Lessons from the trenches

Weekends are full of learning for all of us. Buster continues to learn how to be a baby, we continue to learn how to be parents.

(On a side note - one of the wisest things my mom ever told me was when I was 10-12 and she admitted 'I'm still learning how to be a parent.' How true, how true. Just when you think you've got it figured out, BAM! A new gaggle of things to learn crops up.)

Anyway, here in no particular order are the things that we all learned this weekend.

What we learned:

1. When your pediatrician tells you to babyproof the house when your child is only 6 months old and not mobile, don't assure him you will and then later laugh at him when the two of you are alone ("Babyproof! He can barely sit by himself!") Ignoring this lesson will lead to your child pulling on cords, knocking down precariously stacked dvd's, eating anything and everything laying on the floor.
2. Once your child starts to crawl, it's a good idea to mop/vacuum your floors often. There's nothing gross than pitch black baby hands after a half hour of crawling around the kitchen floor.
3. In general, it's not wise to heartily laugh at your child as he cries. This will only lead to more and louder crying
4. Bringing a baby to a furniture store guarantees a full on barage of harassing from any and all store staff who happen to smell Johnson's baby lotion.
5. Babies can inexplicably begin to hate the thing they once loved most. At some point over the weekend Buster decided he hated baths more than life itself. This is disheartening since it was once our fool proof 'get the baby to stop crying' plan.
6. Never use the word "no" when playing a game and laughing. This will only lead your child to think that "no" indicates playtime and it is, indeed, okay and encouraged to pull on all wires in a 30 foot radius.
7. Infants' Tylenol is God's gift to babies and parents alike (we already knew this, but it's worth mentioning again.)

What Buster learned:

1. Screws are not for eating.
2. Cats are not for eating.
3. Pieces of carpet are not for eating.
4. Cat food is not for eating.
5. "No" does not mean "yes" and coyly smiling does not always guarantee you'll get your way.
6. Baths are not fun.
7. He is at the beginning stage of pulling himself to a standing position. Yay!! However, the bathtub is not a good place to practice this due to general slipperiness.
8. When in pain mom and dad will rush around to try to make you feel better (awww!)