Baby LaTour: First Tooth, First Food, and First... Frostbite?!

At 28 weeks, it has been very eventful in the LaTour household! I had to cut/paste the age blocks into the picture again because my son is not cooperative at all for his weekly picture! At one point, he rolled over on TOP of all the blocks! This may become a 2-person job...

I also forgot to mention first size 1 diaper! Yep, we finally ran out of newborn diapers, and they were getting fairly tight. Size 1 is WAY too big though. For those not well-versed in diapers, there are handy red/yellow/green zones on the waistband to indicate the fit when you stick the tabs on the diaper. Yellow is when you have the tabs cranked all the way in as tight as can be (where Gabriel is now); green is when the tabs are at a good place for the size diaper; red is when you need to consider moving to a bigger size diaper.

Showing off his 1st size 1 diaper - yes, that is a big red bird on the crotch

So let me get to the frostbite story, before we talk about the tooth and the first food experience. The moral of the story is not to hold one of those tube ice pops (you know, those frozen "juice" pops in the plastic tubes where you cut one end to suck out the ice?) against your baby's face. *The names have been changed to protect the guilty, haha!* Auntie X offered said tube ice pop as a makeshift teething device, and Mommy tried, unsuccessfully, to decline. So, Mommy held it for Gabriel to chew on, which he did adamantly. Apparently, the worm's skin is super-sensitive, so the next morning, red swollen circles appeared on each of his cheeks. Mommy had no idea what they were from (was it an allergy to asparagus from dinner? cuts from the sharp plastic on the tube ice pop? bug bites?), and it was puzzling that they were bilateral (aka, on both sides of his face equally, which made me doubt the bug bite theory). After several days of no improvement, I was concerned, so we went in to see the pediatrician. As she was examining Gabe, I was going over the three things I mentioned above, and she (and "Dr" Craig, haha) immediately came to the "freezer burn" (aka early frostbite) conclusion. I swear, I never knew that could happen with an ice pop! The doc said that it's pretty common with kids who suck on popsicles for long periods of time, but usually it's on the inside of their mouth. Needless to say, "Dr" Babcia hadn't figured this one out either via our phone "consultation," so I didn't feel too bad about not realizing it could happen. Luckily, Gabe wasn't in any pain and the red swellings have since subsided almost all the way back to normal. Craig told Auntie X that she owed us a $20 copay, haha!

4 days into the red swollen cheeks - looks MUCH better than it did at first

Anyway, on to the happier firsts for the week! Gabe cut his first tooth - one of the lower left incisors. It's unfortunately not large enough to photograph well, so that will have to wait until it looks a little larger & whiter. It's definitely through the gum (and sharp!), but it's not seeming to bother him at all.

The last first (sounds like an oxymoron?) for the week was our adventure into baby led weaning (BLW) and solid food. Craig set up the high chair a few days ahead of time, and we planned for a late-morning introduction to solids on my first day off for the summer. I was toying with four different options for Gabriel's first food (banana, avocado, carrot, or cantaloupe) and was all set to start with two of them, but the pediatrician recommended one new food every 2-3 days to help us isolate foods easily if Gabe ended up with any allergies. So, I decided we would go with the cantaloupe, since it was ripe and ready to go. Grammy was interested to see how BLW would work, so she planned to come by to watch.

Thanks for the high chair, Nonno!

Craig set up the video camera and I got the regular camera ready. Grammy held Gabriel, who watched intently (tongue flicking around the whole time) while I cut the cantaloupe. We strapped the worm into the high chair and plopped a few chunky finger-sized slices of cantaloupe down on the tray. After a few seconds of sliding around the sweet melon, he picked up a piece and got it in his mouth to suck on! It was a hit! (And quite a few pieces hit the floor!) We're not sure exactly how much he ingested, if any, but he at least got to explore the texture and taste the juice. BLW is all about discovery, and "food before one is just for fun" anyway. Craig had to remind me not to eat the rest of the cantaloupe (boo, since I was looking forward to it!) since we had to have some to use the following day! Here are (more than) a few pictures of the action:

I'm ready; where's the food?!

I took a video on the second day of cantaloupe (much shorter than the 22-minute version from his first try). Click here for that one. (I know it looks like there is a TON of cantaloupe on his tray, but much of that was soggy from gripping and/or had fallen in his lap. He actually preferred the pieces where I bit off a chunk and showed him I was eating it versus the ones I put on his tray at first. Eluding to the future when he steals food off my plate?) Some cute pictures from day 2:

I realized the other day, I forgot to mention Gabe's stats from his 6 month pediatrician appointment. He was 13 lbs 0.5 ounces, 25 inches long, with a 16.5 inch head circumference. His weight was in the 10th percentile and his height in the 25th percentile. (At the frostbite appointment, he was weighed again - but in clothes this time (usually it's just in a diaper) - and was up to 13 lbs 13 oz. So, conservatively, he gained a little over a half pound in the 10 days between appointments, which is pretty good, as usually it's a half pound in 2 weeks. He did ok with his vaccinations (3 shots and an oral drink). Still spiked a fever within 12 hours, but I was ready with the tylenol. (He also got the ok from the pediatrician to use baby advil when necessary from now on.)

A little giggle video for your viewing pleasure - click here. Other pictures from the week (a little on the light side for quantity, since I was very busy with finishing up work for the summer):