life with a new baby
Posts tagged lessons
Tester of Boundaries
Mar 2nd
Nathan definitely has a stubborn streak in him (I have NO IDEA WHERE HE GETS THAT. Cough, cough). After all, any baby who HOLDS IN HIS POOP is pretty damn stubborn. Nathan gets it in his head what he wants to do and nothing, I mean nothing, will change his mind.
He’s decided that he’s going to figure out some way to touch all the things I say he can’t touch, which includes the entertainment center. When he crawls up to it, I always say Don’t touch that, Nathan. At first, he would touch it anyway, resulting in him being moved to another place in the living room. So then he got to where when I would say Don’t touch, he would plop down on his bottom and stare sadly at the off-limits item for a few minutes before he would forget and try to touch it again.
But now, my little guy is trying to outwit me.
Now, he KNOWS what is off limits. So now, instead of directly touching something he knows he’s not supposed to, he’ll get his index finger as close to it as he can WITHOUT ACTUALLY TOUCHING IT. For instance, he knows everything on the entertainment center is off limits, but he tries to test me by putting his finger A HAIR AWAY from the off-limits object, like the DVD player or the DVR. He won’t actually touch it, but it will be MILLIMETERS from actual contact.
FREAKING MILLIMETERS, GUYS. So close that at first glace, it looks like he’s actually touching it.
Yes, he still gets reprimanded for it. I tell him if he can’t actually touch an object, he can’t FAKE TOUCH IT, EITHER.
So then, once he figured out that he can’t FAKE TOUCH what’s off limits, he started touching them WITH OTHER OBJECTS. I’m sure he’s thinking, well, I’M not touching it… my (toy, stuffed animal, etc) is touching it. So he’ll take one of his toys and will use it to touch the items that he’s not allowed to touch. Like his toys are becoming his FINGER PROXIES.
AND HE WILL LOOK RIGHT AT ME WHILE HE’S DOING IT.
As if to say, Look mom! I’m not touching! I can’t get in trouble if I’m not physically touching it!
Yeah, Nathan. You can’t do that either, my mischievous little guy. You cannot make your toys into proxies on your behalf, son.
He’s definitely in the Boundary Testing Phase. He knows, KNOWS, that he’s not allowed to touch certain things, and yet he tries to find loopholes in the rules, looking for other ways he can touch said object. Or trying to see just how close I will let him get to touching it.
I have my hands full with this little guy.
Mommy Brain
Feb 25th
They call it Mommy Brain.
It happens once you have a baby. Something happens to your brain. I don’t know if the lack of sleep mixed with raging hormones causes the brain to… oh I don’t know, EAT ITSELF… or what, but something happens and you start to do things.
Weird things.
Nonsensical things.
BIZARRE things.
Like leaving the house with mascara on only one eye. (ONE EYE!) Or losing your keys and later discovering them in the freezer. Or putting the milk in the cabinet instead of the refrigerator.
Yes, I have done all of those.
Well, I totally have a case of Mommy Brain since Nathan was born. Have you ever heard the saying so-and-so would forget her head if it wasn’t attached?
Well, guys. I AM SO-AND-SO.
I am THAT person who would totally forget her head. Thank GOD they aren’t detachable, right?
I mentioned before that my OCD has malfunctioned. Yes, I used to be that person who always had everything all nice and neat and perfect. Everything was exactly where it should be. Things didn’t get misplaced all too often.
But now, Mommy Brain has taken over. Ever since Nathan was born, I’ve been so very forgetful and… I think you could even say SCATTERBRAINED.
Just the other day, my husband made a pot of coffee. Now, I love coffee even though I rarely drink it. Paul makes a his own blend at the store, and let me tell you, it is FABULOUS with some whipped cream and chocolate syrup. WATCH OUT, STARBUCKS.
So anyway, Paul made coffee the other day and it smelled so good that I could have eaten the AIR. I raced to the kitchen and poured myself a generous cup of coffee, complete with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. I retreated into the living room to enjoy my treat when Paul was all like, baby, what’d you do with the pot of coffee? And I was like, it’s right there in the COFFEE MAKER, duh (complete with a know-it-all lilt.) He was like, no it’s not- oh wait. There it is, on the stove eye. THE STOVE EYE. You put the coffee on the STOVE EYE.
I’m sure, my friends, I will have many more of these stories to come.
He Did It!!!
Feb 16th
Well, as you know, Nathan’s been diligently learning how to crawl. In this post, I talked about how Nathan moved about by mostly rolling all over the room and crawling backwards, then he figured out how to move forward in a crawling/shimmying/lurching motion (click here to see the video). And you can read about the first time he took his first actual ”Crawling Steps” by clicking here. And now? In just the span of a few short days, he’s started crawling with his belly off the floor.
FORWARDS!
There’s been a couple time’s he’s scooted backwards, but it’s mostly when I use The Deep Voice to tell him “Not for Nathan” when he reaches out to touch the entertainment center. You know the voice. The voice that says You’re about to get into Deep Trouble, Mister. Only I don’t have a deep voice, so when I use it, it sounds more like I’m gargling with gravel.
So when I use The Deep Voice with Nathan, his outstretched hand will stop its reach in midair, hovering uncertainly. His fingers will twitch with anticipation. He wants to touch what is Off Limits so bad. Really, really bad. But he’ll turn around, hand still outstretched towards the Forbidden Loot, and he’ll look at me uncertainly. “Don’t touch that, Nathan,” I’ll say. Then he’ll scoot backwards, plop down on his bottom, and stare forlornly at the object.
So that’s about the only time he really crawls backwards now. He prefers to be up on all fours and since he’s just learned how to do it, so he doesn’t have the speed just yet. And sometimes he gets a bit wobbly. And guess what else? I GOT A VIDEO OF IT!
Inquisitive Chompers
Feb 8th
So the other day, I talked about Nathan and his mobility.
I like that he’s getting himself around now, but at the same time, his mobility has presented me with new stressors. I constantly have to keep an eye on him because he gets into anything and everything. I just say, “Not for Nathan” and will redirect him to another toy or activity. But sometimes, he evades my watchful eye.
Once, I looked down, and he had somehow managed to find a GIANT, MAN-EATING BALL OF LINT AND HAIR. My hair. And the cats’ hair. And my hair is long, so this giant lint-ball had wisps of long hair floating out from it along with stiff strands of cat fur poking out from every angle.
And Nathan had it IN HIS MOUTH.
I’m still not sure where he found it… I vacuum every day so it most certainly wasn’t off the floor. I think he may have dug his little fingers into one of the creases in the recliner and pulled this disgusting anomaly from the dark depths of Recliner Abyss.
You know, the place where you find crumbs from the pizza you had that one day. Or fingernail clippings. Or any other gross thing you can think of that you DON’T want in your baby’s inquisitive taster.
Ugh. Just the thought of that gross wad of slobber, lint, hair, and fur gives me the shivers.
How do babies do it? They find it all. Everything. I can get on my hands and knees and comb through the entire house and Nathan will still find THE ONE THING that I managed to miss and chomp on it.
Nathan and his inquisitive chompers are constantly on the prowl, seeming to look for the most grossified stuff to chew on.
But what really gets me is that it doesn’t even phase Nathan. It doesn’t seem to bother him when there are STRANDS MOMMY’S HAIR IN HIS MOUTH. Have you ever had a strand of hair get into your mouth? I have, and it drives me crazy every time!
An aversion to hair in your mouth must be a learned behavior. Oh, I cannot wait until Nathan learns NOT to like it!
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