teething and scooting

thom has started teething.  i knew it must be teething because thom rarely fusses.  he's normally so calm and agreeable.  but sunday night he started fussing and rubbing his mouth.  and yesterday he was doing it again.  alllll day. poor guy.

sunday night i felt so bad for the little guy and i didn't really know what to do.  i thought i'd remembered reading something about putting peppermint oil on baby gums to help numb them and take away the pain.  i thought, "oh excellent!  i've got peppermint essential oil - i'll try that!"  he was crying and crying and i just wanted to help him feel better...  so i put a little bit of oil on my finger and rubbed it on his gums.

his reaction: his eyes got really big.  he took a sharp inhale and held it.  and then he started crying.  screaming.  

oh my gosh... what have i done?  i am the worst mother ever.  what do i do?  ack i don't know!  

i wish i could say that i had a magical cure and he stopped crying and looked up lovingly at me and said, "it's ok mom."  but really what happened is that he cried for several minutes, then finally took his binkie and calmed down.  in hindsight, it seems like i probably read, "peppermint extract" and not peppermint oil.  so i've decided to never again try something on thom that i haven't tried myself.*

as far as good news goes... thom started scooting over christmas break at the grandparents' house and he's gotten faster and stronger ever since.  sometimes i can convince him to scoot to get toys.

he also makes funny chomping motions with his mouth (though this is not as new of a trick)

ok, i wish i could upload more videos but blogger sucks.  so happy weekend!

*granted, i had tried the peppermint oil and i knew it was strong, but i didn't realize that it would be too strong for a baby's gums....whoops.