Our Family

Friday, March 27, 2009

Falling Backwards

Note: this post will have no pictures to accompany it, since, as you can see from the title, someone has to catch my child.

Michael recently has been huge into expressing his happiness by falling backwards with a HUGE smile on his face.

I noticed it when I was having him practice his standing up. All of a sudden, Michael looked at me over his shoulder and just launched himself backwards. Good thing I was paying attention! He had never done that before, so usually I just stand him up and casually pay attention.

But his dive backwards was full-throttle and if he hit the ground, it would have hurt. Since I caught him, he thought it was SO MUCH FUN!

So I stood him up and he did it again, and again, and again, and again. His little trust fall game gets quite the smile!

This habit progressed into his falling backwards whenever he is happy. So if he is sitting on our bed while we are playing or Michael is getting ready in the morning, if Daddy makes him smile, his first reaction is to thrust himself backwards on the bed with all this might, laughing all the way.

It is just sooooo cute....

But today, he did it when he was sitting propped up on the floor, which normally, he knows to keep his balance and stay sitting up because he doesn't like when he bumps his head.

So as I was playing with him, fortuantely I was sitting kind of to the side of him, all of sudden, the big smile comes and there he goes launching himself backwards.

Needless to say, a pillow or blanket behind him is now a common accompaniment to any seated play time because with this crazy boy, you just never know when he'll get it in his head to launch himself backwards.

And the sweetest thing about it is how trusting he is, that he can do that and someone or something will catch him and that makes the game all the more fun.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

8 Month Update

Last week, Michael turned 8 months old.

8 months! When is this all happening?!

Michael is getting really good at moving forward. He really pushes on his toes and scoots forward pulling with his arms. He gets pretty much anywhere he wants to go.

He is great at sitting up, and is almost to a point where he can pull himself up to a sitting position, but he only tries every once in a while to do it.

His eating is doing great. He seems to eat more and more everyday.

Since eating is right before naptimes and bedtime, he is usually pretty tired while he eats, so sometimes he is a little cranky.

Oddly enough, he has recently done this nursing strike thing. My milk supply has dropped because I just haven't been that hungry lately, so after a few days of pumping, doing my best to keep him nursing, he just seems so much happier with a bottle of formula. Not quite expected, but it is what it is. Fortunately, we were equipped with formula and bottles, and happily, he is much more content.

For a while, before i realized he wasn't getting enough to eat, he would cry and cry and cry, and I wasn't sure what he wanted, and when I tried to nurse him he wasn't happy so I assumed it wasn't the problem. I guess what it was is that he wasn't getting enough food. Poor kid. But now that he is eating his formula, he is happy as a clam. Actually, happy ALL the time, which is great.

So that was an unexpected little hang up, but we gave it 8 months and I guess that was it. So, oh well.

He is so much fun. He laughs, and troubleshoots problems, and is very attentive during storytime.

Some times during play time, he likes having me right there playing right with him. Other times, he is content to just explore whatever he can whether I'm doing anything with him or not.

He still loves going to the park and is fascinated by the world around him.

He loves looking at himself in the mirror, and often times will wave his hand and smile broadly at himself and his mommy who is waving back at him.

His favorite thing to say is "Dada." He really does say it all the time. That and "Geeeeeeeee!" with a hard "G." It's really cute.

Everything he does is done like a boy. There isn't a ounce of daintiness in him. He is just a little boy!!

In the wake of destruction

This is what happens when Baby Michael does his magic.

Things just get left in disarray.

I like the things he pulled out.

But I'm not sure what he is trying to tell me by pulling out this one:

Friday, March 13, 2009

Definitely Related

A few weeks ago for Ash Wednesday, I was tired and meat-deprived.

And I don't know if it was simply a matter of meat-detox, or staying up too late the night before, or what...

...but I started wondering....(brace yourself, it's really out there)

...what would happen if someone came to the door and said that there was a mixup at the hospital and the baby Michael we've cared for all this time was not the real Baby Michael...like this baby was not biologically related to us. And they had proof.

I started wondering, would we just keep this baby Michael since we're already so attached to him? Biology aside, I don't just love him because he is ours but because we love him. In a way, I'm sure that adoptive parents don't love their children any less because they are not genetically related....could I exchange the Michael we have come to be head-over-heels in love with if someone had proof positive that he was not biologically ours?

Ok, I warned you this was really weird and out there. I'm telling you, don't expect a meat junkie to be coherent after so many hours without a fix.

It was a conundrum! If this actually happened, I could easily find myself not wanting our biological baby if it meant giving up our Michael.

Then, that day, I was watching him play in his room as he was going all over investigating stuff on the floor and I laughed at the crazy question I asked myself earlier.

Because, physical appearances aside.....