Achievement unlocked: ... oh, where to start?

[oloriel]

In the olden days, that is, around 30 or so years ago, it was still believed and propagated that babies who did not learn to crawl (as in, move forward on all fours) would have trouble learning to stand and walk.

Today, of course, we know better: As long as a baby attemps (and eventually manages) to move from the spot at all, be it on their butt, their belly, by rolling over or pushing backwards or whatever else they come up with, everything is fine.
As if to prove that, Felix learned to crawl forward throughout the past days (on Sunday, it would occasionally work; on Monday, it worked when it was just a short stretch and my welcoming hands were on the other end of it; yesterday, it worked whenever he thought it was worth the bother) --- AFTER having learned to pull himself up to his feet. (If you gave him your hands and took care of the balancing, impetus etc., he's been doing that for several weeks now; last week he also learned to use static support structures like the bars on his playpen, or chairs.) Don't ask me how the Learned (TM) of the past century never observed such developments. Probably the old story: They didn't see them because they didn't think they'd exist...

Anyway: Felix, being able to stand and sometimes even walk while holding on to something stable with one hand, is now on the threshold of toddlerdom. Incredible. It seems like yesterday that he was this helpless, mostly immobile, utterly dependant little creature, and now he's all muscle and ambition...

In a strange contrast to his otherwise rapid growth, it's been difficult these past days to feed him. The week before last, Jörg came down with a nasty bronchitis, and last week, Felix and I started coughing as well (though we clearly got the lighter variant. Still, explain that to a baby who has a sore throat from coughing.); during that time, Felix refused his veggies altogether. I assumed that the juices/acids in them stung his throat, but even now that he has recovered, he still doesn't want them. By now he also often refuses his cereal pap and will cry pitifully when I try to feed him. So for the past days, it's been mostly breast milk again - we haven't stopped that yet, anyway, but before he started teething and getting sick, we were down to three times a day. Now the count has gone back up. Oh well.
However, he likes eating little chunks of bread (especially when he snatched them from my plate first) as well as bananas etc. - maybe the puree days are simply over. Today, I'll see if he'll eat his veggies in fingerfood form.

His sleep schedule is also messed up - fortunately, not the one at night (although thanks to Daylight Savings Time he now only wakes up at 9:30 as opposed to 8:30, which is a bit late even for my taste), but the one by day. You can see that he's exhausted and he is peevish and doesn't know what to do with himself, either, but damned if he'll nap, he might miss something! The days when he'll take his mid-day and afternoon nap like he used to are now rare - even when I carry him around in the wrap.
And he's very clingy again - if I'm in the room, he won't rest with anyone else. He'll climb and strive until he's in my arms again - even though he cannot talk, he can certainly make himself very clear on that count. It's ok as long as he can neither see nor hear me, but as soon as he gets the impression that I'm near, nobody else can hold him. It's as endearing as it's straining.

He's also "talking" a lot again. For a while, he fell almost entirely silent, but now he's back to telling us entire stories (unfortunately, we don't understand a word). He also loves experimenting with different sounds. "BRRR" and "BWW" are favourites because they enable him to spit like a little fountain...

So we're doing fine.

Picspam (f-locked) coming up!

Comments

[nelyo-russandol.livejournal.com]

Anyway: Felix, being able to stand and sometimes even walk while holding on to something stable with one hand, is now on the threshold of toddlerdom. Incredible.

Quick, hide everything! Scissors, little ornaments, everything! Let the challenge begin...

Seriously, congratulations. For me, toddlerdom is their cutest stage. Babies are boring in comparison. :o)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Not sure that "boring" is the word I'd use, but now, there's certainly more personality involved!

I guess I should find safe places for the books (except for those I can't stand anyway :P)...