Halloween Fun

Dominick’s first Halloween was extremely low key. We slept in, we napped, we played then we trucked off to Grammie’s house to take pictures of him in his costume. This year we dressed Dominick as a little monkey. He was absolutely adorable! Frank even found some mini bananas!

We arrived at Grammie’s house and had a quick lunch while we waited for our cousin Jennifer and Aunt Gen to arrive with three year old Reese. Reese was dressed up like Abby Kadabby. She looked adorable with her purple pompom pig tails and cute little freckles. When Reese took one look at Dominick all dressed up, she ran over to him and gave him a big hug. She loves to tickle Dominick under his chin, or on his belly. Dominick just stared with delight. He loves to look at other “little people” like him.

On our way to see Mrs. G – a long time friend of Frank’s family who happens to live two doors down, we ran into another neighbor, Mr. and Mrs. Spees. They took one look at Dominick and said, “Oh, there’s a mini Frank!” It’s so true – I cannot deny that he looks exactly like Frank and he’s just as adorable as his daddy.

New Jersey’s a funny place sometimes. Maybe it’s an Italian thing, maybe it’s an East Coast thing… who knows, but when we pulled our stroller up to see Mr. and Mrs. Spees, they oohed and aaahed. Then, because we were “trick or treating” Mrs. Spees pulled two dollars out of her wallet and put it in Dominick’s pumpkin! To me that’s just hilarious! Anywhere else we’d have said hi and we’d be on our way. But no, not in Jersey. “Here kid, buy some candy…” I love it!

Once we get to Mrs. G’s house – it keeps getting funnier! Mrs. G’s father answers the door – he’s very old, but very sharp. Mrs. G and her dad are oohing and aaahing over Dominick. Then I hear…“Ohhhh…. I want to suck his face off….” Mrs. G says through gritted teeth.
Then Mrs. G’s father chimes in, “I want to bite his little cheek!”

We all know his very own Grammie loves to say, “I want to bite him and make him bleed.”

I know – what graphic, violent things to say to a baby!? But they mean all of these things are said with love. I hear it all the time, from strangers… “I just want to bite him,” or “I just want to squeeze the life out of him!” Is this an Italian thing? Jersey thing? Who knows, but it sure is entertaining! I'd love to find a vendor where I can get this embroidered on a pillow or something... it would be quite the conversation piece!

We spent the afternoon back at home napping. Dominick took one of his marathon naps from 2:30 until 5. I had to put a note on the front door “baby sleeping, come back later.” Otherwise Ozzie would have gone crazy barking and Dominick would have never slept.

Aunt Kristen and Uncle Fred came over the next day to have Halloween with Dominick and watch the Giant's game. Here is Dominick just gazing at his Aunt Kristen.

We’re looking forward to next year. We’re sure he still won’t know what’s going on, but at least we can walk around the neighborhood!

Seven Month Update

It’s hard to believe my little guy is seven months old already. Here are a few stats:

He wears a size 12 months! His favorite food right now is sweet potatoes, can’t say I blame him. I always add a little butter. He’s eating puffs and cheerios! He is currently mastering the pincher grasp – using his pointer and thumb to pick things up. He has EIGHT teeth! He’s very ticklish and loves to stand when ever he can. He can’t pull himself up just yet and doesn’t seem the least interested in crawling. He just rolls around and spins on his tummy to get at what he wants. He sits really well by himself.

We’re still seeing our physical therapist for his torticollis, but only once a month. She says he’s made great progress.

He started to babble a lot and his favorite sounds right now are: “dadadada” and even “ththththth.”

When ever he sees his Grammie – he makes this funny “AKKKKK” sound. Like he’s so excited that’s all he can manage to get out. He also tries to mimic our sounds. It’s like having little conversations with him.

We’re still teaching him sign language. We constantly use “milk,” “mama,” “dada,” “grandma,” “grandpa,” “more,” “all done,” “bath,” and “eat,” and we’re pretty sure he knows what “eat,” “milk,” and “more” mean. Not so sure about the rest. They say the expressive language doesn’t start until 9 months or so, but he’s right on track for understanding what we’re saying or signing.
He likes to hold his arms out and move his right hand, almost in circles, when he gets excited or when he’s eating. And it looks somewhat like the sign for “milk” We’re not sure why he does it. But it’s sure darn cute!

Dominick pretty much sleeps through the night, asleep by 7 p.m. and sleeps until the “witching hour” 4 a.m. Like clock work he’s fussing around 4:15 every morning. Usually we let him fuss, sometimes he drifts back to sleep, others he gets so worked up he starts screaming. Then we head in to the rescue. He’s usually up for the day around 5:30/6 a.m. He has at least two naps a day, sometimes three.

We are incredibly grateful that we have such a wonderful, well tempered, happy baby!

Cesspool

Dominick’s been fighting a cold for little over a week now. Once we hit day ten of coughing, runny nose, sneezing and sleepless nights – we headed into the pediatrician’s office.

Now, we love our doctor. We love the practice and the nursing staff. What we don’t love is when ever you go there, you feel like your walking into a cesspool of sickness! Lucky us they have “walk in hour” every weekday from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. We were sure to arrive pretty close to 8 a.m., not knowing how busy it would be and we wanted to limit the exposure time we’d endure waiting in the waiting room.

The waiting room wasn’t too crowded: a grumpy teen ager to my right, a four year old playing with his business suited dad across the way. No one looked horribly ill. Thankfully we get called in the room pretty quickly.

Long story short – Dominick was prescribed his first antibiotic, zithromax. The nurse practitioner said his symptoms were lasting too long and he had fluid in his ears that could easily turn into an infection. I wasn’t too happy about the antibiotics, but if it’s going to help Dominick get better – I can deal. I have huge issues with taking antibiotics if they’re not needed… but that’s an entirely different post.

On our way out – it was extremely crowded. We were literally stepping over patients as we made our way to the door. One little girl had a very pink eye – I tried to keep my distance… two twin boys were both hacking up a lung and god knows what other sicknesses were brewing in the several other dozen kids slumped in their chairs.
I literally wanted to cover Dominick with a plastic sheet and hold my breath as we made our way through the waiting room.

I’ve heard of some doc offices having “sick” and “well” waiting rooms. Brilliant! But even when your kid is “sick” you have to endure the torture of sitting on the vinyl covered benches, hoping that the room was disinfected just before you came.

I admit it, I have become a germaphobe. This coming from a person who would never think twice about double dipping – yes I admit it! But I’m a completely different person now. I can’t help it. I work in a children’s hospital where they constantly cram infection control down your throat… now I have to deal with other people’s sick children! That just put me over the edge.

I have since stocked up on disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer and I literally had to hold myself back from buying those surgical face masks we all know don’t do a thing.

Hopefully Dominick will start feeling better soon so we won’t have to go back to the cesspool any time soon. I’m sure we’ll be there again… but let’s hope it’s after flu season.

PS - still loving the electronic snot sucker! I get personal joy out of seeing how much snot I can get out of my child. Weird... but true!