8 Months

Much like last month was all about teeth, this month was definitely mobility-oriented.

1)  I put the baby in his crib while Maya and I were putting away laundry in his dresser, and when I glanced around, I saw him grinning at me over the top of the railing, because he had managed to pull himself into a standing position without any assistance.

2) We had felt that Fuzzy was close to crawling ever since our vacation in California a month ago, and shortly after we got back he started doing a sort-of Army crawl: picture grunts in boot camp forced to crawl under barbed wire while bullets are fired over their heads.  That was our Fuzzy, snaking it along the floor without ever pulling his belly off the ground.

Then, a week before his 8 month birthday, he finally sorted out his arms and legs, and started crawling for real...one leg sort of dragged at an odd angle, giving him a slightly crab-like appearance, but nevertheless, it was real crawling, and he was clearly thrilled with himself.

3) In addition to his mobility breakthroughs, this month featured the aforementioned California vacation over the holidays - Fuzzy got to spend his first Christmas and New Years with various grandparents and great-grandparents, being showered with love and presents...oh, so very many presents.

Being close to family gave perks to The Pit and I too - my mom kindly took over Fuzzy's care and feeding for three days while we went to Tahoe for some skiing.  Well, the The Pit went skiing - I spent the weekend gratefully sleeping in, and also calling my mother three times a day to check on the welfare of the child.

4) It was also a busy month for communication - about halfway through the month, I was puttering around in the kitchen, with Fuzzy entertaining himself in the highchair next to me.  Then he looked up, caught my eye and said "arrrrrgggggggghhhh."  So I made the same guttural growling noise back at him, and he got super happy, and made it at me again.  So we went, back and forth, mutually delighted.  The Pit's first reaction upon witnessing this scene was to ask what was wrong with the baby.  He was quite doubtful when I told him that this was a happy noise, and that we were talking to each other.  However, after this had been going on for several days, I caught the two of them chatting back and forth in the same way.

5)  Unfortunately, argh is the extent of the baby's talking so far - although he has figured out that "no" is an interesting word.  I'm not sure that he's fully grasped the meaning, but he's definitely glommed onto the fact that exciting things happen when "no" is shouted at him in panic.  He'll reach for some random inappropriate object - dad's dirty shoe, the sharp and heavy fireplace poker, a dining room table place-mat with a full glass of milk on it - and we will tell him "no, no, no!"  He will pause in his reaching, look around, see if we are still paying attention, and then reach for the object again, but much more slowly, while also staring at us expectantly, waiting to see what happens next.

7ish Months

The baby is nearly 8 months old, but never fear, the 7 month post has existed as a series of notes to myself for weeks.  We shall not miss a single developmental milestone!  So here it is, late but not forgotten:

1)  The single most important happening of the month was Fuzzy's tooth breakthrough.  On December 8th, we attended my boss's holiday party, where the baby charmed all assembled by sucking on any jewelry,  shiny object, or beer bottled that happened to be offered to him...or even those thoughtlessly waved in his general vicinity.  When one of the ladies he was flirting with tried to disengage him from her necklace, she found a hard little nubbin on his lower gum that had gone unnoticed by his stellar parents.  Or I should say, unnoticed by me - apparently The Pit had spotted it several days before, but didn't think it warranted mentioning.

Anyway, two weeks later, when we arrived in California for our winter vacation, that nubbin had expanded to a full one and a half teeth, which the Fuzz promptly utilized to chomp me while nursing.  I was taken rather aback, and in fact screamed quite loudly both times he did it.  Each time I screamed, his expression progressed from surprised to offended to full-on crying in a matter of seconds.  I gathered him up and apologized for scaring him, but apparently as a behavioral therapy it was quite effective - I haven't been bitten since.

2)  In other mouth-related developments, Fuzz also learned to make two new noises - a sort of clicking sound and a lip smacking noise.  I haven't noticed any pattern with the clicking, but he definitely makes the lip smacking sound after eating, which is particularly humorous when he's just finished nursing from the boob.

3) I think I mentioned previously that Fuzzy likes to be lifted high on our shoulders, where he can survey the room from a different angle.  Well, now that he seems sturdy enough, The Pit has also taken to tossing him up in the air and then catching him under the arms - and judging by the squeals of delight, Fuzz loves this activity very very much.  He's actually too heavy now for me to toss him, so the two of them have a fun father-son bonding game.

4) Another recent game Fuzzy enjoys is hiding under a blanket.  We cover up his face, pretend to lose him, and then either uncover him ourselves, or wait for him to sweep the blanket aside.  Each time he is revealed, Fuzzy smiles hugely, clearly incredibly proud of himself for being found.

5)  In less fun milestones, there's definitely been in an uptick in clinginess and separation anxiety.  As Maya likes to say, "his biggest enemy now is loneliness "  And oh, how quickly does his enemy strike.  Fuzz used to be okay playing in his crib unattended for upwards of 20 or 30 minutes - but starting shortly after his six month birthday, he began having trouble being alone.  After 30 seconds we hear crying, and if somebody does not return to the room to pick him up, the crying quickly escalates to heart-breaking wailing, followed by full-on clawing at his face in tantrum within a minute or two.

And after that one great party outing where he took being handed around the room completely in stride, he also began to exhibit stranger anxiety - which was a wonderful development for our vacation, where we had ever so many volunteers willing to hold him, if only he could be induced to let go of mom or dad.

6 Months

So a funny thing happened around the time the baby turned 6 months old - he somehow transformed into a real person, instead of the adorable but decidedly proto-human he had been.

I think a lot this has to do with his mastery of sitting.  About a week before his 6-month birthday, he started balancing himself in an unsupported sitting position.  Previously he would list to and fro before flopping over to one side.  Now he could keep himself seated, and this opened up a whole new world - he could reach a variety of toys arrayed in front of him, see a room instead of just the ceiling, observe the street from his stroller, and sit up in a high-chair during dinner just like an actual member of the family.

The Pit started taking him down to the carpeted basement for playtime, and we figured out that he knew how to play a version of catch.  It's more roll than throwing, but he totally understands the conventions - when handed his ball he flings it in our general direction, grins, and then patiently waits for it to be returned to his grasp via rolling or light bouncing.  Then the cycle repeats.

He also impressed me the other day by decoding the operation of one of his musical toys - this thing is a triangle of plastic, and when hit or shaken, it plays several seconds of music.  I keep it by his diaper changing station, and used to shake it and then hand to him.  He would fling it about, more or less accidently activating the musical function and always looking both surprised and delighted when it played.  Now I don't need to activate it first - when I give it to him, he clenches it tightly in one hand, and then slaps it with the other.  The music plays, he listens, and then when the music stops he slaps the toy again.

The impressive part is that he started generalizing this to other toys - now when handed an object, the first thing he does is test its musical potential by slapping it in exactly the same way.  Since many of his toys have some sort of rattle or music built in, his new-found technique brings him much satisfaction.

Unfortunately, another thing that is currently bringing Fuzzy satisfaction is flinging said toys off of his high chair and then screaming until they are returned to him....I guess as parents, we win some and then we lose some.

Fortunate Son

The 6 month round-up post is coming, but first I need to relay a conversation I had with my grandmother yesterday.  She had just watched a video I sent of Fuzzy trying and subsequently hating bananas, and her opinion was that the soft plastic baby spoon was to blame.  "I will buy him a silver spoon!" she proclaimed.

Now while its true that I'm feeling quite bourgeoisie these days, what with my live-in nanny and twice monthly house-cleaners, I thought that literally buying the kid a silver spoon might be taking things a bit far...after all, I'm still feeling somewhat guilty for paying a nice Asian lady to paint my toenails two months ago.

Anyway, it turns out that the Russians consider silver spoons the healthiest spoons with which to feed children.  I was all set to mock this as yet another old country superstition on my grandmother's part, and then I did a quick Google search - turns out, I shouldn't make fun of old people willy-nilly.*

Quothe Wikipedia: Beyond their value and aesthetics, silver utensils self-sanitize: silver has antimicrobial properties, due to the oligodynamic effect.

* And not just because I used the term willy-nilly in a real sentence.

The Pit Called This Manipulation

Fuzzy was having an off day - he didn't nap well, he wouldn't eat, and he generally spent most of his time whining.  When he wasn't whining, he was either refusing to be put down, or squirming like he wanted to be dropped.  I was working from home, and it took both Maya and I to manage him and get anything done.

So toward the end of the day, Maya was making dinner and I was holding him on my lap on the couch.  He had finally settled down a little, his head resting on my shoulder.

I put my lips by his ear, and whispered tenderly, "You've been such a booger today...but I love you anyway."

And wouldn't you know it, he whipped his head around, planted a wet smooch right on my cheek, and grinned.

Needless to say, all was forgiven.

25 Weeks

I'm working from home today, and came downstairs after my shower to find Maya and Fuzz happily napping together on the basement floor.  So cute.

Now for the roundup of recent developments:

1) This isn't really a development per se, but I would be remiss if I didn't show off a picture of Fuzzy in his Halloween costume.  The Pit wanted something more manly for our boy, but his first choice of lobster costume was not available in Fuzzy's size on Amazon, so I got to pick my favorite:

Mommy's little bunny he is.  As an aside, thanks to my soon-to-be brother-in-law for the gift of Amazon Prime - we've used it for purchases both significant and trivial recently, but I think the bunny costume wins first place.

2) Last post I mentioned Fuzzy putting his cheek against our chests when tired - in the last few weeks, this behavior has morphed into just plain putting his head down when tired.  No matter what position he's in, he will lean over (twisting uncomfortably if necessary), find any available surface, and plant his little cheek against it.  His parents have predictably dichotomous reactions to this: I find adorable, and The Pit worries that the baby is straining his neck.

3) Fuzzy is also embracing his destiny.  He knows he will be tall one day, and doesn't want to wait for that day to arrive.  In addition to demanding that he be stood on his own two feet, the baby also loves being stood up high on my shoulders.  This is a rather tiring position for mom, but Fuzz delights in it so, surveying all he commands with an air of satisfaction.

4) We've had our first real diaper blow-out.  Astute readers may remember an incident in the hospital when Fuzz was first born, but that was baby poop in comparison to our situation a few days ago.  See, Fuzzy used to be quite the prolific pooper - I would say at least 10-12 times a day in his first month.  This meant that any one incident was relatively manageable.  However, over time he's pooped less and less frequently, and sometime in the last few weeks, he's settled down to a respectable once-a-day schedule that makes all of our lives easier.  Except this past weekend, he skipped a day.

The following morning, The Pit was being a wonderful husband, and agreed to take the baby so I could sleep in...5 minutes later I heard him frantically yelling my name.  I rolled out of bed and rushed downstairs to find him at the changing table, restraining Fuzzy from flailing his legs in a diaper that had clearly been outmatched - poop was coming out of the bottom of the leg holes, out of the top on his back, and out of the front to cover his stomach.  The onesie was covered, the pajama pants were stained, and thank god we had put Fuzz in a sleep sack, or the sheets would have needed changing too.  And since we've been feeding the baby rice cereal for the past few weeks, this poop smelled...adult.  After I washed the baby in the sink and The Pitt took all the soiled clothing to the laundry room, the nursery still reeked, and required a good airing-out before we could breath comfortably.  So there's that - a rite of parenthood, accomplished.

5 Months

The baby turned 5 months, and we celebrated by a return to the doctor's office - at his 4 month check-up, Fuzz weighed in at a whopping 10th percentile, and the pediatrician wanted to see if he was getting any fatter.  Turns out, not so much, so rice cereal, here we come.

Despite his less than stellar weight gain, Fuzzy has been doing all sorts of interesting things recently:

1)  He's ambitious - although he hasn't yet mastered sitting, or even rolling over (several times he's gotten me up at night because he flipped onto his stomach and got stuck), he's already aching to stand.  We used to do this move where we would have him grab onto our hands with both of his as he was laying down, and then we would pull him into a sitting position.  Now he goes straight through the sitting pose, folds his feet under him, and rolls to a stand, all the while looking very proud of himself.  He also likes to be held under the armpits, and then he plants his feet on any available hard surface, straightens his legs, and grins.

2) And while he can't sit up by himself yet, he has gotten better at sitting - he's great in his Bumbo chair and in the ExerSaucer, and we had to move his bouncer to a new setting to accommodate his desires to sit up instead of leaning back.  Here he is, thinking about how to get out of the Bumbo and stand up.

3) Halfway through his 4th month, Fuzz slept through the night.  It happened to be the one night when I was getting sick, so while my first reaction was shock and joy, my second reaction was concern that he was getting sick too.  Fortunately, he did not succumb to the same pestilence that The Pit and I had, but unfortunately,  he has not yet repeated that long stretch of sleep.

4) Despite his lack of weight gain, the baby is now consuming four ounces of milk when Maya gives him the bottle.  This is about double what he ate two months ago, so those calories are presumably getting used up growing him taller, rather than fatter.  He's somewhere around the 80th percentile in height, so it looks like he'll be tall and slim like papa.

5) In preparation for Halloween, The Pit carved a pumpkin.  My mom and I gave Fuzz one of the cut-out eyes to play with, and of course he shoved the whole thing into his mouth.  This was all well and good, until he got it stuck - it was way too big to go down his throat, but exactly the right shape to get wedged between his chipmunk cheeks.  The Pit had to come to the rescue, and chastised my mother and I "for almost killing the baby."

6) After he finishes nursing and falls asleep, Fuzz continues to sort of roll the milk around in his mouth, and assumes a purse-lipped expression which strongly reminds me of my grandfather.  It's like he's thinking something isn't quite up to par, but he's not entirely sure what the problem is.  You would think this would annoy the person providing Fuzzy with perfectly good milk, but the fact that I have a dubious baby delights me - the Peachy genes are strong within this one!  The following picture does not show this expression, but does demonstrate Fuzzy' growing resemblance to his mama:  

7) Fuzzy's head previously fit perfectly in the hollow of my neck when I rocked him to sleep, but he's gotten too big to fit comfortably there - plus he now has a tendency to grab and try to eat my hair.  However, he's come up with a new and adorable position from which to rest.  When he's tired these days, he'll bend over, lean his cheek against the chest of whoever is holding him, and quietly observe the world.  I haven't managed to get a picture of this, but since my last report of his kissing, I snagged several shots, which you can enjoy below:

4 Months

Well, the baby is a one third of the way through his first year:

The most of adorable of new developments is Fuzzy's smooching.  At first when I brought him up to my face and he planted his lips on my cheeks, I assumed he wanted to nurse. But over the last few days, I've become convinced that he's actually trying to imitate kissing - he doesn't suckle like he's hungry, but instead grabs my nose or hair with his little fists, pulls me close, opens his mouth and slobbers a little on my cheek, then pulls away and giggles, waiting for a return kiss from me.  When I oblige, he smiles hugely, and then opens his arms to pull me close again and repeat the procedure.  It is literally the cutest thing, even if it involves rather more saliva than I'm used to with a peck on the cheeks.

In addition to his new display of affection, Fuzz has finally found his thumb.  For weeks now he's been cramming his whole hand in his mouth, to the point where he gagged himself on his own fingers.  But this week, he figured out that the thumb is the way to go - all the satisfaction of sucking, with none of the choking and coughing.

He's also just generally better at physical coordination - when I hold him under the armpits and stand him up on my lap, he balances much better, presses his little feet into my legs, and reaches for me with both hands.  He's also taken to holding his arms up when we approach him in the crib or playpen - I'm not 100% sure, but I think he's asking to be picked up.  And really, who could resist this face?  Nobody, that's who.

As can be seen in the picture above, the weather has finally turned cool enough for us to put Fuzz in his adorable tiny jackets - somehow, with a hood on him, he looks like much more of a Russian baby.  This is especially true when said tiny jacket is buttoned up, like so:

14 Weeks

Fuzzy had a momentous 14th week of life.

1)  His new nanny - we'll call her Maya - started work this week, and lo, it turns out she is a miracle worker.  On her very first day, she and my mother managed to distract Fuzzy long enough for him to consume half an ounce of milk from a bottle.  Granted, this whole process took almost an hour, required two grown women, two musical toys, an exercise ball, and a plethora of distracting tinkling, squeaking, and rattling objects - but still!  Definite progress from no bottle at all.

2)  Fuzz also showed some motor development progression, as he flipped from his back to his stomach in a fit of pique.  This was during a middle-of-the-night feeding and diaper changing, so I was the only witness, and so far he hasn't repeated this trick for anyone else.  I'm pretty certain it happened though, and wasn't just a sleepless hallucination on my part.

3)  Finally, the baby has finally discovered his feet.  He's certainly seen them before, and even stared for lengthy periods of time, but this week he figured out that those things at the bottom of his body can be fun toys.  He now grabs them when laying down and purposefully splashes with them in the tub.  This discovery is a mixed blessing for us adults - on the one hand, he has a good object of distraction when no toys are available.  On the other hand, diaper changing is significantly harder now, as he resembles nothing so much as rolly-polly bug who refuses to straighten out.

3 Months

Between his twelfth and thirteenth week, the Fuzz has developed some new tricks:

1)  Blowing bubbles.  Whereas he used to communicate in several adorable coos, this new milestone means that Fuzzy basically now stares at us while gurgling and drooling excessively.  His squeals have gotten higher pitched too, and he somehow manages to convey both whining and demanding tones, especially when he's hungry.  The Pit and I decided his new conversational language resembles nothing so much as pterodactyl cries.  If chatting with the baby were plotted against our enjoyment, I would say this week brought a definite dip.

2)  Playing peek-a-boo. To make up for talking through a mouth full of spit, on his three-month birthday Fuzzy showed my mom and I something totally new.  I was holding him in the crook of my arm with my mom sitting next to us, and Fuzzy decided he would play a game.  He turned to my mom, gave her a big grin, watched her attentively for a second, and then turned his head to hide in my arm.  He let a few seconds go by, and then he flipped over to my mom again with a delighted look on his face.  He did this over and over and over again, clearly showing off how good he was at concealment.  My mom tried doing peek-a-boo back by hiding her face in her hands, but Fuzzy was clearly more interested in hiding than seeking.

3)  Rolling over.  Fuzzy has generally been more cranky this week, which means his usual response to tummy time was an indignant wail.  However, we did manage to get him to lay on his stomach a few times, and were  rewarded with the baby suddenly rolling over onto his back.  At last count, he had done this four times with a completely nonchalant air, looking at us with vague confusion when we erupted into cheers and clapping.  He hasn't rolled over from his back to his stomach yet, but has gotten all the way to his side while reaching for a toy.

4) Not sleeping.  As mentioned above, this has not been Fuzzy's finest week.  The last two days in particular have been brutal, with demands to be fed every two hours, and sudden hunger pangs that bring him screaming out of sound sleep and groping for a boob without ever opening his eyes.  I would say the following picture really summarizes all of our feelings about the situation: