Friday, August 24, 2012

Totally negligent mommy

Sam turned 9 months old last week and I totally forgot to post about it. This is why second and middle children are always so f-ed up (I'm picturing Ian frowning). Sam's new stats:

Weight: 22 lbs. 5 oz. - 90th percentile
Height: 29 1/4" - 85th percentile
Head circumference: 46 cm - 75th percentile

Everywhere we go people always comment on how big Sam is... But he's a full pound lighter than Ben was at SIX MONTHS, so he doesn't seem big to me. My back, knees and shoulders beg to differ, but my biceps are awesome.

I've been saying Sam is thisclose to crawling for over a month. I really thought he'd be full-out crawling by now. He does this thing where he's on one knee and his other leg is straight out to the side and he sort of pulls himself for a short distance. It's somewhat crawling in that he's moving himself a little bit, but he's not going any significant distance. Mostly he just ninjas out to get whatever he wants and then goes back to sitting. If he can't reach it that way, it's dead to him.

His "talking" seems to be getting more sophisticated. I can't exactly explain what I mean, except to say that it sounds more like he's really "saying" something. Like what's coming out of his mouth has meaning for him. His curiosity has also exploded. Anything we put in front of him will be subjected to a full examination which includes turning it over, banging it on the table and putting it in his mouth. We're at that stage where, in a restaurant the three feet of table around the baby is empty, except for Cheerio's.

Sam remains a content, cheerful little boy. Even with the 5:30-6:00am wake ups every morning we really can't complain.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

At least that's settled.

Scene: We're driving in our town past one of the several colleges.

Ben: What's that building?

Me: It's a college.

Ben: When do you go to college?

Me: After high school you can go to college.

Ben: Why?

Me: You can study a specific subject and then get a job.

Ben: Will I be big?

Me: Yes.

Ben: And then I won't need you anymore!

Me: ... Yes. [Heart breaking.]

Ben: Then I can make my own breakfast.

Me: Yes.

Ben: They won't have a microwave at college so I'll have Cheerio's.

Me: They have microwaves at college.

Ben: Oh. Then I'll have oatmeal.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Hearing check on aisle two!

Scene: I'm encouraging Ben to get dressed and he's naked, messing around with random stuff.

Me: We can't go to the zoo if you're naked.

Ben: Why?

Me: It's illegal.

Ben: A silly eagle?

Me: ILLEGAL.

Ben: An ill eagle?

Me: Il-leagl.

Ben: Ha! I thought you said "eagle."

Thursday, August 2, 2012

(Almost) on the move

I always say that sitting up is my favorite baby milestone. Suddenly playing gets easier and more fun and the baby is content with his awesome new skill for a while. Unfortunately, we've passed out of the content stage and now we're in the "I want to be able to move, but I can't so I'm MAAAAAAAAD" stage. I knew the contentment couldn't last forever and Ben was right about 8 months when he started being frustrated by his lack of mobility, but Sam's been so agreeable up until now that I thought maybe we could just go from contentment to crawling.

Nope. Sam's not crawling yet, but being stuck in any confining thing like a car seat, high chair or pool floaty is suddenly odious. I'm hoping he'll start crawling sooner than Ben did (at 9.5 months), the logic being that then he'll start walking sooner and then I'll be able to trust him on the stairs sooner and my life will get a whole lot easier. He might do it. He's starting out the same way Ben did: scooting backwards. Yesterday morning, just using his arms to push himself, he scooted on his belly almost all the way across the kitchen, maybe 10 feet. Then he got stuck in a corner. Of course I took a picture: