Sharp words

I didn't write yesterday because for the first time all week I actually got to see my husband in the evening. Ben had been working until 3 a.m. every night this week on a surprise deal that he didn't find out about until last Saturday, but yesterday he was able to leave work at a shockingly normal 6:30 (p.m., not a.m.). Jack and I were on a walk when we got word that Ben was being released early, so we met him at the office and walked him home. Again tonight he was able to leave early enough that he was home by 7:30. Hooray! Sad that I'm excited about such little time with him, but right now I'll take what I can get.

While the three of us were sitting around after meals of lasagna with red wine and carrots and sweet potatoes last night, Jack was chewing on my finger, when I suddenly felt something really sharp from the bottom of his gums. Jack's getting his first tooth! I haven't been able to see it yet, but it's definitely there, as confirmed by several more razor-sharp incidents today. It's the bottom right-side front tooth that's coming in first, and I think there may be a top one not far behind. Jack has been surprisingly calm about it, though. His sleep has only been slightly more disrupted than normal, and he's just slightly fussy and wants to be held all day. I can deal with that--it's the baby screaming in pain that I just can't take. I have to admit, though, that I'm already getting slightly nervous about breastfeeding this baby--I can imagine it getting very uncomfortable once he decides I look like a teether.

Jack is happily enjoying his new toys. The Taggies ball is still slightly big for him to manage, and he doesn't understand how to work the flower petals (the individual notes, as opposed to the bigger buttons that play whole songs and scales) yet, but the zebra blocks are a big hit. He sat in his new chair for lunch today without trying to squirm out of it once; he at a whole banana that way. And his play mat is getting lots of use, especially the quilt square with the mirror in the middle of it. He's spent several hours over the past two days trying to bite the nose of the baby in the mirror. Biting noses and latching on to chins and cheeks are Jack's ways of kissing--we hope. I've tried to take a picture of Jack with the mirror, but I just can't seem to get the right angle to capture it.

Oh, and Jack has taken to his newly lowered bed very well. He thinks it's a blast to look out between the bars of the crib when he wakes up from his naps. Such a happy, good-natured baby--even while teething!