Friday, January 30, 2009

There's Always Something


I have learned yet another truism of parenting: there's always something. Alas, this hard-learned lesson has come late at night, when Rob, Romi and I should be sound asleep, but clearly aren't. The lesson learning went something like this:Justify Full
When we arrived home from Taiwan, we brought with us an amazing baby who was an even more amazing sleeper. The Little Bugger could be put down in his crib, still awake, and he would gently close his eyes for a nap. He could sleep almost any where: in the car, in our arms, in the Baby Bijorn. We had baby and could travel. Lucky us! And we were even more fortunate that his superior sleeping skills extended to bed time. He slept, in his own crib, for hours. People would ask us if we were exhausted, and we'd vacillate between pride (he sleeps through the night!), superstition (don't admit he sleeps through the night, we'll jinx it!) and fear of admitting it to our friends who haven't slept well in years. But the good times have come to an end.

Our baby no longer sleeps.

Why? Because it's always something. At first his sleep pattern was disrupted because he was getting teeth. We completely understand that. By all accounts, cutting those first teeth is a painful process and as loving and understanding parents we got up at night to give him Orajel, Baby Tylenol and pats on the back. I have no doubt that each of the five and a half teeth he currently has kept him up at night, but that doesn't exactly help our situation.

If the Rominator wasn't teething, he had a cold. His runny nose would cause him to cough or sniffle or not be able to breath, leading us to try anything and everything, from cold mist humidifiers to phone books under the crib to letting him sleep in a more upright position--on one of us on the couch. You see where this is going, right?

The glorious day came when our Moochkey was neither cutting a tooth or nursing a cold, and that's when we had him circumcised. We completely expected him to wake at night, and he did, but we absolutely weren't going to deny him his Tylenol with Codeine. And when he got over the surgery we schlepped him to California to sleep in a new bed in a new house. Sigh.

So here we are, with a once-good-sleeper baby, who has forgotten his sleep skills. It is a rare night when one of us doesn't end up on the couch with the Little Bambino. We comfort ourselves with the idea that at least he's not in bed with us, but we know we're kidding ourselves. We know that we have to step up to the plate and be firm and make certain our precious little guy can sleep on his own in his own bed. It's our responsibility as parents. Of course, right now he has another cold and keeps coughing, and next weekend we're having company and then... Well, you get the idea: it's always something.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Romi Gludt, World Traveler

OK, so we didn't go half way around the world this time, but we did spend the weekend in CA over MLK weekend. Talk about a jam-packed four-days of meeting and greeting, eating and laughing. And our little guy was absolutely a trooper. He did fabulously on the plane, taking a nap for a majority of the short trip and then enjoying the woman next to us singing "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" while we landed. Wemet Grandma at Paul's and later that day, Romi got to meet Gila and to see the Bermans, although he had fallen asleep by the time Heather and Mark arrived. All parties involved were disappointed.

On Saturday, Romi spent time with the extended Gludt family. He met loads of cousins and people who are called cousin even though they aren't cousins. Saturday evening was spent with Nana, Papa, Aunt Kim, Uncle Joe, Cousin Austin (who didn't share well!) and Cousin Sabrina. The Rominator was beyond exhausted and I knew I should take him home, but his aunt and cousins had him in such hysterics I couldn't bear to be the party pooper. They were all playing on Joe and Kim's bed, and every time they made him belly laugh they all laughed. Sitting in the family room and hearing everyone enjoying one another's company so much truly did my heart good.

On Sunday, Romi hung out with Carrie and Dan and their kids, Koo-Koo and Lu-Lu (not their real names) in the park. When that was done we scooped him up, shoved him back in the car and headed up to Valencia for more family time! Romi spent Sunday charming Aunt Pam and Uncle Scott, Aunt Dana and Uncle Matt, and his cousins Ben, Alex, Sarah and Lindsay. I can't honestly say who had a better time! But of all my favorite photos of the weekend, I love this shot of Romi and his grandmother playing face to face.



Monday morning saw us meeting Hallie, Joel and Sydney before heading off to the airport. Once again, Romi proved what an expert travel he is by taking a bottle on take off and sleeping for the rest of the flight. Seriously, how did we get to be so darn lucky?!

In other news, Romi is crawling like a madman, which means he's wicked fast, which means he's in the dog's water bowl before we can get to him. He loves to pull himself up on everything and he had his first ever shower, which he pretty much slept through. Go figure.


Sunday, January 11, 2009

2009: Off and Running

It 's been quite an exciting year for the newest Gludt. First off, he got to spend a week with Nana and Papa, which he absolutely loved and for which he showed his enthusiasm by throwing up on every member of the family at least once during the week-long visit. Way to go Little Guy! But Nana and Papa were not to be deterred and still enjoyed getting to know their grandson better. My favorite moment of the visit came one night when he was in his bed fussing, long after the time for sleep for little boys had come and gone. I explained to Nana that I wasn't allowed in Romi's bedroom once he had been put to bed; I admit it, I just don't have the fortitude to offer comfort without picking him up. With a dismissive wave of her hand, Nana took all of her grandmother experience and decreed she would take care of it. Nana may have seven surviving grandchildren, but it took a total of, oh, 23 seconds, for her to cave on this one and she came out carrying the little bugger and explaining, "But he was sitting up and smiling at me!" Yeah, sister I know, he's got both our numbers.

Romi continues to grow and explore both his home environment and his food options. I am happy to report that he has a total of five teeth and that he isn't afraid to use them, even on his Abba. Alas, he has also discovered a new hair-raising, goose-bump inducing, shiver-producing trick: grinding his shiny new white teeth together to create one of the most hideous sounds known to man. I can't believe I miss the days when he just ate all my clothing.

The best news of all, however, is that Romi's circumcision surgery is behind us. The day I dreaded went without incident, and I neither accosted nor killed anyone at TMC (as I had predicted I might). Instead, the hospital staff was warm and understanding and did their absolute best to provide us with comfort and information. It hasn't been the best four days of Romi's life, but he's healing, thank God. Of course, I still think they should have given me the Demerol, instead of Romi, but who can explain today's modern medical community?

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Aunt Jodi Saves the Day


Romi's cold has been hanging on, determined to linger and last and generally drive everyone in the family crazy. Seeing as wiping the Romster's nose is tantamount to child abuse, we try to wait until we can't possibly stand it any more. Oddly enough, it doesn't seem to bother the little guy to have a glistening wet face. Combined with the fact that he has two new teeth on top, with more clearly on the horizon, our baby's face is always, always, always moist.

I was complaining about the boy's cold to my sister, Jodi, and she offhandedly suggested we buy some eucalyptus drops for his humidifier. Huh? Drops from those big trees that come from Australia and are all over the campus of UCSD? Seeing as Jodi has successfully raised three kids to teenagehood, I figured we'd give it a shot. We headed over to Sunflower, the local hippy-dippy market where we buy our produce. We asked for help in the overwhelming homeopathic section and were pointed to eucalyptus drops of various sizes. Who knew?

When we got home the Little Manaroony was heading for a nap so I insisted Rob put drops in the humidifier. Rob wanted to wait until bedtime but I was curious to see if we could give his bedroom a light jungle smell. Low and behold, when Romi got up, we could see a visible improvement in his nose. He was less congested and could breath easier and he was even less gritchy. Yea Jodi!

When I called to congratulate my sister on her baby-cold-cure prowess, I inquired if she had any remedies for teething. Alas, her expertise didn't extend quite that far, but everyone in the room on the other end of the phone had a suggestion, everything from frozen mini bagels to whiskey. My favorite part of the conversation was when Jodi explained to the kind soul who suggested alcohol on the gums that I was allergic to it and therefore Romi couldn't have any...until she remembered he's adopted.