What We’ve Learned: Week 29
During our trip to Florida, specifically the flight down, I held Henry a lot. I love holding him, especially now that he grabs onto you and will, when tired, put his head on your shoulder, let out a nice, long sigh, and close his eyes. He’s getting bigger — every day he seems to grow another 2 inches and gain another 4 pounds — but he’s also changing so much.
He looks different.
Look at this picture from when he was just six weeks old. (Note, he’s the baby. The other person is our friend Jodi.) Here he has just the least bit of hair (and it’s more red than the blond that is growing in now), his head can fit in Jodi’s hand (not a particularly large hand, either), and his own hands are really small. He looks completely delicate here — almost breakable. (He also looks frightened, but I digress.)
What I’m saying is, here he looks like a baby. A very small, very young baby.
(Side note: I have to say that this was the oddest time in Henry’s life. He wasn’t so small that he was an infant that you would just sit and stare at and marvel the entire day, yet he wasn’t old enough to be a baby that was a little more independent and could play on his own and you could figure out a little more easily what he wanted/needed.)
Now look at him from last week. Is that even the same baby? His cheeks have grown exponentially, his chub is everywhere (those wrists! look at those wrists!), and he’s doing something other than just looking cute (here he’s shoving one of the hat ties into his mouth).
Kristen says that he’s in the middle of another growth spurt, and that may be true, but everything about him has grown. He’s a different baby — and it’s equally really, really exciting and really, really frightening.
I realize that kids grow; I just wish it wasn’t happening so fast.
(How much has Henry grown? On the plane coming back from Florida, one of the flight attendants asked how old Henry was. She was shocked to hear he was only 6 months old. “What are you feeding him?” she asked. “Just me,” Kristen said. The flight attendant looked at me and asked, “What are you feeding her?”)
So other than me wishing that Henry was shrinking, what else have we learned this week?
We learned that Henry has finally accepted the fact that applesauce is not poison. This is a really good thing because as a growing boy (see above) he needs to get something in his stomach. Although he’s still getting all he needs from Kristen, he does have to learn how to eat. The first few attempts at eating (apples, avocado, bananas) were colossal failures (oh, the faces he made), but now he’s turned the corner and is eating with gusto. Well, maybe not gusto, but at least he’s not turning his head and locking his lips when the spoon comes near.
We learned that Henry can laugh. Really laugh. If you “eat” his feet with gusto or apply a hefty helping of raspberries to his stomach, he will laugh up a storm. There’s nothing better than that.
We learned that Henry has graduated from the swaddle. Before, to get him to go to sleep — whether a short nap or going down for the night — we wrapped him in the wonderful Miracle Blanket. A couple of months ago, we tried to get him to sleep without it, but he squirmed too much and was unable to stay asleep longer than a few minutes. But he has grown out of his swaddle (he’s just too long and too strong) and would break out of it with good regularity. So, now he’s graduated to the Sleep Sack, which lets his arms go free but keeps him warm and comfy. Pretty soon he’ll be like his dad, sleeping in his underpants and a t-shirt.
And we learned that spring may actually be coming to Chicago soon. Henry’s been asking about this “sun thing” ever since we returned from Florida. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind seeing it either.
March 13th, 2009 at 6:31 am
Underpants and t-shirt? TMI, Raphe.