Observations of a New Mother and Parent: Round Five

BABY BUN NEEDS A POSSE

Now that Baby Bun is about 9 months old, he is starting to get BORED.

Like seriously, you need to play with him and give him new “toys” to play with and interesting things to do, 24/7, BORED.

I think it’s about this age that most parents should consider sticking them in daycare to interact with other babies.

We aren’t there yet because it costs money and we don’t need to do it, but it would be beneficial for Baby Bun to hang out with other babies and form their own cliques or whatever.

Baby Posse 4 Life.

STICKY FINGERS LIKE A SNAIL

Baby Bun has sticky fingers and hands like a snail.

Everywhere he goes, everything he touches, has a little wet, sweaty film on it.

Like a baby snail. I should rename him to Baby Snail.

BABY BUN LOVES TECHNOLOGY

Anything with blinky lights, in black plastic.. you name it. He loves all of it.

He wants to grab it, touch it, play with it, touch it and put it in his mouth to bite on.

..BUT HE ALSO LIKES BUTTONS

Buttons are his thing now. He likes touching them, feeling the snaps on his onesie or his cloth diaper cover, and playing with buttons.

They should make a button toy for babies. Just a piece of cloth, covered in buttons.

HE LEAVES A TRAIL OF “TOYS” BEHIND HIM

He crawls everywhere and plays with everything, and to find out where he’s been and what he has been doing, you only need to look for the sticky film he secretes off his palms to see what he’s touched, and to look for the trail of toys.

File folders, old plastic plates, large necklaces (so he can’t accidentally swallow any), little cardboard boxes… you name it.

I call it the “trail of Baby”.

SPEAKING OF TOYS, HE DOESN’T HAVE ANY

We have rubber bath toys for him (Mr. Fishy, Mr. Frog and Ms. Duck), but other than that, we haven’t bought him ANY toys.

He seems to love cardboard boxes, plastic clamshells that electronics come in, file folders with little straps on there, my tea strainer, a necklace made out of cloth, the strings / ties on my pants or my robe, and basically anything you DO NOT WANT TO GIVE TO HIM.

This includes wires, cables, your house slippers and anything “off limits”.

HE HATES THE TAPE AND SHREDDER

When you rip tape off packages, he cries. Like straight out CRIES with tears and turns red with fear.

He also hates the shredder with a passion. I can’t shred anything in his presence.

HE LEAVES BABY PUDDLES AROUND THE HOUSE

I didn’t realize I wasn’t folding the cloth diaper around his legs tight enough because he was ..er.. leaving baby puddles all over the place.

Little puddles of pee where he would sit strangely and pee out the side of his diaper.

At first I thought it was drool but then I realized it was a little too much liquid to be drool….

HE HAS STARTED TO UNDERSTAND “NO” AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF IT

We don’t want him in the kitchen, so when he crawls in there or puts a little sticky hand over the line, we say “NO” firmly and he pulls his hand back and stops.

Sometimes he fake cries and opens his eyes to check to see if I am responding.

I don’t respond and he stops crying. Sometimes. This works better when Daddy does it than when I do it. I have no idea why he thinks he can get away with it when it’s me.

Maybe because I’m Mommy and I play with him a lot more and took care of him exclusively for 7 months, whereas Daddy is still a bit of a stranger in that respect.

HE LOVES PINCHING, GRABBING AND SMACKING YOU IN THE FACE

He pinches hard with his fingers, he grabs at my neck skin and smacks me in the face any chance he gets.

He loves using his hand to smack me hard, repeatedly, but he does this to everything not just me. He has an affinity to smack things over and over again with his right hand.

HE HAS STARTED LEARNING HOW TO STROKE / PET THINGS RATHER THAN GRAB AT THEM

He liked grabbing my hair and pulling really tightly. Then I told him “No, Mommy doesn’t like that. Pet gently, like this..” and I took his hand and showed him how to gently pet my hair rather than pull on it.

He stopped, pulled his hand back and then reached forward again, petting this time.

He has started doing this to Daddy too, stroking his hair instead of pulling and grabbing on it.

HE HAS STARTED TO LEARN THAT HE NEEDS TO NAP

When it comes time for him to go to sleep, I have a routine. I go into his room, close the door, rock him onto his side and then pat his butt to get him drowsy, then lay him down and pat his butt to sleep.

The MINUTE he goes into that room, he starts crying if he’s not ready for a nap.

He loses it. Completely loses it.

Just going into the room elicits that reaction because he knows what’s coming.

Sometimes it’s just a diaper change, so he calms down and stays on his back while you change his diaper.

Then when I start to pat his butt to sleep, he calms down. Sometimes he looks back up and reaches up to my mouth or my face.

I usually kiss his hand, kiss his face a few times and then go back to patting his butt. He usually smiles or giggles when I do this, and then he’s content to go back to the act of getting sleepy to go down for a nap.

SPEAKING OF DIAPER CHANGES…

Ever since he started learning “No” meant to stop doing whatever he is doing, he NO LONGER WIGGLES ON THE CHANGING PAD.

I no longer need to strap him down or get frustrated that he’s moving.

He just doesn’t move. I was so amazed, and remain AMAZED that he does this.

He stops moving, he lays on his back and stays still. Even though he starts reaching for things and wants to get off the changing pad, he doesn’t dare move.

He doesn’t roll over any more, he doesn’t shift his butt, and the only thing he does when he’s very tired or cranky is push his body up with his feet while on his back.

He no longer moves, wiggles, and it’s like he’s glued to the changing pad, and I’m so pleased.

Then I tell him that he’s such a great, good baby when I’m done.

WHEN HE IS TIRED OR VERY HUNGRY, HE STARTS CLIMBING ON ME AND WHINING

That’s when I know he’s tired or he’s hungry. He starts whining softly, climbing on me, trying to hold on to me.

He knows I’m going to feed him or get him to nap.

It’s really cute and endearing to have a baby so dependent on you for everything, which means he has a super high level of trust that I will know what he wants and respond to him.

HE STILL NEVER TAKES HIS EYES OFF ME

When Daddy takes him, he’s still staring at me.

When Daddy takes him into the room and closes the door so that I can shower or do other things, sometimes he whines and whines until you distract him and he forgets about me.

When he sees me after not seeing me for a while (and is whining), he stops immediately.

I’m really cherishing all of this because I know as he gets older he will have phases where he won’t want his Mommy any more (at least not publicly), and I want to remember just how he is at this time.

HE IS LIKE A MINIATURE TERMITE THESE DAYS

..he’s teething and chewing on everything.

The other day, he grabbed my sweatpants and started trying to chew on them but ended up biting a chunk of my thigh and surprising me. It also hurt. His teeth are pretty small, and SHARP.

Like a miniature termite shark or something.

He’s started chewing on tables, chairs… my god. Anything goes into his mouth and he just starts biting on it.