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my little snaggletooth

1:28 pm CST January 15, 2009
Dear Adam,
It's a brand new year, and I've decided to shake things up a bit (because I'm wild and crazy like that). Since my hope is for you to look back on this someday, I've decided to write some of these posts TO you rather than just ABOUT you. I'm hoping it will make me feel less like a crazy person than just writing to the people out there in blog land.
You are changing so fast these days, and we're having a hard time keeping up with you. Now that you're sitting pretty well on your own, you no longer like to lie around anymore. You want to sit up and to be entertained and stimulated. Daddy put up your jumpster a couple of weeks ago, and that, in addition to your exersaucer, keeps you very happy. It keeps us very happy, too, because watching you bounce around in that thing is the funniest thing we've EVER seen. Lucy loves it too, because it puts you right at her eye level, and she can give you kisses all over your face ... which you absolutely love. Nothing makes you squeal with delight as much as your doggie does. And she is SUCH a good doggie -- she is sweet and gentle with you, and I think she loves you as much as you love her. The cat, on the other hand, tries to ignore the fact that you exist....
You've started to really enjoy your toys -- playing with them as well as putting them in your mouth. And you're getting so big and tall! It's almost time for us to move you into the bigger carseat -- if I carry you around much longer in the infant one, I'm going to break an arm. You still don't like it when we put you in your carseat, but once we get you all strapped in, you're fine. You're content playing with Chicky Chicky and Moo Cow, the cute little barn babies that hang down from the carseat handle. You pull on them and shake them when we're in the car, and you love to talk to yourself in the mirror. Whenever we talk back to you, you seem surprised, like you forgot we were there with you. And then you smile that smile of yours and we melt into the leather of our carseats. And when we go to take you out of your carseat, you put your arms up in the air and reach for us, like you're waiting for us to rescue you. Daddy says that's one of his top 5 favorite things about you ... but he's said that about hundreds of other things you do, too.
After months of us blaming your occasional (rare, even) bad moods on teething, you finally made honest parents out of us. Your first tooth broke through about a week and a half ago. We knew it was coming and then one day, I actually felt it. The next day, I could see a tiny little white dot in the middle of your bottom gum. And the next day, it was halfway out, which is where it has remained. I thought I would be sad when you started to get teeth, that I would miss your sweet, silly-looking gummy smile. But now I realize that having a tooth (especially just half of a tooth) is equally silly-looking, and just as sweet. If anything, it might make you even cuter.
We continue to introduce more fruits and vegetables to you, and so far, you haven't complained about any of them. I don't think many babies are picky eaters this young, but I do know some that just don't seem to be all that interested in eating. You, my son, are not one of those babies. You seem to enjoy eating as much as your daddy and I do, and that makes us very happy. Pretty soon it will be time to start some finger foods and some meat. We've tried giving you a sippy cup of water, but so far, you haven't been very interested in it.
You've been babbling and trying different sounds for a while now, but all of a sudden, you're talking up a storm. In fact, you're rarely quiet these days (you get that from me). Your newest sounds are dadada, bababa, mamama and blablabla, and your favorite thing to do is to string them all together. We never get tired of listening to you talk.
You've always been a good sleeper, which is definitely one of your best qualities (you get that from me, too). You used to sleep on your back, and you loved kicking your feet up and playing with them (and eating them) before you fell asleep or after you woke up ... and sometimes you even did it in the middle of the night while your eyes were still closed. These days, though, you turn onto your stomach within about 2 minutes of being put down. This surprised us at first, considering how much you hated tummy time. At first, Daddy was worried about you sleeping on your tummy because it's better for new babies to sleep on their backs. But I told him that you aren't a new baby anymore and that you've proven to us that you can handle sleeping on your tummy. Since you started flipping over, you've also started moving around a lot more in your crib. You pull your knees up under your body and stick your little bottom in the air, and sometimes when we go in to get you in the morning, you've scooted yourself all the way to the end of the crib and your face is up against the rails. Occasionally you even get your legs stuck in-between the rails. You usually try to work it out by yourself, but you never hesitate to let us know when you need our help. Yesterday, Miss Nicolette said that you started trying to scoot around at school. It's makes me so proud and happy to see you reach these milestones, but it also makes me a little sad because time is going so fast and we love you so much just the way you are. (It also makes me a little terrified because we have A LOT of baby-proofing to do!)
We've recently had a few playdates with some of your friends, and it's so cute to watch you watch them. We had your friend Sadie over one afternoon, and after y'all played for a little while, we had fun putting you in cheezy prom poses and taking your pictures. You also went over to Claire's apartment and got to meet her niece Marin. Marin is a few months older than you, and you really liked watching her reach for toys. You even seemed amused when she grabbed the toys that you were playing with (and sucking on). Sharing is very important, and it made me happy to see how calm you were about it (you get that from your daddy). We also went to brunch last weekend with Henry, a new friend of yours from school. Henry is a couple of months younger than you, so he didn't do much more than smile and look cute, but he seemed to enjoy watching you. One day, I walked in to pick you up from school, and there you were, surrounded by Henry, Bobby and Avery. They were all lying around you, and you were propped up in the middle of the circle, feeding yourself a bottle. They were all just watching you, fascinated ... which is how we feel about you every single day.
Love,
Mama