Walkin', and After Midnight

Walkin'

Am on call so few posts lately...but must say that on the 16th and 17th November Nolan starting walking long distances- stifflegged, widebased, upright, effective baby locomotion! He gets pretty excited about it and grabs my hand to go around, basically pulls me all over the house, and with support even walks backwards and takes huge steps up the steps- he stops at two and backs down....we have a ".mov" file of him doing one of his first long walks but I don't think I can post it on Blogger, alas. Very sweet and funny - he takes two staggering falls and bounces up with a grin each time to keep coming at the camera.

He also talks a lot- At is light, Ap is apple, Nana is banana (not to be confused with Nainai, night night). He also will repeat clock (ock) and say petabo (peekaboo). He says Dadada, crawls over to Mike, sits on his lap for a minute, then starts mumbling Mamamama and comes over to me- more like running commentary than him addressing us. A bottle is a babo, kind of. He has a thick Baby accent so it's hard to render his words well here. I'll try to pay more attention because it is SO CUTE to hear I want to remember it all. Sentimental? Me?

After Midnight

So, last night I feel asleep w/ Nolan so didn't put him in the crib. He got up at 0430 to go for the baby book on the bedside table, and tried looking at it but the nightlight wasn't bright enough. So, he stood up, flipped the light switch (by the bedside table) and sat down, book upside down, industriously "reading" aloud and pointing at pictures. It was very cute and funny- and he was NOT able to be put to sleep again til after I left for work. As I left he was rubbing his eyes (me too) and looked up at me and said "Nainai". But he could nap, and I had to go in to work!

Yes, we like Patsy Cline tunes. Nolan is very familiar w/ "Walkin after Midnight", as I used to sing it to him when (what else) walking his colicky little person up and down the hallway, after midnight!

Times they are a changin'

Nolan has been having a great visit with Oma and Opa, and we have also benefited from Dad's "handymanity".



New Nolan things:

Arms up for "SOOOO BIG!"

Takes a few steps (up to 4!)unsupported until he remembers he can't walk yet and sits down.

"Reads" for hours- enthusiastic babbling, pointing and page turning.

Sits and is bounced on my knee to the William Tell Overture (aka Lone Ranger theme, da da da, da da da, da da DA DA DA)- and shakes his head from side to side like a wild dancing baby and giggles, until he MUST be very dizzy- then when I stop, catches his breath and urges me to do it again by bouncing and shaking his head....no wonder I am having knee pain.

Eats as much as a a restrained adult. Likes potatoes, and strawberry ice cream (separately). And all forms of meat (carnivorbaby).

Is the only one who has has not demonized me for trimming his babycurls. Yes, they were cute! But? My child will not be mistaken for a girl more than once, unless he BY CHOICE starts dressing to suit his inner feminine side. He looks darn cute with the trim too.

The picture is us reading "the very hungry caterpillar" before bed a week ago. He particularly enjoys putting his finger in all the caterpillar holes. I particularly like reading out the food list on the caterpillar' s Armageddon day of excess and stomacheache. For some reason the cherry pie and sausage just KILL me. So funny.

GTG as my Bunkie needs bath, and we need to address the dishes, and and and....

play group week #2- the first infection

This is NOT Nolan. It is cute. And, it is relevant in a way, you'll get there later.

So, last week, Nolan's first visit at play group (Tues-Thurs, 9-11). He LOVED it. Crawl-galloped around the gym, investigated the toys and babies, it was all good. Yesterday, sniffles. Today, diarrhea. Not too bad- a bit warm to touch, still playing but low key about it. When I came home though, sweetiebug hopped up and down a bit in place as usual, and crawled HALFWAY over to meet me, then put his arms up to be picked up. Clearly not 100%. Evadnie had made sure he drank extra fluids (water and formula) with the excess (horrible) diapers, but I got Nolan to take some Pedialyte. Apple flavor, which was kinda yukky, but he's never had real apple juice (nutritionally bereft empty calories) so thought it was OK. He chugged it back and had a second wind of energy pretty quickly. Babies really don't dissemble when ill- it makes it so much easier to sort out if they feel horrible or halfway decent..

Nolan is funny: with food and fluids, you can try to encourage him to take something but if you push it he gets pretty annoyed (sometimes throwing the food to the floor- temper!)- then if you ignore him or just chat and play a bit he'll pick it up on his own and consume it pretty handily. It's a familial thing- I call it the "'I'LL DECIDE", a la Uncle Roy.

No photos to post but this internet circulated baby in fridge one.... so I'll just chat more....this morning I was thinking about how Nolan loves to move BIG objects- he likes to make a dent in the world, I think- and how lately he's on a helpful streak. This manifests as trying to sweep (broomhandle leverage is poor when you are a sitting 13mo old, but he manages), closing the fridge and cupboard doors for me, and "washing" with a cloth. I have encouraged the fridge closing by clapping and yelling "Yay!!! Good closing honey!" cause otherwise he likes to get into the fridge and check things out. So far this means he gets quite conflicted about the whole refrigerator thing. He starts grabbing the bottles of condiments in the fridge door, then accepts me closing the door- IF he can help, then he beams up at me and we clap together when I yell "yay". Pretty cute.

Thought experiment: the boy is sweet and helpful, but like to do things when HE decides, likes moving big objects, and BTW has no regard to personal comfort (based on his kamikaze behaviours with standing up abruptly and then sitting or bunking his head just as abruptly, and how he'll stay in the bath watching the water drain and resist getting out even when he's getting cold.) A perfect job for him???

My current main contender: Self employed tow truck operator. Perfect!

Nana for breakfast

So, Nolan has always been VERY talky- and for a while now I thought he was associating some sounds with some things (including Dadada, and Mmmmama!). However, as he is Mr. Busy and always moving on to something else it has been difficult to verify what he is saying by getting him to say it again.

Last week, watching the Mozart Baby Einstein, he starting always anticipating some pictures of fruit- and would point and say "Aap" or "Aaat" at the apple and peach (which may look a BIT like an apple...) Then the clincher- "Nana" at the banana, repeated on replay, and then, an offhand, casual "oooooooooo, nana" while turning away to do something else, with Mike holding out a real banana. I'd have to say then that his first FOR SURE with knowledge utterance is "nana".

I think the other stuff counts but he does tend to say things as an aside- almost to himself, while moving on to another bit of babywork. Maybe it's closure and not meant for us?
Re: babywork- he is still very industrious and works VERY HARD especially when attending to important issues in the toy bin or Tupperware cupboard. He actually sticks out his tongue tip when concentrating hard, which is what I think his eventual math homework face will be like.
But, plenty of time for that!