Happy Easter!
Sorry I have been remiss in updating this thing. I am tired and just haven't felt like it...but I feel like it tonight, so I'll go ahead and update some fun things going on.
Michael is going to be 9 months old in a few days. I can't believe it! I'm trying to get my mind around the fact that he's been out of the womb for as long as he was in it and I can't decide which seems like it went by faster: pregnancy or the next 9 months of his life. I think the latter went faster. Watching him grown on the "outside" is so entertaining! Everyday it seems like there is something new and the great part is that we get to see it and witness it.
Michael is continuing to do well eating.
He is getting really good at finger foods and enjoys feeding himself his little puffs, though it took him a little bit to get the hang of it, which I thought was odd because the one thing he is good at is putting everything else in his mouth. But I suppose things that are supposed to go in your mouth take a little more time to learn.
But he's pretty good at it now. I put some puffs on his tray while I finish getting his main course ready and he grabs a handful and puts as many in his mouth at a time as he can. I have resorted to spreading the puffs out on the tray so he can't put a ton in at the same time as easily.
Michael is pretty good at moving around now. His "crawl" isn't elegant and his belly still drags on the ground, but he moves fast and he knows it. He sees something and he knows how to get to it, and it's cute watching him go after stuff. I'm getting better at baby-proofing so he's not getting into stuff he shouldn't as much any more, which puts me at ease greatly and lets me enjoy just watching him move around.
When he plays he is sometimes really focused. He has fun playing, but sometimes seems to concentrate very hard at his task. He does like musical instruments.
He also remembers when you did something and looks for you to do it again. For instance, he has a gumball machine toy that plays music when you push the lever. Once, I was dancing crazy when a certain song came on, and now, every time the gumball machine plays that song he looks at me with a knowing look waiting for me to dance. He also has a ball with a rattle in it that one time, every time he shook the ball I would shake my head right along with him...now everytime he gets that same ball, he'll look at me, shake it, and look at me expecting me to shake my head. And since it gets a smile, of course I always do it. Smiles and laughter is how I get paid :)
Daddy is officially is best friend in the whole world (but there was no point in his 9 months when this wasn't the case)...and I love it. All Michael has to do is walk in the room and baby Michael's face lights up. He laughs at pretty much anything his daddy does and when he gets in a silly mood like that, even Mommy can get some good giggles out of him.
His sense of humor seems to be really developing. He really notices incongruities and sees them as funny. Like if I put something on my head that doesn't belong there, he laughs; or if Michael or I put the pacifier in our mouth, he knows that doesn't belong there and thinks it's funny; and when Michael's mom came to visit and she was teasing baby Michael and put socks on his hands instead of his feet, he thought that was hysterical too. It's really interesting to see that he really understands that this or that is normal and that's funny.
He is learning to imitate really well too. I can hum a little sound (not so much a song...just a two-syllable sound) and he'll imitate it pretty quickly. He also can imitate us doing things like (how do I describe this?) humming while strumming your lips to make a sound (do you know what I'm talking about?) He learned that on Easter and now he's really good at that and likes to do it often.
His hair is out of control. It is really curly and very cute, but I'm starting to feel guilty about letting it get so long and crazy. My nickname for him is "crazy head" because just looking at that hair...it is crazy. The curls are adorable and range in tightness from day-to-day...when they are loose it looks extra messy, but when the curls are tight, it looks much neater and, honestly, much much cuter. When the curls are tight little ringlets, I consider letting the madness go on for much longer, but when his hair just sort of "flips out" like little wings everywhere....I get sorely tempted to take some scissors to it right then and there. I don't think his first hair cut is too far around the cornery.
He is also a sensitive little kid, but in a good way. He has been so "understanding" (for lack of a better word) when I haven't been feeling well. He's been extra patient, extra friendly and cheerful, and even extra content doing whatever it is we're doing. Michael and I were discussing how we used to think Michael was a very particular baby, and either it was true and it changed, or it was just our new-parent sensitivty talking (or both); but we actually find Michael to be anything but "particular" anymore. He is exceedingly flexible and easy going and rarely complains about anything. He just goes with the flow no matter what is going on. He is a real treasure.
His napping is still hysterical, and that's all I can say about it. Putting this child down for a nap seems promising: he is rubbing his eyes, yawning, rubbing his head against my shoulder, etc. But as soon as he gets in his bed, it is like a little rodeo begins. He lays on his back and kicks his feet for a long time and just makes all sorts of racket in there....then either I'll go in after a while and re-situate him and he'll go to sleep, or after all the noise, it will all of a sudden get quiet which means he just passed out.
I don't know what else I can do to calm this child down and transition to nap time, but I think this is just what he does now! The nice thing is that he is not upset in the least bit. He talks and makes noises in his bed, but he's not upset or crying. It's nice for me because I can put him in his bed and he is content doing whatever he is doing in there so I can either get stuff done or take a little catnap myself....but it's just so amusing how hyper this child gets every single nap time!
But he is eventually taking his nap, and sometimes they can even go quite long....and his nighttime sleep is still excellent (though I wish he could get a little closer to 7am and a little further from 6:15am more regularly). I guess I shouldn't complain though, since normally, Daddy Michael is good enough to get him his bottle in the morning and play with him 'till I roll outta bed at 7:30 or so. What can I say...I am spoiled.
Bed time is a really special time for the three of us. Michael always comes home in time to be there when Michael goes to bed, and baby Michael is always in such a silly mood at that time. I'm 100% he's being extra silly to delay bedtime, but since he normally goes right to sleep when we do put him down (funny how he passes out right away at night!) we don't mind the delay.
During our bedtime routine, everything becomes funny to him: singing, hugs, even just looking at him will get a laugh. He is extra affectionate at that time too. He will often try to give his pacifier to Daddy, which is so sweet. It's like, his special possession that he knows is his he wants to share with Daddy. It's just so endearing to see.
If we play with him on the floor before bed time he will often be very affectionate: putting his head up against us, putting his mouth on our arms or our cheek kind of like a kiss...putting his head on our shoulder. It's just such priceless enjoyable time with our little boy. It's painful having to stop it so we can put him in bed, but we also don't want to deprive him of his sleep. It's especially cute once we get him in his bed that we'll roll over and reach through the bars so we can give him a few last moments of attention before we leave the room. Sometimes he whimpers when we leave, but usually he just gets comfy and goes to sleep.
One situation, though, which is completely out of control is his pacifier situation. Oh my. We have a bunch of pacifiers for this kid, but we can never keep more than, like, one or two in his little supply container on his dresser becaue he is constantly losing them over the side. Fortunately, this is not too problematic at night because he only on occasion wakes up and cries in the middle of the night. Which means a) either he is just not waking up at all and doesn't realize his pacifier is gone or b) if he is waking up, he's so tired he doesn't need it to go back to sleep. So, we haven't suffered too much from the curse of the pacifier during the night. He is able to put it in his mouth on his own, so if it is in his bed, he can get it back in without our help.
Naps are a different situation. In his pre-sleep romping, that pacifier is gone, which means I am constantly having to go in there and find it and put it back in and resituate him. However, it is such a useful tool to calm him down for a nap, I just don't see how breaking him of it now will do much good. So...we'll continue to fish out those pacifiers from under his bed every day, several times a day until a later point when we want to wean him off those. The good thing is that he only has the pacifier in bed or, on occasion, at Mass when we really could use a non-noise-making baby. So, he's not addicted to those things in the sense that he needs it in order to be happy all the time. But they do come in handy at bed time.
So, we are doing very well here enjoying our silly little boy. He's such a bundle of love and joy!!
(note corner that is a little wet from previous chewing)
