11 Months, 6 days

One of my favourite movies is Parenthood, I know I've mentioned it before. I could watch it over and over again. It makes me feel comfortable and secure somehow. Now that I'm a parent, I have a different relationship with it than I did before. It makes me feel better, for one thing. It reminds me that sometimes I worry way too much, and that at least Griffin isn't going to be Larry.

Griffin surely does have something happening inside that little brain of his. He's got a personality, growing by the day. He's taken to bobbing his head around while grinning or giggling. Usually he does it to music, or when we're singing, but sometimes he just does it.. maybe to his own inner tune. We'll bob along with him, which urges him to do it more. I've never had more fun with him.

He likes to climb, to investigate, to crawl, to learn.Everything about this excites me. We brought him outside, and he experienced grass again.. though I know he doesn't remember when he last sat on grass (when he was a few months old). He was alternately fascinated and scared by it. He crawled around in a circle, and then started to cry. Eric cuddled him, and played with him. He got SO incredibly dirty.

He is still sick, the poor little boy. I hate hearing him cough, and having him be so unhappy. I suspect he might have an ear infection, but it's hard to tell, because he is certainly teething, too. The ear pulling could be either.

His toes are extremely cute. Wee little toes and this HUGE big toe. I could play with them forever, except he gets kind of annoyed after a while. He needs new socks.

Time to go!
Be well,
Autumn

10 months, 4 weeks, 2 days

Every day creeps us a little closer to the end of infancy and toward toddler-hood. It's a little sad, but in many ways a relief. I'm excited by growth, his learning things. Eric was talking about babies and learning the other day, and said something that I hadn't really thought about before. It's remarkable, what babies learn in such a short time. In some ways it's incredibly daunting, thinking of what he has to learn... everything. What a room is, that he has fingers, what sound is. Differentiating noises, and pictures, and learning to make sense out of it. His relationship with us must come out of being the only constant people in a confusion of sound and noise.

In June, we're moving to a new apartment in the same complex. There might be some jumble of this blog, while we do so. I'm very excited about the move, as it will be a larger place. Not too much larger, but it will have an extra bathroom, and a built in computer desk so we can give the second bedroom to Griffin entirely, without our stuff in it. He can play with almost everything in it, excepting the lamps, and stuff like that. I wish we could paint that room, but we'll decorate it as best we can. I think he'll be happy to have a room that's not full of things he can't touch.

When he was a small baby, he never had diaper rashes. Now he has more than his poor little share. Part of it might be some food he had, though. He also has a cold that he's been fighting and isn't winning against. I don't think there's baby cough medicine, but I'll look for some, cause I just want him to be able to breathe, poor little man.

Every day he becomes more of his own person. From time to time I feel like I'm walking on the edge of a precipice, fearing that a misstep on my part will do damage to his wee psyche. I can certainly understand people who find it hard to discipline their children. Crying is heartbreaking.

Though, not always. Griffin had a huge tantrum the other day because .. I'm not sure why. Likely because we wouldn't let him explore the funny little holes on the back of the laptop with his fingers (slick with teething drool). The tantrum, though, was amusing as hell. Eric and I just started to laugh, and the more he flung himself around yelling, the funnier it was. Maybe part of it was the scale; such massive crying over something like that. Do all parents go around in constant amusement? The whole world is ending because I can't stick my finger in the socket! My parents won't let me eat this, woe! Woe and destruction! Anyway, I think the laughter was discouraging to him, he sat up and started playing with a toy. Crying the whole time, mind you, just to continue to lodge his complaint.

I apologize for the length and quality of these updates lately. I just don't have the time, due to hectic schedules and clingy baby, to do a post all in one go, and if I do it in parts I lose my thread.

One more thing to add. Griffin is mesmerized by music, but held in complete thrall by music videos. He'll stand stock still, forgetting everything else, watching the screen. It's the same for my music player on the computer, which can generate a screen of random colours and lines to go with the song currently playing. I hope that he gets a xylophone for his birthday, as much as I dread the sounds he will produce with it, I think he'll be extremely happy.

Now I must go, as Eric has caught the house bug, and is alone with an extremely drippy congested baby. Be well, everyone.

Autumn
PS: Thank you for reading this blog, especially to the Neary's, who have been ever kind and generous to me and my baby.

I'm having a hard time uploading pictures, so apologies. Griffin is developing so quickly. He's begun to drag toys around with him, which is new. He's also taken to saying "Na na na na" when he's upset, or doesn't like something. I think it's kind of cool. Eric's mom is visiting this week, and it's great, too.
I'm sorry for the short blog this week, I'm in a lot of pain so I can't think too clearly.

10 months, 2 weeks, 1 day

This is Griffin and his aunt Amber, a little while ago. Today has been an evenful one, as the adults get sick. Poor Griffin found himself with no daddy and half a mom. I hope that tomorrow will be a better day for all of us.

You know that thing, where you take your finger, and flick it across your two lips, making a "buh buh buh" sound? He does that to himself using two of his fingers, but he also does it to us. Eric started it by humming, and Griffin grabbed at his lips, causing Eric to go "buh buh buh". It's actually pretty fun, if he doesn't have long, clawlike fingernails. He lets us do it to him, too.

We still await a bigger apartment. There are only so many of them in the complex, and we're waiting impatiently for one with a woods view. There is one we could have right now, but it's got a parking lot on both sides; not exactly the ideal spot. I can't wait for the larger apartment, because then we can give Griffin his own room. I'd love to decorate his own room, put all his toys in there, make it a completely ok place to play. Right now, we're forever telling him "no", with the computer room, and it's entirely too crowded for all of us in there.


Griffin is getting more into chewing things. The little cracker-cookie things we got him that were formerly something he'd make a face at and ignore, are now his favourite. He picks them up and chews them thoughtfully before they dissolve. He's also figured out that he can smash them into dust with other objects. Yay!

We're not going to be able to go to my father's house for the Fourth of July this year, which is sad. I really want everyone to see how big he's become in person! Of course, I fear the tick situation where my father is. Speaking of summer! We're making plans to bring the little guy into the pool with us, and I can't wait. I can't wait for him to crawl around in the grass, either, or play more in a playground.

Now, I am crashing a little.
Be well,
Autumn