All About Mommy

Cale decided he was all about Mommy after I had lunch today. He wanted to touch me all the time; I finally put him in his backpack so I could walk around with both hands free. (I did such interesting things as laundry and toy pick-up.) He kept waking up within 2 minutes after I would set this sleeping baby in his crib. I put him in his walker so I could put some dinner on my plate. When I walked past Cale, he changed his cry, and then reached out for me with both arms! (It worked, of course. I was ravenous but it doesn't compare to my baby reaching for me!) Cale's really developing personality and opinions like that. After dinner that I ate on the couch so Cale could nurse while I ate, Daddy held Cale for a little while. This time, he could touch me when he reached for me with both arms, and he pulled my arm in for a great hug.

Cale is learning so many skills. He has been hugging us when we carry him for a while. He's been holding his head up for several months, with better trunk control shortly after. That one's nice because then we can carry him with one arm, and he will hug on and hold himself upright. He's got a good sense of his body too; his feet bounce with each step when I take the stairs, and when I bend over, he adjusts his head and neck while still clinging on with hands and body. Cale has discovered toys, too: some make noise, and he tries to put them all in his mouth. This morning's tummy time was an obvious demonstration of infant swimming, that motion before crawling, so I expect him to start crawling soon too. He has recognized bottles of milk happily for several months, and now he'll get calmer and happier when he sees baby food headed to his high chair. And if it's not baby food that he wants, he's learned how to pull down the neck of my shirt too. Like I said, he's really developing into his own person with a big smile.

Just before lunch, I picked Karston up from preschool. The children were called up, one by one or in small groups, to pick up a treat (looked like watermelon Starburst) and then to return to their seat (on convenient carpet squares). The task was to hold the treat until everyone had one. Karston was one of the first children to pick up his treat as the teacher went around the circle, and of course he had to be reminded that he couldn't eat his treat yet. He minded very quickly! At the end, however, another teacher had to step in quickly to prevent him from having a fit. You see, he had totally forgotten he had a treat! She made him look at his hands, then open his hands, then oh boy a treat! I got to watch that routine without being to hear what his teacher said but I could read his face easily. Daddy said That's my boy! because he also forgets when he has food all too easily.

Oh, and Karston's Zantac is starting to work, we think. He still doesn't snack much, but he kept eating dinner. He started with half of a blueberry Pop Tart, then veered into M&Ms before I could intervene, agreeably switched gears to eat 2 oz of sausage, passed near fried okra, lit into potato chips, and finished off with more M&Ms. If you know Karston, you know that's a remarkable amount of food with a surprising variety. So he seems to be eating better. He still complains about Minty and tries to get out of it, but he also takes it with a lot less fighting now.