Eight Months of Wonderful

I took Paxton back to the San Marcos library today for Toddler Time. It was a happy surprise to see Chris there, waiting for us. He was only able to stay for a few minutes, but he so loves watching Paxton in his element that he cut out of work for long enough to sing "Ring Around the Rosie" with us, at least. While we were dancing around in our circle, I made eye contact with the woman Isabel cut off last week and gave her a smile and a wave. She returned the sentiment, to my great relief. We sat on one end of the room for the stories and then I made my way over to the women during playtime to apologize for last Friday. They were very sweet. After all these weeks, I finally learned their names--Georgia and Chelsea. And their children are Hank and Austin, respectively. I'm making note of this for my own memory's sake. It was nice talking to them and I can't help having a hope that we'll become good enough friends that I can invite them to Paxton's first birthday party in December. By the way, he turned 8-months-old today! The time is flying by.

I've seen several baby girls, younger than Paxton, crawling at Toddler Time. He is close, but not quite there yet. He pushes himself up on straight arms when he is on his stomach. And he sometimes gets up on his toes, as well. But he's not yet rocking. When he gets excited about moving, he loses all form. I'm curious about how babies pull themselves into a sitting position. I'm going to have to watch them at the library and see how they do it. I can't imagine it in my head.

We hung Paxton's swing on the back deck last weekend. We also installed a ceiling fan. It's so pleasant sitting back there now, and with all the rain we've had lately, it's even nicer. This evening, Paxton and I sat back there, him swinging, me trying to read the paper, but being too absorbed by my cute baby to get much reading done. I've finally started to take more pictures of my little guy again, and I've gotten really out-of-control with the videos. I'll try to post some here later tonight.

Pax is talking a lot lately. Oh, but he has the cutest voice. He grasps certain sounds and repeats them for days until he is ready to try a new one. Right now, he is saying "Dit-dit-dit, dah-dah-dah". He has stopped making the "mmm" sound that he was practicing weeks ago. He still screams when he's happy, and it's very cute most of the time. He also loudly clears his throat when he feels that someone should be paying attention to him but isn't. I think the people at Toddler Time are going to start avoiding us, thinking he has bronchitis, because they don't know he's making these hacking cough sounds on purpose. It makes me giggle every time. The boy feels very certain that the attention should all be sharply focused on him.

He is still waking up several times a night (after sleeping through the night for a long time), but I just ignore it and he goes back to sleep. I don't want him to get too dependent on me waking up to feed him or comfort him many times a night. Sometimes it's hard to ignore him, because really, I miss him and want to cuddle with him. But I'd also like to sleep through the night. The bags under my eyes are finally starting to dissipate after eight long months of sleep deprivation, thank God.

I feel I should mention that Pax is clearly a genius. He proves he exceptional abilities daily! We have this drum for him that, when you pat it, says the letters of the alphabet aloud while writing them on the head of the drum. It took him a few days after he got the toy to learn how to use it, but Chris gave him some music lessons and he quickly caught on. Now he pats the drum to hear the letters, then flips it over to examine the underside. He never drums on the underside even though it's a near mirror image of the top. Oh, no. He just checks it out and then flips it back over to continue his drumming. I, of course, videotaped it.

Even though I don't want to criticize other people's parenting, I'm perplexed about why Suri Cruise is still drinking from a bottle. Paxton has been using a sippy cup since he was about five-months-old. I only give him water in it, thus far. He still gets his milk straight from the tap, so to speak. Maybe I shouldn't judge little Suri, because Paxton is adamant about getting his milk when he wants it. It's become more and more the norm for him to start at my chest, tug at my shirt and make demanding grunts. On the way to the airport, I was hunched over him in the backseat, aiming my breast at his mouth while he sat in his carseat. Thank goodness I have big bazooms and no discernible dignity.

Okay, off to upload some pics. I know that's why Sarika checks in. I'm not sure anyone else visits this site these days. I should really work on my marketing schemes.