Baby Bits XV

We’ve got a few new and newly honed skills for Baby Bits!

What E is doing these days:

• waving bye-bye like a pro – he can do the open-and-close wave or the arm-shake wave, at appropriate times;
• extending this skill by combining the arm-wave with his expert finger-point – it ends up looking like he’s scolding you;
• complementing his head-shake with nodding – not quite in context, but people always feel the need to nod back so he’s encouraged;
• stiffening himself to stand when you go to sit him down;
• bouncing and twisting in his exersaucer, especially when there’s music on;
• eating cheerios with record speed (and cranking up the drama when he runs out);
• zerberting parents and other handy people;
• enjoying people’s belly buttons (your finger fits in there!);
• leaning over and cocking his head to the side with a smile, as if he knows “This is how I be so cute that no-one could possibly resist me.”

He still does the army crawl rather than the classic crawl, and has not yet pulled himself up to sitting or standing. Hm. But he’s starting to be interested in things on top of tables, and reaching for them, so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

He does tenaciously climb over the legs of people in his way, and he’ll crawl right through the exersaucer when he’s feeling intrepid. Like a tiny obstacle course.

He has also shown himself capable of crawling with a piece of his stuffed toy train in his mouth, like a dog or a cat – I was both proud and disturbed when I saw him doing this resourceful move.

It seems he has learned something from his Auntie Em putting stuff down the front of his sleeper: today when he was sitting on his potty, he pulled on my shirt to get me to come closer, as he often does – but this time he had a chewy block in his hand and totally went to put it down my neckline. (He missed, but that’s beside the point. He’s got ideas.)

Finally, there were two cool developments today while we were visiting the home of a friend, having brunch with my university housemates.

1. My friend has a big black dog who was very excited to see company. He barked a lot when we arrived, and E, having just woken up from the long drive-nap, was quite upset. His face crumpled despite my soothing, and for the first ten minutes, he would cry afresh every time the dog came near or brushed against his foot. Half an hour later, he was unperturbed when the dog would come by and nose him; by the end of our visit, he would let the dog lick him without a peep – he would just hide his face in his arms so as not to be face-licked. I was fully impressed by both his adaptability and his ingenuity. BABIES: they’re amazing!
2. Lastly, this house has a small step down into the den from the kitchen. E, after a lengthy warm-up, finally crawled up his very first step! It was thrilling to see. 🙂
3. P.S. I’m thinking this post begs the question: is it time for Dilovely to get some more perspective? Is she boring her blaudience with baby anecdotes that are simply too banal?
4. P.P.S. Oh well, I don’t care.