When It's Love

It's been a while since I've written on my "mom blog" since I've been busy tracking the coronavirus times on my remote blog. I share a lot about my son and my experiences working from home with him there, but it didn't feel like the right place to track all the growing and changing he does, which would be happening whether there was a global pandemic or not. And while I thought 8 months was adorable and 9 months was the most fun interaction yet, 10 months has proven to be especially awesome.

My son's appearance, of course, is becoming slightly less "baby" and slightly more "toddler" as he grows taller, baby fat disappears, and his head becomes covered with even more adorable wavy/curled hair (still as soft and sweet smelling as ever). The fact that he's pulling up to stand and cruise around the furniture all the time now makes him seem even more like a little toddler already! But one of the best things about this new "look" is what he can do with this new body. He's the "fastest crawler in the west" as my mom likes to say. He loves to stand and try to climb. But boy oh boy does he love to dance.

My son has been recognizing songs since forever, calming to his "Remember Me" lullaby from the movie Coco, and to silly YouTube videos in the car. Now, since Hubby has been playing Sammy Hagar's version of the 80s Van Halen power ballad, "When It's Love," Baby loves to crawl toward whatever TV/iPad/phone it's playing on, pull up to a crouch or stand, and begin bopping to the beat. He does this for other songs that inspire him as well--and it's adorable to see his face light up with recognition and his body begin to move and groove.

In addition to Baby's awesome dancing and his awesome sidestep walking as he holds one-handed onto the couch like a new ice skater about to leave the safety of the edge, his body is doing some fantastic things on the inside as well. He's started napping independently (on occasion) and--praise be!--sleeping through the night! I'm currently tracking how many times he's slept without interruption during our work-from-home quarantine period, and as of today (April 14) he's had 13 days sleeping the whole night through (no nursing needed!). Can we officially call that a trend instead of a fluke? I still remember when Baby woke up every 2 hours to eat, so I'm celebrating this as a win.

As much as I'd love to take credit, these skills aren't things we taught our son--they're coming naturally. But there are other skills he seems to be picking up on because we are there. While he doesn't exactly imitate us constantly, Baby has been caught occasionally repeating our actions, whether it's clacking blocks together that I just clapped with or pushing his nose to the horn of a toy car after I just pushed my nose to it. Usually, he will only want the toys (or other objects) that his parents are "playing" with, and seems to find it hilarious when we pretend that any object is a phone (as Hubby puts a toy to his ear Baby giggles and grabs at it as if to say, "that's not a phone, Daddy").

One of the coolest things to see is just how much Baby is learning. He doesn't really sit still to read because he always wants to be on the go, but he's picking up on words just from us talking to him. For example, I discovered that if I say, "Where's Sheepy?" his face will light up and he'll start crawling toward the last place he left his Sheep stuffed animal friend (this is an especially useful distraction when I want him to crawl away from a corner of the house where he doesn't belong). He also recognizes the word "puffs," his Cheerio-sized dissolvable rice snacks. So after he's finished his dinner and starts to fuss, I can usually get him to calm down by simply saying, "Want puffs?" He will instantly smile and anticipate the treat.

Unfortunately, he's also at an age where he now cries if he doesn't get what he wants--like 10 more puffs or Mommy's cell phone. The good news is that he's easily distracted, so it just takes directing him toward another toy or space that suddenly seems fascinating to Mom and Dad in order to get him to stop crying and wanting to play with something else. Still, since we have our phones on us constantly (for taking pictures and keeping in touch with the family during quarantines), Baby naturally wants to have and use what his parents have (we had to give him an old computer mouse with the batteries taken out so he wouldn't break mine!). He's already figured out that he can swipe his hand across a screen to make it move so he wants to keep doing it! Baby just loves discovering things he can do. It makes it harder and harder to spoon feed him purees since he wants to grab the bowl and dunk his hands in to feed himself!

Because of that need, we've not only increased his puffs (which he delightfully picks up off his high chair tray all on his own), but started giving him more food that he can grab. It's hard to know exactly what he will like (he sadly made faces of disgust while eating most Tiny Organics meals) and what won't be too slippery or too much of a choking hazard. So I've started slowly and carefully. Still, he's already worked his way up to eating thick oatmeal with his hands, scrambled egg yolks, peanut butter "cheetos," banana pieces and rice! It also makes it easier for Mom and Dad to have dinner when Baby is feeding himself handful after handful of eggs and rice mixed together. It's also adorable to see him devour an entire (mini) bowl of big people food.

We've encountered so many milestones at this one age, it's hard to remember them all! Tooth number three and four have just now started cutting through. Baby continues to fear his nemesis the vacuum cleaner. And after months of saying "Mum," "Mamamamama," and "Mehmeh, Mom-meh," on April 2, 2020, Baby said his first soft and tentative, "Dada." We caught it on video (and Hubby's reaction to it)--just adorable.

Despite all the anxiety of virus times and extra work involved in working from home while raising a baby without outside help, I'm so happy I don't have to miss a single moment of my baby's babyhood that's happening right now. When it's love keeping our families connected, all we have to do is stay home, enjoy the moments, and, in the words of Van Halen, "feel together."