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THE BEST BROTHER EVER
My mom tried to prepare me for David being jealous when the baby came. I told her that David wasn't that kind of kid, but she said that I'd never know. Most kids are jealous, she said. I was skeptical but I stayed quiet.
Now I can officially say she was wrong.  Here's David putting on a puppet show for Nathaniel, just to make sure he wasn't sad.  Nathaniel loved every minute of it.  And here's the puppet-master. And then when he was done putting on the show. He read to his little brother.  Yep, he's the best brother ever. We are so blessed.  AN AFTERNOON WITH DAVID
 Since Jake was out of town, David and I spent the last two days together. The sun is finally coming out here in Palo Alto so, this afternoon, we took a walk around the neighborhood. We had a little conversation on our walk: me: David, you know what? David: You know what? me: No, David when I say 'You know what?' you say 'What?' David: What? me: I love you! (a few seconds pass) me: David, you know what? David: I love you! My boy, he's all about skipping steps and getting right to the point. THIRD BIRTHDAY
 Videos from David's birthday.The first one is really long and has music instead of sound, except for the very end. The second one is a few clips of voice. And here are the photos from the party. Happy Birthday, my wonderful son. CHINA DOLL
 David doesn't like to take naps. He often fights on the way to bed. But, every now and then, he takes these long, peaceful naps. Sometimes they last three hours. After one of these, he wakes up a little disoriented but very happy. He's well rested. Ready to conquer the world. It takes him a good twenty minutes to go back to his usual self. When he's in one of these dazes, I look at him and I can't believe he's my flesh and blood. He's so pure. So beautiful. His white skin is so unblemished. He looks like a real-life china doll. I am filled with so much love for him that I can hardly breathe. I don't know how I got lucky enough to have this extraordinary child, but I am thankful for it every single day. TALKATIVE
So David's finally begun to talk. A lot. He's funny. Today he even
responded when someone asked his name. He then told me "You Mommy, I
David." This is big progress for us. I am so glad to see it happening.
And he's so very entertaining, it's amazing to watch. You can't help but
get caught up in it.
He truly is the best thing I ever did. THE LOVE OF READING
Every night, after we put David in his crib (yes, he is still in a crib
and he will be until he learns to climb out of it!), I read him a book.
Last week, we started reading the Cat in the Hat and it has quickly
become his favorite book. As soon as Jake puts him down, he starts
chanting "Cat, Hat, cat, hat!" until I show up with the book. Then we
both sit down and I read.
Tonight, I switched to another Dr. Seuss book and when we finished he said, "More Cat in Hat" and so we read another and then he said "more" and I said "No more tonight my love, we'll read more tomorrow." I so hope he is like that for the rest of his life. If I am able to pass on my love of reading to David, it will be one of the best presents I could ever give him. UNPROMPTED
I came home early on Thursday due to an appointment and took the time to
take David to MyGym for the free play hour. We were laughing and playing
and just in general having a lot of fun when he ran up to me and hugged
me and said "I Love You." Completely unprompted. Not as a response. Just
cause.
It was one of the best moments of my life. FAKE SNEEZE
And here is the fake sneeze we were actually trying to capture. Isn't he a sweetheart? NERVOUS LAUGHTER
Last week, David was fake sneezing. We thought it was so funny that we decided to videotape it. While going through the footage we took, we saw this little scene where David's trying to pull the broken, green leg of a toy and struggling really hard with it. When Jake laughs at him, David notices that we're noticing him and gives this fantastic nervous laugh. It makes me laugh each time I watch it so I wanted to share it. Maybe you have to be his mom, but even if it's just for my enjoyment, I wanted to preserve this moment. I'll post the actual fake sneezing video next. VOYEURISM
When David stopped waking up every 35 minutes, we made a pact never to
go into his room in the middle of the night and with few exceptions
we've stuck to the rule. Lately, our little boy picked up two
interesting habits that make us wander what he does behind closed doors.
First of all, he randomly wakes up at all hours and shrieks like his eyeballs are being plucked right out. The sounds are so scary that you're convinced he must be bleeding. However, two seconds after I walk in, he's in great humors and pointing to the door and making the enthusiastic sounds of "please let me out so I can play." Secondly, he has managed to master zippers, pants, diapers and any other forms of clothing such that he can go from fully dressed to stark naked within seconds. He loves doing this during naps and in the morning before we even know he's awake. For all we know, he does it in the middle of the night. What we do know is that we come in and he's naked. The bed holds what would usually be so well covered by the diaper. Add to that, the fact that David loves pooping first thing in the morning and you should have a good visual of our morning surprises. To get a better sense of exactly what's going on behind the dark, closed doors, we just bought a baby video monitor. This lets me watch David all night long and it has quickly become my favorite channel. MAKING FACES
The trip to Turkey has been quite the growing experience for David. He's
learned to go up and down staircases. He's learned to play pee-a-boo. He
learned that when you run up and down a room with a metal grate, if you
fall, you hurt yourself pretty badly. He discovered playgrounds and slides.
He's also started to exhibit a lot more toddler behavior. When you don't give him something he wants, he covers his face and turns his back to you. He crunches up his eyebrows and gives you a look that defines "That's not fair!" He stomps his feet. He throws himself on the floor and complains. He has adopted a variety of faces from "Oh, Come On!" to "You're Mean." Despite the recent behavior, he's still pure joy to be with and poses quite well.  SHOW ME, MOMMY
When I was pregnant, I was determined to use Sign Language with David
when he was born. Jake and I went to a book reading on Baby Sign and
I was all gung-ho about it. Somewhere along the line, I was told it's
best not to start until babies are six months old. So I didn't start
right away. By the time he turned six month old, we had serious sleep
problems, we started introducing solids and there was way too much
going on for me to think about Sign Language.
A few months ago, I decided to stop feeling so disappointed in myself and start signing little by little. As opposed to the typical fist signs like "more", "change", and "food," I picked "show me." David often walked into the kitchen and screamed and when I didn't go see, he'd come to the living room and scream until I got up and walked with him back to the kitchen. Each time, he came into the living room, I'd sign "show me" and I walked back with him. He didn't seem to pay much attention, but I kept doing it anyhow. It wasn't out of determination as much as boredom. Gave me something to do on the way to the kitchen and distracted him slightly so he wouldn't scream as much. Two weeks ago, he did the same screaming for something routine but this time he signed. I thought I was hallucinating and he didn't do it again that day. But he did the next day. This time, it was so clear, I was sure he was actually signing it. Over the last week, he has become proficient in signing "show me" and uses it constantly. He also started using "milk" which is a welcome replacement to the previous "let me pull your shirt enough for you to lift it." Signing with David is so much fun. Now, when he wakes up grouchy from his nap, I sign "show me" which makes him stop and think about what's on his mind. Such joy. Now that we've started communicating, I have moved on to "help me", "please" and "thank you." Let's see if we make progress. NO MATTER WHAT
David has a little, yellow fabric cube that we bought when he was
born. It came in a set of four and this yellow one has a duck on one
of its faces. If you press hard on this face, it makes the duck quack
three times. No matter what kind of mood he's in, this sound makes
David laugh out loud.
We should all have such a thing. WAYS IN WHICH HE'S NOTHING LIKE ME
At a swap meet a few weeks ago, I bought David a plastic guitar. It
has buttons on it that play classical or pop music depending on its
mode. David carries this guitar all over the house and puts it down
wherever he rests. He then presses the buttons and dances while the
plastic guitar sings. I have never ever danced in front of this
little boy. I haven't danced in over ten years. There's no way he
observed this. I am wondering if moving to music might be a genetic
or inherent thing. Any ideas?
I used to be a scared, lonely little girl who cried a lot. I hung to my mom's skirt often. David, on the other hand, is an independent and happy little boy. Making him giggle takes two seconds. Last weekend, on the plane to St. Louis, he made friends with the stewardess and ran up and down the aisle to hug her. When she pointed at me and told him to come to me, he ignored me and went back to hugging her. He smiles at everyone, especially girls and women. I am not sure how he can tell the difference but he seems to ignore men for the most part. Maybe it's the makeup or the hair. I am regularly amazed at David's sweet nature. Not that he doesn't have his moments but he's such a joy. If they all turn out like him, maybe having a few more is not such a crazy idea after all. GETTING CLEVER
 Well the
little boy is getting more mischievous by the hour. He now likes to
open drawers that he cannot even see into. He pulls the handle,
reaches into the drawer and just picks an item at random. Whatever
comes his way. He then dutifully brings it to me to show his new
finding.
He is completely obsessed with screwing and unscrewing water bottles. He cannot unscrew them all the way though and once he closes them, he comes to me and whines and whines until I open it back up. Same for the little bowls we feed him from. He can close them but cannot open them. Every day, he finds a new item for me to open so he can close it. Today, during music class, he was very upset that the little bells on a shaker wouldn't come off. He kept brining it to me, thinking I could do it for him. I tried to explain to him that they just don't come off but he wasn't very pleased with my answer. He has also made the correlation between the water bottles we drink from and his sippy cup. If he can't find his cup and he's thirsty, he finds and empty or full water bottle somewhere in the house and brings it to me. I then find his cup and he, happily, drinks in big gulps. Who says babies can't communicate? He has started to sign the sign for milk, but tends to do it at random times, not necessarily correlating with nursing. He does, however, come over throughout the day and try to lift my shirt up so he can have some milk. Getting too clever, David. After several months of no more teeth, one little one left of the middle bottom one is now peeking out. Maybe there's more to come soon. He's completely mastered walking and even walks sideways now. He also has mastered picking up an object by just bending down a bit. He eats at least one meal a day completely on his own (veggie burger + turkey meatballs + peas or some other vegetable and fruits). He's gotten pickier about the food and likes to bang his body back and forth in the seat if I don't listen to him. Mother always wins in the end though and David learns that veggies have to be finished before he can have his grapes. He loves, loves, LOVES grapes and blueberries. And bread. I never give him bread at home so he follows people around for bread whenever we go out. Throughout the day, he comes over to my desk and puts his head on my lap. Just to say he loves me. Still as smiley as ever and funny and sweet. Takes all his toys and comes to sit by my desk to play. I love you, little boy. GENETIC AMALGAMATION
Anyone who's seen David and Jake quickly exclaims that David is an
exact replica and then proceeds to ask whether I'm sure I'm the mom.
David really does look exactly like Jake and given that Jake was the
cutest baby ever, I have no complaints. As he continues to grow, I am
curious which one of our non-physical genes ended up in the little boy.
He's one of the happiest kids I've ever seen. All you have to do to get him to laugh is to laugh in his general vicinity and he breaks into a guffaw. If you follow behind him as he walks around the house, he quickly falls in to a game of chase and starts giggling. Loudly. The joyous and constantly amused personality trait is definitely inherited from Jake as well. I was a very quiet child with lots of sticking to my mom's skirt and crying. Lest you think he hasn't got any of my genes, I was sitting at my table a few days ago when I could no longer see or hear David. My work area is open to the living room and I can often see him playing. When he goes out of sight, I can still hear the conversation between him and the toys. If he disappears for over a minute, I generally call him and he comes back to the living room or kitchen (which is also fully visible from my work area) and laughs at me. On this occasion, he had been completely out of my sight for a minute or two and I couldn't hear him talk at all. I yelled for him and he didn't come back. Worried, I leapt from my chair and ran towards the bedroom thinking he was eating some crazy bathroom stuff he pulled out of the drawers. On my way through the living room, I spotted him right by the bookcases, quietly reading his book (well, maybe not reading but looking through). He looked up at me with a quizzical expression and went back to his reading. That he got from me. ONE WHOLE FINGER Almost a month ago, David turned one. While it was relatively uneventful for him, despite the birthday party we threw on his honor, it was a rather huge deal for me. I always knew I wanted to have children but I never really felt ready to have them. When Jake and I decided to start trying, it was mostly because we knew we both wanted kids and we knew it might be a bad idea to wait much longer in case we had problems. It all happened very quickly and next thing we knew we were actually pregnant. Not that I am complaining but it was sooner than we expected, that's all. I spent the first few months of my pregnancy worrying about the well being of the baby and throwing up. Once I started feeling better, I concentrated fully on worrying about the baby's well-being. I worried about it so much that I barely had enough energy left to worry about the birth. David did me two favors and came out relatively quickly and quite perfect-looking. I spent the last year also worrying. What did I know about being a mother? Was I feeding him enough? Was I eating right? Was he warm enough? Was he too warm? David was and is a perfect child. He eats like a champ, he now sleeps like a champ, he walks around like he's been doing it all his life and he laughs more than I've ever seen anyone laugh. There are no words for the amount of joy he has brought into our lives. Even though it's almost a whole month late, congrats of turning a whole finger, my son, I am so proud of you. |
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