i witnessed my child making a grown up decision

mo woke up today in a bad mood.  he's been doing this less frequently this week (he'd had a rash of it since we moved, i think the transition has been a tiny bit hard on his sleep pattern), but still, this morning he woke up grumpy.  i got him up and popped out his pacifier, and he started crying like crazy.  i popped the pacifier back in his mouth and he immediately calmed down.  (this isn't the grown up decision yet.)

i sat down with him on our nursing chair, got out the boob, and lined momo up to feed.  he reached out with his hand and smiled behind his pacifier, because i'm sure he was hungry for breakfast.  but then, the dilemma-- he wanted to keep his paci in his mouth!  he furiously sucked on the paci while he held onto the boob and thought about it.  then, he took his hand back, grabbed the paci, popped it out from his own mouth, frowned BIG time (but held back the tears!), and latched on to me.  and it was all good!  haha... it was amazing to watch him decide to make a sacrifice for something better.  my heart swelled with pride.

some new developments in mo's world these days: he loves cheerios, he loves to pick them up and shove them in his mouth and make them go crunch!  i think he's getting bored of baby food, which is just as well, because it's getting expensive!  he pulls up and cruises around like nothing.  he sometimes forgets how to get back on the ground, but he's getting it more often these days.  he knocked his mouth on the coffee table and got his first real injury this week (yes, there was bleeding, and yes, i cried [read: sobbed] about it).  he doesn't hardly play with the books on the bookshelf or the outlets or the trash or shoes anymore--yes, i believe babies can learn boundaries!  even still, we are learning that he cannot be left out of our sight for very long before he finds mischief.  wow.  it's hard work!

we also took mo to our new pediatrician this week for his 9 month checkup, just a day after his 10 month birthday.  he's a nice doctor, pretty no nonsense, and still easy going.  a good combination.  he answered all my questions about feeding (basically we're really down to 4 meals a day now: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime nursing) and he complemented us on how easy our baby is (he told us we were doing a good job, saying easy babies are easy because parents set the pace for sleep, nutrition and hygiene).  overall, a great visit.  he measures:

• 21 lbs, 10.6 oz: 80th percentile for weight
• 29.75 inches: 90th percentile for height
• 18 inches: 75th percentile for head circumference

lovelove,

me

clean floor?

i had this amazing ability to drop things yesterday.  the worst one?  a glass baby food jar of sweet potatoes.  it shattered from both ends and i found orange puree and shards of glass over eight feet from the point of impact. i managed to sweep and clean the area about five times over while little one was fussing for food in his high chair.  after i finished cleaning, i almost dropped a *second* jar of sweet potatoes nearly right away.  jeez oh pete.

i was honestly quite anxious while i was picking up glass because i was imagining little mo get shards in his knees or in his mouth.  he is not able to properly eat a cheerio without assistance most of the time, but if he finds the tiniest debris on the floor that is not food, he is able to deftly [and miraculously] maneuver it into his mouth and begin chewing before i can even blink.  it's an amazing trick actually.

by the way, i gave our child honey nut cheerios.  then i read online how you shouldn't do that before 1 year.  i didn't think about the honey or the nuts when i was purchasing the cereal.  :O( i hope he doesn't get botulism.  thankfully, i am pretty sure he's not allergic to nuts, seeing as how i gave him tastes of peanut butter already without thinking too much about it.  ai.  i keep thinking about how it's a miracle of God that children survive their first year of life.  thank you, Lord, for another day with our precious liddo one.

love,
me

transitions and a full heart

we moved up to Atlanta a couple weeks ago.  we had been living in Florida with my in-laws for a time, and after saving up some money, it seemed like things really all fell into place for us to make the move.  and it's gone surprisingly well... surprising because i'm not a fan of moving and am a creature of habit and i hate packing and transitions and living out of bags and boxes.  add a 9 month old to the mix, and there is a great potential for me to be stressed out.  but again, it's all gone surprisingly well.  mo has really been delightful, and has had some bumpy times (shorter naps, more crying and lots of clingy-ness), but he's generally taken things like a champ.  he doesn't love his carseat anymore, and our 6.5 hours of driving has stretched to about 10.5 hours back and forth, but what can we expect from a new crawler who wants to get out and see the world?  

along that train of thought, i have to say, all the crawling has really thinned our little chunker out.  i was squeezing his little calves just the other day, and they weren't as hard as they used to be (the fat used to stretch his skin to the max and made them feel hard).  and suddenly there aren't as many fat folds all around his thighs.  and he's looking more and more like a toddler and not an infant, especially as he's been stepping up to 12 and 18 month clothing.  and people keep mentioning his first birthday being around the corner.  and i don't want my baby to grow up.  wah.

another way to say it, to copy my friend's statement, is that my heart is full.  moses is such a gift and so enjoyable and so sweet and when he squeals and crawls with great abandon into our legs, it is so amazing.  his sloppy kisses are just the best things and when he pats my arm and smiles, i just want to eat him whole.  even seeing him chew food makes me want to sing.  i love that kid!  my heart is so full!  

i guess that's why people have more babies.  well, that, and the sheer misery of pregnancy and newborn days is a distant memory that is becoming increasingly romanticized day-by-day.  and no, we're not pregnant.

love,

helen  :O)