First, he has been getting frustrated VERY easily lately. I try not to help him when I know he can figure things out himself, but my gosh, he expresses his frustration very LOUDLY! We call it his "red tail hawk" noise...it sounds just like when a hawk on television is descending on prey. (We have hawks around here, I just never stick around to see if they are going to attack something, so I don't know if that noise is accurate or not.) Anyhow, it can be something as simple as Bear wanting a certain toy out of the bin and he can't reach it as quickly as he'd like to something like him getting his fingers smashed. It's hard to tell if he's hurt or not, because the red tail hawk noise occurs for all frustrating events. I come running, thinking he's hurt, only to find him angry because he can't reach a particular truck. He also doesn't seem to care if we are in public and will make this noise in restaurants, stores or at the park. We were at a birthday party a few weeks ago and he made this noise when the birthday boy was about to blow out the candles (a normally very quiet moment). Everyone turned around to look at us, and it turns out that Bear just couldn't reach his balloon (a new favorite of his, btw).
Something extremely important in our household is laughter--a similar sense of humor is one of the things that attracted me to Max--and it is so cool that Bear has figured this out. Ever since he was able to, he's laughed along with us, even if he didn't know what we were laughing about. Lately, though, he's started trying to make us laugh and of course, it works! If he's given a bowl at mealtime, he empties it and holds it between his teeth so that most of the bowl is covering his face. While he's doing this, he gets our attention by making a "Mmmm mmm mmm" sound. Of course, we crack up and he drops the bowl to watch us laugh, just before he starts laughing himself. He also does this with the plastic cylinder shape that belongs to his shape sorter toy. The cylinder fits right over his nose and it's red, which makes him look like a pig. This actually makes me laugh even harder than the bowls at dinnertime! I've tried to get a picture, but he's such a ham, he always wants to smile when the camera's out, so he drops whatever he's holding. I'll keep trying, but without the noise and the obvious attempt to get our attention, some of the humor may be lost.
It looks like we'll be spending Bear's first Christmas just as a family of three. At one time, both my mom and my dad were thinking of coming to visit, but it ended up not working out for either of them. We are fine with having a relaxing holiday and can't wait for Bear to enjoy his new things. One gift we got him is a wagon, and I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to take him for a walk in it since Max picked it up the day after Thanksgiving. Our neighbor has a wagon and Bear loves to ride around their driveway in it, so I can't wait for him to have his own. If it's cold on Christmas, then we'll just have to bundle him up so he can enjoy it, because I don't think I'll be able to wait any longer.
We are going to attempt to take him to church on Christmas Eve and hopefully he won't get too squirmy. We last took him to church on Easter, but he was so little, he didn't cause any problems. I'm afraid he'll want to cruise along the pews, but maybe he'll surprise me. He may be excited about all the singing going on, but we might have to skip the candle lighting. I'm afraid he'll try to touch it and I won't be able to stop him. Why are babies and kids so attracted to fire? It seems like there would be some instinct that tells them not to touch it, but every little kid I've ever met wants to touch burning candles. Anyhow, we normally go to church on Christmas Eve for the midnight service, but I think we'll be attending the earlier one this year! The service at 6pm is probably filled with kids that can't make it until midnight. 6 pm is actually kind of pushing it for Bear. We usually give him a bath at 7 or so and sometimes he's pretty cranky for a half hour before that. Hopefully there will be enough new stuff going on at church that he'll be distracted enough not to act crazy!
Even though the week is coming to a close, Bear and I are going to be pretty busy for the remainder of it! We are hosting a playgroup for the first time at our house tomorrow and I've got to clean and bring all the toys into the living room, as well as make a snack. Also, tomorrow is Max's birthday and although we're not doing anything huge to celebrate, we're still going to have a little fun, so I've got a few preparations left to take care of for that. I'm really looking forward to everything and it should be a fun day, provided Bear takes good naps in between all the activity!
Here is one picture we managed to capture of him with the bowl on his face, but it's hard to tell he's being funny. I'll really try to get one with the red cylinder...that better captures the silliness!
1 comment:
They get even more fun...and independent, which is scary and wonderful at the same time!
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