 |
| Boy is THAT a Josephine smirk. |
Sean and I recently discussed how the fact that the first 7 months of his life were in NY contributes to feeling disoriented... they were in a place so out-of-sight-out-of-mind that it almost feels like half of his life went missing! I'm all, "But he's only been here 4 months! How can he be turning one already?!?!"
When I really stop to think about the last 12 months, it blows me away and I start to feel like it's been the longest year EVER. Distance, time, space in either dimension... it's weird stuff. Hard to wrap your head around.
Clement's still a snuggle machine, with a strong[ly vocalized] preference for being held and carried. His relative lack of interest in autonomous motion, combined with his separation anxiety, also contribute to making him seem so baby-like still... Not a month shy of being ONE. Of course, I've been accused of spoiling him, so I suppose I have a subconscious desire to see him as a baby still. I do soak up each snuggle and try to memorize the moment, knowing a day will come when he'll be all too independent!
 |
| Dad's birthday's an informal event, right? Pants optional? |
So that has been a good step in the direction of Clement gaining independence.
 |
| Trouble One and Trouble Two momentarily transformed into Cuteness One and Cuteness Two |
He is still napping and sleeping well; nothing new with that part of our routine. He continues to be a good eater. Last week we began giving him goat milk kefir, to see whether it would cause his eczema to flare up. I am accompanying Sean on a trip to Florida soon, and while the kids are with my parents, they'll need to have something to give Clement besides water. Also, since it will just be a week or two shy of his 1 year birthday, I was hoping to wean him so I wouldn't have to pump on our vacation. However, hypoallergenic formula wasn't working (his rash would worsen when we tried it), so the goat milk kefir was my last hope. I am pretty delighted (while still acknowledging that maybe it hasn't built in his system enough to cause a problem yet) that it seems to be working!!! I will be SO thrilled to be off the hook regarding all these endless diet restrictions and the guessing games over eczema flare-ups. So last week, in conjunction with starting to add the kefir to his diet, I dropped his afternoon feeding, and just yesterday, dropped the late morning one. We're down to a nursing session before bed and one upon waking up in the morning, which I should be able to whittle down before Florida.
I admit, despite the annoyance at all the restrictions and guessing and fretting, that I've enjoyed nursing Clement-- he's been more into it than Josephine was. True to much of her independent nature as a baby, by the time she got to about 7 months or so, she seemed to have a take-it-or-leave-it ambivalence when it came to mama's milk. I tended to feel like I was still nursing her out of sheer determination, to tick a box, because it was healthy for her-- even though she didn't really seem to want it. Never thought I'd identify with women who felt guilty for weaning a baby if they'd fed him/her for a year or longer... but here I am, feeling precisely that way. Clement, being far less independent and much more of a mommy-clinger, seems to really like this source of comfort and I feel guilty making him grow up out of it. It actually makes me sad.
I suppose I can always drown my sadness in the rediscovery of cheese, eggs, seafood, nut butter, etc. ;)
Because clearly I'm suffering in the diet department... see next photo...
 |
| Clement: UUUHHhhhh, are we seriously taking a break from eating brisket to look at Dad's iphone? la barbecue |
Not too worried about Clement's lack of crawling. I've read that as long as the baby is making progress in moving places with his body, he's fine. And he is. He can pull up on stuff, and cruise along it both directions now. He's not way fast, but he has certainly improved in strength and balance and endurance. He also does some scooching along on his bottom, usually in circles or backwards, and has perfected a tremendous ratio of reach by leaning without losing his balance. And he loves walking places with people holding his hands.
Occasionally I'll sit him in front of a youtube video of a baby crawling, just to make sure he understands that this is an OPTION -- that this is what he is supposed to be doing!! However, so far the only thing he's learned from these tutorials is how to repeat the word "baby" back to me.
Other words added to his vocabulary since my last update...
"Dipe" sometimes announcing he has a dirty one, sometimes just mimicking me saying diaper as we change it. I heard "that" for a while, pointing at just about everything. Josephine really clung to the word "this" for a long time, so I won't be surprised if he finds a generic word like "that" and does the same thing. Haven't heard it in the last week or so, though. He knows duck ("duh") and will frequently say hi and bye to "duh" when I am hanging up and taking down the window curtain (really a quilt with a duck on it). Sometimes when I'm chatting with him, I ask him questions like, "Hiiii, Clement, did you have a good nap?" to which he seems to know he's supposed to answer and will say "yeh/yay" back. He can also say the word "no" and is PROLIFIC at shaking his head no. (hmmmm... don't know where he got that from... I've even seen him shake his head at Josephine in kind of a parental, tsk-tsk way. Good grief.) "More" has improved, as has his sign for it. "Bah" still indicates pretty much anything he really likes, especially "ball". And he loves holding his brush during diaper changes, and talks to me about the "buh" while he's holding it.
He's finally used my name once, maybe twice, in a non-distressed tone, so that makes me happy. :-) Usually though I'm still his go-to word in moments of panic or heartbreak.
The cutest of all these interactions is the development of his hand wave with his "hi" and his adoration for giving high fives. I love how tickled he gets when you clap your hand against his.
The little tike definitely has me wrapped around his finger. I'm SO grateful to be his mama. There is truly nothing that makes me happier than sitting across from Trouble One and Trouble Two at the lunch table and watching their precious little faces.
 |
| And here's the photo where I sacrifice all personal dignity, exposing two dozen double chins, to demonstrate EXACTLY how big this boy's emotional snuggle cup is. He laid there wide awake forever, quiet as a mouse while I dozed. Played happily afterwards, cup filled. Josephine didn't work this way. But Clement's all "HOLD ME, WOMAN." --No problem, DEAR CHILD. As long as I can sleep while doing so. |
