Let's just revisit the journey of your life so far shall we?
OH MY GOODNESS. (The day I was in labor).
Minutes old.
One month.
Two months.
Three months.
Four months.
Five months.
Six months.
Seven months.
And the big 8 month old!
It's weird, this growing thing. It was weird the day that was your first day of life to look down at my belly that was really no longer there and look at you and try to process the events in my head that brought you from some kicking thing inside of me to this little babe outside of me. In that same vein, I look at you now and try to process how we got from such a little helpless newborn to an almost little boy. I can't quite wrap my head around it yet how you are this LITTLE PERSON and not so much our little baby anymore. Somehow you are now (still) CRAZY tall and skinny. You wear 12-18 month old clothes which are big around you width wise but which we need for the length. You are a big boy. Somehow I think that your mama is not going to stand a chance at looking down at you for very many years.
This month continued our journey with food. It's been a fun journey so far, albeit a little bit messy. We are still doing the baby led weaning method in which we give you whole foods, and not just pureed foods. We do some of the pureed foods as well but you don't seem too picky about which you prefer- you just like food. It's good that you do- it shows us that you really are indeed our kid.
In the food respect, you got your first taste of pancakes this month when your poppy took us to Cafe Flora for breakfast. I ordered the kid pancakes which were HUGE and also which was AWESOME because your mama got to have a lot of pancakes. You LOVED them, which was further proof that you are indeed my child... either that or the copious amounts of pancakes I ate when I was pregnant now makes you love them. In that case, you should also love pickles, raisin bran, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and hummus pita wraps.
So far in your food journey, you seem to get that you like food, but you don't always get where to PUT food. Let's just say that getting sweet potatoes out of your nose and ear holes is not so easy.
So far your favorites seem to be sweet potatoes and carrots. Bananas and pears are hit or miss. Spinach and peas are also always big hits. Really, you aren't too picky yet. You do always seem to pull funny faces when we give you avocado (taking after your poppy).
Speaking of eating, let's shift gears to chewing...something quite necessary now that you have two teeth with two more cutting through right at your 8 month mark (top two). The bottom two really came in relatively easy but OH MY GOODNESS. The night your top two decided to cut through? UTTER.HELL. You screamed for a good 4 hours straight and I mean SCREAMED as in there was absolutely nothing either of us could to to help you. All we could do was hold you and try to comfort you. We tried teething tabs, nursing, teething rings, cold, rocking, tylenol (I KNOW, your mama who hates medicine was desperate)....nothing worked. I was able to get you to sleep on me for about 20-30 minute stints and while I loved the cuddles I hated that you kept waking up screaming in pain. Eventually at about the 4 hour mark we rubbed a little knob creek bourbon on your gums, again in desperation, figuring at this point what the hell, and THANK GOD, this actually seemed to work. You fell asleep and slept the next 6 blessed hours. We have not repeated a night quite like that since, and we'd never had one like that before. Poor little guy (and related: teething really is as bad as they say it is...we were fooled by the first two teeth that seemed "easy").
We also started swimming lessons this month! You love getting in the water but you are having a bit of stranger anxiety so for at least this first month everytime Miss Connie comes near you, you wail. But, you get more and more comfortable in the water everytime and that's what we are going for with these classes. There's a one year old boy in your class who you are as big as, if not a little bigger than. He swims like a champ and the first day we were BLOWN AWAY that he could go under water and kick from one person to another. You are well on your way to that which again, blows my mind.
Swimming with mama in the first class.
And a couple weeks later, swimming with pops.
You also have continued your love of shopping. Especially now that you get to sit up like a big kid...EVEN BETTER. You just ride around the store with your arm up like you haven't any care in the world- you just take it all in.
You've also started to try to crawl. You've done a couple of singular crawls so far but nothing consistent. You so want to move, you just haven't quite figured out how to get it all coordinated. You don't really seem to care too much about moving, so we're not pushing you. You seem to have your own agenda about when you do things so that's fine with us. Hey, the longer we don't have to worry about chasing you around, the better. We're going to be chasing you for the next 18 years so we'll cherish this time while it lasts, which, by the looks of it, is not going to be long.
Sometimes when you get tired of trying to crawl, you'll put your head down and rest as if it's the hardest thing in the world, this MOVING stuff.
We spend a lot of time sitting on the kitchen floor, or at least you do. You love to sit there and watch us cook and we often give you your own tools so you can "cook" yourself. You especially love beating pots and pans and sucking on the whisk. Maybe you'll be a little chef, who knows! I often feed you a little solids for breakfast and dinner on the floor of the kitchen. It's called no time and being too lazy to move you to your high chair. DON'T JUDGE. I'll pick up the pieces when we have to explain to you at 4...or 14... that tables are meant for eating, not floors.
You also will spin yourself around sometimes to see what you can get in to. One particular day you were so proud of yourself for getting in to my pump bag and playing with all the parts.
One of the scariest things that has happened in your life thus far happened this month. I got a frantic call from the nanny while I was at a client in Seattle that your leg was stuck in your crib. My first thought, no big deal, happens all the time. Until she told me that it was stuck all the way up to your thigh and I heard your screams that were of the VERY scary, IN SERIOUS PAIN variety. The kind that makes my heart stop, and then race at 1 million beats per minute (is that possible? Because that's how it feels). Of course, I jetted out of the client right away. On my way to making it home (in 15 minutes flat, I might add), the nanny then texted me that your leg was turning blue at which point I said, find a freaking HAMMER. And at which point I felt like I was going to puke. I told her to get a hammer, olive oil, WHATEVER and get the damn leg out. I mean, leg versus crib? LEG WINS. ALWAYS. 15 minutes later, when I sprinted in the door all was quiet. I figured the crib was in pieces, but at least you were a-ok. NOPE. Your leg was still stuck. You were calm and seemingly ok though, so I just had to get your leg out. Before resorting to breaking the crib, I thought I'd just try to get it out myself. I cut your pants and pulled. You screamed like bloody hell and had a nice bruise but I got it out. I have NO IDEA how you wedged that sucker in there but I am glad all was ok. I know this was the first of many heart attack-like scares you'll give your mama. Also, lesson learned: don't listen to the paranoid people out there in the world. There was this huge deal about how bumper pads suffocate kids so we took ours off. While this might be good sage advice, you are strong enough to where bumper pads will not suffocate you and the fact that even I MYSELF could barely get them off when I took them off makes me think that it's ok. So, they are back on. No more stuck limbs.
We also celebrated your first Easter this month. You got a basket with a couple little presents but mostly just "blank" eggs. Cheap, I know, but really, that's all you cared about anyway.
You loved rolling around on the floor with your basket and eggs. It's too bad that won't cut it in the coming years!
Also on Easter, we took you on your first big hike in the big boy back pack. We had no idea how you'd do but it was a beautiful day so we thought we'd try.
You did GREAT and you loved it. You played, you talked to us, you slept, you had a grand old time. You even nursed in the middle of the woods. Your mama, grandpa Joe and ESPECIALLY your poor poppy were a little worse for wear. We were wiped. 8 miles after not doing anything of the sort in quite some time was tough. I think your poppy's legs were sore for the better part of a week and he's in good shape. You're a heavy dude!
You love being outside. LOVE it. You just look and look around. Sometimes you sleep but mostly, you just take everything in. I think there's only ever been one time on a walk where you've broken down.
We also discovered this month that you love to swing. Not a huge surprise there given your love for the outdoors. Swinging is awesome because you just LAUGH. Belly laughs because you think the flying through the air thing is just hilarious.
You still love playing with your poppy more than anyone. He's your best playmate and can usually make you laugh, regardless of how rotten your mood is.
One day your poppy dressed you... in offsetting stripes. Orange and blue on top, green and white on the bottom. He claims that he was just being funny....but I had to post the picture anyway. I will say, your pops does do a pretty good job of dressing you most days. The stripe day? Not so much.
You are such a sweet little boy. You have your own little personality and everyday you become a little bit more independent. It's both bittersweet and sweet. I love to see you figure out the world and need me a little less, but at the same time, I miss my little peanut cuddling 24-7 against my chest. It seems like you know when your mama needs Oeo cuddles, though. On those days, you'll put your head in my lap or on my chest and rest there for 2.5 seconds. It's not long but enough for me to know that you do in fact still love to cuddle with me, you just don't have much time for it. That's ok, too.
One of your best traits is your sense of humor. You grabbed this hat and sock and just made us laugh and laugh. Not only do you belly laugh yourself but you've re-taught your dad and I the art of absolutely cracking up without reservation.
You are such an observant baby. You're always watching and are sensitive to what's going on around you. You don't like it when anyone is upset around you. You were very concerned when the little boy in your swimming class was crying and when you bit my boobie for the first time this month when you were teething and I yelped and said "NO", you screamed like I had scalded you. You do not like being in trouble. You are a sensitive soul.
You are also a very tolerant little man. You let your mama dress you in ridiculous outfits that I am sure you are going to one day say "REALLY, MOM?" about and you let your mama take endless pictures of you, all with a smile on your face.
We have so much fun together my little man. I want to tell you to stop growing so fast and that you are breaking my heart at the speed at which you are growing up. But then I stop to think about it and every day is a little more fun with you. Every day, we know each other a little bit more. You become more YOU, and we learn more about YOU. You communicate more, you move more, you show more emotions, you learn more. It is so cliche to say, but as you've grown I've realized that each new stage really is the best stage so while I want time to slow down just a tiny bit, part of me is like a little kid on Christmas eve who is so anxious with anticipation and can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.
Love,
Mama.
No comments:
Post a Comment