J, at 1
I know everyone says that their children are all different, but the other crazy thing is that there's no real way to remember every little detail and, thus, make the kind of comparisons with regard to the less significant milestones.
For example, all of my boys have been mostly smiley babies and toddlers. I can remember when B and M first walked, or their first word -yes, first word, not words because it was the same word! - or when they each weaned. But the really tiny details, like making certain sounds, or faces, or gestures - well, I just don't remember.
J has a few little friends who were born the same week. Some point, some clap hands, one actually says recognizable words. J doesn't really do those things. But the things he does are pretty awesome.
Most babies I know started making sounds such as "ma" and "ba" and "da". Up until recently, the sound J would make pretty much all the time was "lalala". As D and I are rather musical, we were thrilled. He still makes that sound, but now it's often in conjunction with the book Moo, Baa, La La La. There are times when I actually believe that he recognizes his favorite books. The other sound he makes often is "nah". Over the last few days I've come to realize that this is his name for himself. The funniest thing happened yesterday. J is pretty adept at opening our washing machine. D stood in front of the door to block him and J pulled and pulled, yelling "Nah! Nah!", then finally turned around, looked up at me and asked, "Ma?" To which I could only reply, "No, I'm not going to open that for you."
He also spends a lot of time on his feet. He often crawls over to me, grabs my leg, pulls up, takes my hand and then tries to walk alongside me. I love it. He's taken a few steps at a time and thinks it's the funniest game.
J eats everything. There is nothing that child won't put in his mouth (including a big piece of his birthday cake). Unfortunately he did react to some roasted eggplant so we're going to wait a while till we give him more of that - which is not hard to do since B and M hate it and we almost never buy any. He also seems to have a problem with dairy - he had some twice, by accident and reacted both times - but everything else is fair game. J tends to go for the fruit and vegetables first (I'm sure that'll stop at some point) and will eat curries and soups and stir fry. It's awesome that I don't have to think about what to give him. B says he wishes that J would get picky so that I would get used to making things for picky children (his words, not mine!).
J is still a rotten sleeper. Last night he went from bedtime till 3:30 am without waking up. But it's a rarity. Everyone keeps telling me to let him cry and that it works, but as he wakes up so often, I don't think I'm prepared to put in [insert however long it would take] of sleepless nights. Nor do I want to keep the rest of the house up either. I've tried not feeding him and that just makes him cry harder. He still has those same six teeth so I don't think it can all be put down to teething pain. I'm consoling myself with the fact that one day his wife will be the one dealing with the sleepless nights. I mean, this is bound to end someday, right?
He's unbelievably cuddly and silly, and just loads of fun to be with. I"ve started taking him out on my bike, too, and that's gone really well. He's just fun and I love being with him.
As for me....well, it's like this.
One year later I weigh about the same as I did when I conceived. I'm getting this out of the way and saying it first because there are some pretty awful things to report, too. Such as:
- My breasts are no longer defying gravity. And they have some awful stretch marks that weren't there before I had J. They are the most awful looking breasts in the history of the world.
- I may weigh the same, but my stomach is all mushy.
- My hair is even frizzier than before.
- My face has aged. I'm actually, for the first time, starting to look my age. And I don't have a problem with it, but it's happened rather quickly. I just don't recognize myself in the mirror. Also, I have permanent bags under my eyes from lack of sleep.
- My pelvic floor...wow, I don't even know how to start that one. Let's just say that it doesn't exist. At all. I can't run, cough or laugh very hard if I haven't just been to the bathroom. No amount of kegeling has fixed things. I'm going to have to see a doctor about this one because my patience is running out. But it's pretty awful. Unless I refrain from running, coughing or laughing hard.