M Man

In thinking back, it's hard to remember that until they were five months old, M was the more difficult child. He did not want to sleep alone. He wanted to sleep in bed with us, preferably face down. He was in constant motion and got really angry if we tried to do something silly like swaddle him or tuck him in. We were still trying to figure out his sensitive belly, and he was always miserable due to gas or constipation. And he seemed to be slower to catch on to thing, but when he got them, he really mastered the new skill.

But things have really changed. These days, he is a relatively happy, easy-going guy. He keeps himself on a schedule, and if you mess with the schedule, there is hell to pay. But meet his needs, and he does just fine.

I've been so busy writing about the other two, that I haven't had a chance to write about some of the great things M does. He has become the chattier one. His words, said in his own special way, include mom, hi, and yum. He was calling me "eh-mahm," and I was hearing it lots when he was upset. In the last two days, he has started referring to me as "mahhhm" which was his sis's favorite way of calling me as well. He says "hi" whenever Jeff or I walk into the house. We also occasionally hear it when he wakes up for the day or from a nap. And "yum" is one of his favorite words. Anything edible is yum, and the word can be heard frequently when he is in his high chair.

And the boy loves to eat. Over the weekend he figured out how to feed himself Cheerios. This is huge! While L will happily sit in his high chair and chew on a baby spoon or use a couple of spoons as drumsticks, if M is in his high chair, he wants to eat. Due to space limitations, the boys' high chairs are situated directly behind my seat at the table, and I have spent a good part of the last 6 weeks facing backward so I can shovel baby food at the boys in an effort to keep the M man happy. Now he can feed himself for part of the meal.

When meals are over, M tries to take off his own bib. The boys have a few bibs that fasten on the side of the neck rather than at the back. These are designed to make things easier for parents. We're learning that they also make it easier for babies to remove them and should be avoided at all costs on nights when we know he'll end up finger painting with sweet potato and pea purees. Last Sunday I also noticed that after M took off his bib, he tried to unbuckle himself too. While I appreciate the fact that he wants to be independent, he doesn't need to be quite that independent!

All the food he is eating helps fule his motion. After weeks of only moving in revense, on Sunday afternoon he finally started crawling forward. He was supposed to be napping, and I was sorting a huge stack of old bills and documents on the living room floor. Rather than going to sleep while I worked, M screamed until I took him out of his crib. I then put him down to play on the other side of the living room while I sorted. Apparently all those piles of paper were the incentive he needed to finally go forward. He charged at my papers and had lots of fun destroying them. I have to admit, watching him was a lot more fun than organizing bills.

I think my absolute favorite thing about him right now are his kisses. Without us prompting him, he learned to give kisses. Now I get a big, sloppy, open-mouthed baby kiss when I get home from work and when he goes to bed at night. What is there not to love about that?