The Ninth Month: Mr. Personality

"Baby's also a budding comedian (who will do anything for a laugh), an avid mimic (who delights in copying the sounds you make), and a born performer ('And for an encore I'll do that fake cough- again')" ~What to Expect in the First Year (The Ninth Month chapter month describes behavior of an 8 month old)

Damn, they nailed Stefan! I nearly fell on the floor laughing when I came to the fake cough statement. Do they have our place bugged? Stefan prefers to use it as the first line of fire in "NOTICE ME!!!" behavior. But it can really go anywhere, at anytime in the show, and last until someone pays attention and coughs back or it turns into grunting, then a scream, in the escalated "NOTICE ME!!!" game. He's actually been doing it for a couple of months now, but it's still cute. Above is the expectant "look at me!" face you'd most likely see after the cough.

He knows what the camera is all about and puts on his show there too. Mostly not doing the thing that it is supposed to take a picture of. He's finally giving hugs (great feeling!!) and was hugging a stuffed giraffe that is about his size. So cute! I ran for the camera, turned it on while running back so as to waste even the smallest amount of time, auto focused the shot (takes a couple of seconds), clicked, looked at the picture and there is Stefan, giraffe thrown asunder, looking for another toy. Yet another picture missed by a split second. Oh well! If it were back in the olden days of film cameras, we wouldn't have 800 pictures right now, and most of them would have been duds.

This morning, after a sleepless night of teething, I decided to try to sleep in a little. Rather, I decided to refuse to respond to the kicking and poking. Then I hear Sean grumble...he must have gotten poked. It was close to 8:30, when Sean usually gets up, so I just let the Stefan go instead of finding alternate sleeping arrangements. Cough...cough-cough...silence. "Cough...cough....COUGH!" (Can one even exclaim a cough?) I gave a grunt and my arm which he played with while I caught a few more minutes of rest. My elbow, hand, and fingers were taste tested, manipulated for a whole, then he moved onto flipping sheets and pillows, babbling and blowing raspberries until I decided to open my eyes. Which brings me to one of my favorite parts of the day: Morning smiles! "Yay, Mom's up, time to play!!" I remember that feeling...so bored until someone else in the house was up.

He's super cool in the morning. Smiling, playing, demanding attention. He starts the day watching the cats eat (he LOVES the cats more than most things in life) then moves to his play spot in the kitchen while I cook breakfast. By the time I'm cooking my eggs, he gets antsy, I pick him up and we continue to cook together. Then we eat breakfast together: cereal or toast etc. for baby, then whatever is on my plate that I think he'll eat. Today, bread, cheerios and egg whites were a failure. He didn't even taste them, he just gave me the "No way!" look and start sweeping everything on the floor. The egg was shoved in his mouth for a brief second before he made a yuck-face, spit out and tossed on the floor. I think teething effects the whole food game, since the last time he was teething he rejected even his favorites.

We then made our way to the bathroom to do...well, bathroom stuff. He plays with his bathroom toys (toilet paper tubes, sponges, whatever else is clean and laying around) while I get ready for the day. He loves brushing his teeth with Mom, and I can't get over how he is all business about putting the brush in his mouth, while watching as I do the same.

Usually a quick milk snack follows and if it is time, a nap (which is now, thank god! I only wish I could be catching up on sleep now, if only I didn't have full caffeinated coffee, ooops!) Today he immediately did the tired eye rub as soon as he assumed the sleep position in my arms. That is much nicer then when he does "The Squirm" until I get annoyed and plop him in his crib. I have found that he really settles easily when laid on his side, especially if there is a toy to look at while he drifts off. An hour or sometimes 3 later he rises and the fun beings again!

His sassiness is starting to come out...not a bad sassy, though. He really gets excited over certain toys, especially when they are taken out of toy rotation for a while. His face lights up like he's seeing an old friend. When we play building towers- actually he plays destroying towers- he becomes really intense and focused on knocking everything down. When he's done with a toy, he's started tossing it with "disgust" and if I take a fun toy, he protests (not for too long though). He isn't mobile yet, and when toys are just too far for him to rock forward to get, the grunting and screams start. They are identifiable though, short little bursts, with flexed pop-eye arms, as if he's trying to will them back. If only he had inspector gadget arms, he'd be all set!

Last night we went to the street fair Torrington has been having to boost local commerce. He cautiously handed out smiles only to certain people. The Jewelry girl only had a small one, scary biker dude got nothing at all, but if we had gone to the great-grandmotherly toy store lady, she would have been greeted with a huge, toothy smile. Otherwise, he just furrows his brow and takes everything in when we're out.

Often I catch him slapping things and looking at me (a grunt accompanies when I don't look right away). Sometimes I feed him at the computer, and his hand is usually slapping at something on my desk. He hopes it's the keyboard or mouse. One can always tell the "adult-only" type places where I've been sitting with Stefan from the huge clearing the span of his arm's reaching distance.

He makes interesting faces with new or interesting sounds like, "Whoa, did you hear that?" In addition to the attention getting grunts, there is the "I see a cat" squeal, "I love that, do it again" laughing, "no more" grunts, "I'm bored" wailing scream (HATE!), and various eye-brow expressions. What I think is the "teething" yell sounds like a full out banshee scream, but with his throat closed, so it's an indoor voice (nice!). Then there is the tired grumblings accompanied by flailing arms while playing so that toys get scattered all around. When there is no happiness during play, it's time to go to bed!

Oye, speaking of that cough...it seems like nap time is over. That was all too short. Until next post..."cough!"