Axel's first tooth and more!

Well, I was hoping to have posted this on Monday, but the holiday weekend got away from us. This past Saturday Keith and I noticed Axel's first tooth pushing through his gums. Yep, that is right, it only took 10.5 months for the bottom front left tooth to begin to emerge. It is the cutest little tooth at just a few millimeters. The bottom right front tooth is also making its way through the gums. It is about a week behind the left. From what Keith and I hear it takes about a month for the entire tooth to emerge. I tried my best to take advantage of Axel crying to give you all a glimpse of the first two teeth. It is times like these that I think I am a bad mother :), but sometimes getting the memory on film is more important than Axel crying out of frustration (sorry Axel). Besides Axel's first tooth Axel also received his first bike! Grammy Goodrow sent it to Axel for Valentine's Day. He absolutely loves it. Here are a few pictures of him with it. Here is a picture of him frustrated. I am hoping he will catch on quickly at how to maneuver it around furniture. I also have two videos. One of him on it and the other of him pushing it. The funny thing about him on it is that his legs don't quite touch so he is only able to go backwards by using his tippy toes. As you can tell from the video I was extremely excited at how brilliant Axel was to figure out to push it even if it was the wrong direction :)


Axel also experienced his first diaper rash the past few days. I am still amazed at how bad diaper rash can get and what it actually looks like. The poor guy had blood on his diaper. Luckily, he is healing quickly and day care is finally able to change him more than 3 times per day! For those of you who haven't experienced this yet, the remedy that has worked best for us is using Vaseline over the affected area along with his typical cloth diaper. It is important to put a thick layer of Vaseline and to make sure the diaper is donned loosely. I have also been letting Axel play naked for about 10 minutes between changes. It is not practical to let him run around naked as we have hardwood floors and I don't think sliding his pee pee on the floor would feel very good. However, if Axel could walk independently or crawl on his hands and knees I would definitely consider an hour or two a day of naked play to really allow the rash to heal. We tried the Destin, but I think Axel is allergic to it because it was after I used it about 3 times that the rash got really bad.

Axel continues to love the dogs. He attempts to do everything they do. I let him play outside in the grass. He wanted to eat the grass, leaves, dirt and branches just like them. Here is a cute picture of Axel holding a small branch that the dogs play tug of war with. Last I leave you with a couple of cute pictures of the little guy.
Oh, Keith and I had a wonderful weekend. Keith surprised me for Valentine's Day by cleaning the house and buying a little sparkling apple cider and mini heart chocolate cake. It was a wonderful day. There is nothing like a gift of cleanly mopped floors.....especially if you all know that I once was a clean freak.....but life with two dogs and two boys doesn't allow much time for a sparkling clean house. Thanks sweetie for making me feel so special!