Weight: He's the baby who ate your baby.
Length: Unknown
Every month when I sit down to write this blog I think, how
can Sweet Pea possibly develop more in a single month than he has the past month,
and every month I am amazed. I don’t think I’ve ever been more aware of God’s
genius than watching him grow. Just
like in the womb, he is growing in the exact time and order that he should be
– it is perfection.
Our big development for the month – TEETH! That’s right,
plural! Two teeth on the bottom center popped up the week of May 19th.
It was very exciting and celebrated by all who care for him. And everyone
wanted to see them but the dude was not sharing. He’s apparently pretty private
about such things but since he smiles with his mouth WIDE open, the trick’s on
him.
 |
| The cheeks! |
Food: Sweet Pea’s drinking
about 5 bottles a day, anywhere from 4 to 7 ounces and eating foods twice a
day. I almost killed him by giving him some mushed up real banana. He got it
stuck on the roof of his mouth and did NOT like the taste of it. The baby food
banana isn’t that great either and is one of his least favorites. We are
supposed to be transitioning him to a sippy cup but I’ve neglected bringing
some over to Rachael’s house for him to practice with. The few times I’ve given
him one, he hasn’t quite gotten the hang of sucking on it, though he definitely
knows how to hold it. He also knows how to get us to hold his bottle for him.
When he’s almost at the end of a bottle, he’ll want to sit up. When he sits up,
he has ‘trouble’ holding up the bottle to get the last of the milk out. That’s
when we come in to help him and he promptly takes his hands off the bottle,
puts them on the floor by his feet and sits like a puppy dog nursing. I’m on to
him though. 
Sleep: Sweet Pea is an
incredible sleeper. He goes down between 7:30 and 8:00 pm and usually sleeps
until 6:30 to 7:00 am. Our bedtime routine is a diaper change, pj’s, a story
and a song or I put on the music from his mobile. Then I put him in his crib
with a stash of pacifiers, which he grabs immediately – he filters through them
until he finds the one he wants in his mouth and off to sleep. If he happens to
cry, we know there is something wrong with him – usually teething pain because
he normally doesn’t make a peep until he wakes up. He had a habit of waking up
pretty happy and smiley; he wouldn’t even cry but we’d go in his room and find
him playing with those lovely pacies! Lately, he has been waking up more like
his mom and his dad is hoping it is just a phase. (I feel vindicated however –
he might be a mini-Jess but he’s developing all of my bad habits. Ha!)
Mobility: The dude
desperately wants to walk! He loves standing and bouncing in his door bouncer
and seems disdainful about crawling. He has also learned that mom is the one
that will act as a door bouncer too. He’ll roll over towards me or grab for me
and I’ll think ‘How sweet – he wants his mommy’. Then he’ll use me to hoist
himself up, grab me around the neck and start bouncing his little behind.
Message received. Again, like his mom, he walks (i.e., takes steps that are
balanced heavily on the person holding him) on his toes. And, although it is
completely socially acceptable for a grown woman to walk on her toes, a man
might not have the same dispensation so I hope he grows out of this…around age
40. When will this sexism end?!
Personality: He’s a
pretty happy guy in general. He loves smiling giant, drooly smiles. His latest
trick is giving kisses to those that stick their cheeks in his face. These
kisses will leave you needing a towel to dry off. His day parents have also
been teaching him how to reach out for people. Being the night parents, we
discovered this on a Saturday morning at breakfast when he kept reaching and
tugging on Jess’ arm to be picked up. When Jess realized that the Sweet Pea wanted HIM,
a prouder daddy was never seen. He's also started to recognize strangers and
takes a few minutes to warm up to a new person or one he hasn’t seen in a
while. I know this broke his Emerson grandparents’ hearts when they came up to
visit but he was soon smiling and giving kisses to all.
Sweet Pea, we continue to be so honored and blessed to watch
you grow and learn. All we can do is hang on and watch because you are changing
so much. We went on our first family trip together to Watson, OK. You loved
just sitting outside with us and looking at all the nature around you. You
especially liked the camp fire and had laughing fits when you saw us trying to
fish. And you acclimated so well to the new environment – you are a definitely
a go-with-the-flow kind of guy.
You always want to know what is going on around you and be
part of the action or at least watch the action. Aunt Rachael said that you
will talk and talk trying to get the kids to pay attention to you. You
definitely do that at home! You can’t seem to fathom why we don’t want to hold
you in a standing position constantly and stiffen those chubby legs if we try
to sit you down. You have got so many toys to play with that it is hard to
choose a favorite although the Elmo puppet book that Aunt Mel sent you is
pretty high on that list right now. You are becoming more vocal and can say Da and Di but when we ask you to say those two syllables together, you smile sweetly and stop talking. You are definitely one to do things on your own time and in your own way. Love you, little bug.
