TMI Tuesday: That Looked Like It Hurt!

Let the baby proofing continue! Now that our son is becoming increasingly mobile and adventurous, it is inevitable that he is going to bump his head, lose his balance, get stuck in his toy box, or fall of his rocking monkey. It is just the kinds of things that we expect to happen as he gets a little older and which is why babies and toddlers are designed to bounce. While you can tell that it hurt, usually just from the sound, rarely is it anything that leads to prolonged crying or whining. “Shake it off” is usually all that needs to be said.

Most of the time we are all usually laughing about the bumps and knocks that we hear reverberating from under the table. Of course, there have been those moments when you look at his shocked face and say “that looked like it hurt.” This is usually followed by the boo boo lip and watery eyes. Crying seems to be optional. These are the times when we can’t help but give him the ‘poor baby’ look and, just in case, immediately go into freak out prevention mode.

That being said, there are some odd moments here and there when he seems to be rather entertained by the situation and after recovering from the first instance he tries to do the same thing. However, he will always go about it a little differently to see if he can achieve the desired result that he was previously pursuing without the potential bump or getting stuck. This is was exactly what happened when he tilted a little too far when reaching into his toy box one night. Second time around, the counterbalance was much better and he had his hand on the side just in case.

And all of this is, so far, only from the crawling and standing around the house and contorting into some of the smaller spaces in his play room. It should be quite the interesting increase in instances once he starts walking, and running, around the house. I am curious to see what phases him in his next phase and what are the things that will simply be shaken off before resuming progress. Additionally, we will be facing a clever little toddler who is already starting to figure out the baby gates and is well on his way to solving the door knob problem (this is with the safety encapsulation on it). This could be very interesting in addition to being painful to watch (and hear)!

TMI Tuesday: Standing

I still remember the look of both pride and sheer joy on our son’s face when he sat up by himself for the first time. I will always remember the moment when he finally figured out the coordination and started crawling. I continue to look forward to seeing him scurry from the playroom to greet me when I get home after work tugging on my pant leg until I pick him up. And, right now, I hold my breath a little bit every time he pulls himself onto his feet and sways as his legs continue to shake.

That is what he is focusing on now. He has figured out how to stand, how to pull himself up onto his feet, but he isn’t the most stable baby at this point. He is getting better but he also isn’t about to let go of his support anytime soon. And he hasn’t quite mastered the getting up to his feet part yet either. He actually gets pretty frustrated when it takes too many tries to get vertical. The same impatience that was on display when we was still figuring out how to crawl.

It is amazing how much he is able to do already and how much he has changed during the past couple of months. As he tries to do more his personality seems to develop more and more and, at the same time, he we can tell that he never wants to settle for what he is able to do right at that moment… he always wants to do more or at least do what he is working on better. Meanwhile, my wife and I are simply encouraging him and telling him “good job” as he stands there with his wobbly legs. That is obviously not good enough for him.

Actually, what we are seeing him start to do now that he has been standing for a couple of weeks is that he is starting to almost walk in place. It obviously isn’t very smooth and can sometimes cause him to lose his balance but you can tell that he is wanting to really be mobile… even as fast as he has become on all fours, crawling just isn’t good enough. We can tell already that he is going to be a handful as he gets older and is able to do more and more. This could get really interesting really soon… glad we finally put up baby gates last weekend!

How Is Time Moving So Fast?

It has been an amazing month watching our son learn new things, grow, and begin to understand more of the world around him. There have been a few instances that have tested our patience especially with regard to the reflux but, overall, we couldn’t have asked for a happier or loving baby. And seeing him in the morning and when I get home at night are what really completes my day. Seeing that smile on his face when I walk in the door, seemingly saying “hi daddy”, never gets old and lets me forget about anything that may have been bothering me during the day.

While he is not yet found any interest in rolling over (or being on his belly for that matter), he is still doing things that are still amazing when I think about the fact that he is only 4 months old today. In addition to his enjoyment of being on his feet with little support from mommy or daddy, he also just started sitting up by himself. They may only be for a few seconds at a time but it is much more than many babies his age.  

He has found a new interest in the various toys that have been sent to us or that we have picked up over the past few months. While he still prefers his ball which we have tethered to his car seat, he is also enjoying the car keys and some of the other things that we have bought. Unfortunately, he has also figured out how to throw things. He also enjoys pushing the buttons on mommy’s cell phone when she is talking to daddy. The big toys are proving to be very useful as well as we can now put him in the exersaucer where he is perfectly content playing with everything around him and making the train go around the track.

While I have had to tell him for months whether or not I would be home late in the evening, he is now responding to more and more of what we are saying. He knows his name (he will learn the importance of his name later) and is able to respond to some of the simple requests that we make like to hold on when we pick him. He is now a fully interactive child (not like the creepy one in AI) with each day more interesting than the next.

I am sure that I have forgotten a variety of things that have happened and developments that have occurred over the past month but that should give you a basic idea. It is quite the ride that we are on and one that keeps getting better with every dip and turn. And even though there is a lot of puking and crapping of pants, it is still a ride that we are so glad and thankful that we got on. Happy 4 months baby!

PS – Sorry in advance for the shots at the doctor’s office tomorrow.