Oh NO! He's Mobile!

It has been much too long, so now I feel like I need to play catch up. As John said, Ethan started crawling a few weeks ago. It was soooo cute. He would do what we called "the stutter." It involved two quick, little steps forward with his knees, and then his feet would get caught on each other and he'd get stuck for a few seconds. Very slow, but it provided lots of entertainment for us.

Now, of course, Ethan's a pro, and I rarely need to pick him up. He follows me around the house and trys to get into everything. (The only thing that will stop him in his tracks is the vacuum cleaner. Even if it's just sitting there, it freaks him out.) We've had to learn to keep doors shut and get used to stepping over the gate to get to the office. So far he hasn't tried to open cabinets but latches are going on those this weekend, because it's coming.

OH! And just in the last few days, Ethan got the hang of pulling himself up! Now nothing on the couches or endtables is safe from his little hands. And we need to lower his crib before he pitches himself over the rail. Yikes.

So now I spend more time keeping up with Ethan than anything else. At least I'm getting more exercise!

A Tooth!!!

Ethan is so pleasant that when he gets fussy, I know something is wrong. For about a week and a half, he's been cranky, clingy, and picky about what he eats. But really only for me. And he still sleeps well, eats enough, and doesn't have a fever. AAARRGH. I know, it seems like I've been overreacting, but no, something was wrong.

When he wouldn't eat any solids at all, even finger-foods, I finally called the doctor's office. The nurse could not figure out what I was so worried about and insisted that all kids are picky sometimes. Not my Ethan. (I promise he's still half-mine, but his dad's genes are coming through here.)

So today, when Ethan bit my finger and I felt more than gums, I rejoiced! A TOOTH! A TOOTH! That's all it was. And I had expected much more fussiness and chewing on things, so I think he handled it very well. And I'm proud to say that I knew something was wrong.

Shy Boy

Ethan has decided to be shy. He flirts with people and gives them huge smiles while mom or dad are holding him, but if he doesn't have us he just sucks on his hand and watches. And the waterworks start right up when someone else tries to hold him. I was going to say that we don't know where this came from, but that's not true. It came from his parents. (Us? Shy? I bet you don't believe it.) It's true.

So, to combat this, we've been trying to expose Ethan to others more. We go to a playgroup every week with kids his age. He sits and watches while the others take his toys, checking every few seconds to make sure that I am still within reach. I try to move a few feet away every so often so that Ethan knows that he can be OK on his own.

And we left him with a friend while he was awake last week. (We were going to a sealing, so we didn't really have a choice.) It was good for him. He is used to this mom and her little boy b/c we often trade babysitting. But usually when they watch Ethan, he is already in bed for the night. So he cried when we left and apparently whined most of the time (it's the cutest little whine you've ever heard), but went down for his nap easily and woke up just as we came back for him. I'm calling it a success.

OH! And Grandma J. came to visit for a day. She arrived in the evening while Ethan was starting his bedtime routine, so he had a little time to see that we were OK with her in our house. The next morning, Ethan took right to Grandma. When I got up (John gets up with Ethan and I sleep in) they were reading a book on the couch without any crying or whining!

We know that this will probably get worse as he is more aware of the people around him. But we also see that he loves people once he get used to them. So we will try to keep pushing him out of his comfort zone. Little by little, we may get an outgoing little boy! (Or still have a shy one, but we're used to that.)

Bedtime

So I am scared of bedtime. I didn't realize this before, but I haven't put Ethan to bed in quite a while. John does it. We (he) started a new bedtime routine a few weeks ago and I've never done it. Oh, I know the routine, but I don't know if Ethan will be OK with me doing it. I love that John gets to spend that time with Ethan each day (and I know they both love it too), but maybe I need to jump in every once in a while so that it's not such a big deal when John can't be here. If you hadn't already figured it out, John won't be home tonight to put Ethan down. He is going to a seminar for work, so Ethan's bedtime routine falls to me. I take care of the boy all day, and put him down for naps multiple times each day, so why does this scare me?

6 months old and Opinionated

I can't believe that Ethan is 6 months old. It feels like I just barely found out that I was pregnant and now I have this baby that isn't so little anymore. Even though he wasn't small to begin with, I kind of miss the little man that just stared at you, ate, and slept all day. Not that Ethan isn't fun now. He's just more opinionated.

Ethan has now decided that he should be feeding himself. I've been giving him a few cherrios to try to pick up so that I can feed him without the bowl being knocked over and the spoon being grabbed and shoved anywhere but Ethan's mouth. It's funny to watch him with the cherrios. He uses all his fingers and kind of swipes them into his hand. Then he waves his hand around to get rid of the one he picked up so that he can go for another. The first one he managed to pick up he tried to eat, but it stuck on his lip, so he decided that maybe they weren't for eating.

The boy has also decided that a parent should be visible and paying attention to him at all times. We can leave the room, but only if he can see us through the doorway. And he has to make eye contact every 30 seconds or so, or we will hear about it. That goes for when we are playing with him and when we are holding him as well.

And finally, he has decided that toys should not be out of reach. If we are down on the floor playing with him he will try to go for things further out, but if he is playing by himself, all toys need to be in easy reach. We think that this is just another ploy to keep us close by at all times. But this one will be fixed soon enough when he starts crawling. (Yikes!)