Whatever Works for You.....

Baby Bear is a funny boy. When it comes time to sleep, he doesn't need a blankie or a favorite toy. He doesn't need to be held or rocked. He doesn't need any special pajamas** or a bottle. This boy needs his hands. His way of self-soothing when he's tired is to rub his eyes, pull on his ears and scratch the heck out of his nose. No matter how short I keep his fingernails, he always manages to draw blood and leave trails of scabs in his wake up and down his nose, and in this picture, even a small one by his mouth. I usually use photoshop to edit them out of pictures, but I decided to take a "reality" shot the other day, so when he's older and I'm missing his baby days, I can pull this out and reminisce about his funny little quirk.

It's crazy that he's 7 months old already. I can't believe how incredibly fast his first year is going. I feel like pushing the slow-mo button because I'm not ready for him to grow up so quickly. This is my absolute favorite baby stage and I want to soak it all up. When else do you have a child who lights up with a huge smile the minute you look at him, every time you look at him? And it's not just a smile - his whole body radiates happiness. His nose scrunches up, he squeals, he kicks his legs and waves his arms with such enthusiasm you'd think it was the first time he'd seen you all day. But this happens all day long and I treasure these moments. Because pretty soon he'll be a mobile toddler with all the sassiness and stubbornness that come with that stage and I'll miss these sweet moments when he was never mad at me and I was never the bad guy. There's no sassing back yet, just the pure love of a baby for his mommy, and it melts my heart. Baby Bear is such a good natured little guy and we feel so incredibly blessed to have him in our family.

**This is true only in the last month and a half or so. He HAD to sleep in his little bunting for every single nap or bedtime. It was a 0-3 month size and he grew out of it before he was ready to give it up, so we continued to wedge him into it (with the shoulders of the bunting not even coming up over his shoulders) until we could take it no more. We tried weaning him off of it many times, and he'd vociferously announce his displeasure until we relented and put him in it. Within seconds he'd calm down and go to sleep, but not until we had that thing on him nice and snug. It was only with the advent of the warm weather (and broken air conditioning) that convinced him to let us just put him in regular footie pajamas instead of that enormous, thick, hot bunting instead. Once he got over that hump he was fine and will now sleep in anything, thank goodness! :)