What’s new with my lil’ man? Lots of things!
Primarily….walking-ish, not napping and lots of kisses.
Shoulder kiss action:
Mobility. M is up, down and all around these days. He can practically run when pushing the ottoman around the basement and loves to stand and cruise around. He isn’t standing or walking on his own yet, but it can’t be too far away. He gets more and more confident everyday.
With that confidence comes more accidents. Poor M gets hurt more these days as he’s learning to crawl fast and walk. We saw blood for the first time last week when he bonked his lip, and he got a goose egg bump on his forehead after laughing his way into a windowsill. It breaks my heart when he gets hurt, but these are all accidents that just come with the territory of learning to move.
Playing. It’s really fun that now that he is mobile he can really play with other babies. He and Henry played chase, and it’s fun to watch him interact with his friends. Most of his local playmates are older than he is and he has gotten bit, hit and slapped in the face recently! Most of the time this is over the sharing of toys. Poor M.
Talking. I don’t really want to proclaim that Mazen has said his first words yet, but he is working on them. I’m not really going to count mama and dada because those are givens (he says DADA very clearly for Matt these days!), but we are very close to getting a true “dog” and “cat” out of him. Right now they are “duh” and “aht” but there is a connection. He also said a very clear “EGG” the other day, but I’m not sure it was a real word with meaning.
Teeth. We have four prominent upper teeth and still just two on the bottom. The worst is when he grits them together! It makes an awful sound, but I have no idea how to discourage that. Teeth brushing has started…at least for practice. My ped said to just get him familiar with the toothbrush for now. He seems to like it and giggles every time.
Naptime. Since sleep training M has been a stellar napper. We’ve been on a really predictable and wonderful schedule of naps at 9 and 2 for 1.5 hours each (roughly) for MONTHS. It’s been awesome. Just this past week M has started to fight naps. He rarely cries for more than a minute when I put him down, but lately he has been really screaming. So much that I wondered if it was separation anxiety or a fear of something. After getting in the crib with him (that was fun!), I ruled those out. I think he’s just transitioning to dropping his morning nap. It’s just happening in a way I wouldn’t have expected. He has missed his morning nap once and his afternoon nap once and for the first time took a 1-3pm nap recently. I’m looking forward to one nap because it will give us so much more flexibility, and I hope we can get back on a schedule soon.
Nursing. I’ve been able to drop the post-nap feedings this month and am happy about that. {At least until our naps got all screwed up!} We’re down to about 4 feedings a day. I didn’t know how long I’d breastfeed when I first became a mom beyond my goal of a year. I’m really glad we’ve made it (almost) to a year, but I’m not sure how much longer I want to go on. On the one hand, I’m eager to get a little bit more independence for us both, but on the other hand it makes me really sad to think about nursing being over. M still seems to want to nurse, but he doesn’t seem to be obsessed with it or tugging at me all day, so I think I could probably wean him easily when the time comes with distractions and snacks. I don’t plan to force wean him over a weekend or anything, but I think I’ll start thinking about it after his first birthday.
I’m also testing out this new nursing cover – the Momcho Poncho! The fabric is super soft and of course I love the grey chevron. It’s compact and easy to carry around because it’s so lightweight. It’s also good for hot summertime because of the open sides (although sometimes I do wish the sides were more filled in for more privacy). I’m not sure I’d wear it as a real outfit (would you?), but I like it as a cover.
Two things I’m really tired of:
Wiping runny noses (do you cringe when you hear a sneeze like I do!?) and cleaning the kitchen floor. In fact cleaning all of the food-related things has gotten really old. As one would expect, food goes everywhere at mealtimes. At what age does that get better? 2? 5? 10? 18?
Other things:
Holding my heavy baby is getting easier, as he’s learning how to hold on to me. The first time he put his hand on my shoulder I nearly died of the cuteness.
He is also really good at giving kisses – big sloppy ones that he holds there and giggles through. Sometimes he shows so much affection all at once, and it’s heart melting.
We have tried peanut butter! I put some in a banana smoothie and gave M a taste. No signs of any changes – whew!
xoxo