Benjamin singing to you. He has a pleasant voice, and he sings to you often. I rarely heard him sing before you were born, and now I hear him every day, making up silly tunes and melodies for you.
You have brown eyes! So do your Daddy and I, but surprisingly, you're the first grand baby to have brown eyes. The others are blue or hazel.
You have sweet, soft "fuzzy duckling" hair that is light brown. We are complimented all the time on your hair, I guess since most infants don't have much hair. I hear, "I LOVE his hair!!" on a weekly basis. I love it too. I especially love smelling it and rubbing my cheeks on its softness. I've given you a buzzed crew cut about once a month to keep it tidy and uniform in length as it falls out and grows in at the same time.
You are sleeping in own room, in your own crib; AND sleeping through the night most nights. You are asleep by eight p.m., wake at five a.m. to nurse, and up for the day by six or seven.
I love nursing you. Cuddling up with you to nurse is always my favorite time of day, whether morning or night or midday.
You are totally mobile! If I set you down on carpet or a rug with some toys, you can get across the room in no time. You don't crawl yet. You roll, slide, spin on your tummy, and scoot backward. You are trying hard to crawl though. You go up and down on all fours, rocking back and forth. But then you plop back down on your tummy and kick your feet like you're swimming. You go up on all fours and push yourself backward, sort of like a reverse army crawl. I have seen you go up and down backwards all the way across the room in minutes! You practice these moves all during the day. Sometimes you cry from frustration, because you want to move so bad but you haven't quite put it all together yet.
You are sitting up so well! You prefer to be sitting up now when you play with toys, and you can stay sitting for fifteen minutes or more before either crashing, or gently getting down on purpose. You still lose you balance and plunk down hard sometimes, and cry, but most of the time you can reach for things around you, pick up and set down toys, all from a sitting position.
Stats: 19.7 lbs
You and I are spending almost three weeks away from home. We are staying on a friend's farm, helping out while my friend Kristin is on pregnancy bed rest. She should have had a son your age, but he was born too soon. Now she is pregnant with a baby girl! Her four-year old son Ezekiel has been sharing toys with you while we've been here. He is lovable and sweet, like you.
Since being on the farm, and at another friend's house in Indiana, I have discovered that you love dogs and other animals. The dogs these families have are gentle, and put up with you patting them and pulling their hair. You get so excited when the dogs come over to you! You smile and kick your feet and lift your hands up to be licked. You make a funny scrunched expression if they lick your face though! Sometimes you laugh out loud just at the sight of the dogs. On the farm, there are two small indoor dogs, and four huge outdoor guard dogs. You love them all, giggle when they come near you, and have never once acted afraid.
You are afraid of older men with white hair for some reason though. They make you cry on sight.
We have seen lots of animals here - chicks and cows and calves and pigs and piglets. You are entranced by them, and stare intently, watching their every move. We fed rotten tomatoes to some piglets about the size of small dogs, and you were captivated for a long time.
You still smile and giggle frequently. You are ticklish on your ribs, and sometimes neck or tummy. I pretend to bite or snuffle you on your ribs and belly, and you laugh and laugh. Sometimes you laugh out of the blue! You often laugh when I change your diaper; I guess the wipes tickle you too!
You have started saying "muh muh muh" and "ba ba ba" and combinations like mum bu bum muh." It melts my heart.
We are using homeopathics to immunize you. You have competed the measles vaccine, and are starting mumps. It takes six weeks for each immunization, and one year to complete them all.
Every day I look at you and think how could I be so blessed to have you. You are irresistibly cute, cuddly, and cheerful almost all the time. You bring so much joy into the lives of everyone around.
