orichalcum (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
orichalcum) wrote2007-05-15 10:36 pm
orichalcum) wrote2007-05-15 10:36 pm
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Baby/Dog Update #22: More Grey Hairs By The Minute
Dear potential future parents,
If you, by chance, should wind up with a quiet and lazy baby, do not complain. Do not worry. They will be fine, and you will have lower adrenalin levels.
Sometime in late December or January, my former roommate MJNH mentioned that her son, then 6 months, was crawling. I was startled and impressed, since that's really early. "Wow, " I said, "You must be so excited and proud."
"Well, I guess so," she said, sounding exhausted and glassy-eyed. I figured she was just trying to downplay his accomplishments in case Mac didn't turn out to be such an advanced crawler.
Oh no. I should have been better warned.
In the past week, Mac has:
1. Figured out that he can lean on one edge and rock the entire changing table back and forth while having his diaper changed, preferably while also trying to open the CD player on the neighboring Bose stereo.
2. Pushed open the edge of his playzone far enough to make a crawlspace out for himself.
3. Tried to get into the bouncer from underneath.
4. When I was outside the room, opened the door. I think, not having been there, that he did this by climbing up the bookcase till he could reach the doorknob. With only one hand, he didn't have enough strength to fully open the door. However, when I then tried to get back in to rescue him, he wedged his hand and foot against and underneath the door to try and push back against me. Finally I got the door open enough to grab his hand and lure him to the side.
5. While being bathed, repeatedly tried to turn the faucet to super-hot. When I prevented that, he stood up in the sink and grabbed a saucepan and tried to whack himself with it.
6. He may also be making proto-words. Yesterday I was feeding him yogurt and asking "More?" And he said, very distinctly, "Muh! Muh!" Also, when reading "Are you my mother?" he echoed that the bird goes "Teet Teet!"
7. Called his great-aunt's phone accidentally.
Eowyn, meanwhile, is being growly towards both of the new babysitters, and has taken to trying to herd Mac to keep him safe. Today, and wow do I wish I had video of this, when Mac was crawling out of the room, she ran after him with a diaper wipe she had grabbed off the table, and proceeded to energetically wipe his (clothed) butt with it. Then she stood over him and played London Bridge with him till she convinced him to turn back into the living room. She takes surprisingly well to Mac's new game of trying to whack everything, including her, with his drumstick. I think it helps that he's also started finally to pet her properly; he puts his flat palm on her head now and pats, rather than his former method of grabbing fur and pulling.
I mean, it's great. He's creative, and versatile, and very mobile, and he'll probably be quite intelligent, if he survives the next two months. Of course, that's presuming I'll be there to see it. And yes, before you ask, we're up-ing the babyproofing. It's just hard to stay one step ahead of the munchkin.
If you, by chance, should wind up with a quiet and lazy baby, do not complain. Do not worry. They will be fine, and you will have lower adrenalin levels.
Sometime in late December or January, my former roommate MJNH mentioned that her son, then 6 months, was crawling. I was startled and impressed, since that's really early. "Wow, " I said, "You must be so excited and proud."
"Well, I guess so," she said, sounding exhausted and glassy-eyed. I figured she was just trying to downplay his accomplishments in case Mac didn't turn out to be such an advanced crawler.
Oh no. I should have been better warned.
In the past week, Mac has:
1. Figured out that he can lean on one edge and rock the entire changing table back and forth while having his diaper changed, preferably while also trying to open the CD player on the neighboring Bose stereo.
2. Pushed open the edge of his playzone far enough to make a crawlspace out for himself.
3. Tried to get into the bouncer from underneath.
4. When I was outside the room, opened the door. I think, not having been there, that he did this by climbing up the bookcase till he could reach the doorknob. With only one hand, he didn't have enough strength to fully open the door. However, when I then tried to get back in to rescue him, he wedged his hand and foot against and underneath the door to try and push back against me. Finally I got the door open enough to grab his hand and lure him to the side.
5. While being bathed, repeatedly tried to turn the faucet to super-hot. When I prevented that, he stood up in the sink and grabbed a saucepan and tried to whack himself with it.
6. He may also be making proto-words. Yesterday I was feeding him yogurt and asking "More?" And he said, very distinctly, "Muh! Muh!" Also, when reading "Are you my mother?" he echoed that the bird goes "Teet Teet!"
7. Called his great-aunt's phone accidentally.
Eowyn, meanwhile, is being growly towards both of the new babysitters, and has taken to trying to herd Mac to keep him safe. Today, and wow do I wish I had video of this, when Mac was crawling out of the room, she ran after him with a diaper wipe she had grabbed off the table, and proceeded to energetically wipe his (clothed) butt with it. Then she stood over him and played London Bridge with him till she convinced him to turn back into the living room. She takes surprisingly well to Mac's new game of trying to whack everything, including her, with his drumstick. I think it helps that he's also started finally to pet her properly; he puts his flat palm on her head now and pats, rather than his former method of grabbing fur and pulling.
I mean, it's great. He's creative, and versatile, and very mobile, and he'll probably be quite intelligent, if he survives the next two months. Of course, that's presuming I'll be there to see it. And yes, before you ask, we're up-ing the babyproofing. It's just hard to stay one step ahead of the munchkin.
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(Am I a terrible person for giggling at the saucepan?)
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On the other hand, get Eowyn trained just a *little* bit more, and maybe you won't have to bother with human babysitters. I mean, the family in Peter Pan seems to have basically done fine...
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We learned the kidlet could climb when he called us down to change his diaper and we discovered him already lying on his changing table. Why yes we switched from a crib to a toddler bed and removed the changing table that very night, why do you ask?
I promise that you will be able to look back at these times and laugh. It may not be tomorrow or the next day but it will happen.
FWIW I think you are doing a great job with both Mac and Eowyn.
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But yeah, I keep muttering to myself, "So creative - and so unhelpful!"
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You do seem to be handling everything as well as or better than humanly possible, though! Go you!
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But thanks for the compliment!
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I think we're getting protowords too. He says "dah dah dah dah" when he's with Bryan, but this changes to "mamamamamamama" when he's trying to grab my face, and last night as Bryan was repeating "Pete" as he pet the dog, he kept saying "eet, eet".
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Yay for proto-words.
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