IsaacAndNaomiBlog

So. Dude. You’re seven months old.

Whoa.

A few months back, you learned how to turn over. That didn’t apparently do much for you back then, since it happened about 4 times, then you stopped. Until now. When you flip yourself over almost every night! Cool, yes, but you haven’t quite mastered rolling back onto your back … so you get confused, and cry. Or sometimes, just fall back asleep. It’s impossibly cute, really, so the waking-up-the-parents part kind of washes by.

We’re now noticing that the “learn-something-early-decide-it’s-boring-until-a-few-months-down-the-road” tendency is strong with you. The rollovers are one big example, but another seems to be eating, or more specifically, feeding yourself. A few weeks ago, eating your dinner, you started grabbing the spoon and guiding it into your mouth. Encouraged, Mom and Dad hustled out and bought some L’il Dippers, which you took to pretty much immediately.

For three days.

After which, nothing. I mean, I love giving you food and stuff, but it was odd how you went from demanding the spoon with which to feed yourself to just letting me do everything again. I expect this will reverse once again in about a month.

You also talk, all the time, now. And you sound like your friend Sadie (when she was a few months younger, granted) oddly enough. Or not … I mean, you’re in day care with her for long periods of time, so why wouldn’t it rub off? We love it, because mow we get a running commentary on playtime:
“BLAHblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahblahBLAH.” Or “Mamamamamamamadaaaaadadadadadadahaaaaaat.” “Flaaahhhhhhgg”

Or, like this morning, “Hot.” (Kind of) What are you, the 1980s? Too young, I say!

I should mention that the infamous peas (see below) are now chowed down with gusto, along with green beans, pears, peaches, apples, squash, prunes, sweet potatoes, bananas, and rice cereal in ever-growing quantities. We also tried both organic rice cereal (from brown rice) and single-grain oatmeal … but one of those two gave you hives. Which freaked out Mom and Dad, big-time, so we got rid of both boxes. Weirdly, you didn’t seem to even itch, even though your chest was covered in giant red swellings. (AARRRGGGHHHH!) You were laughing, as I recall.

Speaking of the laughing, that happens ALL THE TIME. I love it. Just awesome. I even like the constant grabbing of Daddy’s eyeballs, lips, nose, soul patch, hair, and glasses. The glasses as chew toy thing isn’t ideal, I’ll admit, so we try to limit that. With vague success, admittedly, as Dad likes to get up in your face for giggle time.

I must say, young man, you’ve made pretty much every single day of the last seven months better than they might have been (yes, even with freakouts and exhaustion!), and for that, I thank you. I can only imagine that this will continue. And I’m looking forward to that.

Love,

Dad

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Happy Birthday!

You’re five months old today, and have started eating solid … well, ok, semi-solid foods! Oh, and by the way, take everything you figured out last month and double it. In addition to the food thing, which is going quite well, you’ve also found some of the best playthings a boy can have: your feet! Yup, grabbing feet and rolling around is, as they say up here, wicked awesome. Where Daddy comes from, they say “Rad.”

So, food. Rice “cereal” (really a flaked powder) mixed with breastmilk and maybe a touch of warm water. The first few weeks, well, most of it ended up on bibs, you, us, the floor. This week, however, we’ve turned the corner, and you’re eating robust amounts (2+ tablespoons of mixed food and liquid!) at a sitting, with most of the food going down your throat rather than onto Dad! Yay! Earlier today, in fact, you tried strained peas for the first time. OK, so maybe that wasn’t such a great idea on our part:

Still, the rice is something you consider yummy! And more interestingly, you respond to the request “open your mouth” with a wide-open smily mouth. That’s pretty cool. You also respond to your name, which is even cooler.

These days, you’re also playing more intently, working to figure out all the complex plastic toys we toss in front of you. Or the tabbed sheep, or the plush frog, or the jingly ball, or the plush tiger … all of these things get two, three, four times as much attention as they used to. You stare, work over with your fingers, move things around, it’s just fantastic. As we mentioned already, you’ve rolled over a few times, although since Mom posted that, you’ve stopped. Huh? What you haven’t stopped doing is growing. You’re going to blast past the height requirement of your infant car seat well before you hit the weight limit at this pace (you are just over 26″ long these days). And did I mention your fat little huge feet? Yes, that’s an accurate description, trust me.

It’s hard to believe, but you become more of a joy each and every day. Happy Birthday!

Love,

Dad

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Well, you certainly took off in December.

Although you were smiling before, now it’s full-on grinning and laughing. And you also seem to have discovered the ability to stick out your tongue at everyone and everything. You will now consent to lying on your tummy, too, and more often than not look around and attempt to wriggle toward things of interest (which appear to be whatever you’re currently looking at).

Also this month, you started day care, and met a whole bunch of new friends! You decided that most of the time, waking up only once in the night is enough, for which mommy and daddy are incredibly grateful as we attempt to get used to the early-morning routine. And just as that routine was kicking in, we went into a 2-week break, which meant that 2/3 of your grandparents got to hang around the house and lavish attention upon you.

You seemed to enjoy that, oddly enough.

You’ve always been alert — shockingly so, we’re told — but like everything else, it was kicked up a degree this month. There are some spaces that appear to be familiar to you, but even they seemed to gain new interest as your visual range increased. So what I told you when you were one month (that every time you opened your eyes you got to experience things anew) is doubly, triply true now. Which is incredibly cool. Some things you know, though, including mommy and daddy … you respond to our voices really well, mostly with smiles (unless it’s time to eat). You’ve learned to enjoy our singing, which can miraculously calm you down if you’re fussy, even when daddy forgets all the words and just sings along la-la-la with mommy.

There are times when you look frighteningly mature, and glare balefully at daddy for reasons unknown … but then the right pitch of voice plus a continued goofy grin makes you laugh, and that reproval proves to be just a muscle exercise for your face.

Have I mentioned the fact that your feet seem to have quadrupled in size? No? Well they have. And though your hands appear to be growing at a similar rate, every time you grab one of daddy’s fingers they still look impossibly small.

And your voice! You discovered that sucker in full force this month. Daddy’s now had long, detailed ocnversations with you as you vocalized for minutes on end about … stuff … but I’m listening, and occasionally you belt something out that sounds like a word. Scary, but true. I swear you said “Hi” to me the other day!

Welcome to 2006, Isaac.

Love,

Dad

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Well, little Isaac, you’re three months old today!

You’re moving along rapidly, I must say — day care already, adapting to the bottle (once we switched nipple types, of course, it was no problem), and best of all … SLEEPING! Yes, you sleep most of the way through the night, now, going to bed semi-easily, and waking twice at the most. Mommy and Daddy dig this muchly.

I know we tested you on your birthday, making you sit in a car seat for 8 hours or so, while we shopped about southern New Hampshire. But we got lots of stuff for you! What’s wonderful about this time of your life is that almost every public moment, you’re a calm, sweet charmer … saving the fussing and crying for the car. And even that’s kept to a minimum. I guess you got Daddy’s patience.

Yesterday you went to Sadie’s first birthday party, where you were the youngest person. Everyone loved you, and even Sadie paid attention to you (but she likes you already, and has for a while) … a little bit. She was busier stuffing cake onto her face and running about.

But what’s really cool is that you’re learning how to laugh now. Yes, just this week, the little gurgles when we tickle your tummy have started to change into giggly snorts. Especially when Dad starts making up silly-sounding words and sticking his tongue out. Those looks are among the most rewarding things for us that you do these days.

You’ve also developed the ability to grab onto toys and play with them a bit. The magic tiger bell-ball is the key to happiness, of course … one ding-dong of that toy and fussiness melts away. You obviously know what you want, and we’re getting better at figuring that out.

You also got your first snowflakes landing on your face today! There will be more than a few more of those, I guarantee you. But the first one … that was great. I don’t think you noticed, though. Cold air seems more curious to you than upsetting. Keep it up, because we live in a chilly climate.

It’s hard to believe that three months have gone by already. And it’s amazing to see how you’ve changed in that short period of time. I’m looking forward to more and more changes, too, while relishing every moment I get to spend with you.

Happy Birthday!

Love, Dad

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So Isaac, you’re 8 and a half weeks old today, which means it’s also your two-month birthday. Someday, like your father, you’ll puzzle over the fact that months aren’t really four weeks like they taught you.

But you’ve gone through a helluva change lately, little man! You smile all the time, notice your toys, hit them, and make funny little noises — “ehlk,” “glauh,” “laah” — along with rapidly leaving your newborn clothes behind. You’re about 11 and a half pounds now, and almost 22 inches long. Your face looks more and more like your own face rather than a squashed-up newborn face, and Mom’s features are showing in your eyes and mouth, while Dad’s nose and forehead are looking more and more obvious.

I suspect you’re beginning to remember more stuff, and not see the world anew each day, but hopefully Mom and Dad present enough new silly things to you on a daily basis that you’re continually stimulated and entertained. Speaking of entertained, you really dig your baby gym, especially the blinky singing star! And the Mozart, of course.

We watch your fontenelle throbbing every now and then, marveling at the powerhouse brain lurking beneath.

Your hands seem to grow daily, looking more and more like Dad’s — other people continue to use the term “spatular” to describe them, but I just think they’re huge and cute. You also sleep more regularly these days, much to Mom and Dad’s relief. I suppose this means that your little body is storing energy to continue to grow at the incredible pace you’re on, along with allowing that brain to muscle through all the stuff we throw at you (toys, love, snuggling, cats).

I think the funniest thing these days is the little remnant of thick newborn hair on the back of your head, forming an itty-bitty mullet, while the rest of your head sprouts new hair!

Happy Birthday!

Love, Dad

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Congratulations Isaac, you’re one month old today!

So far, you’ve managed to figure out eating and eliminating, sneezing, and vocalizing. You can also pop the pacifier out of your mouth quite well, and just yesterday I noted that you were working diligently on re-inserting said pacifier. You’re also teetering on the brink of forming a real smile!

You’ve managed to go out to a few farmer’s markets, restaurants, and teh grocery store without incident. You even managed the majority of Rosh Hashanah services with only a few peeps!

You’ve also met a few friends, Sadie and Anya in particular, even though you don’t really respond very much to other young’uns.

Your first month has been something of a blur for Dad, and I can only imagine what it’s been like for Mom. You, lucky little guy, get to wake up each day assured that 90% of what you see will be new (even if you saw it yesterday), and all you need to do is yell a bit and you get instant loving attention. Luckily you’ve been quite the relaxed child so far; Dad hopes this trend continues, since in all likelihood you’ll experience your first beer festival this month!

Love, Dad

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