Teething!!!!

I really am not a fan of teething. I don't think any mother is, and now I know why. My once sweet, relatively even tempered child, now has random bouts of fussiness, is refusing to eat solid food, and is waking me up in the middle of the night. We have been blessed with a good sleeper, so these midnight wake up calls are really throwing me off! Also, the refusal to eat is so bizarre. Anytime I bring a spoon near her mouth, she whines and throws her head to the side with jaw clenched shut. At first I thought she was being picky about the food I was feeding her, but then I read that teething can cause them to lose their appetites. She got her two bottom middle teeth back in December, but we hadn't really started solids yet, so I didn't think much of it. The top two seem to be much more difficult to for her to handle. The one on the left broke through on Friday, and I actually saw a marked improvement in her demeanor that day, but now the right one is trying to push through, and she is clearly not enjoying it. I gave her one of those mesh bags that you can put frozen fruit in so that she could teeth on that, and it was hilarious. At first she had no idea what to do with it, and she made faces every time she got a taste of the frozen banana, but then she realized she likes the taste so she started sucking the mushed, half frozen banana out of the mesh. Not really helping with teething, but at least getting her to eat something, I guess. She is still our sweet little girl, and for the most part is still behaving fine, but I will be very happy once that middle tooth breaks through!!! (Oh, but there are so many more to come in....oh well)

On another note, Adelyn has perfected sitting from a crawling or laying down position and is now pulling up on everything, so that makes nap times much more interesting. We have a video monitor, so it is hilarious to watch her play in her crib before she falls asleep. She sits up, lays down, sits up again, tries to pull herself up to a standing position, lays back down, sits up and plays with her giraffe, and so on. This can go on forever and is really funny to watch. So much for nap time, though. (She actually does finally go to sleep, but it is typically 20-30mins after I put her down for her usual nap time.)

We have also been going on a lot more play dates, which is always fun. She seems a lot happier when she gets to play with other kids, and, as Abbie South pointed out, she might be an extrovert and just need that time with other people. I guess we'll find that out later, but in the mean time, the play dates are definitely keeping us both much more sane! And, to continue with her tradition of play dates, they have all been with boys. She even plays with a little boy at my mom's bible study even though there are lots of other kids there. Will she ever have girl friends?...watch out daddy...Thank goodness for Cousin Kate and June Coleman!!!