Sleep-crying is a thing. It’s as pitiful as sleepbarking (by Seamus, not LB) is cute: real baby cries but you can’t comfort them because they’ll actually wake up and then you’ll regret everything.
I used to hold my breath a lot: would these snorks and soft sobs wake hir or would ze shuffle off to sleep? Don’t know why I bothered. Oxygen deprivation for me wasn’t going to affect the outcome for hir. Wakefulness was either a need for a cuddle, or a full bore scream and arched back of misery that meant FEED ME. Which, in my sleep deprived haze, would often be misinterpreted as “I’m sad, soothe me”. Less than 1% of the time is the latter, why do I always forget?? Oh right. Sleep deprivation.
But it got easier
Ze cried all the time. For months, it was a constant cycle of crying baby, change hir diaper, soothe soothe soothe, feed the baby, soothe soothe soothe, crying baby, try again.
We walked hir, we rocked hir, we patted hir, we sang, we shushed, we passed out sitting up with a baby cradled in our arms.
Not a single thing made hir sleep better or more.
Then ze stopped. Either ze got older and less anxious or hir needs were being met. Who the hell knows? All I know is ze wouldn’t sleep through the night for months. Some nights, we’d be up with the dawn because we’d hardly gotten back in bed much before that.
There was that odd night back in Month 4 ze slept through for a solid 9 hours like a horrible, torturous carrot ze was dangling in front of us. It would be 3 months later before it happened again for a few nights and then it’d stop.
Suddenly, 4 or so months after that ze did. No warning. Just started sleeping through and waking at 5 am. Then started sleeping until 6 am. Once, ze slept til 730.
Lesson learned? It can get better. But nothing we did had any influence over it. I used to be terrible at dealing with uncertainty and after a hard year of training find that while it may not be comfortable, it won’t keep me up nights.
But not easy-easy
That’s not to say we don’t still have our moments of frustration. As ze grows and explores, ze will confuse and frustrate us. We forget, every so often, that ze is just a baby still because ze has grown so fast and is so amazingly interactive.
My favorite age
A friend said that whatever age you’re at, you’ll revise that to be your favorite age. I used to love babies best at Months 3-6. But now I think he was right, I adore LB at this age even more than I did when ze was fresh-baked, or when ze was just learning to lift hir head, or when ze finally learned to hold hir own bottle.
I miss those earlier days with that sort of wistful nostalgia when I realize ze is no longer willing to cuddle. Once ze became mobile, that was the end of baby+mom liedowns together. Ze simply cannot stay still, period. But despite all the exhaustion running after hir now, I love it.
Now is: climbing onto furniture without help, proudly showing off “gentle pets” for Seamus, mischievously crawling and poking at sleeping Dad’s face, industriously pulling down books and folded laundry faster than I can put them up, mad dash crawls with top of the range squeals as ze tries to beat me to the Forbidden Anything Zones, curiously tasting anything ze touches and pulling faces, then sticking out hir tongue for me to remove tasted and rejected item.
Now is a busy time. There’s the nonstop exploration of all the same things, repeatedly. The thrill of discovering new things in the recycling to bang around and share with Seamus. The excitement of pulling out Legos to share with me. Discovering how to put things back where they came from. That last is a much coveted skill but as I understand it, it’s going to take some time. Ze’s working against muscle memory and instinct when putting things back in the box, you can see this when ze places a Lego back in the box, ponders for a second and grabs it back out.
The first step is the hardest
LB took five steps in a row, racing toward hir teacher with delight. Ze has been trying hir sealegs since, taking a step or three here and there, aiming hirself for a relatively soft landing or hurling hirself the rest of the way at us.
I adore hir face
Even when ze is crawling right over my throat to get to the toy on the other side of me, across me being the straightest line from Point Baby to Point Toy, I adore hir.
Ze might be in danger of being spoiled if I thought love was money or love was indulgence, but I think love is support and boundaries and equipping hir with as much skill, knowledge, and confidence to take on the world.
Therefore, no, I will not pick hir up every three minutes just because ze would like to hitch a ride and they always pick me up at daycare! They surely do but I am not a mule-momma and I need to conserve my strength for the most important things.
Oh, right, more importantly, as my parents always said: we say no, and we tell you the hard truths because we love you. Someone who didn’t love you would have no interest in doing the difficult jobs that help you be a better person.
May I always have the strength and clarity to love and guide LB as I was loved and guided in the early years.
Here’s a question for you
It’s been fun putting together monthly updates but now that ze has achieved a full year, we’ve stopped counting in months. Would anyone still like to see monthly updates or have you had enough?
I hate it but it’s time. It’s time for this kid to meet people who are not me or hir dad on a regular basis.
Mostly I hate the idea because I don’t want to socialize but it’s considered child abuse to put a nametag and leash on and send hir out with Seamus to go play. Or at least it’s negligence. So here I go, sucking it up to make this thing happen for hir because this child is all about human interaction. Weird.
Ze firmly believes that no stranger is destined to stay that way and has initiated more casual conversations since being able to hold hir head up than I have my entire professional career. Ze can’t speak words but can sucker strangers from across the room into make absolute fools of themselves making faces for hir enjoyment. I’m not sure if you’ve ever encountered dudes who looked like they just rolled off the WWE set and threw on sweats to grocery shop, but every time we do, LB is determined to make them play using only intense staring and smiles. And it works every time.
Meanwhile, there’s me griping about having to put on pants today so we can go out in public.
Separation anxiety what?
Everywhere I turn, people gush at how engaged LB is, and then in the same breath reassure me that separation anxiety is coming, if it hasn’t struck already. This explains a bit of it. Though I was expecting anxiety, this kid is incredibly independent, far more than I ever was before, oh, 25! When there’s someone or something cool to be investigated, that’s far more important than making sure that we’re around. Ze is remarkably secure, and yes, I’m quite certain ze loves me plenty, I’m pretty secure too, and that’s pretty cool to observe.
It’s fun, and bemusing, to watch hir select new people to bond with and just make that happen with a sunny grin and infectious chuckle. I don’t even know how ze does it, that certainly didn’t come from me. It might be the charisma in the family that I didn’t inherit. There were lots of talents in the family I didn’t get (and did reasonably well without), but it’d be like watching SuperMe if ze is anything like me PLUS has extra talents. Whoa. An independent SuperMiniMe. Bracing myself.
Species Specific….
I have a sneaking suspicion that ze and Seamus are mixed up. Ze holds out hir hands to him for “up!” He wonders why ze gets “table scraps” but he doesn’t. I know we call hir puppy but ze is human, so we probably want to work on the distinction a little.
My favorite part of going out with the two of them is counting their social conquests. Seamus is still ahead by an average of 3 encounters per trip, but they both have strangers stopping to talk to them or casting compliments their way.
We ought to send the two of them on the road to earn their keep. Not yet, though. That pesky child negligence thing.
So helpful
I was just wondering when I could put LB to work around the house. Our little destructor takes apart anything that’s put together, pulls down anything that’s put up, tears up and eats any paper in reach. I don’t bother picking up after hir until ze has done a thorough wrecking job, that’s just a fool’s errand.
Ze has always had a fascination with the front-loading washing machine, often holding onto the window with both chubby fists, leaning hir forehead against the bubble, watching the swish and thump! with open mouth and wide eyes.
I was unloading the last load of the day when ze popped up at the washer door again. This time, ze reached in to grab the spun dry clothes, sniffing, and experimentally licking them. “Can I have that?” I asked. Ze handed the washcloth to me and turned back for a sock. Lick. “Can I have that?” Ze hands it over, shakes out a washcloth. Lick. “Can I have that?” Piece by piece, we emptied the washer together.
SOON.
Sharing is … eh
LB loves to gnaw on things, so much ze loves it. And ze obviously loves me because ze thinks I should partake too. It’s cute. But it’s not a signal that ze is civilized yet, as clearly evident when ze is with other critters approximately hir size. Ze just reaches out and takes what ze wants. This is normal, but we’re now working on the concept that we don’t grab things out of hands.
We demonstrate this as adults: we ask hir for things back and don’t simply grab it back like you might when the kid has no concept of giving.
Then we worked on this with blocks. Ze would have two blocks. I would have none. Ze would either offer me a block, of two, or I would ask for one. Ze would give me Block 1. Then ze would try to grab it back but before hir hand could, I’d offer it back. Soon, there was a tiny pause after ze gave me Block 1 where we’d make eye contact and ze would wait for the offer. After a few rounds, Block 2 rotated in. I ask for, and get, Block 1. Then I ask for, and get, Block 2. Then I offered both blocks back. Repeat. We could play like this for twenty minutes. It’s just a start and a kid hir age probably isn’t going to be so willing to engage in trading, or know what the heck is going on, but I like that ze is now waiting a breath to be offered the toy before grabbing it.
Coming into the 11th month, ze was comfortably cruising along, holding onto things for support, but one day, ze started doing freestyle squats: Carefully standing up with no support and then clapping with glee. Lowered hirself back down and stood up again. More glee!
Ze is a very strong baby and I’m going to credit hir home-gym circuit training for that. Pull-ups on the refrigerator bar, balancing on the stroller, legwork on the climbing boxes.
So far, 11 months in?
Parenting is sort of fun. Not the sleepless nights, not the worry, not the diapers oh my nose not the diapers, not all that stuff. But it’s well balanced by what LB has brought to the table. Giggles, personality, mischief. An intense need to get into everything that reminds me that Mom’s “someday, you’re gonna have a kid just like you and you’ll deserve it!” curse is alive and well. Though truth be told, this might be my sibling’s curse transferred because Dad points out every so often, LB is way more clever and interested than I was at this age. Thanks….? Though I can do without ever hearing “just wait until…” again. Let me enjoy this moment, alright? Geez.
We are happier, generally, because there’s always a source of hilarity, whether it’s laughing with hir or at hir. Especially when we’re running our Who has the best picture of hir looking like the saddest panda? contest! Call us mean, call us opportunistic, but don’t say we’re slow to pull out the camera when ze is having an unwarranted cry.
There’s a whole litany of things people focus on losing when they have kids. Sure, we don’t have the freedom to just book a weekend away, or the funds to randomly splurge on something pretty. That’s ok. We didn’t permanently lose that. We simply traded it for our wonderful, curious, charming, adorable wee puppy warrior for now. And that doesn’t feel like a loss at all.
Like Meg, our work-life balance is getting better thanks to having hir around. It’s not perfect, but it’s still awfully nice.
LB has always been a bit of a Pull Everything Off Everything and Throw it Around kind of kid. Naturally, this is great motivation to get mobile and mobile ze is. These days, we often catch hir doing pullups on the most unlikely objects, and trying to swing hir leg up on said objects in order to escape or get into something. SMH.
Ze has now scaled piles of boxes, the bed, the sofa, and the refrigerator. I wouldn’t worry if ze demonstrated a lick of sense about getting down from furniture that ze does when climbing on boxes – at least climbing off boxes ze holds onto things. Beds? Nope. Just dives off, headfirst. This kid is jonesing for the world record in earliest self-inflicted concussion.
***
LB & sharing. I thought it was too early but ze started offering hir chew toys to Seamus, and then graduated to offering (forcefully offering) things to me. Ze thought I should enjoy tasting the folded clothes that ze was pulling back out of boxes and was quite insistent, mashing it against my mouth.
Ze offered hir auntie some prechewed snacks and saw right through hir fake eating motions. Ze was displeased by the fakery.
I’m seeing shades of past me and past sibling in hir.
There’s a story about how Mom once “had” to take a big bite out of a fake donut my sibling made. Heartless younger-me said: “why on earth didn’t you just pretend to take a bite? What does a kid know?” I’m starting to see why Mom just rolled her eyes, saying HE KNEW.
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Things that are absolutely hilarious to hir: Scrunching up hir face with a grin and making the zzzzzzzzz sound.
Blowing mostly-spit raspberries. This might be a holdover from pool time when ze was encouraged to “blow bubbles” (baby translation: drink the pool water)
Having us pop out from behind things going BOO!!!
Going limp when we’re picking hir up. Just because. Not even because ze doesn’t want to go where we’re going, just because it’s fun. Ze also likes to hang onto furniture and hang backward as far as ze can like the tiniest gymnast that could. Then occasionally forgets to keep holding on and lands on hir head/butt. Still doesn’t stop hir.
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“No!”
Ze has been hearing this since Month 4. No, we don’t tantrum to get our way.
No, we don’t chew on electrical cords, do you want to end up like that puppy who could only lick out one side of her mouth?
No, Seamus doesn’t want you to check his mouth while he’s eating! He’s gonna bite you accidentally and then feel so bad about it.
Ze still reacts to “no” with a grin and does whatever “no!” referred to, faster.
That’s my kid.
Speaking of Not Foods, we’ve officially joined Club Dog Food. Oh yeah. That’s right. LB found a dog bowl with kibble in it (fools! fools!) and sure enough, a handful went into hir mouth. Five kibbles later, I’m pretty sure I got them all but I’m not going to feel guilty if I didn’t. You’d quit diving into a chompy infant’s mouth after they sprout a couple of ivories, too.
I swear, ze bites more than 20 years of dogs combined.
Things we enjoyed…
We were reading regular books to LB because we like stress and fending off grabby hands. Ze loved it too, spending most sessions trying to “turn pages” more than listening (anyone who’s seen an infant knows that means “tearing them out”).
We are now converts to the board books, only about 6 months after they would have been super useful. What? We’re fighting clutter.
I’m a fool. Was offered the opportunity to go back to sleep somewhat peacefully and I squandered it. LB got up at 1:30, upset about something, nursed hir back to sleep. Ze was nestled peacefully against my arm so it seemed like the perfect time to put hir in the crib.
Ze protested, but it seemed like a token protest. I covered hir up with a light blanket so it wouldn’t feel like a shock going from my body heat to a cold crib and crawled back into bed. No sooner did I settle: *squawwwwwwwk*
I ignored it.
*squaaaaaakkkkk squaawwwwk*
Still not listening.
*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE* for ten minutes.
Ok ok ok geez.
Ze was unbelievably pleased to be grumpily bundled back up into bed with me, even after a half recumbent diaper change because who would appreciate their infant to stay STILL when being changed in the dark? No one, says LB, so to show my appreciation I shall writhe and wriggle as hard as I possibly can which is pretty hard since you feed me so well, and it’ll therefore be impossible to fasten that diaper with fewer than five hands and an elbow.
Ze didn’t try to play when we got back to bed, thank everything, but hir idea of “settling down” was a series of flopping from back to front to back to front to back, burying hir face in the comforter I’d piled at the foot of the bed to prevent another Great FaceFirst Launch Off the Bed, squeaking and doing a Baby Gregorian chant. If I didn’t know better, and I don’t, ze could have been summoning the Greater Gods of Baby-induced Sleep Deprivation. I’m tired.
After about an hour of this, LB was content to mostly stay still with one foot propped on my ribs, the other on my chin, hands reached up over hir head in an attempt to create a tiny human bridge between me and hir father, still doing that odd Gregorian chant / kitten yowl every 20 seconds in case I might fall asleep. Cute. But when ze was evicted from this womb I’m pretty sure there was a clause in there about not kicking me in the ribs anymore. Ze is in clear violation of hir parole.
Two hours later. I realize that ze has finally stopped emitting any sounds and movements have slowed to nearly a standstill. Oh blessed sleep.
***
Related: The baby food lie: blast from Nicole & Maggie’s archives still holds true. I vaguely remembered the information in this post if not the post itself and with full endorsement from our pediatrician (which was nice but not strictly necessary), proceeded with not very reckless abandon.
We are working on food and not food categories. Food goes into the mouth and is eventually swallowed. Not food includes: any part of Seamus. Confidential documents. Electronics. Remote controls. Any of my comic books. My toes – dear god why would you chew on my toes?? Head bands. Shoes. The dishwasher. Power cables. Furniture. Seamus’s leash. Seamus’s collar. Seamus’s toys. Seamus has made a bid that anything associated with him should be off limits to being eaten. I agree.
Things that still aren’t food but I can’t be bothered if ze chews on them: Legos. My arm. Tags. Bedding. Pillows. Blankets. The drying rack.
It’s a steep learning curve here.
***
Mimicry has suddenly started happening here. We always echo back at LB when ze vocalizes because it’s funny, ze has started echoing back at us when we do it to hir. Everything is just funnier when you’re an infant.
Actions, too. If we do a thing, ze tries to, sometimes. Right now ze is in an ET phone home phase: holding hir index finger out to touch PiC’s when he holds up his hand. Ze won’t do it with me, though. I guess it’s just a daddy-kiddo thing.
***
Word babbles are happening. Ze suddenly added about 5 more consonants to hir 2 vowels. Conversations are still not deep but they’re entertaining. Except when it’s “I’m putting your legs in your pants. KEEP THEM THERE” or “STOP worming away when I’m diapering you!” Then I vaguely wish for five months ago when ze could barely flip. But I guess that’s less language and more Infant With Shit To Do.
***
Ze thinks it’s funny to elicit a reaction out of us by licking inappropriate things. I just figured out ze was just playing me when ze leaned over to the wall, glanced at me, waited til I looked, then licked the wall. Then chuckled at my expression.
***
Teeth are starting to happen. Ze was remarkably pleasant when they started breaking through. Then two days later, it all went to hell. Ze was clingy, upset, every little thing was the end of the world. Dosed hir with Tylenol while we waited for the teething tablets to arrive and we were back to normal. Getting new teeth is a tough business.
Best part: ze is genuinely curious about this “teeth” thing and occasionally pries open PiC’s mouth to investigate what’s going on in there. That’s also just a daddy-kiddo thing, ze has no interest in my teeth. I think it’s for the best.
Things we love
LB most preferred to chew on my arms when hir gums were uncomfortable but when those teeth finally poked through, that was a no-go. A combination of frozen teething rings, hard teething toys, and teething tablets saved us all. The tablets were miraculous for those middle of the night wake ups when ze couldn’t stay asleep.
We introduced sippy cups a while ago, but while ze is willing to drink water, ze hasn’t quite got the hang of the whole thing.
Inchworm is officially mobile. Something clicked one day and ze went from struggling planted in one place, or wiggling backwards, to crawling forward in the most awkward foot-planting fashion. It’s clear that with every creep forward, ze is just preparing to stand up and walk. Often I’ll catch hir on all fours, hands and feet, butt in the air as ze tries to figure out how to get the front half in the air but fails. Not much complaining about this anymore – ze is too busy concentrating.
***
Ze figured out self directed play if I’m just sitting nearby. Ze is even better at it if I’m walking around and not watching over hir. But there’s always a risk that ze will finish with all hir toys and head for Seamus or his toys. He won’t bother hir, even when ze is trying to lick him, but I don’t want him to feel tormented.
***
At some point, LB quit spitting up / drinking too much too fast. A little bit before ze learned to roll over, and hold hir own bottle, ze quit needing to be burped. We just honestly forgot because ze would wiggle away to do something and then noticed ze was rolling out the burps all on hir own. Excellent! The drool continues unabated, though, and still, no teeth. I’m enjoying the gummy grins though, so I’m in no hurry. Also, as I might have mentioned before, ze BITES. And holy hell does that hurt. I have a bruise on my arm from hir chewing.
***
When LB was just a speck, I assumed that I wouldn’t want to share my living AND working space with a Tiny Tyrant. It’s really weird to realize that I am quite enjoying it right now. Ze is a lot of work, but is at a semi-ideal stage right now where I can drop hir in a play area, leave hir to get into things, and redirect hir as needed. Ze explores anything and everything, tasting everything: Seamus, our shoes, electrical cords, our toes, carpet, rugs, drawstrings. You name it, ze wants to chew on it.
Note: Seamus is not a fan.
***
What’s the difference between a puppy and this baby? A puppy has dander and this baby has opposable thumbs with which to pick up electric cords for chewing.
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Unfortunately for us, LB’s mobility is not matched by hir language skills. Meaning “no!” and “no that’s dangerous” or “no that’s not for eating” or “no that’s not for you” are just amusing mouth noises we make. Meanwhile, Seamus jumps with every “no!” like he’s in trouble.
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SOMEbaby thanks it’s hilarious to chipmunk cheek hir food. We were doing our usual sharing at dinner and ze just kept cheeking hir veggies. Ze likes them, normally, but I guess learning to hide your food in your mouth is an essential baby skill? After a visual check AND a finger sweep, ze spit hir greens at me with a cackle.
***
Ze caught a cold. Infant colds, from this experience, consists of 2 parts “aww you’re pitifully cute”, 3 parts “aww you’re just pitiful” and 95 parts “Ew snot bubbles!”
Our weapons of choice: infant Tylenol, nasal spray and the Snotsucker. That name, by the way, should have tipped me off to what it was but no, I just refused to use it. PiC did, and it helped a bit, but if you’ve ever wondered how an infant would react to waterboarding, we know.
P.S. There’s something very wrong with my child, ze loves the fake grape taste of the Tylenol. Gross.
***
For a little while, I had the timing on naps figured out and it was amazing. Then it changed again, and ze would do that terribly miserable scrunched up You Traitor face wail when put in the crib. I started handing hir a toy and walking away. Sometimes ze would just cry til ze slept. Other times ze would get up, play for a long grumbling while, then pass out mid play. As long as sleep happens, I don’t much care how we get there any more.
***
Cruising a Carter’s sale for a few things that ze didn’t get from the hand me down bag, I learned what crib shoes are. We were given some but I didn’t know what to do with them since shoes for a not-walking kid doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Shoes on an almost walking kid, though? As entertaining as putting shoes on a cat.
LB tweets
Doing my very best (but still terrible) whale sounds impressions for a wiggly grouchy LB’s entertainment.
Inchworm is trying so hard to crawl but hates it so much. Ze wants to walk and walk NOW. One day, ze learned to hold out hir arms to us and hasn’t stopped since. We won’t pick hir up on demand every time, though, we don’t walk hir muscles to atrophy!
Often you can’t walk past without hir grabbing your ankle with both arms in order to use you as leverage. Hir balance still sucks though, so there have been more than a few faceplant scenarios followed up by earsplitting shrieks of pain. Nothing serious, just actual pain versus the usual surprise cry.
***
This child has zero sense of self preservation. Ze will launch out of PiC’s arms, flip off the edge of the bed like a flying squirrel without flight capabilities, throw head and arms backwards into a backbend whether on the ground or on someone’s lap with no regard for the likelihood of a concussion or a broken head.
***
We’re doing all kinds of solid and pureed foods so “hack it up, clear your throat” has become a daily part of our vocabulary.
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I don’t have time to read to LB as often as I’d like so I make it a point to talk hir through anything I’m doing whether it’s prepping hir next meal or explaining my work. Lots of history-of, why-we-do-things-this-way, it’s-important-because conversations. Ze thinks the formal stuff is the funniest.
***
Ze has lint contraband. I found it in hir leg folds in the first weeks of baths. After a few weeks of confiscation they were mysteriously clean and then I found it’d shifted to hir knees, then later still, in hir armpits. The latest stash zone is under the chin in the neck.
***
Sleep has always been weird. We’d have (3) 30-minute nap days and those were terrible. We’d have (2) mega long nap days and they were wonderful (but confusing. what did we do right?).
Ze has never slept through the night more than 2 nights in a row except for during SDCC. And mostly never sleeps through the night. We’d go from getting 8 straight hours to only 4 and 3, or 6 and 2. Or some weird combination in such a way as to guarantee we’d both be zombies.
There are days ze gets a 3rd nap just because the two were so stinking short ze would wake up still tired.
Basically our whole life is one giant sleep regression. Which, I guess, is good because we basically never get used to the good life of sleeping through? We’ve stopped worrying, fussing, or trying that hard to influence the sleep. We just stick to a routine for bedtime, and time the naps for a sleepy baby as best we can.
***
It shouldn’t, but this Washington Post article saying that parenthood is worse than any other life event including the death of a partner elicited a rueful chuckle. That could still come to pass, it was one of my terrors about becoming a parent, and I have seen where some experiences were hard enough that the parents declared No More after the first. I think PiC is actually in that camp after being so very worried about me during labor. And also we had a tough pregnancy. It’s hard to imagine how we could do that again but this time with a toddler running around needing attention too, especially as we still haven’t found good, reliable help.
***
*snorgle snargle* Now that ze has figured out crawling, climbing on things, and grabbing in a semi-intentional, sorta-accurate fashion, we’re all in trouble. Ze has a special Attack Face, a combination of a grin and a scrunched brow, maw stretched wide open, as ze prepares to destroy electronics in reach so I know to defend against baby drool within five seconds of The Face.
LB’s tweets
I hear paper tearing. I look up to see LB on hir back, huge chunk of newspaper in left hand, strip in right hand, huge sheet in mouth.
PiC: “I think ze might have eaten some newspaper. That didn’t taste good, did it?” LB shakes hir head really hard, no. Then jabs PiC in the eye.
LB is mild to moderate good at self directed play. Ze is a Master at grabbing everything ze isn’t allowed to.
Seamus is a little pissed. LB tried to snake his hedgie but he’s not allowed to steal Grey Wind.
Woke up to LB chirping to Seamus and playing w/Elly, hir crib companion. Possibly ze was plotting to take over the world.
LB vs the world
Stop screeching, I’m changing your diaper. This is a feature, not a bug.
Please don’t lick your brother.
Please stop eating the ground. And the recyclables. Ok fine, chew on your foot. Enjoy the flexibility.
How did you get fur up your nose?
We love …. cheap entertainment!
These interlocking rings. I’ve strung them across hir chair, down from dresser drawer handles, on hir stroller, anywhere I need hir to stay put for a little while so I can do things. Ze loves to chew on them, pull them apart, and just wave them around. Also good for securing toys into the stroller when ze loses interest and drops it.
Baby Kisses: It took me a while to understand why LB would glom onto my cheek like a little suckerfish, and lick my face. Ze is trying to kiss us back! And it’s basically the weirdest, cutest, funniest thing. Ze obviously doesn’t know how we’re kissing hir cheeks, but ze is doing hir best estimate.
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LB loves to chew on hands, mostly my hands though sometimes hirs are good too, and lick knees. Ze has odd taste.
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I can’t decide if this belongs here or in a money post but I’m figuring it’s about LB, so … LB is trying out a lot of new foods, just little tastes, but won’t be ready to transition off milk for a while longer. Until then, whether due to fatigue (baby or syndrome related), or not hydrating enough, or some other thing, my milk production has been dropping significantly so we rely on formula a lot. It’s convenient but I hate the cost and I hate the inconvenience and the waste when ze suddenly decides 1 oz into a 5 oz bottle that ze is cranky and doesn’t want that bottle after all. I hate that we have to chuck formula at $1/oz! So I want to keep providing hir almost all breastmilk but it’s just not happening.
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Speaking of foods, ze has been an adventurous eater indeed. It seems that the last two months of watching us eat and not share has motivated hir to take every proffered food even if ze thinks it’s disgusting at first. I know this acceptance of food may change when ze gets older but it’s fun right now.
***
In what seemed like a flash, LB figured out how to try to push hirself into a sit position from a flat on the belly position, and then learned how to actually sit up. It just … happened. A friend with an older baby marveled at how strong ze was – I didn’t think it was abnormal for a baby to be able to get up on all fours and rock and scoot backwards at this age but what do I know.
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I keep comparing pictures of LB from when ze was a week old to now and the change is astounding. So much so that it doesn’t look like the same human at all. I birthed a cute tiny alien and it’s turned into a cute tiny human!
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“Babies need to get frustrated. That’s how they learn.” Great advice from @vanitygames the first time LB was the Angriest of all Inchworms and I felt bad for hir. Now when ze hollers from frustration, ze gets encouragement and a little bit of support after ze has given it a really good try. Independent (angry) baby!
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I’m understanding why cats imitate baby voices now but it’s really creepy when I can’t tell if that’s a cat yowling on our street or LB waking up from a nap prematurely.
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Last in the series of vaccines! Ze was a total champ. Angrily screamed for about ten seconds and then sat up like nothing had happened. That’s about the standard for any “but you’re fine” fall when ze topples over and conks hir head not terribly hard. Given how hard ze has head butted me in the face without even blinking, I’ve taken to pointing out that ze is merely startled for most of those very comparatively gentle head conks. After a second, ze seems to agree.
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I no longer try to soothe most of LB’s crying. Not because I’m a heartless monster, but because most of hir crying is frustration over not knowing how to do something or wanting to do something or just wanting attention. Instead of trying to soothe, I redirect to a new toy and 90% of the time, ze is amenable. Also, I don’t hand hir toys anymore. Ze wants what ze can’t have, so I play with it in front of hir and if ze gets interested, ze’ll leap-crawl over.
Baby Savings: It’s important to remember this is artificially inflated due to not having reliable childcare and not withdrawing cash to pay for the trial nanny days.
