Mama Tried

8 months

8 months, originally uploaded by hannahcooks.

Today. Look at him, he is ridiculous. I have always said that I really like babies starting at around 8 months, when they really turn on the personality. And that was true with Nathan- I loved him from the start, but 8 months was when I started really liking him. James has been likeable for a while now so we'll see what's next. He is already showing signs that he'll be more to handle than Nathan was- he is very curious and expresses his curiousity by grabbing and pulling. I think he'll be more and more of a handful as he gets to be a toddler. A very cheerful handful.

I made this list this morning and then added a few more:

At 8 months today, James can:
-roll everywhere
-guide the spoon into his mouth
-eat just about anything
-say and sign "more"
-say "all done" (ah duh!)
-punch his fists together
-play peekaboo
-do high fives
-squeal and laugh


James cannot:
-army crawl
-get up on hands and knees and rock
-crawl
-sit unsupported for more than a tiny bit
-hug
-kiss
-pull up to sitting or standing
-bear much weight on his feet (I think because I don't give him enough opportunity to try)
-sleep through the dang night
-use a sippy cup

Unanswerable Questions

It's all questions all the time here. What you doing, Mommy? What that called? What you talking about? And yesterday, "Why not?" Why not indeed.
Today he got me- we were finishing up lunch (and oh, how I love that all three of us can eat the same leftover pasta for lunch now) and I was putting some short ribs in the crock pot for tonight's supper. "What you cooking, Mommy?" I explained that it was for supper. "I have some? Ready now?" I explained that it would take a long time to cook, and that Daddy and I would have it for supper late, after his bedtime.
"How you do that, Mommy? Kitchen closed!" He knows the kitchen closes after his supper and was quite indignant at the thought that we'd eat in a closed kitchen.

So BIG

You put that down now, Mommy., originally uploaded by hannahcooks.

I can't believe he's almost three. He's totally changed the past few weeks, into this crazy independent kid who can think up things to do all by himself and everything. I love it, mostly- "Mommy, let's read a book while we wait for Baby James to wake up!" is like music to my ears. But I did feel bad the other day when I told him there were no more tv tickets and he said, "I crying, Mommy. YOU MAKE ME CRY."

But the good far outweighs the bad at almost three. He has a finely tuned sense of humor- last night we were "talking about our day" ("Mommy, let's talk about our day!" is his constant bathtime request) and I mentioned that we had picked up the playroom. "Mommy! You can't pick up a room!! Our house is not a box!" He laughed for five minutes over that.

He likes to ask if things are a "good idea," too, which I think he gets from me saying "I don't think that's a good idea" when I don't say no outright to something. "Mommy, you go and I stay home with Buster like Good Dog Carl? That good idea?"

Yesterday, though, was my proudest moment. I have told all my mom friends about this mainly to watch them gape in awe, I admit. I was getting Baby James ready for his bath and Nathan went over to a box of too-big clothes I hadn't put in James' dresser yet. And upended the entire box. I must have had some reserve Mom Zen in me because I just said, "Okay, we'll have to clean that up before I put Baby James to bed." Then I gave James his bath and Nathan went back and forth between his room and James' room and the hall and the bathroom, reading books and doing whatever it is almost three year olds do. And when we went back to James' room I looked and he had put all the clothes back in the box. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?

Just the Ticket

I've been struggling with TV time lately- I got it back under control for a while, and then it rained and everyone was sick and the next thing I knew we were watching Clifford constantly.
So last week I got a piece of paper, folded it in thirds, wrote "One Show" on each (since Nathan's call is always, "I watch tv? Is it tv time? Just one more show?") and put them in a basket in the morning. Each time Nathan would ask, I'd say, "Can I have a ticket?" and then when he ran out, I'd say, "Well, you don't have any more tickets, sorry! You have to have a ticket." He totally gets it, and while there are still squabbles (and outright claims that he DOES SO have one more ticket), it has reduced his television time immediately and made the tv-fussing manageable, too. 

the best part of the day

Delighted, originally uploaded by hannahcooks.

After Nathan's nap he always wants Baby James to get in his crib and I read them books and James thinks it is the GREATEST and this is probably the most these two will ever love each other, and it's wonderful.

Nathan is getting SO BIG. He went to tumbling class all by himself today- they took him from Childwatch and brought him back while I was exercising- and he waved to me on the treadmill as he went by and his teacher said he did great. He normally does not do great, and I wonder if it's because I'm there, and I sniffled a little about how big he is getting.

He is always, always asking "What are you talking about, Mommy?" so I called Grammy just to tell her how proud I was of him. After I got off the phone he said, "Who you talk to about Nathan? You talk about how I eat food and it goes down down down?" I had also told Grammy about how earlier in the day he had eaten some crackers and then said, "I want my crackers back! Get them out of my mouth!" and I explained how the crackers go in his mouth and then down his throat and to his tummy, which digests them and sends them to all his body parts that need energ. "Tell me that again, Mommy." He loves any sort of explanation.

He told me when Baby James turns one, Baby James will be a big boy and Nathan will be a baby. "I play baby toys and go to baby class and Baby James go to tumbling class." He also says Buster cannot wear underpants because Buster is NOT a big boy. ("So Buster's still in diapers?" asks Grammy.) 

We heard David Bowie's "Changes" in the car today and Nathan told me I was singing it wrong. "No, Mommy, it's J-J-James!"

I know this is mostly about Nathan with only a picture of James, but Nathan hates posing for pictures these days. James is trying to crawl so hard, and says Mamamama all the time (Nathan: "I say Mamamama too!").