To Catch a Monkey

Have you ever heard the analogy of a monkey and a trap. It goes something like this: in order to catch a monkey, you need to simply place some food in trap that easily allows an open hand in and out, but not a closed fist. The monkey will clutch onto the food and refuse to let go, allowing you to simply catch the monkey with his hand caught in the trap. I can’t remember what moral goes with the story. It’s not important for tonight’s purposes.

Here’s my little monkey.

Eventually he just tried the old fashioned way.

And yes, those are cargo shorts on my little boy. Where is my baby??

Manners

Although Miles usually eats his dinner before Chris and I do (it’s easiest to feed him in the kitchen while I’m making dinner), we try to put him at the table with us while we eat so that we can introduce him to social eating.  A couple of nights ago, we put some rice in front of him (which he was totally uninterested in), and this is what he did.

We thought it was so cute that we took a few pictures and let him do it again the next night. That is until he pushed back so hard that his chair nearly fell backward.

Now we just let him crawl around on the floor while we eat. It’s just easier that way. Even though it means we’ll be missing out on this face:

Kissing

This little man has been working really hard on a new skill.

And I have been the fortunate (?) guinea pig. He loves getting kisses but is now really excited to start reciprocating. The unfortunate part is that he doesn’t quite understand the process.

First, he missed the mouth and went straight for the nose. But at least his eyes were closed.

Then he went for the “kiss and tell” approach. “Look, Dad, I’m kissing.”

And then he went for the kill shot but really ended up eating my face.

In the course of a few minutes, he managed to pull out all of the bad moves that we have all experienced in our past lives. Am I right?

He’s so vain

For those of you that check this blog on some sort of reader, you will notice that this is a new post but not a new post at the same time. For those of you who just come over to my blog every once in a while, you probably won’t see this at all. Why? Because I figured out how to post-date my entries! So even though it is really June, according to my blog, it’s only March 1st.

Mostly I am finally getting around to uploading videos that have been sitting on our camera for months now. And even though Miles has changed significantly since this video was taken, I couldn’t help but post it.

Miles: 10 months

 

It must be his new found mobility, but it seems like Miles is more of a little boy and less of a little baby these days. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited that he is growing up, but part of me will miss the tiny baby stage. I guess this is why women have more babies. And I guess if I got pregnant now, I would have another baby when this one is just under 2.  But let’s NOT talk about that.

Let’s talk about how great Miles is. This is his blog update after all.

I bought a calendar before Miles was born that allows you to write in your own months and dates that has places for monthly baby pictures, weight, height, etc. and stickers with all sorts of milestones on them. Until yesterday, that calendar was still showing September. It’s unfortunate that all of his major milestones have fallen in these last few months.

And this last month has been a biggie. Crawling.

A lot of other babies we know, babies that are younger than Miles, have started crawling in the last two months or so. I wasn’t worried because he was still on track for his age, but part of me was ready for it to happen. Mostly because he was spending so much time crying in frustration and waiting for someone to come pick him up. Of course part of me never wanted this to happen because I started to think about all of the baby proofing that needs to happen (but still hasn’t because I can’t decide what to do).

It’s amazing how quickly he figured out that he can get to wherever he wants to be. I’ll put him down in front of the couch and then walk to the kitchen, and before I know it, he is right behind me. Or in the dog bowl. Or the shoe basket. Or trying to put every cord plugged into an outlet into his mouth. Or, better yet, unplug the airwick incense thingy and put it in his mouth. This morning I put together a stand for the dog dishes so that it would be off of the floor, but within two minutes, the cat had pulled it over, spilling its content on the kitchen floor. And if a cat can do that, so can a baby. So that got re-packed to be returned to Petsmart and possibly exchanged for something sturdier.

Miles has also discovered his voice. He’s been babbling for quite some time now, but it’s been in the last few weeks that he’s decided that it’s really fun to screech at the top of his lungs. He does this most while riding in his car seat because there is a handsome baby to talk to in his mirror. He’s yet to discover how loud his voice is while at church. Let’s cross out fingers that doesn’t happen for a while longer.

Church. Not sure why we even bother to go because I don’t hear much of what’s said these days. Miles doesn't enjoy sitting still as well as he used to, especially now that he is crawling. We spend a lot of time trading back and forth wandering the hallways. Not sure if we’ll let him crawl and play out there because I don’t know if he knows it yet, but eventually he’ll figure out that the hallway in much cooler than the chapel. Sundays that Chris isn’t at church are especially enjoyable, but such is life.

I get weekly emails from BabyCenter that tell me what “should” be happening with my baby at each stage of his growth. Each update ends with a section that says, “Remember, each baby is an individual,” meaning, don’t freak out if your baby is just barely crawling but we’ve been sending you updates for TWO MONTHS about his new-found skills of crawling, cruising, and walking. Anyway, this week’s update is about his language development, and that he understands a lot of what we’re saying and may be able to start communicating with his “words.” At the bottom of the update, there are two comments from mother’s of 10-month-olds that claim their children are saying “mama, “dada,” “dog,” etc. REALLY? Because all Miles says is, oh wait, nothing. He can make the m, d, and th sounds, but I’m not sure he is forming words, especially because he says the same things over and over again, no matter who or what are in the room with him. Am I supposed to be doing something differently?

I’m still making my own baby food (mostly). Now that he eats more and more, I find it harder to keep up, so I buy some jars to keep in the pantry. He is starting to get frustrated while I am spoon feeding him pureed food because he wants so badly to hold the spoon himself. No way is that going to happen any time soon. I do enough laundry as it is. So I’ve started giving him another spoon to play with in between bites. Aside from the pureed meats, lentils, veggies, and fruit, he is also eating more finger foods. This past month I’ve started giving him little pieces of cheese and cooked peas or carrots, and black beans. He also gets to eat little pieces of whatever we have as well.

And as for sleep, he’s really good at it. He is mostly sleeping through the night (7-7) and taking two naps with the AM nap being at least an hour and the PM nap mostly 2-3 hours. I know, I’m lucky.

I’m already thinking about his birthday party. It’s not going to be big (we don’t have  big enough house for lots of people), but I’m excited to have a party. I’m not sure what the theme will be, but I’m more of the philosophy that the party shouldn’t be a huge deal because then I’ve set a high bar that I’ll have to live up to each time and with each kid. I’m all about low expectations here.