Teething Bites

Island Girl has been working on teeth lately. Working HARD. As of Christmas, she had just her two bottom teeth fully through, and a third bottom one that had poked through shortly before. Two weeks later, she now also has two top teeth through the gum, and a couple of other tooth-y looking bumps on her bottom gum.

Normally a happy baby who is excellent advertisement to have more babies, Island Girl has been outright GRUMPY lately. She wants to be held, but not be still while being held. That's not a lot of fun for the person holding her (i.e. me). She also was wanting to nurse significantly more frequently. That part wasn't a huge deal, except that that's in addition to wanting to be held nearly constantly. And, oh! the constant whining and/or crying.

And we can forget about her going to bed as easily as she used to. Lately, it's a screamfest even if she's completely fed, dry, and tired. There's been a fair amount of rocking and back patting lately. I refuse to fall into the same traps we did with Island Boy when he was a baby, so she always always always falls asleep in her bed. No nursing to sleep, no rocking to sleep (she won't sit long enough for the latter, anyway).

One other super fun thing she's started along with the teething is biting. Her favorite thing to bite is.....me. When she's done nursing, she clamps down, grins, and pulls back (teeth still clamped). Believe me, she's the only one smiling when she does it!

Hopefully, she will get several teeth out of the way now, and then we can all have a bit of a break. I'm sure she's ready to stop hurting, and I'm ready to have my sunshine-y baby back. Just in time for her to turn into a toddler!