Mom Remembers

I've been meaning to sit down for a moment and write about Carl for months.  But every time I think about it, I've been completely overwhelmed.  How can I put in words his charming personality, his burgeoning skills, and his diminishing babyhood?  And now we pay the price for my lack of vision: months unrecorded and a baby that has grown up behind my back. In spite of this, I do want to remember these precious days.  I want to record some of my observations and hold them close (like I can no longer hold my squirming son). Updates: * Carl has been able to sit up on his own for about a month now. * He has been using the pincer grasp for a little less than two months. * He can also pass things between hands (and has been doing this for about 2 months as well). * Because of this, he is a very adept self-feeder. (Or perhaps his desire to self-feed led to the acquisition of that skill?) * Especially at the table, he looks for things he has dropped (demonstrating o...

SOREN: Look!  Dinosaur bones!  Hooray!  They're so pretty!

I've been trying to teach Soren to clean up after himself for a long time.  He's pretty good at picking up his blocks, putting his plate in the sink, returning books to the shelf, and organizing toys.  So I felt it was time to up the ante: I've started asking him to clean up his spills. A small cup of milk (filled less than half-way) seems like such a good idea when I'm handing it to him but it's usually a big spill waiting to happen.  After making a mess, he always wants to help clean up but he just doesn't understand how.  He used to get down on his knees and then spread the milk around with his fingertips.  Cute, but not helpful. I used to fret about this (should we go back to spill-proof sippy cups?) but no longer!  I bought some super-absorbent towels ( shamwows ) that make cleaning up a snap, even for him.  After he spills, I just hand him the towel and he gets down to clean it up.  The cloth is so absorbent, he can clean up a whole spill...

SOREN: (looking at a picture of key lime pie) Yummy! ME: Yeah, that looks good, doesn't it? SOREN: It's cheese and cucumbers!  And yogurt!

This is just a quick post to announce that Carl can--finally!--sit independently. He has been able to sit up in my lap or on the couch for a couple of months.  Lately, he had even been sitting without leaning against anything.  I think that he just felt more secure, having some kind of back support available just in case.  But now he can sit in the middle of the room with nothing to lean on and be just fine. Hooray for progress!