Proud Mama

My little fella has entered the "oh-my-look-at-how-fast-he-is-growing" phase. Aside from rolling over (on his own time, of course), Wesley is now eating rice cereal in addtion to his regular nursing. This had me worried, not because it meant he was growing up and I am in no hurry for that to happen, but because it has always kind of grossed me out to see babies with food smeared all over their faces. But that was before my baby came into the world. Happily, I can say that it doesn't phase me in the slightest to see white, milky rice smeared on his lips, cheeks, chin, nose, and yes, even the forehead. (Of course, I realize there's a BIG difference between white rice and pukey green peas, but whatever.) What makes this feeding so enjoyable is the fact that there are times when Wesley appears to be diving for the spoon, as though he has not been fed in days. He also has tried several times to dive headfirst into the bowl, which explains the nose and forehead food smears. This is a next big milestone step, but not the only one in which he has recently partaken.

Wesley is also almost sitting up entirely on his own. It's one of his favorite positions (the other being standing, which he isn't quite ready to do on his own but it definitely won't be too long before he is). He has even started trying to pull himself into a sitting position using his tummy muscles (ever heard of crunches?). Being the observant, brilliant baby that he is, he wants to sit up (or stand) all the time, I guess for fear of missing something. And sitting in the floor to play with his toys is becoming more and more a favorite of his.

Finally, I believe he will be a singer. Exercising his vocal cords is something he has gotten quite good at. The most recent example of this was last Thursday at Mother Goose time at the library. During the parachute play and song, Wesley, who is still too young to be in the floor with the older kids because he can't stand on his own yet, stood on my lap and crowed through both parachute songs. Not quietly did he partake in this activity but loud and proud. Many of the other mothers found this quite amusing, as did I and Mama, who had come along for the first time. Truth be told, I had never heard my baby sing to the wind as he did that day. With tremors in his arms and stiff little legs, he tried so hard to get in as much play as he good duing the parachute time. It was one of the best moments I have had with my son, for he let it be known that, regardless of age and ability, he could hang in there and sing with the best of them. Now that makes a mama proud!

And we are still waiting for that first tooth to break through. I wonder if Rome took this long to build . . .

Keep Them Babies Rollin'

Okay, so Wesley has rolled over on two different occasions, and I have missed both of them. Grrr.

The first was last Saturday. I was taking the rare opportunity to sleep a little bit and so missed the spectacular event. Charlie proudly informed me that not only had Wesley rolled from his back to his tummy (at 4 1/2 months even!), but that when he realized he was on his tummy (not his favority position), he got mad and promptly pushed himself back onto his back. At first, I was upset; I mean, I'm the mama. I should be the one to witness all milestones as they occur. I'm sure it's written somewhere. Then I realized I would live and that it was better than okay if Charlie witnessed this particular milestone because he would be returning to work in a few weeks and could possibly miss out on the rest of the milestones as they occur. (I'm taking this year off for that very reason.) So I got myself happy for Charlie's sake. It did me no good, for as soon as my back was turned (this was later in the day, mind you), Wesley flipped from his tummy to his back (no doubt in an effort to avoid tummy time) and lay grinning up at me as I feigned joy at this accomplishment, which I had missed yet again.

The second occasion occurred just yesterday at my parents' house. Wesley lay on the floor after having been changed, content to kick and coo at the ceiling fan spinning above. I stepped out of the room to retrieve his diaper bag, for that is where his toys were, and I heard Charlie exclaim half-happily, half-sadly, "Oh, no, Bookie! You have rolled over again!"

Peeking my head around the door, I saw my baby lying proudly on his tummy, giggling. "Poor Mommy," Charlie lamented. "You just don't want her to see it, do you?" Poor Mommy is right. So, of course, we tried the old "Roll him back over and he'll do it again" trick, but Wesley was having none of it. Once on his back, he found the ceiling fan again and nothing but kicks and coos and scooting himself off his changing pad.

Oh, well. I'm bound to see it sooner or later, right? Right. And until then, my one consolation is that he loves nobody better than me ... at least at feeding time! (Ha!)