It's been a fun week with the boys. Every day growing and learning new things. I find it interesting that it is inevitable that they will crawl, walk, talk, fight, discover, etc. and yet it still amazes me when I see them do something new. Why do we get excited over the natural progression of things that will happen? Perhaps that is part of what makes us human.
Last friday we took the boys for their nine month photos. We got a little teaser yesterday of some of the photos on facebook. It sure makes me excited to see the rest of them. I must say that the session went really well. I made sure to schedule it for 9 am so the boys were fresh and happy. It was a stretch to get there on time but it paid off. Levi was totally hamming it up. I was glad to have a session where he wasn't crying through most of it. William was crawling all over the place so it was a tad more difficult to get pictures of him. But he was happy being the center of attention as usual.
Their nine month photos were a little delayed but we needed to make sure Papa was able to be there. Doug was in Houston for a month in training. A big hoorah goes to him for becoming a Captain. Four stripes and a left seat. That's like getting the corner office and a personal assistant.
I have mentioned before that Levi started to wave. Well he loves doing it because it gets a reaction every time. He has also been raising both of his arms over his head. Sometimes it is because he wants to be picked up and sometimes I think it is just for the pure fun of it. He does it in the feeding chair often.
Yesterday morning William was really studying Levi wave and raise his arms up. Then he started to imitate Levi. It was so sweet. The rest of the day I would catch William waving and raising his arms. Brother taught him something new! Perhaps that was a thank you for William teaching Levi to clap.
One day last week I was changing William's diaper and Levi was at my feet pulling all of the clean diapers off of the shelf. I let him do it because it does no harm and it is easy enough to clean up. So I ignored him while I took care of William. But then the sound of his playing changed. It wasn't quite right. So I looked down and Levi was not there. I bent down and saw that he had crawled up onto the shelf with the diapers and was trying to sit up but didn't have enough space. That shelf sits about 14 inches off of the ground. What a strong kid to pull himself up and onto it.
Later that day he started crawling around on his hands and feet. Yes, feet. That little booty was sticking way up there. I found it quite entertaining.
Levi is quite meticulous about walking around or over things. He holds onto whatever he is traveling around and takes very careful steps. He has an attitude like the proverbial tortoise; slow and steady wins the race. He just works at things until he accomplishes what he sets out to do. Very little frustration. Today Doug was laying on his back on the floor. The boys were on him like flies to honey. Levi had his hands on Doug's stomach and then started walking up toward his head. He stepped over Doug's arm and kept moving. Then he got to Doug's head and he leaned over a little more, lifted his leg and brought it up and over the head. There he was straddling Papa. I was laughing at least. I'm sure he would have gone all the way around if Papa hadn't decided to move him. Fortunately he wasn't smelly.
Although he has been a bit of a stinker the last couple of days. By means of testing the limits. I have a table that they unfortunately shake. Because they are strong enough to shake it, it makes it fun. Fun means do it again, often. Levi will deliberately go over to it and then look to see if I will watch him (sound familiar?) and then shakes it. Well this is not something I can ignore as I did with the DVD player. If he keeps shaking it I am afraid he will weaken it to the point of it coming apart. I don't know if it will but I don't want to find out. He has been doing this for a few days and I would say "no" then move him away from it and give him something to distract him. Yeah, that worked really well. Not. He would instantly go back and do it over and over again. Mama saying "no" was funny to him. He thought this was all a game. So we had a "correctional" day. Each time he did it I would say "no," spank his butt once and then put him in the pack-n-play for one minute. I have the pack-n-play in another room. It didn't take long for him to finally get a glimmer of what "no" meant. He did not want to be left alone. Tears would then come. Ah, so now we are getting somewhere. Unpleasant consequences. Such a useful tool. It was a daylong adventure but I was persistent and did not let him get away with it. By the afternoon he would stick closer to me and I would find him looking over at the table and staring at it for a moment. He was thinking about what happens when he shakes that table. I honestly didn't think he would get that far in one day. Yesterday he did much better. He only got in trouble twice in the morning and twice in the evening. Vast improvement from the day before. But I am staying persistant so that he doesn't ever think that "no" sometimes doesn't mean "no" and then get confused. This evening he got in trouble once. After that he again started to shake the table but as soon as I said "no" he stopped and gave me a look that said, "oh, I'm in trouble." I kept eye contact and waited a moment. He took his hand off and then moved away so I praised him. Small victory. This happened one more time and again he stopped. I hope each day brings us closer and closer to a full understanding and of course obedience to "no."
William got a fifth tooth last week! I didn't even see it coming. It just appeared. Sneaky little bug. If he keeps this up he will have a full set of teeth by his birthday. I love it when he smiles and shows off his "toofers." Sigh, such a cutie pie.
I love William but that doesn't seem to change the fact that he is WHY-NEE! I don't get it. There are days when he crabs, complains and whines all day. Those days are when I have moments when I wish I could just wear earplugs. He can get frustrated and angry about everything. When Levi is too close or he can't squeeze his body between two items or he can't go in the bathroom or the cat is out of reach or just because he can. Mostly because he can. I of course get frustrated, irritable and even angry because I can't fix it. I feel like a terrible mother because I can't meet his needs. Some days it downright brings me to tears. I don't think there is anything that can be done to change this. He probably needs to work it out on his own and I need to just grin and bear it. But when he does smile and laugh so hard that he gets hiccups, it makes everything seem perfect. It makes my whole being just melt and I just want to hold him, kiss on him and never let him go.
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