July 2nd, 2009 — by mom
The last few weeks I swear you’ve gone from being a baby to being a kid. Every day I wonder how much of what you do and how you behave is motivated by your stage of development or by your personality. If your recent activity reflects elements of your personality then this is what I can glean about you so far:
If you want to do something then you throw your all into doing it, whether or not you should. You flail your arms excitedly, throw yourself to the floor dramatically, make wild animal sounds crazily, and laugh heartily. You don’t hold backa single emotion. You are very social and curious about others, especially other kids. You stare at them at the park and reach out to grab any kid that comes near you. You like silliness as long as it’s not too over the top. You love playing games and being mischeivous and now enjoy playing with Leela. You like to see different places, but don’t particularly like the journey there. You love anything having to do with water - swimming, baths, sippy cups, fountains. You are daring, funny, and active.
It will be an interesting experiment to see how your personality manifests in comparison to your stages of development over time.
p.s. I know that you’re a happy kid. I know that I help foster that in you. I know you are well tended to, but I hope I’m meeting all your physical and mental needs. I look at the bathtub I haven’t scrubbed or the floor I let you crawl around on and I feel so guilty and self-conscious, like everyone is thinking what kind of terrible mother I must be to let you do that. I have a really hard time knowing what is safe and how to protect you versus how to let you be a kid and learn things on your own. I guess that will be something I have to face as long as I am a mother. I hope I’m good enough for you. I’m definitely trying, and when I make a Mom mistake I am sorry and I take note of it so that I can continuously do better for you.
June 24th, 2009 — by dad
June 1st, 2009 — by mom
About every two months I find myself saying, “This is my favorite age yet!” I hope that continues for the rest of your life. You are 8 1/2 months old now and you have become so much fun. People call you an old man in a baby body and say you have wise eyes. You have a sense of humor now and sometimes we have pillow fights and just laugh and laugh and act crazy. And other times, after you finish eating, you look up at me and smile a close-lipped smile and you just sit on your boppy peacefully. Those two extremes, from wild, fun, and silly to peaceful, calm and sleepy are my favorites.
You have started swim lessons with your Aunt Jenny and I’m impressed with your progress. You seem like a well-adjusted kid who can just roll with whatever is thrown your way. That’s important. I hope you continue that trend. You have spent some good time with your family lately. You really love spending time with them. You LOVE playing with your Dad, especially when he flies you through the air. Bubbie likes to sing to you and play piano with you. Nana likes to babysit you so your Dad and I can go see a movie together. Uncle Adam loves to make you laugh by scratching you with his scruffy beard or shaking his head at you. For some reason you like that. Oma was in the hospital and you really cheered her up with your visit. We also visited Granny Lori at her office and she was so happy to see you. I think your Pappy is pretty pleased with you, too.
Now that I’m not working at the gelato shop anymore it has been fun to get a little routine going for you. It is helping you to take regular naps and that has allowed me to write and make books and bake and read. When you are up we go on walks around the neighborhood with Leela, we play on the floor in your room with your toys, we give you morning baths, we swim in the pool or go on little adventures like our last one to Dinosaur World for “Uncle Jack’s” birthday party. We’ve gone to Disney World, seen the ocean, gone bowling and miniature golfing, all sorts of stuff! It is really fun to talk to your Dad about how we’re going to show you anything and everything we can. We’re planning our first big family trip coming up.
I love to watch you learn (standing up, eating new foods, sit down gracefully) and explore (try to eat the shoes on the shoe rack, chase the dogs, go from room to room) and make new sounds (ma ma ma, ba ba ba). Good work so far, kid.
May 7th, 2009 — by dad
It was as if you posed for me so that I could capture those beautiful big blue eyes for all time. Those eyes get lots of attention everywhere we go.
May 1st, 2009 — by mom
Everyone told me the days would go by too fast. They told me to pay attention. They said to enjoy these days because someday I will miss them. I feel that urgency now that you are nearly eight months old. I already feel the days carelessly slipping away from me like the blue satin blanket I try, yet fail to hold on my shoulder to cover myself as I feed you. Calendar pages flutter through this year, just like they do in the movies. I record your milestones in the tiny calendar boxes like a nurse records a patient’s vitals. I mentally catalog each of your milestones with a mixture of relief and satisfaction and dismay. You ate your first solid foods. Check. Bananas are your favorite. You already try to bring the spoon to your own mouth. You learned to crawl two days ago. Check. At first you rolled, scooted, and rocked your way across the floor. Not now. Your four-legged stride is not confident yet as if you are not even aware that you have managed it. Yet you have, and it happened overnight. Today I found you standing tall in your crib. Check. Your smile told me you were proud of yourself. You knew you’d accomplished something new. We don’t need words with expressions like yours. I was proud, too. I hope you always know that. I am almost too proud of you.
I try to remember what it felt like to hold you when you were one month old. Two. Five. The months feel messy, the memories melding like a badly separated egg. I grasp for that yolk of perfect memory so hard it oozes through my fingers. And that makes me feel cracked.
March 29th, 2009 — by dad
The six month mark hit and you became a little person! You have a fun personality and what seems to be a great sense of humor. You get silly sometimes and giggle and squeal and fling your arms up and down and huff (I call it your Hulk smash). You’re trying to crawl and, whenever you get up on all fours and I start to squeal and clap for you, you look very pleased with yourself. You roll over just fine now. You like to try to hold your hands up for patty cake games and you sit up in the grocery cart and in your high chair. You have three little teeth coming in on the bottom and you’ll walk around the room if I hold both your hands. I can’t believe what amazing progress happened all at once! My arm muscles are starting to bulge from holding you so much, especially now that you lunge and squirm and wiggle so much while I’m trying to hold you. I’m also starting to see a mischievous gleam in your eye like you’re capable of a goofy naughtiness that will keep me busy for maybe the rest of my life.
March 29th, 2009 — by dad
You have a little playmate in the house! She was born March 19th, 2009 at 7:21am. You were in the waiting room while Melanie had Calina at the Altamonte Springs Florida Hospital. You loved it there, for some reason. The nurses were all ga-ga over you and you would grin and wag your eyebrows at them. Melinda and you and me waited to see her for the first time. Then the nurse came out and told us to go to the nursery window and they opened the blinds so we could see her. She is so tiny with Melanie’s long skinny feet and toes and great little “piano fingers” as your Bubbie would call them. She’s home now and you stare at her much like you stare at our dogs and cats, like she’s a fascinating creature you don’t quite understand, but like all the same. It will be fun to relive all your little accomplishments through her. You were never as small as her, though. When I pick her up, in comparison to you, my “chumbawumba,” its like I’m holding nothing but a blanket with an adorable face. Hopefully you won’t try to bite her or smack her or drive toy cars over her feet or anything else that little boys may do to little girls. We’ll see!
March 12th, 2009 — by mom
Tonight Jhonen felt like laughing. He gets into this mood where something, I never can tell what, will strike him as hilarious. And then he just wants to laugh, like it’s a new skill he’s discovered and he wants to practice it, to perfect it. I love his laughter. The gut giggle that starts low and rumbling like a geyser about to blow. Then, when it does, it shoots up sprays of the happiest surprised squeals like even he didn’t know he could laugh that high. What’s most pleasing about his laughter eruptions are that they are repeatable. Most adults could die happy after laughter like this. These belly laughs happen about once a decade past the age of ten. And here is this six month old experiencing the greatest glee again and again, with every pop of my grinning head over the side of his changing table and shriek of “Peek a boo!” I don’t know what’s better - the laughter itself or that wonderful split second before he begins when his eyes shoot open and I can actually watch his mind register amusement mixed with surprise. The smallest bit of time when we both excitedly prepare for the glorious cleansing mist of pure bubbling laughter to shower over us until we’re soaked through
March 7th, 2009 — by dad
No kidding, mister. I know I’m biased, but that’s a smile of champions. Your Bubbie is rather fond of it, herself.
March 7th, 2009 — by dad
You excel at food. Congratulations, buddy. You really like to eat. I can’t put a glass to my lips without you grabbing for it and pulling it to yours. I expected a disastrous mess of banana goo all over you, me, and the house, but no. Your first food went right into your mouth again and again. You loved every bite and would have shoved the entire spoon down your throat if I’d have let you. You have a cool new high chair and a plastic catchy bib.
Other than eating solids for the first time, your almost-six-month-old-update should include that you just weighed in at 21 pounds 11 ounces. We’ve been to the doctor a couple times recently because you’ve got baby eczema and you just got over your first little flu, which was not much fun. In happier news, though, you love to be tickled, you are fascinated by the dogs, especially when they play rough and run around like maniacs. You like to pet Leela which sometimes means grab Leela’s fur and pull. She is not as fond of that as you are. You can keep yourself pretty well entertained when given a constant stream of toys, books, and blankets. You especially love toys that make sounds: the dragon that plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and says good morning and good night in several languages, the strange plastic chewy toy with the eyes that blink creepy red lights and plays out-of-tune classical ditties because its batteries are slowly dying, and the dog that jingles, crinkles, reflects your face on its belly, and squeaks out of one paw.
I remember when you were born it felt like an eternity would go by before you would be six months old. Now that it’s here, I can hardly remember when you were a tiny seven pound baby. Melanie’s baby girl will be here in a month and it will be fun to have a reminder of how tiny and new you once were!
