G3's Big Week

Thought I would take a moment to highlight a few accomplishments of my little guy from this week. I'm not bragging, I swear, but damn if he didn't suddenly sprout out with all kinds of new stuff. Check this out...

1. On Sunday, he took his first un-encouraged steps alone-7 steps across the Riefer's kitchen. Meaning, he stood up, balanced, and took off all on his own accord. He has been close for awhile, and its possible that spending the weekend with Emily Riefer encouraged him to take the plunge, seeing as she is walking well and also part monkey, judging by her ability to climb onto the kitchen table. Since then he has taken a few more with encouragement, though I haven't seen him take off alone again. I'm sure the day is coming!

2. He's got some smarts! Like every mother, I worry that my baby's not on track. I would see 7 month old babies who could wave bye-bye and say 5 different words, and all G3 would do was clap and go dadadadadadada. But over the last week he has developed two new "tricks." First, he began giving high five like a pro last weekend. It was so funny to see his face register the oh, NOW I get it! They want me to slap their hand! And then they'll all cheer. What fun! He has also started to pat his belly if you ask him "Gabe, where's your belly?" Of course sometimes he pats his chest instead but hey, we can't all be geniuses!

3. His relationship with Mickey is blossoming. Up until very recently their only interest in one another was mealtime. Mickey comes running to the highchair when I put G3 in it, and about halfway through the meal G3 ceremoniously starts winging food on the floor, and laughing hysterically while Mickey (who usually has buttered toast or eggplant stuck on his back without even knowing) scarfs up the handouts. But, a few times in the past couple days I have turned to see G3 sitting beside Mickey with his arm slung over his back, or gently playing with his ears. (Of course, not one of these times did I have the camera handy, and any time I attempt to move from one spot to another both Mickey and G3 leap up and follow me.) Mickey, instead of just getting up and leaving the room every time G3 comes crawling over, has started to stick around for the free petting (that sounded dirty, but you know what I meant.) Granted, Mickey is pretty starved for attention these days, so apparently risking getting your hair pulled out is worth the chance of a few pats from a very small boy.

4. Feeding. This morning, G3 managed to feed himself oatmeal with a spoon. Unlike his previous attempts, he did pretty well! I shared a video below with my mommy board girls, who all have babies G3's age, and I was assured he's ahead of the curve on this one. (Sidenote--video would not upload here...grrr.) I should mention that the next meal after the video involved cottage cheese, and he wasn't quite as successful. Meaning he dumped the bowl onto Mickey and laughed hysterically as the poor dog tried to eat cottage cheese off his own shoulder.

5. Finally, the biggest news...for the first time in 6 months G3 is getting a tooth! In February he got his two bottom teeth in quick succession, and then...nothing. For 6 months. It was one of those things you kind of worry about in the back of your mind--is my baby going to look like a rabbit forever? Will he need false teeth at age 2? So while he is certainly grouchy and in pain, its relieving to know he isn't going to look like he's from the bayou for the rest of his life. Despite the constant whine all day yesterday and today, and the waking-up-at-night-two-nights-in-a-row thing, he's been a trooper. Tonight before bed I loaded him up with Tylonel, a blanket, a bottle, a binky, plopped him in his little chair and put in a video for him, despite my general rule that TV for babies=bad. He looked like he'd died and gone to heaven.

Overall, big week for my little guy. I am still amazed by him every day. Mostly by his consistently pleasant attitude. We should all take a little lesson from him and smile and be cheerful even if you have a sharp jagged bone poking through your gums!