Monday, April 21, 2014

39 weeks ~ 9 months!

4/18/14: The Dojo is 9 months old today! Here's what's shakin':

*Crawling. He's still belly crawling, but he's fast. And sneaky. It took him only two days to figure out how to get through the baby gates if they are not latched properly. In fact, the other day he was playing near the gate between the living room and dining room. He pulled a book off of the bottom of the bookshelf (that I had to fill in because I caught him laying entirely in the empty bottom shelf playing with a soft block), and when I opened the gate to pick it up, he crawled between my legs and into the kitchen before I realized what was going on. Speedy, he is. I think he planned it, and executed it perfectly.

        *He is, however, beginning to get up onto his hands and knees, then his hands and feet. He's pulling himself up on very low things, usually me, when I sit on the floor with him. I'm not ready for what's coming. A lady at Target yesterday told me that her youngest son started walking at 9 months. Nnnooooooooo.

*Food. This kid is eating everything in sight. His favorite food is anything he can put into his mouth by himself. Last night he tore up some broccoli and couscous. Purees frustrate him, so I am looking for interesting ways to use up the last of the baby food I have. (Any ideas for winter squash puree? Muffins?)

*Biting. Yes. Four very sharp teeth. More on the way.

*Sleeping? Sometimes. Just enough to fool me. Earlier this week he slept ALL the way through the night (until about 4 am) two nights in a row. The first night - a fluke? The second night - could this really be it? The third night - he woke up every two hours. Sigh. We're working on a graduated extinction method (sort of) so he'll learn to go to sleep at night on his own instead of being in my lap. It's been a little painful, but each night there is less crying, so I suppose that is the goal.

*Babbling. He doesn't stop, unless there's a camera out, in which case he sits and stares blank faced and stoic. He's talking a lot, though, and doing the Cthulhu and the "indian" noises with Daddy. He's full blown laughing now, and I think the hysterical fits of giggles are right around the corner. Just need to find something he thinks is funny and see what happens.  Also, I think I'm starting to understand his language. When he's distressed or wants to be moved/picked up/held, he makes a drawn out, higher pitched "mmmmmm" sound. If you ask him a question and the answer is "yes", he makes a short "hmmph" sound, sort of like a mini laugh. We are trying to learn the words "up", "hungry", "Ohs" (for Cheerios), and "no". To my dismay, "no" is a funny word, and the more serious I try to make my face and voice when I say it, the more he laughs. Figures.

*This week he's started pressing his open mouth onto my face. Dojo kisses? I'm not sure, but I'll take it.

In other news:

*Yes, we had to butcher our tree :( It's pretty much just trunk back there now, with a growing fluff of green on one side. The tree guy said it will grow back in time, and said it looked as though someone had done the same thing further up a long time ago. It is nice, however, to not have a billion tiny leaves to contend with. Going to be a hot summer with no shade on the back end of the house, though.

*A hummingbird has set up shop on our back porch. Her name is Millie, and she's building her nest on the string of lights we have hanging from the ceiling. She's right outside our kitchen window so I've been able to watch her. I've always wondered how birds weave their nests without hands, and now I know:  I didn't see from the very beggingin, only from about the size of a dime. She brings material from other places, drops them into her nest, pokes her beak through like a sewing needle, then hovers above it while she uses her feet to move stuff around. We're on day three of nest building and it's looking like a proper nest now. So awesome. I'll try to get good pictures, but I won't be able to get high enough to see inside without disturbing her.