a future full of bruises

Eddie is a wild one. He has his first official bruise on his forehead from banging around in his crib. I realize that it is the first of many ailments and wonder how I will handle my son getting hurt throughout his life, my precious baby. He has already slammed his mouth on his high chair and has hit his head on the floor several times from tumbling over while sitting, and naturally he starts to cry and yet stops the minute I pick him up and kiss him. Amazing - a mommy's kiss truly has the power to heal. He is growing up. 8 months tomorrow. Here is an update on our wild one:

His attempts at crawling have progressed into a commando type stomach crawl. He can get to anything he desires now. He likes to maneuver himself over to his toy basket in his room and take out his toys one by one. His favorite items right now seem to be his hot air balloon, which used to be his mobile, a shapes puzzle from his Aunt Evie, a small rubber airplane bath toy and his red crab, blue crab. He also really loves books, especially the non-board book books - the board books he bites and sucks on, but the paper pages he likes to scrunch and rip. What is it about ripping paper that seems to thrill him? He loves the different textures of chairs, rugs and floors in general - his new thing is that he goes onto the wood floor and likes to pat and hit it. Sometimes he even puts his mouth to the floor. He also loves straps, like any nylon straps such as those on his changing table (which we have hidden now) and on his high chair. He is really grabbing at anything and everything now. You have to be careful what is within reach because he will try to snatch it. The funniest is on the changing table how he squirms, rolls over and grabs his lotion, wipes, diaper, everything. It has made changing him into a full out process. In the morning when I dress him I place him on the floor and let him play while doing so and sometimes it takes up to 45 minutes to get him fully dressed.

He smiles all the time and shows off his seven big teeth. He smiles at Marty, kisses, cameras, songs, amongst other things. He has started to grind his teeth, which is a pain-wrenching noise and sort of worrisome but I think it is just because he likes the feeling or the sound it makes and hopefully it is just a phase. He doesn't do it in his sleep, thankfully. In the past I wrote that it takes a lot to make Eddie laugh - that you have to earn a laugh. That has changed. Now he laughs a lot more frequently and sometimes even at himself. Tonight after his bath he farted and then laughed at himself - typical boy! Right now the things that make him laugh the most are when his dad takes his toy cars and vroom them over his body, when his dad tosses him in the air or hangs him upside down (ah, boys and their rough-housing) and when his mom does "itsy bitsy spider." He is officially ticklish.

He still flaps his hands around like lobster claws, especially when he is excited and sometimes while he is eating his solids or when he wants to eat. He also seems to find comfort in having his wrist flexed, like when he is up on his hands in crawling position, typically his right wrist will be flexed so that his palm is not on the floor, but rather the back of his hand is (you can see this in the most recent video posted). He sometimes does it with one of his hands while nursing too. The other thing he does with his hands now is bang, pat and hit, as in bang and hit his toys around (and his spoon on his dish), and splash in the bath. He carries this skill over into nursing time too, which is sort of funny because it seems like he is hitting my boob, but of course I know that he is not trying to hurt me. Speaking of hurting me, one question people have asked me is whether he bites me while nursing. It has only happened twice and both times made me sort of jump, but in general, no, he doesn't bite me, thankfully. I have noticed though that I can feel his teeth when he feeds during the middle of the night - it is usually towards the end when he is falling asleep but still trying to stay latched on. It is one reason that I am a tad thankful he is starting to sleep through the night more...although I must admit that the night feedings are a special time, a bonding time that I have thoroughly cherished.

He likes to eat, but he likes to play more...so feeding time often gets interrupted by his playing. He has recently eaten mango, hard cooked egg yolk, apple, celery root, potato, tofu and yogurt. I re-introduced yogurt and mix it with banana and he now likes it. Tofu is a no-go for now. I mix the egg yolk with avocado and he likes it. He really likes avocado and so I think I could mix anything with it and he would eat it. He typically eats 4 meals a day: breakfast is oatmeal with bananas or yogurt with banana or mango; then a veggie like squash or sweet potato or peas with a grain like rice or barley or millet; then another veggie and avocado; then avocado and a fruit. I am excited to start meats, poultry and fish...I am excited to introduce more foods and have more options to feed him. He drinks water with his meals - he drinks out of this silver cup that was mine when I was a baby. I have tried a sippy cup but all he does with it is chew on it and cannot seem to get water out of it...so I tried to drink from it and realized that it is way hard - these new "no spill" sippy cups should be re-named sucky cups because you have to suck so hard to get any water out at all...and hence, they suck.

Our Eddie is still our bomba, sometimes bomby and now I have been calling him tot-ie a lot...not sure why but maybe because he is looking more and more like a tot, a toddler, no longer like a little newborn.