Month Eight

June 11, 2020

Titus,

Well. Nothing else in the house is safe. You are determined to get moving as fast as possible. From the slowest of army crawls at the start of the month, you’re racing around on your tummy. Watching your cousin taught you to pull up, so it’s up on anything that’s low enough to grab from your stomach. Pulling up means you can get your knees up, which has led to climbing up the stairs. From the army crawl you’ve figured out that real crawling is actually faster, so you get up in a four-point stance and take off in the crawl. Last but not least, 6 months of watching the boys running around the house has you determined to get up on those feet and walk. We’re scrambling to baby-proof and dig out the baby gates. Fortunately, your brothers are on top of closing doors and plugging light sockets, so you should be ok.

Four more teeth this month, and lots of new food. You’re on the “grab and eat” wagon now, from bananas, to graham crackers, to trying your best to help out with the spoon, you’ve had lots of new food experiences this month. The high chair is a lot of fun, with all the new food. You’ve also figured out that you can rock back and forth and get it to move closer to the table and Mommy with the spoon.

Solid work with the signs, as well. As best we can figure, “so big” actually means “more”, and whacking the tray with your hand means “all done”. Except for the times when “so big” means “all done”. The one sign that is unequivocal is “milk”. You’re 100% sure on that one, when it’s your time to nurse with Mommy. That means it’s time to go up to your room, sit in your rocker all by yourself, and snuggle with Mommy. Those four teeth brought a short nursing string and lots of pain, but the cute vampire look is pretty cute.

Sleeping has been mixed this month, but we introduced your bunny blanket animal to you, which has brought a major increase in snuggles. Mommy just puts you in the crib with your bunny, and you roll right over and snuggle with your bunny, and go to sleep. Mostly…now that you can pull up on the crib, might be a little harder going forward. We’ll see what next month brings.

We’re having some trouble pinpointing your first word, since you’ve been mimicking sounds for quite a while. “Mama” has been in your sound repertoire for months already. This month has brought a number of new mimics, including “love you”, “brother”, and “up”. We definitely know you know what “up” means, with arms stretched up to Daddy & Mommy for pickups. As for the other words, we’re not totally sure that you know what they mean, but it’s cute to hear you trying. The newest sound is a kissing noise, which started showing up after you watched Mommy & Daddy kissing. That just gives us one more excuse to kiss. Can’t argue with that.

The temperature is going up, so it’s time for lots more water activities. Mommy got small and big baby pools for the back yard. Your brothers had a great time bringing down bath toys for you to play with. You got to go swimming for the first time in the pool at a friend’s house, as we helped them inaugurate their new backyard pool. Hot weather brought a few more trips to various backyard pools as well, and you’re all for swimming, just like your brothers.

Being mostly stable at sitting means we switched over to the big bathtub for bath time. Having access to all the toys, and stretching out on your back to kick makes bath time much more fun. Your older brothers were excited to join you for bath time. You spent the first five minutes just giggling and smiling at getting to have bath time with your brothers. It’s been a lot of fun.

It’s been a pleasure to watch you observe the world around you, from taking the time to study your fingers as they move, to keeping a close eye on the kitchen activity from your high chair. You don’t miss a beat, including puzzling out the function of the computer mouse and pointing to tell Nana to keep going when she stopped.

Whether it’s the changing table or the floor, we can’t change you without you spinning around, turning over, or trying to crawl right off the changing table. Laps mean you want to stand and hop, and if we wanted the floor clean, we’d attach a broom to your outfit. The boys are absolutely loving watching you get faster and more adventurous about exploring the house. You’re crawling through, over, under, and around everything, from the high chair to the exersaucer. If given an option, you’re making a beeline for the heater or air return grates to make some noise. And that failing, you’ll just pipe up with a few excited squeals to add to the baseline family noise level.

Every day is a joy. We love you lots!

Daddy and Mommy