Golden Pig Tales

Preflight was the tense. Waiting for people to board and the flight crew to prepare for take-off while trying to keep Ezra on either -v- or me was work. Then waiting to taxi and take-off was the most tense of the entire fight with an active and curious Ezra trying to grab the lady’s hair in the seat before us or pat the bald man’s head sleeping before us.

Once the cabin pressurized and the deep constant white noise of the air plane’s engines soothed everyone to sleep, Ezra relaxed and slept. It did help to have -v-’s bosoms at the ready to further sooth Ezra to dream land.

The minutes before landing and disembarking the plane were also tense, but by then the flight was over and everyone was fussy and wanting to leave, so a fussy Ezra wasn’t the only one making noise.

…The first plane fight with Ezra since being mobile and curious was good. In fact, Ezra got a couple of compliments for being good. All in all -v- and I can’t complain. We were and are very happy with how Ezra was during this flight. That is not to say that there weren’t moments when I needed to pull out the dragon hand puppet and speak in a high pitched Mr. Dragon voice or moments when -v- need to walk the isle to appease Ezra’s curiosity and focus Ezra’s attention.

YAY! YAY! YAY! EZRA IS 9 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

YAY! YAY! YAY! EZRA IS 9 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

YAY! YAY! YAY! EZRA IS 9 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

YAY! YAY! YAY! EZRA IS 9 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

YAY! YAY! YAY! EZRA IS 9 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

YAY! YAY! YAY! EZRA IS 9 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

YAY! YAY! YAY! EZRA IS 9 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

YAY! YAY! YAY! EZRA IS 9 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

YAY! YAY! YAY! EZRA IS 9 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

I have a fear of flying with Ezra. A fear that is new for I have flown with Ezra before and the flight was uneventful. But given his new found cognition; his attachment to -v-; his desire to always be moving around; his short attention span; his crawling; his teething; his fussiness while eating; his confusion of new places I believe this fear is reasonable.

It is a fear I will soon face and a fear I hope is unwarranted, but -v- sent me a link to an article from babycenter.com that only warrants fear of flying with Ezra. The article had these words about traveling with a 9 month old: “Because of separation anxiety, this can be a tough time to be away from your baby for any length of time. But it may also be hard to travel with your baby right now. He’s become used to his surroundings and familiar faces, and he likes predictability. So being on the road can disrupt his sense of security and routine, especially when visiting an unfamiliar place or meeting lots of strangers.” These words are not encouraging words for the plane flight we will be taking.

To ease the fear of flying, we have three pacifiers, a couple of toys that make noise, crayons and paper, big baby markers and paper, a mirror Ezra likes to stare at, snacks, -v-’s bosom for Ezra. And we have money for booze for -v- and me to ease our fear.

Ezra is continuing to put on a fussy tantrum at dinner time. He seems hungry, and he will eat, but seems to be very particular about how and what food gets in his mouth.

I gave him a teething biscuit, which made him happy for a few minutes, then it made him cry. Maybe it was too hard? Then I gave him some avocado, from a spoon. That was OK for a while, but then that made him cry. Then I tried giving him chunks of avocado to feed himself, but that wasn’t OK because they are slippery and he had a hard time getting them into his mouth. I gave him a stick of string cheese, which made him happy until I took it away from him because he was trying to stuff the whole thing in his mouth, so then he cried. The only thing that didn’t seem to make him cry was eating  organic toasted Os cereal.

Then Ezra sat and watched Kalab and I eat our cinco de mayo tacos. Ezra seemed like he wanted to be eating tacos. I gave him a little tomato and some black beans, which made him happy, until he was sad that he could not eat the taco meat that I was eating,  and then he cried.

Maybe someday soon we will figure out how and what to feed Ezra for dinner so that there are no more tears with the food.

It’s weird. Tooth #8 has yet to make it’s appearance from Ezra’s gums. It’s weird because teeth #1 and #2 came in at the same time. The teeth #3 and #4 came in at the same time. And it was the same with teeth #5 and #6. But not with #7 and #8 because #8 just isn’t there. We think, or rather I think, I see it protruding from his gums at an awkward angle, but even now I am doubting what I see. I am not too worried…Okay, so I am a little worried for I am a parent and if there is anything I have learned about being a parent is that you worry even over small things like tooth #8 coming in at the same time as tooth #7. So, I am a little worried, but I do take comfort in the fact that teeth don’t always come in pairs, but for the sake of teething and crying and having a symmetrical set of baby teeth I wish tooth #8 would arrive.

Ezra has had another ear infection. It happened last week. We caught it before it got really bad, and it appears it hasn’t caused him much pain. Much pain other than the fact he gags and tries to spit out the White Strawberry Smooth Flavored Amoxicillin / Clavulanate Potassium like geyser every time it enters his mouth leaving him looking like he was trying to apply white lipstick over his lips and cheeks and chin.

Tuesday night I sat down to feed Ezra his dinner of chicken casserole and peas with yogurt sauce. He was in his high chair and seemed fairly excited about eating. But I barely got two spoonfuls in his mouth and he was crying like there was no tomorrow. He didn’t want the chicken, he didn’t want peas, he didn’t want me putting that spoon anywhere near his mouth. I took him out of the chair and held him on my lap, because sometimes he just seems to prefer eating that way. But that didn’t seem to make him happy either. I put the bowl down on the table and he reached out for it. Then I decided to just see what he would do if he had access to the food. Ezra immediately, eagerly and happily, grabbed fistfulls of food and shoved them into his mouth, like some little caveman. He seems to have developed a profound desire to take charge of his food, but most strongly at dinner. I guess he’s growing up and this is what meal time might just look like for a while….I can’t wait to take this show on the road next week!