Week 25: Wonder Baby

I'm driving to Moscow, eight miles down the road, to do a little grocery shopping. Emily's at school, so Will's in the backseat alone. Suddenly, I hear the distinct sound of a toy hitting and rolling across the floor in the backseat. I'm not even kidding, but instinct takes over, and my arm shoots behind my seat in search of the lost toy.

It's strange to me how much I've just picked up where I left off with Emily. From the first night in the hospital with Will, snuggled up in the bed with me, everything has been very much like, well, like riding a bike. It's probably that way for most second-time parents, but it just suprises me in funny ways. It also suprises me at how easily Will has been incoporated into our lives. The other day, as I nursed Will to sleep in my arms while typing away at the computer, Ian joked that Will probably thought the computer was his brother. And while I'm not saying that isn't true, it does illustrate quite nicely how Will has found his niche in our lives.

Of course, having a baby at home isn't all peace and tranquility. Up until this point, Will has been a great sleeper. Emphasis there on has been. He's still a pretty good sleeper, when he's asleep, but lately Will has been waking up about an hour after he falls asleep, supposedly for the night, and having a Will party for a few hours. Well, not exactly a party, since he's been pretty angry about the world during those hours, it's been pretty hard on both Ian and me. Sunday night he woke up around 10pm and didn't doze back off again for any substantial amount of time until 2am. And in addition to being awake, which is bad enough for tired parents, Will also would tolerate nothing but being rocked while standing (note to self: swaying back and forth while sitting in bed does not count, as much as I wished it would).

So, the reason for all this misery? We don't know. Could be teething, could be gas, could be constipation... we're really just baffled. Will hasn't wanted to nurse during these night wakings, which is frusterating not only because it's the best way to get Will calm and on the way to sleeping, but also because I can usually get in some sleep at the same time!

My best guess is that he's teething, since when we poured some tylenol into him, and the situation improved. And last night, even though Will did wake up, was much better. There are no teeth sprouting up yet though, so I'm not getting too optimistic.

Another reason Will might be waking up at night is that he's learned a new trick (and we can't help but cave into the cuteness). Okay now, if I hadn't heard it myself several isolated times, I wouldn't believe it. I have a hard time believing it even though I have heard it. But Will, he says "mama". Clear as day, undeniably says "mama". That's it, we can probably go ahead and declare him a genius now.

But really, do babies even do this? I've never heard of a baby saying anything before at the earliest 9 months. Emily didn't even babble the Mm sound until probably 11 months or so. And what Will's doing, it isn't babbling, like say "mamamamamama" would be. It's a distinctive "Ma - Ma". And the look on his face, priceless. First he makes the movement with his lips with no sound, concentrating intensly. Then, he'll say "Ba-Ba", and you can see him thinking "nooo, not quite", then he tries a few more times before getting a distinct "Ma-Ma" and his face breaks into this wide, proud grin. So cute!

Will is also making steps toward sitting by himself. He can sit for a few seconds, hunched forward with his weight on his hands, until he gets excited or tries to reach for something, and he topples over, usually head first into the floor, where he proceeds to roll accross the room. Will is actually getting around quite well without actually crawling. He usually can get where he wants to go by pushing with his feet and dragging himself accross the floor with his elbows. He just doesn't seem as motivated to sit as he was to roll over, perhaps after he masters moving around by his own free will, he'll take the time out to learn to sit. Until then, I think he'll continue to compulsively roll over.

So it seems, all of a sudden it's time to start thinking about gates, locks, and things that keep babies safe. But as I look around the house, I think, is it even possible?

It's terrible, really. Cherios, water bottle caps, rubber bands, chunks of dirt, are all on the floor, pretty much constantly. I keep thinking of that commercial about the vaccum cleaner that "doesn't lose suction", as I run our vaccum cleaner over the same cherio ten times and it persists, taunting me on the floor, you know you'll have to bend over and pick me up, mwahahaha! And that's not even counting the stairs, cubbords, computer wires and toys that need to be baby-proofed.

A small part of me was hoping to put off baby-proofing until we move, but with Will so determined to get mobile, I can see we need to do something around here. I just have nightmares about our tall, tipsy, bookshelf with heavy things on it, like books. And our stairs, which have, you guessed it, thirteen steps exactly. Seriously, I'm not all that superstituous, but really, thirteen? As if stairs weren't dangerous enough?

But really, I'm sure Will will be fine. The house will be safe enough for the time being. (Realize that evan as I write this, Will is inching his way accross the floor to the rock Ian painted when he was small that we use as a doorstop. I just it was non-toxic paint...)