It is so crazy how quickly babies change. Once upon a time we had a tiny, helpless newborn -- a sleeping, crying or pooping bundle. Nine months later we have this adorable little monster who looks around to see if anyone's watching before trying to pull up a vent cover, and is attempting to stand on his own. He's so lucky he's cute because he is always looking for trouble, and I have had to adjust to a certain level of disarray in our household again, as we move things up or out of the way, shut doors, and toss things on the floor that might interest him but won't hurt him. I broke down and got him a walker, thinking it might keep him entertained and out of mischief for a few minutes at a time. It is a monster of a contraption that I can't wait to be rid of, but it does keep him happy for just a few minutes a day. Then he chases me around in it and rams my ankles with the bumpers. Here I thought he might some wheels to zoom around on our hardwood floors, but no, anytime he's moving he's after one of us.
He still has no interest in solid foods, but he's been lengthening the time he can go between nursing sessions, up to three or four hours now. So my tether is a little longer for getting out and leaving him at home. I don't do that a whole lot, but on Saturday I had a hair appointment and went straight to Mass afterward. I was very antsy to get home by the end, but relieved to hear he'd been fine while I was gone.
We wrapped up his
ISR lessons last week, and Thomas now has the skill of self-rescue in the water. It gives us peace of mind to have this layer of safety, having a pool in the backyard.
One thing I've noted this month is that he's getting more animated in expressing himself. He babbles with a lot more consonant sounds than before, he waves, he pumps his arms up and down, and he shakes his head "no." But I don't think he means "no," he just thinks it's fun and likes to see us do it back to him. He also likes to make all kinds of mouth noises at me, lip-smacking, tongue clicking, raspberries, whatever he can come up with. He makes me laugh.
He has a quirk that none of the other babies had, and that is he likes to grab handfuls of our flesh and knead it. It is every bit as unpleasant as it sounds. His free hand roams while nursing, and his little fingers (and nails) dig in wherever they can. He is fond of grabbing areas that are not so fleshy, such as my sternum and collarbone area. It's like an extra challenge for him to get a handful of skin there. He was able to find a skin tag I didn't know I had, and stretch it out. Someone on Instagram says it's a need he has for sensory regulation, or something like that; and she recommends trying to get him to grab a lovey instead, or a shirt, or some kind of fidget. I have had no success getting him to grab my shirt, only limited success with the lovey, and now I'm wondering what kind of fidget would work for a baby who wants to knead?🤔
He takes two naps a day still, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Still no updates on nighttime sleep; it's still varying degrees of cruddy. He wears size 3 diapers and sizes 9 and 12 months in clothes mostly. I got on the scale with him the other day, and he weighed 20 pounds. I can see his top two front teeth just behind the gums.
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