Cutie Pie and Princess

Cutie Pie's cousins came over to play this weekend and oh what fun he had! I learned a lot about my little Cutie Pie from this experience. Usually when we visit with other babies it is only for a short while. Cutie Pie plays with his classmates at school but Mommy does not get to observe their playtime for more than a few minutes when he is dropped off or picked up. It was so neat to see him play with another baby all day.


Cutie Pie's cousin is about two months older than him. We'll call her Princess. They crawled all over the place and patted the dogs together. It was really fun to watch them play with toys together. I heard that kids who go to day care are more aggressive, especially boys. So, I was expecting to have to play referee when I saw them go after the same toys. I was shocked though to see my tough day care boy share his toys easily with his stay at home cousin.

Princess is older and a little more aggressive. Cutie Pie showed Princess around his living room and picked up all the best toys. When Princess saw something she liked, she just held out her hand and Cutie Pie gave it to her. No tug of war, no tears. My baby is nice. I am so proud!


Cutie Pie was quiet most of the morning. He seemed to be taking it all in. I have noticed that when he plays with new people he is not quite himself. After about three hours though, he seemed to come to life. All of a sudden he felt comfortable and the babbling began! He told his Aunt and cousins all about his day. "Blah ba Hey!"

The cutest moment of the day was when we had to put one of our dogs in time out. He was banished to the porch where he barked his head off in protest. The babies were very concerned about their little buddy and crawled over to comfort him. I think they were surprised to find that they were not able to go through the glass on the door. They sat together, babbling at the dog. "Blah, la ba ba, hush doggie!"

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Doggone Cute

Uh Oh! Cutie Pie found the dog's bowls. He is a quick little crawler. He was playing quietly with his new stacking toy, so I snuck into the kitchen to get his breakfast ready. Next thing I knew, I heard splash, splash next to my feet. Cutie Pie was playing in the dog's water bowl. He must think I put a little baby pool in the house!

The dogs saw the whole thing and they were horrified! I quickly picked up the water and food and placed them on the counter where Cutie Pie couldn't reach. As I cleaned the dog water off Cutie Pie and the floor, the dogs barked at me like someone had stolen their food.

I'm sure they are thinking, "That rotten kid! First he moves in here and takes all the attention. Then he gets all these cool toys that we're not allowed to chew on. Now he's taking our food too!"

When I put the bowls back down for the dogs, they eyed their food suspiciously like Cutie Pie had ruined it or something. They quickly wolfed down a few bites, probably in case I took it away again. Then they went back to gazing forlornly at the baby.

A little later, I gave Cutie Pie one of those Earth's Best Teething Biscuits so he could chew on something other than my arm. If you've never seen one of these things, you should know they look just like a dog biscuit. When my dogs saw Cutie Pie holding and eating something that looked like a dog treat, they got angry all over again. One of them even tried to steal it from him. I let the other one play with one of Cutie Pie's toys just to keep him away.

I was getting worried that I was about to have a mutiny on my hands when Cutie Pie suddenly grew bored of gnawing and dropped the biscuit on the floor. The dogs quickly scooped it up and all was right with the world again. Cutie Pie was delighted to see the dogs run over to him. He laughed and gurgled, oblivious to the drama between him and the dogs. Cutie Pie loves his doggies and he is always willing to share with them.

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Whew! Just Another Day

Yesterday was just another day, thank God! Danger and chaos loomed behind every corner. Yesterday almost became the day we lost the dogs. Then it almost became the day we had to rush Cutie Pie to the hospital for a head injury. Instead it was the most exciting and action packed boring day I've ever had.

I stayed home with Cutie Pie all day. Yep, that's right, I never left the house. Yet somehow, I managed to lose both of my dogs. The Roomba, aka best present ever, trapped itself in the bathroom. In the process of freeing it, one of the dogs must have gone into the bathroom and I shut him inside. I noticed that I hadn't seen him in a while. It wasn't until hours later when Cutie Pie was eating lunch/ playing the bongos on his highchair tray that I heard him bark. I felt bad for shutting the dog in a dark bathroom for hours. But at least he was in no real danger.

An hour later, my husband came home. The dogs, Cutie Pie and I all went outside to greet him. Then we all went back into the house, or so I thought. It turns out that my other dog did not come inside the house. We never noticed she was missing. Almost an hour later we heard frantic barking. I recognized the bark and yelled for the dog to be quiet. The barking wouldn't stop so I followed the sound to the front door. There was my dog sitting on the front stoop. Did I mention it was raining? Thank goodness she was OK. We are so lucky to have such a smart dog.

When I put Cutie Pie to bed that night, I remember thinking about the close call we had with the dogs and how grateful I was that everything turned out OK. Cutie Pie had a little extra energy but he seemed pretty happy so I put him in his crib and turned his soother on. Sometimes he'll lay there watching the pretty lights and just drift off by himself. I went about my evening, putting laundry away and when I came back in his room with a hand full of towels I saw something that made my heart stop. Cutie Pie was standing up in his crib, leaning over the side and reaching down like he was trying to touch something on the floor. If I had walked in just a minute later, I'm sure I would have seen him tumble head first out of his crib.

Cutie Pie's crib was immediately adjusted to accommodate his new found skills and the family made it through the day without having to rush to any hospitals. I'm so glad yesterday is over. I can only hope that tomorrow is boring.

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Butterfly Effect

There's a reason they say "Let sleeping babes lie." Everyone knows that it is bad luck to wake a baby. When I picked Cutie Pie up from school today, he was passed out cold in his bed. I told his Teacher I had a dreadful feeling about waking him and boy was I right. He has not slept at all since.

He woke up immediately when I picked him up. By the time we got to the car, his eyes were wide open and he was ready to party. He could not be convinced to play by himself when he got home so I got to practice the art of multitasking by holding him with one hand while cooking, doing dishes and eating my own dinner. Although inconvenient, it's a great workout. My arms have never looked so nice.

Then as if to make matters worse, I interrupted Cutie Pie's evening routine so he could spend a little time with his Dad before he went to bed. Each night Cutie Pie gets his dinner of some pureed vegetable that he will probably never eat again once he is done with baby food. Then he takes his bath. Tonight he learned to splash the water and I never thought I would get him out of that bathtub. He had a blast! He didn't even care when he would splash the water so hard it would get in his eyes. After his bath, Cutie Pie gets dressed for bed. Then he usually says good night to Daddy and the doggies then nurses to sleep while Mommy reads him a story and says prayers. But tonight Daddy was running late so I let Cutie Pie play in his pajamas until he got home. Sounds like no big deal right?

It's like the butterfly effect. Who knew that two small interruptions in his day, could cause so much chaos for Cutie Pie? He has woken up every twenty minutes since I put him down. I think he's dreaming about splashing in the bath because he seems to be trying to splash his sheets. I wonder if they make water beds for babies? I have absolutely no chance of getting any sleep tonight so I might as well surrender now.

Schedule and routine has always been important to my Cutie Pie. Right from the beginning, I noticed that he became agitated when we kept him out late. Those darn baby books I'm always talking about say it's OK to deviate from the schedule every now and then but make sure you follow it most of the time. The baby will be happier following the schedule. It's important that the child know what to expect.

What lesson has Cutie Pie taught me from this experience? Make sure I always bring home a few files from work so I have something to do if I have to stay up all night.

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Don't Lick the Baby!

Cutie Pie's Uncle brought over his puppies today. Cutie Pie seemed fascinated by the little creatures and put his hands out to touch them. The sweet dachshund puppies also seemed interested in Cutie Pie and enjoyed sniffing him and staring curiously at the drool streaming from his bottom lip to the "My Uncle Loves Me" bib around his neck. The little puppies did not seem excited about Cutie Pie's big dachshund dogs barking and growling at them.

Eight years ago, before Cutie Pie was even a thought in our minds, we got a sweet little dachshund puppy named Oakley. Little Oakley was our baby. We took him everywhere and spoiled him with treats. A few years later, we decided that Oakley needed a friend and we got a one year old dachshund named Minnie. The addition of the new dog was hard on Oakley but eventually he adjusted.

We were very worried about how the dogs, especially Oakley, would take to having a baby in the house. We asked around about how to get the dogs ready for the new baby. Someone suggested I carry a doll around so they will get used to seeing me holding a baby. It sounded like a good idea but not for me. Instead, when Cutie Pie was born, we sent Grandma to the house with Cutie Pie's hat to let the dogs sniff it and get used to his smell before he came home. We were relieved to hear that the dogs loved that hat. They sniffed it and licked it and carried it over to their bed so they could roll on it! We saved what was left of the hat for Cutie Pie's scrapbook so he can see it one day.

When Cutie Pie met his doggies, they were in love with him. I wouldn't be surprised if "Don't lick the baby!" are Cutie Pie's first words. But the novelty of having a baby in the house has worn off for Oakley and Minnie. They look enviously at Cutie Pie's toys. They stare forlornly as we play with Cutie Pie. They've realized that Cutie Pie is not leaving and they are going to have to share us with him. I'm sure when they saw those little puppies walk into the house that they were going to have to share us with them too!

I enjoyed having the little puppies visit our house too. Who can resist a rambunctious, cuddly ball of fur? Cutie Pie watched as I played with the puppies and I noticed the same look on his face that I often see in my dogs. "Hey, Mommy! Why are you playing with them like you play with me?" I quickly turned my attention to my Cutie Pie, just like I always do for my dogs when they get sad and I thought to myself with alarm, "What am I going to do if Cutie Pie becomes a big brother?"