Cognosco

Dear Albie,

This month has been just one big fun month for us. I’m not really sure where to start. For the sake of documentation, I’ll talk about your teeth. As you’ll recall from your last update, your first tooth poked through in early November. Then, there was about a three week pause with no more teeth. On November 25th, you sprouted your top right tooth, followed the next day by your top left tooth. Your second bottom tooth didn’t push through until about a week ago. I’m not exactly sure on the date there, but we’ll just say Dec 13th because it sounds about right. Your top teeth are big teeth with a large gap between them, and it has changed your whole smile. It’s damn cute, but I kind of miss the gummies.

Your main focus this month seems to be on mobility. Early in the month, you spent a lot of time on just getting the hang of standing without holding on to anything. It is amazing that you little baby creatures just have this drive to push yourselves and challenge yourselves to the next step. You would stand at the gate between the dining room and kitchen while I cooked and let go, balance, grab the gate to steady, and repeat. Over and over. Now, you are steady enough on your feet that when I put you down, I put you down standing. Sometimes you just let yourself drop, and sometimes you squat down quite gracefully. More gracefully than I can, actually.

We have an industrial size mop bucket that’s on wheels (though it’s really overkill for this tiny house), and you decided to start playing with it one day. Never fear, I only use vinegar on the floors, so I wasn’t concerned about the chemical hazards of your new toy. I was more worried that when you try to pull up on it, it moves, and that it would surely result in a couple of head bonks. But you were actually quite cautious with it, and so enthralled that I just let it go. A few days into this new obsession, your daddy and I were in the kitchen, and you had pulled up on the mop bucket and were just standing there. Your dad was impressed, and I told him you’d been doing that all the time lately. But then, you took off, using it as a walker, squealing with glee. That thing doesn’t even naturally go in a straight line, so it took some major talent on your part to use it as such. But you did. For the next half an hour, you’d use it to walk until you ran into something, then you’d scream for us to turn you around and you’d take off again. We grabbed the video camera, and I’m so glad we did. You are giggling hysterically and squealing like crazy and it is by far the best footage of you so far. Since then, you’ll use pretty much anything that will roll or that you can push (there have been some really torturous scraping sounds in this house lately) as a walker.

On Dec 9th, you took your first steps—three in a row, even! Since then, you seem to have lost the drive to walk, knowing that crawling gets you where you want to go without falling down. I am fine with this, because it means that there will be less head bonks in the immediate future until you decide you MUST work on walking again.

Let’s talk about food. Because I love food and you love food and I find the whole process of introducing foods and avoiding allergies fascinating. We switched doctors this month, and I started taking you to a naturopath. After speaking with him about diet and allergies and all manner of food things, we’ve really been trying to avoid giving you meat and wheat, both of which you were getting quite a bit of. We’re basically avoiding the “big seven” common allergens (cow dairy, soy, corn, egg whites, wheat, nuts, and fish) in addition to meat and citrus. I asked him what kind of protein to give you, and he suggested goat milk cheese and yogurt. Wow. You love it. You’ll even eat plain yogurt, which is pretty bold for a little dude. And you love lentils and split peas, which is great because I make soup for all of us, and then just puree yours a little bit to make it a little easier on your tummy. You love it. We tried giving you a little citrus, and although you loved it (we can’t peel an orange anywhere near you without you going nuts), it gave you a really red bottom. So, we’ll wait on that a little longer. You like pretty much everything you try (you even love greens!), so there’s no shortage of other foods to feed you.

You’re still nursing, and there’s five predictable sessions per day, with an occasional little sip in between. You nurse when you first wake up, you nurse before your two naps, you nurse before bed (now before your bath so that you go to sleep on your own at night), and then I dream feed you around 10 p.m. I don’t intend to wean you anytime soon, so I expect these sessions will remain pretty predictable for quite some time.

You, as always, have a new range of bizarre sounds this month. Many of them are derivations on gagging or hissing sounds, broken up with a liberal seasoning of inventive squeaks and squeals and screeches. You babble all sorts of things, and I think you might be saying mama and dada, but it’s really hard to tell. You know many signs for things when I use them (milk, more, food, finished), but don’t yet use them yourself. You recently discovered the fun in patting your mouth (or letting me pat it) and making a “wah” sound, like the “Indian” sounds I used to make when I was a kid. You are a joy to listen to, and even when you scream or babble in protest tosome injustice (like getting dressed), I can’t help but laugh.

Your favorite toys right now are your tigger that you sleep with, the rolling popper toy, the rolling chime toy (vintage–$3 at Goodwill), your blocks (the better to throw with), and any kitchen related tools I give you. You also fell in love with the “Bobby” doll that was mine, then my brother’s, then given to you by Mamma. It’s a cloth washable doll with a plastic face and plastic hands and is surprisingly not creepy. It’s now your car traveling buddy.

Your favorite games are peek-a-boo games with cloth, knocking down block structures I’ve built, and falling games on the bed. You will sit yourself up really straight or we’ll stand you up, and you will fling yourself forward onto the bed in face down in what we call an “Albie slam”. Then you giggle hysterically. You especially like to do these after a bath. I know some kids cry to wind down to go to sleep. I think you fling yourself around and giggle hysterically to wind down. As long as it works for you, it works for me. You are also catching on to mimicry games, and I have so much fun playing with you.

We have entered the phase of separation anxiety and stranger anxiety. The separation anxiety was really bad for about a week, but seems to have toned down somewhat. The stranger anxiety is really cute and funny. You are so gregarious, that you can’t help but smile at people…and then you have to quickly bury your head in my shoulder. It is the prototypical “shy baby” routine, and I find it simply darling. Your aunt Amanda and I went shopping last weekend for a gift for your Nanna and Grandpa, and she was holding you. You would smile at her, and when she would smile back, you would bury your head in her shoulder. Which was really cute because she was the one holding you. You have a newfound cuddly streak, and so once you get used to someone, you are more than happy to let them hold you and hug them back. Just ask Leigh.
 

In short, I really enjoy your company, Little Dude. You are, for the most part, a total hoot. And when you’re not, you’re still  awesome.

Things I have learned this month:

• There is no need to buy special toys to assist in mobility development.
• Babies are resourceful little creatures.
• Just when you get used to any phase, it will change.
• Even the most gregarious baby will experience stranger anxiety. He’ll just be damn cute about it.
• Breastfeeding is so much easier and so much more fun with an older baby.
• Pumping is not. My boobs are no longer fooled by that device.
• Babies all develop so differently. Even their tooth order is only moderately predictable.
• There is a world of difference between cow milk and goat milk. Just ask Albie’s tummy.
• Just because your child  was willing to poop on the toilet doesn’t mean it will last (though he’ll still pee there)
• Breastmilk poop = not so smelly; food poop = disgustingly smelly (which leads us to…)
• My next child will be breastfed until s/he is potty trained. I swear it.
• Although having a child is much more challenging than I anticipated, it is also way more fun. 

I love you so much, Albert. I hope you always know.

Love, Mama

I’ve been thinking about holiday traditions a lot this year, probably because I now have someone to pass them along to. When I was growing up, our big holiday tradition was begging our parents to open presents early. We usually succeeded, and got to pick out a couple of different gifts on different nights within the week prior to Christmas that we were allowed to open. It was kind of fun, and I guess most people don’t do that. That’s a tradition that would be kind of fun to pass on, and my parents were crafty enough to not put the good stuff out until Christmas morning (even after we outgrew Santa). We put up the tree every weekend after Thanksgiving. Mom would let us blare the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas music (still love it). We went to my Grandma Mickey’s (a nickname from when she was in high school) house for Christmas dinner every year. My grandpa Judd (who she married after my father’s father died) would give us "weird" gifts like National Geographic magazines. My parents called them "used". I would now call them "recycled". And dammit, I wish I had all those National Geographics now. Another tradition was that my parents would inevitably end up in a fight on Christmas morning. This was really nothing out of the ordinary. They fought all the time, but it just stood out more on Christmas. That’s a tradition I don’t intend to pass on.

None of those traditions were "official" traditions that anyone talked about. I just recognize them now as I look back. My husband’s family, however, has several "official" traditions. He comes from a big family of eleven–six boys and five girls. Apparently, every Christmas eve, they would get to open one present–new pajamas to lounge around in on Christmas morning. My mother-in-law used to make the pajamas, but eventually started buying them . After all, that’s a lot of handmade pajamas! She continues to buy pajamas for all "unmarried or uncohabitating" offspring. This tradition has continued so that her kids now do the same thing for their kids. I’ve already bought Albie’s for this year, and Hyrum and I also buy each other something pajama-related. He bought me a robe last year so I could use it during labor (didn’t happen–I never got in the tub). His family also tells the Christmas story on Christmas eve–they either read it, watch it, or act it out (it varies). I have a hard time keeping a straight face if it’s read or we watch a video about it, but I do enjoy it when the kids act it out. It’s just damn cute.

Another cool tradition they have is that on Christmas morning, everybody lines up outside the living room in order of their age, so that the littlest get to come into the room with the presents first. It makes for great pictures. Many of the kids come home for Christmas, with their kids in tow, so there are A LOT of people there for Christmas. This stands in stark contrast to my family, where the maximum number of people we ever had at grandma’s house for Christmas was ten. With occasional pop-ins from a few others. One year, there were thirty people at my in-laws’ house because all the kids and grandkids were there. Since then, five more grandkids have been born, and there’s another due this February. Being around that many kids on Christmas morning is way too much fun. I’m not Christian, and have struggled for years about the whole Christmas thing. I’ve finally just given in and accepted it as a great time to celebrate family. And nobody celebrates family better than Mormons! This year, almost all (if not all) of the grandkids will be there. I can’t wait to see Albie with his cousins. I only grew up with one, and she was kind of lame…

Somewhere along the way when my husband was a kid they had a family meeting about other traditions they’d like to have for Christmas. So, on Christmas eve, they make pizza. They get premade crusts and lots of different toppings, and then everyone gets to create the pizza they want.  And on Christmas day, rather than having a big dinner, they have a big breakfast. It’s huge. And it works out so well for Hyrum and I because we have breakfast there and then drive up to Prescott Valley to my grandma’s house for dinner.

As for the traditions Hyrum and I would like to start for our family, I’m uncertain. I really want to celebrate Solstice, so that may turn out to be a day that we exchange gifts among ourselves and then go celebrate Christmas with the extended family. The Santa thing complicates everything…Maybe we’ll celebrate all the December holidays! More cheer for everyone.

We do have one tradition so far. Every year, on an unspecified date close to Christmas, we watch "It’s a Wonderful Life". Maybe this will be a movie that we eventually watch on Solistice, even though it’s sort of Christmas themed. Hyrum was talking with his coworkers the other day about favorite Christmas movies, and he was the only one who mentioned this movie. I think that’s so sad. His coworkers are all pretty much in their early twenties, and they thought the movie was "cliche". They failed to realize that all of the "cliche" movies were modeled after that one! But to be honest, I don’t know that I would have appreciated it in my early twenties either. It’s the kind of movie you learn to appreciate after life has kicked you in the crotch a few times and you’ve had to give up on dreams and learn to appreciate new ones. I look forward to seeing it every year. And I cry like a baby during the scene between the pharmacist and young George. And then of course I cry at the end. If you haven’t seen it in years, watch it again. I doubt you will be disappointed.

So, what are the holiday traditions in your family? If you write about them, please comment and leave a link. If you aren’t Christian, do you still celebrate Christmas? If you celebrate Solstice, do you still celebrate Christmas too? Do you do the whole Santa thing? I love hearing about families and their traditions.

This is the funniest breastfeeding related photo I have ever seen.

So, apparently, Tuesday was my very first blog-o-versary. I discovered the blog world when I was looking for info on homebirths. I was led to Jeanette’s blog, and then Leigh’s blog, and MB’s blog. Then I followed their links. And then those folks’ links. That was back when I could stay up until three in the morning without someone being up for the day two hours later.  And then I had the makings of an addiction. So I decided to start one myself. I don’t know how many readers I have. My stats say lots of people come here, but only a handful leave comments, and I don’t understand all of the stats anyway. But at the very least I have a nice record of the last year of my life.

I went back to read the first few posts, and I find it hard to believe that I had ever thought I would willingly have a hospital birth. I look at the belly pictures, and am amazed that that bump is now the monster pulling up on my chair, grabbing at my computer cord, and conducting all sorts of physics experiments (a.k.a. throwing, dropping, and banging things).

I find it hard to believe that there was a time in my life when I didn’t know M and C, my sweet and loving midwife team. It’s even harder to believe that I didn’t know the wonderful mama friends I have made in the last several months as a result of this blog. That alone has made any time I have put into this so worth it.