Zeeke cut his first tooth this week. Surprisingly it was a molar. That tooth, which is a year early, has been greatly disturbing his normal sleeping and eating patterns for over a week, mystifying us, but finally revealed itself when it started breaking through on Friday. He's been handling it like a champ, very little crying, just some pained expressions and a constant drive to jam things (his hands, your fingers, his clothes, a stuffed animal, etc) into his mouth to relieve the pressure.
Karen and Zeeke took a lot of walks this week and chatted with many local folks, including our new next door neighbor. During playtime, he's showing greater and greater dexterity in how he plays with and handles his toys, turning things over to examine them and demonstrating good hand-eye coordination. We started Zeeke playing in the Exersaucer and he loves it (thank you, Katie, Dave & Greta). He looks so proud sitting upright in it on his own and playing with all the attached gadgets. His other favorite toy this week is a stuffed book that makes great crinkly sounds.
On Monday, Karen reports that Zeeke saved her from getting caught in the rain by making a fuss just as she was about to take him out the door. Minutes later, there was a long downpour. Perhaps his new tooth can predict the weather? Later in the day, they finally made it to the library to return some books (since Karen is just a patron now, not a librarian) and Zeeke was a big hit as always. They called him LL Cool Z (Librarians Love Cool Zeeke).
Karen's mom came for a visit on Tuesday and put together some of Zeeke's hand-me-down toys (like the Exersaucer). They had lunch at Chhaya and gelato from Capogiro until Zeeke said it was time to go.
On Wednesday (after a very long and trying night), Karen & Zeeke went to storyime with Riley, Bella & Sarah and Sharri & Nate. Zeeke slept through some of it, then woke up happy to see his cousins. Riley & Bella even put on a puppet show for Zeeke. Unfortunately, it was another rough night. Steve had to walk him around the neighborhood for an hour to get him to sleep and Karen was up a lot of the night with him after that.
Thursday, Karen found the first hints of his tooth and took Zeeke over to the South Philly branch for a visit and to sign some paperwork.
On Friday, as Steve was slipping Zeeke into the baby carrier, Zeeke started screaming bloody murder, causing some fear that he'd hurt his leg. It turned out instead to be his tooth breaking out. Our friend Colleen sweetly sent us a tin of coconut macaroons and one of them would have been Zeeke's first taste of solid food if we hadn't grabbed it out of his hot little hands in time.
On Saturday, Karen upgraded Zeeke's wardrobe and lamented how quickly he's growing and how fast the time has gone. We drove out to Chestnut Hill for lunch with Jen, Kim & the twins and Zeeke did great in his new car seat both ways. He weighed in at 16 pounds, six ounces on their scale.
On our rainy Sunday, we just hung out together and tried to keep our poor teething little guy happy.