Slow and steady wins the race

Phil and I have been very tired today. I did indeed have to feed Michael through the night two nights ago in order to stave off mastitis. I thought that after that was resolved we would be able to get a good sleep last night. Wrong! Michael woke up twice in the night wanting a feed. I can't remember the last time he woke twice - not for months and months. I guess he's having a growth spurt because he has fed a grand total of nine times today. In addition to that he had one solid meal of banana.

So... today we weren't exactly at our best. This evening Michael looked like he was trying to walk from one side of his cot to the other. I thought it might be fun to see if he was ready to take a step so I held him in front of me and Phil was holding his arms out ready to catch him. Unfortunately he fell straight down rather than forwards and bumped his mouth on the carpet. He cried immediately and I picked him up to cuddle him on my shoulder. When I looked at him I noticed that there was blood dripping from the corner of this mouth. He looked like a chubby, diapered Dracula. Cue mass panic!! I got Phil to call the after-hours doctor and then slowly my think-rationally-and-take-responsibility parent self kicked in. I wiped his mouth and gave him some sips of water to clear away the blood. When I looked in his mouth there were two tiny - and I mean tiny - puncture marks on the inside of his upper lip. His two bottom front teeth were the culprits. There was no other damage and no bleeding after I gave him the water. The teething causes a lot of dribbling so that is why he appeared to be bleeding so much.

Whew! Lesson learned - when he wants to walk, he'll walk. We're not going to try that again in a hurry. Especially in the evening when we are all tired.

Phil was incredibly upset that he had hurt himself and needed a lot of reassurance that Michael was really fine. There is this thing that I do that makes Michael laugh a lot - Phil holds him and I bunny hop towards him. He howls with laughter. Phil wanted me to do it right there and then to check that Michael wasn't in pain. Michael laughed and Phil relaxed a little. I called the after-hours doctor back and explained that I had checked Michael's mouth and didn't think it was necessary to bring him in for a check-up. He agreed.

I guess we're finally starting to stand on our own two feet as parents. As for Michael... not quite yet ;o)