Oliver the Overachiever

We've been joking on and off since Oliver has been born that he is a bit of an overachiever.  He has been trying to hold his head up on his own since his second week of life, he has been trying to stand with assistance almost that long as well, he seems to hit his growth spurts about a week to even two weeks before the normal age.  Well we can add one more early bird milestone to the list.

Teething.  TEETHING?  Lord, help us all.

I wish I was kidding.  Over the weekend we noticed he seemed to be a little extra fussy again and we thought that was odd because he had seemed to finally be outgrowing his fussy stage.  He was kind of resisting the bottle too, which again, was odd because he was finally starting to get pretty good at the bottle within the last week.  Sunday night he had two extreme crying episodes, one while we were over at my in-laws for dinner, and at first we chalked it up to maybe daylight savings time messing with his bio-rhythms.

Then yesterday I started putting two and two together when I looked at some other behaviors he had been exhibiting - chewing on his fists like mad, drooling so much his PJ's were soaked beyond being able to be warn, seeming perfectly happy until it was time to eat - I started thinking, maybe this is the beginning of teething.  I don't rely on Dr. Google for everything - but much of what I was finding from very reputable sources also said it's perfectly normal for teething to begin as early as three months or as late as twelve months.

My mom ended up calling me late in the afternoon when he had another uncontrollable, inconsolable crying fit and said he wouldn't take the bottle or anything.  I left work early and managed to get him to nurse - but we checked his gums and sure enough, the bottom gum has a little swollen bump.

Now that we know what we're dealing with we can try to help him.  I tell you nothing is worse than knowing your baby is in pain and not being able to magically make it go away.  Thankfully it hasn't seemed to affect his nighttime sleep too badly, he slept pretty well last night.  We also took him for a walk yesterday evening - our first one outside in our neighborhood.  It was so nice out we just couldn't resist and I think the fresh air really helped relax him a bit.  I just hope and pray this phase is a quick one and we have our happy guy back as soon as possible!  Until then, the best remedy is cuddles and patience.

Even on the worst of days we still get some smiles - he's pretty damn cute if I do say so myself.  And hey, if he keeps on this overachieving track in life maybe we'll hit other more awesome milestones early - potty training perhaps??