9 months and then some

Cole's tooth count as of today is 5! He looks more like a little boy, instead of a baby, every day. I never expected the time to pass so quickly. He's cruising along the sofa and his baby gate, and looks as though he will take his first unaided step at any moment. He's also enjoying his new chompers, crunching on Cheerios, Gerber puffs and wagon wheels, his crib rail, his pacifier, and if we let him...Kitty's tail.

We had a fun playdate 7/25 with Elaine and Nina. Cole and Nina interact a lot more than they used to, and they chased each other around the room. In almost all of my photos, either Cole or Nina is blurry because they were constantly in motion...except during snack time, so I've got lots of pics of them stuffing their faces.

transformation

I'm a fan of Robert Fulghum, and I remember reading in one of his books that a sign that you are officially an adult is when you have to complete gross, undesirable chores like cleaning out the drain of the kitchen sink or scrubbing the toilet. You are a grown up when you can do these things without wincing.

Being a mom requires far worse jobs than these, and I'm not just talking about diapers, although those definitely qualify. I can think of 2 occasions in these last 9 months when I was aware that I was doing something that I wouldn't have done in the B.C. (before Cole) days.

First was the flu in December. I was more aggressive seeking medical attention for Cole than I had ever been in my life. I not only took his rectal temp, I held him down while the nurses searched for a vein under his beautiful baby blubber, convinced that my firm touch would be more gentle than that of the nurse. I breastfed him in the ER with absolutely no regard for anyone else being in the room. He needed me and no one would stop me from helping him in any way that I could.

Second was a recent diaper that cleared the ladies' bathroom at IKEA. We were nearing the check out when Tony told me he thought Cole needed a diaper change. As I pushed him in his stroller towards the bathroom I smelled this horrible sulfurous odor. I picked him up and he began to wail. His diaper had leaked and poop had stained the front and back of his outfit. I opened his diaper to find neon poop spilling out of the diaper and entrenched in every crevice. Another mom was waiting her turn for the changing table, but after one look at Cole she left to find another restroom. It took over a dozen wipes and 2 diapers, but I cleaned him up as quickly as I could. Then, I scooped him up in my arms to comfort him. In the process, I knowingly marked my own shirt with the same smelly poop that was still on his clothing, but I couldn't have cared less. It was the mark of motherhood.

catch up

Cole met his cousin Kody earlier this month when visited Gram for a week. At first they seemed oblivious to each other, but by the second day Cole was entranced by the new baby. He would immediately crawl over to Kody's infant seat so he could touch him, and poke him, and rock him, and grab his feet...

Cole took his first dip in a pool...more like a puddle, considering how little water we put in the inflatable pool. He enjoyed it as if it were just another bath, but the fun ended when he crawled over the side to escape.

On Sunday Cole tried out the infant swings at the park. He loved being suspended in the air, but he stared down at the ground most of the time just to make sure it was still there.

In other news, the baby boom continues as Ryan William Corriveau (7 lbs. 6 oz.) was born to our friends Dan and Kerry on Saturday. Ryan has a rare heart defect (HLHS) that was diagnosed before he was even born. Today he had his first of the 3 surgeries he will need before he is a year old. The next 48 hours are crucial, so any and all prayers and positive thoughts are greatly appreciated.

8 months old

At 8 months old, Cole at 2 teeth, can crawl, sit up fairly well, and is now working on pulling himself up to standing. He makes it to his knees easily, but only gets to his feet a few times a day.

Saturday Cole met Rachel from Rochester for the first time when our friends the Gills stopped in while on their way to a family reunion in North Carolina. It was the first time Cole played with a baby the same size, and they got along great...although both were very tired at the time.

Also on Saturday, Daniel Bane Nesbit, 8 lbs. 1 oz, was born the night before at 5:30pm. Bane is the beautiful "long awaited child" of Cole's godparents, Glen and Annie. We visited the trio and met our godchild briefly last night.

This afternoon Cole tried Cheerios for the first time. Initially he felt they were too fun to eat. He'd just pass one from one hand to the other, examining it so carefully. He treated his precious Cheerio as if it were his own tiny pet. Which is not to say he didn't attempt to put it in his mouth, but that took several tries. His dexterity would suddenly fail as he made the move towards his mouth and he'd drop it. Then, I would put a brand new Cheerio on his tray and he'd start all over again. First the examination, then the passing and petting, then the mouth...and then...oh no, dropped it again. Eventually he managed to taste it while still holding it and putting his hand in his mouth.

Tonight we tried again, and the process went more quickly and he even ate a few. There was some initial gagging and some hilarious faces, but in the end he decided he likes his new edible pets.

Welcome Kody!

Please welcome to the world my nephew, Kody Shannon Morizzo, born 6/8/04 at 9:36 pm. Congratulations to my sister Tara and her fiance Jeff! Cole can't wait to meet his new playmate and his first cousin.

In other news, we just returned from Cole's first trip to WI. He tolerated the flights pretty well, but I've learned that the morning flight on the way there worked a lot better than the mid-afternoon flight on the way back. It was easier to feed him and help him sleep in the morning. Cole also handled his "popularity" gracefully, although when he had had enough, he would give me a clear signal. Just a few days before we left, Cole learned to crawl and he got his first 2 teeth simultaneously. It's been a busy couple of weeks. Hi crawling skills/speed are developing quickly, and as I look around our apartment, I don't know what I'm going to do when it comes to child proofing. There's just not enough space to do much rearranging. I need to get rid of some more things and fill up boxes for Goodwill.

7 months and then some

My memory is getting fuzzy and I really need to post more often. I'm not going to fall victim to blog/neglect/guilt. I just wished I posted more often because I want this to be a record of every amazing moment since I saw those 2 pink lines. When Cole was born, I couldn't help myself from staring at him, completely enchanted by his sweet baby face. I swore I'd remember every moment with him from then on... but now I can't even recall if I've brushed my teeth in the morning. I need to write more, so I can remember more, and so someday, I'll have more stories to share with Cole.

During this past month, Cole has learned to get up on all fours, and just in the last two days, he has begun to make some forward progress. His movement more closely resembles "The Worm" than crawling, but it gets him where he wants to go. Until now he moved around by rolling, but he lacked control and I think he would also get dizzy after awhile, so he rarely reached his destination. Now he can move with more purpose, and that means there's going to be some serious rearranging and child-proofing going on. Look out Kitty, here comes Cole!

Cole's diet now includes sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, green beans, squash, applesauce, pears, bananas, rice cereal, oatmeal, apple juice, white grape juice, and pear juice. He's still nursing too, but not as often as he used to. He's also doing really well with a sippy cup, although I have to help him hold it sometimes because he gets the angle wrong. He'll hold it so he's only getting air and it makes a funny piggy sound...which is usually followed by Cole burping from drinking air. He's a great noisemaker. Which reminds me...his "raspberries" are really loud and wet now. Sometimes he even sticks out his tongue while making his noises. He's particularly fond of these noises while or after eating. I like to think it's a compliment in his language.

clap your hands!

Cole's got some new tricks. Two weeks ago he learned to clap his hands and to "make raspberries" and other cool sounds while spitting...basically he's transformed from the teething puppy to a well-trained orangutan. As entertaining as his new skills are to us, Cole finds them infinitely amusing. Now that he's got clapping figured out, we've been working on a James Brown routine...clap your hands-uh....and stomp your feet-uh... Gram will be very disappointed in me if Cole masters this before "how big is Cole? so big!".

He's chattering like crazy, but not anything that resembles English yet, although we're having a lot of fun "translating." I swear he told me a joke the other day. He looked at me very seriously, rattled off a few sentences of babble, paused, and then cracked up. I don't know what the punchline was but it was obviously killer material.

Last week, he became obsessed with getting up on all fours. He's doing very well, but he can't maintain the balance for very long. He crosses and locks his ankles once he's up and while that helps with the balance, then he can't move at all. Frustrated, he collapses forward, rolls over and starts the process all over again.