Everythings a toy

Everything is a toy these days to Ebin, here are some examples:

A plate

Plastic-ware

Door stops

Wooden spoon

I LOVE his age RIGHT now, I wish I could press pause!

Saying NO

Ebin has really started to come into his own these last few months. I LOVE the age he is now! Anything and everything is a toy, he is somewhat mobile which makes his curious self very happy to explore, and he recognizes SO much of his surroundings. Of course, I say I love every age .. but this one is seriously adorable.

With all this new-found independency, Ebin has begun to get into a little trouble. Not fundamental problems of course, just playing with things we don’t want him to play with, or pitching little fits that I think are ridiculous.

Jason and I have started saying ‘no’. We say the word in a firm tone, make eye contact, then correct the issue, and then move forward. It has been VERY interesting to see how he responds to his first little glispe of our parenting. It’s been interesting for me to actually parent a little instead of mother (mothering to me is the feeding, diapering, changing, ect. parenting to me is correcting and molding him into a good person)

What have I noticed during this beginning phase of parenting? He responds to the word no. Sometimes he will stop what he’s doing, look at me for explanation, then go about his business. Other times, I say no and he looks at me for explanation then goes RIGHT back to the ‘no’ task at hand. When he does that I say no once more and we move on, I don’t press the issue, bc DUH, he’s 7.5 months old.

I am a pretty laid back mom. I don’t care if he gets dirty or gets into things, he is exploring and I enjoy watching that curiosity in him. I just want him to learn to stay away from things that will hurt him, and I think saying no is where that foundation is laid.

From ’swimming’ to ‘army crawling’ … Ebin is ALMOST crawling!

About a month ago Ebin graduated from rolling everywhere to ’swimming’ everywhere.  He would streeeeeeeeetch out his left arm and kick with his right foot, then streeeeeeetch way out with his right arm and kick with his left.  All the while his head is flopping back and forth, back and forth.  It was a struggle for him, but he got where he wanted.  It was SOO cute watch him swim!  I have it on video, but I haven’t figured out to get videos on this blog.  Anyway, we knew he was on his way to crawling because every day he ‘swam’ more and more.

 Next he progressed to his interpretation of an ‘army crawl’.  I say his interpretation bc an arm crawl is mostly arm movement and your head and neck in the up position.  Well, sweet Ebin’s head is so big (95 percentile to be exact) that he was struggling to keep it up.  So he would dive with his head first then kick his feet as fast as he could and then use his arms to propel himself.  I have that on video too, it’s super cute.  But this form of transportation for him was taking a tole on his face .. what with all the diving.

 Finally, this past week he realized his head and neck go in the upright position and his legs and arms should move together instead of independently flailing.  So it’s totally a coordination issue – which makes since bc I’m his momma, and if you know me, you know I am NOOOT coordinated-  He ‘rocks’ a lot…where he gets on his hands and knees and rocks to the front and back about to take off … but then he puts his tummy back down and scoots.

 Needless to say all this progression was over the course of a month, so I think I’ve got about a week maybe 2 weeks until I have a 100% crawler.  But be clear, Ebin’s interpretation of crawling keeps him in PLENTY of trouble. Right now he’s trying to get in the fireplace … which will bring me to my next blog about saying ‘no’