Milestones

I can feel you changing daily. You have two white front teeth making there way out. They are peeking beneath your gums and beginning to poke out the bottom. Your activity level is at an all time high. You play and search the room for objects to pull yourself up. You love standing! You stand up, throw one hand back rodeo style doing a one handed stand, and sometimes you rock yourself back and forth holding onto something like a roudy one in a ruccus. You love to climb Mommy and Daddy when we lay on our sides or are sitting down. You use us as a prop to pull yourself up and wrestle around us making all kinds of noises and giving kisses. This is a big activity at 6am on your early mornings! You seem to know Mommy is MaMa, Daddy is DaDa, and that you are Shadden. You have been talking a lot and making all sorts of different kinds of noises and funny facial expressions. Sometimes we do them together back and forth and crack ourselves up. You also are very intrigued by the mirror and smile and jump to your reflection. We imitate each others facial expressions in the mirror like smiles, sticking out our tongue, and mimic one anothers noises laughing at each other. You also know how to "kiss." You come up and give me big wet ones about a hundred times a day when you choose and you do it when asked for a kiss. You come up grab my face and pull it towards yours and give me a giant open mouth kiss. You can now grab my neck, head, and draw yourself into my chest for a hug resting yourself against me for a few seconds of hugging. You like to do this before I put you down for nap. Sometimes my neck aches after because you are able to pinch and grab strongly. You are still a Mommy's boy always preferring a shared space. You love to be carried in the ergo and will jump up in it looking at my face smiling in excitement then look about you at the passing scene. You are very social and enjoy playing with visitors. You crawl up to our neighbors Jessica and baby Calvin. You like to touch them. You pet Calvin's head and look at him intently. You are smiley and happy all day. You prefer being free to explore and are not the biggest fan of your exersaucer. I can barely get you to sit in there for ten minutes while I attempt to do the dishes. Five or less is usually typical while I quick feed Hero and Duma or prepare my own meal. You like to roam about the house and love to play with Daddy's croc shoes. I removed your newborn seat in your infant tub so you have room to move about. You are a wildcat in the bath splashing and investigating everything. Forget your toys! Right now you enjoy exploring the unfamiliar. Keeping you stationary is a challenge. Diaper changes and nail clippings are done in haste with my best distraction attempts. Your sense of humor and personality are coming out more and more in your playful and carefree disposition.

At night, you have been waking up a tremendous amount. I stopped counting and checking the clock because as your Daddy said on his night off, "this is insane! you do this every night??!?!!" Yes, for the past two months! Singing calms you as well as the outdoors. You pet me so sweetly and gently and softly it feels so nice to have your cute chubby hands against my skin. You like to hold hands and reach for my hand when you are in the carseat in the car and turn your head as far as you can to the drivers seat. It was really nice to have Daddy help put you to bed and wake up with you a few of the dozen times you woke up at night. It's hard, because you cry for him at night, and I know you want me. Sometimes, I go to take over but, we think it is important for you to have someone else besides me occasionally. I feel so bad that it is hard for you to sleep. You wake up and stand up instantly. Right now it is better for me to come as quickly as I can to hold you and not wait to see if you will put yourself back to sleep. I am still nursing you in the night. The pediatrician said I should stop but you are at a sensitive time right now and I don't feel right about it. My gut feeling is that you are going through a light sleeping phase and will return to your normal sleep when your growth settles a bit, your teeth come in, and your mobility becomes more manageable. We'll see... In the mean time, Mommy doesn't really sleep but that is fine. I feel extremely grateful that God daily restores me with energy. I believe God will give me everything I need to take care of you and this is a beautiful truth I witness daily.

Favorite Activities:

-exploring

-socializing

Finger Foods:

-Banana bites

Teething Treats:

-Apple slices

-Carrot sticks

-Frozen Mango (your favorite)

-Frozen Peaches