadstick before I cut him off. Then, he ate half a chicken breast. He barely made a peep the whole time, except to complain if I wasn’t sharing fast enough.

Speaking of eating, Benjamin eats nearly every meal like he is starving, and often he shovels food in with two hands. He likes to cram several bites into his mouth at once, and he usually adds more as soon as he has made room. It is a good thing Jeremy is trained in first aid in case he chokes!

Last night, he kept signing to me that he wanted food and he wanted more. It took me a minute to realize that was what he was doing, because we didn’t teach him to do it. Turns out, a little girl at daycare signs, and he learned from watching her. Apparently, he noticed she was getting more food than him, and he decided to try a new strategy. We think it is hilarious. Not only does he tell us more and food, he also has taken to signing “all done” whenever he is done with a certain food group and starts dumping it over the side of his tray. He thinks if the tray is clear, we will give him more. And, he keeps hoping it will be something different. When he  wants something else, he points in the direction where he thinks it originates. So, he points and points at the snack cabinet when he wants crackers. It is tough to distract him when I don’t want him to eat crackers and snacks all day. Last night, I ran out of ideas, and starting piling frozen peas on his tray. He demanded more of those until he ate half a cup…literally…  a measuring cup of frozen peas! Now, he doesn’t want to eat them thawed and dumps them on the floor if they aren’t frozen. Can you tell we have a character on our hands?

Tomorrow, I will post a video of some of his antics. I have the day off, and I plan to run many errands, and then I am getting a hot stone massage! I have never had one, but I thought I deserved it after working so hard the past few weeks.