sweater weather

My favorite season is upon us: fall. As we walked the farmer's market last weekend it was evident: the summer berries have been replaced by autumn squashes. And when we took little Eddie for a walk on Sunday, he wore his first sweater. Other developments and "firsts" are happening too. Just like the weather, little Eddie is changing fast. He started smiling right around his 1 month birthday and now the smiles are becoming even more frequent - the biggest ones, which are accompanied often by an attempt to laugh, come in the morning after a good night's sleep or wildly enough, on the changing table - that which he used to abhor. His eyes are wide open now, taking in the world. Of course he loves to stare at faces but also out the window and at certain walls, in particular where there is contrast between the wall color and the white moldings. The other day he even smiled at the wall which made me think he is already conjuring up imaginary friends. He has discovered his hands more and is opening them from the previously constant clenched fist position. He is trying to suck his thumb and/or whole hand, and we hope he figures it out soon because it will help his ability to self-soothe especially when we try to get him to sleep on his own. Yes, he is still sleeping in our bed with us...he is a good cuddlier and keeps us warm through these cool days and nights. I sort of dread having to graduate him to his own crib in a couple months because it will be during the onset of winter and I could use the extra body heat to stay warm.

The other big first that occurred this week, actually last night to be exact, was his first time with a babysitter, and Eddie III's and my first night out, per se. We attended the fundraiser for Organic School Project, the non-profit I recently worked for. Aunt Evie babysat. I was sorta nervous only because the 6 to 8 p.m. time is little Eddie's fussiest time block of the day - which, by the way, is common for most babies because it is their way of decompressing after a day's worth of stimuli in order to ready them for a night's sleep (I'm now reading Dr. T. Berry Brazelton's "Touchpoints"). But for some reason he was sleepy as we left the house and my sister said he was in and out of sleep for the first hour and then she fed him the bottle and walked him...all went well and I don't think he deterred her from wanting to have kids. I have to admit that it is a very cool feeling to come home to your baby...to reunite and realize that he is your life and not going anywhere. Memories of being a young child and waiting for my parents to come home from going out flooded over me...how my sister and I used to sleep in my parent's bed and wait for them to come home, scratching backs and playing Pac-man with flashlights, and watching my mom put on her make-up and marveling at how beautiful she looked and then noticing that she still had her eye makeup on in the morning...curious to see down the line what memories little Eddie will have...