This blog is hardly useful (fun?) if we (read: I) don’t use it to present information about our kids’ development. Emmett’s going through some changes, so I thought I’d share.
Our little guy makes a pretty good show of standing around whenever he gets the chance. A couple times lately I’ve caught him letting go of whatever he’s been using to balance on, his little legs wobbling a bit as he stands on his own. It only lasts a split second, of course, but it seems portentous. When he’s not practicing being upright, he’s crawling around, sticking whatever he can find into his mouth. And especially if it’s an electrical cord. Or a leaf from the ficus. Or anything other than one of his myriad chew toys.
Emmett’s also now going to sleep in his crib. Actually, that’s not completely accurate. He’s being put into his crib after L nurses him to sleep. But he’s been doing a pretty good job of snoozing in there, even calming himself back to sleep now and then, which he NEVER did when he was in our bed. OK, almost never. After one or two false starts about an hour or so in, Em will usually do a good stretch of four hours or so. This new procedure hasn’t been easy on L, what with the whole separation thing, but I think she’s getting used to it. Slowly.
The boy’s been eating puréed food for a couple weeks now. We’ve been doing blueberries and peach, mango, peas, broccoli, sweet potato, squash, pear, and others. And in the last couple days he’s started trying some of those little puffs; he’s not quite up to grabbing them himself, but he likes to sit in his chair with a piece of one on his lip and laugh at us. Then he eats it. I held him against my chest and looked into the full-length mirror in our bedroom this morning and was struck by how long he seems. I hope it’s not just my imagination. I’d hate to think that inheriting L’s stature will stunt the boy’s future, so to speak (of course, being tall never did a lot for me…maybe I wasn’t tall enough).
Emmett remains absolutely happy and smiley 95% of the time. Even when he’s in the midst of a crying jag — almost always because he’s tired — we can turn his cries to smiles by nibbling his armpits or engaging in a little of the old peek-a-boo. He’s easy to please. For now.
Finally, a note on Ava. As easygoing as Emmett is, Ava is “difficult.” She’s obsessed with fairness lately, though I’m not sure where she picked up her definition. Anything that doesn’t conform to Ava’s will is labeled “unfair.” And try saying, “that’s life” to a five-year-old girl in the midst of a massive tantrum; maybe you’ll have better luck than I do. It doesn’t seem worth it to try to explain the subtleties of fairness to Ava at this point. Ava alternately hates and loves her little brother, depending on the moment. Sometimes she gets so excited about being around him that she’ll give him these little pinches, which make him cry, of course. Other times she’ll sit patiently and sing to him or play along with his toys. Emmett looks at her and smiles this huge, loving smile whenever she comes into view, and Ava feeds off of it. We’ve continue to make a real effort to “share the love” between the two, but I ain’t gonna lie: It’s a whole hell of a lot easier to love a smiley little toddler than a kindergartner who’s flailing on the floor while throwing her boots across the room. You just have to be there…. Ava’s reading and writing is really coming along quickly now, and she seems to be interested in expressing herself using the written word. In fact, last night…well, I should probably let L share that story….