Growing, growing, growing

Boy is this baby growing - and at such a pace! Cole (who is now 9 weeks old) now tries to pull himself up to look at things (such as Keith's interesting t-shirt) and he finally grabbed his foot with his hand yesterday! I wish I had caught this stuff on camera, but when it's happening, I don't want to miss it. The last thing I want to do is futz around with my iPhone (because that's usually the only camera available). We've been noticing that the past few nights he's been sleeping less, he's been cranky more, and he's been eating more frequently. Luckily, I found out that these are all signs of developmental changes. According to my new "Wonder weeks" app on my iPhone he's able to perceive patterns (not only visually but also with his all of his senses). So he can feel patterns in his body, which means he is starting to learn how to control his limbs (THANK THE LORD!).

This afternoon, after Grandma Carolyn left -- I wish she had been able to see it, we tried to put him to sleep but he, as usual, refused. I nursed him, hoping that that would work, but then fate intervened (and I'm kind of glad it did). I decided to burp him midway through the feeding, since I hadn't done it last night and poor Cole had paid the price. Then Keith came in to help with the burping and then he started to interact and play with Cole and our plan to put him to sleep quickly disintegrated. I decided to do a few chores that involved sorting through Cole's clothes (we have gotten a bunch of new ones recently from family and friends and we also got a bag of used clothes from our neighbor). Then Keith left to go do some work and I sat with Cole in my lap on the bed. I had this toy that had been given to me as a gift off our registry and I put it in my lap in front of Cole. The toy is a Whoozit (pictured above) and has many different shapes and patterns. On the back is a black and white bulls eye. Needless to say, Cole wanted this toy. And he, I have discovered, is one determined little boy. He tried with all of his might to get that toy. Here's how he did it. First, as he sat in my lap, he kept his right hand in a fist and kept that below his head against his chest. He began to kick the toy with his feet to try to get it closer to him. A small part of me thinks he actually thought he could pick up the toy with his feet because he was wiggling his toes a bit too. He was successful at moving the toy, but he just couldn't get it close enough, so he had to bend his body forward to try to reach it with his left hand (yep, he'll probably be a lefty like Keith). He bent as far as he could and although I did not interfere with him grabbing the toy, I did assist him by keeping him from falling over. But he already had that covered. You see, he used his right hand (the one that was in a fist) to keep his body from falling to far and used it to help push his body back up again when he had finished his task. Did he complete his task?  Well, yes and no. I think his task was to pick up the toy, which he did not succeed in doing. He did however, briefly touch two ends of the toy (there are multiple ways in which he could have picked it up - either from one of the hanging shapes or from the polka dotted loop that can be used to dangle it from say, a car seat handle). In my eyes, he succeeded. In his eyes, he did not. How do I know this? Because he is a determined boy. He tried it again a few more times and when he started to fall over (probably because of extreme weariness - mastering these skills would make anyone tired!) he became frustrated, pushed himself back up again and started to cry.  And I started to shout with joy and told him how proud I was of him. Of course, by then, he was worn out, so I rocked him in the glider until he fell asleep.

I just have to say this - I am so proud of my son! What a little trooper! He is working so hard at growing up.

This picture to my right is a picture of Cole at the cafe on Saturday examining his hand.