January 19, 2006 - 1:55 PM.

Toothbrushing and Daddy-coping

The word "i-hyew" (shoes) is so close to identical to the word "i-hyee" (the plastic fish bath toys) that his language qualifies as tonal.

We have begun tooth-brushing. The child *adores* this and bangs on the closed bathroom doors a dozen times a day, demanding "babb-byee," which is apparently "brush teeth" somehow. He allows me the briefest swipe upper and lower and then commandeers the brush himself for typical head-bent contemplative chewing; he will do that as long as I will allow him, with pauses for "spitting" (raspberries), and eventually calmly waves bye-bye when we put the brush away.

J. is away for 3 nights, by far the longest we've spent apart since becoming parents, and the baby did NOT know what to do last night. He kept asking for Daddy and getting cheery explanations of how Daddy was sleeping in a hotel, but he was thinking about us and loved us and would be back soon. This worked until he slapped his hands on the seat of J.'s chair, cried out, "Dad-day!" and came to my lap to cry. I figured out to talk to him about how sometimes we feel sad, and that crying is a way to say we're sad, and that Mommy was staying here even though Daddy wasn't sleeping here tonight, etc. . . and he lay his pitiful little head against me and sobbed! With the big fat tears! But then I helped him cheer up a little bit, and he had some Tylenol for his still-bothersome teeth, and finally he drifted off after 2 hours of cuddling and reading little books together. With only one wake-up at 4, he had I suppose the best night we could expect.

Just a side note, favorite books of late: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? A board version of Fuzzy Teddy in which he identifies the umbrella and smacks his lips at the sand scene because he thinks it looks like oatmeal (!). "The Little Red Robot." The DK Touch-and-Feel Farm. A Fisher-Price farm book ("mo-mo"). The Taggies "Sweet Dreams" blanket book. A cloth version of Snacktime, Maisy! And a rubber bath-mates book -- that one we got him for Solstice. My little reader.

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