Our Impossible Adoption Story
If you're looking for the unbelievable account of how "impossible" became "done" in 5 business days, start here.
Good Reads
A ‘worrisome’ risk: Most babies are fed solid food too soon, study finds {NBC News}
Physicians’ groups settled on the 6-month cut-off after earlier research determined that children who get solid food at too early might be at a greater risk for developing chronic diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, eczema and celiac disease, Scanlon said.
Ten poopie diaper scenarios {Baby Sideburns}
Disclaimer: Cussing (Also: Hilarious)
2. Ho-hummm, I wonder what I can do to make my mommy’s job harder. Oh, I know! I’m gonna dip my feet into the pupu platter and watch her freak out and say nooooo and then wipe them down with a wipe like a thousand times. And then just as soon as she’s done I’m gonna stick my toes in my mouth and really freak her out.
The stories that bind us {The New York Times}
The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned. The “Do You Know?” scale turned out to be the best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness.
Toes
Someone found his toes last week. (Not Husband.)
The verdict: Toes are pretty cool.
Happy Saturday
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How To Be A Perfect Parent In 5 Easy Steps … or Probably Never {Huffington Post}
Warning: Profanity
“There is literally nothing you will obsess about more in the first year of parenthood than your child’s sleep patterns. You will read studies. You will make logs of night wakings only to find in the morning that you accidentally used a lo mein-encrusted chopstick and a DVD case to record this vital information. You will volunteer nap schedules — without prompting — to total strangers. You will study the creaky floorboards in your house like a military operative searching for land mines in Afghanistan. I can’t stop you from doing this.”
The Science of Crawling {Babble}
“It’s a long-standing belief that crawling is important. Moving on all fours and organizing the right and left sides of the body has been thought to strengthen connections between the two hemispheres of the brain, and even lay the foundation for later skills like hand-eye coordination.”
To This Day Project {Shane Koyczan}
Three Month Outtakes
I can’t believe it’s been three months. (Last Sunday) I can’t believe he’s left two clothing sizes behind him already, or that I tried a Medium cloth diaper on him this morning. (I convinced myself that it’s too big, but it won’t be for long!)
Some extras from our little iPhone-shoot last weekend:
He’s getting stronger and, probably, used to being photographed, which presented its own set of challenges. I didn’t have to try to to keep him upright or happy as much as I had to try to get him to emote at all. He just sat in that chair, calmly, and waited, most of the time.
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On 4 AM and Eye Contact
It’s about 4:30 AM, which means we’ve been up for some time.
Chatting.
He doesn’t get cranky, which I am grateful for, he just gets … bored? Or maybe inspired. Whatever it is, it’s struck at about 4 AM for a couple of weeks and kept us both up for a little while.
The positive side of Husband not working is that I don’t feel obligated to take Meatball into the next room for our chat tonight. We get to stay in bed. When Husband does wake up from the noise, he doesn’t seem to mind very much.
His revelation tonight was a simple one, or at least one simply explained because he’s winding down fairly quickly. The pacifier stays in his mouth. Little fists start rubbing little eyes. A yawn breaks free.
I lay my head on the mattress next to him and gently stroke his head with my fingertips. He likes this (Who doesn’t?), and he rolls from his back to his side to give me and the scalp massage his full, albeit waning, attention.
It’s dark in the bedroom, but his perfect little face is only inches from mine, and I’m sure that those big, dark eyes can see mine because they’re locked. Me watching him – smelling his breath, listening to it get deeper and slower – and him staring back at me.
He reaches out with his free hand, the one not pressed between his little frame and the bedsheets, and touches my face – cheek, nose, mouth. He settles on my lips, and gently squeezes the top one, never breaking eye contact.
I smile, kiss his fingers, whisper that I love him. He takes a deep breath and his eyelids start to sink. Down, down … Once closed they snap half-open again, but quickly drop closed again. His grip loosens. His arm drifts slowly to land right in front of that sweet, sleepy face.
I watch him for another moment, breathe deep – inhaling as much of Thursday at 4:30 AM as I possibly can – whisper one more, “I love you, Baby,” in case I didn’t meet my hourly quota, and close my eyes as well.
A couple of months ago I dreaded night time. Now, I live for 4 AM.
Spits and Wiggles 