Milo Chap, Month 8
Here we are. Month 8. And life has become infinitely more interesting/complicated/fun over the last month, now that we have a crawling Milo Chapman. We've got a few real life hazards in the form of Oliver's tiny barn animals and marbles that hide in our carpet and the wet fists of our crawling baby. This kid is all over the place. I frequently walk into the living room and find him halfway under the couch, laughing.
Which is basically defines his personality right now.
I remember Oliver at this age... he took his play very seriously. He studied his toys and examined the world. They say play is the work of children, and Oliver took that to heart. We'd put him in the exersaucer and he would jump. jump. jump. Focused. Steady, Keeping time. Milo on the other hand is like a jack in the box- goofy grin, arms extended bumping and jumping in all directions.
Who will you even be in another year, Milo buddy? I can't wait to watch your person unfold.
Sweet boy continues to eat three meals a day. And we are blessed with another good eater-- seriously, friends, I hear ya... we seem to be the exception to the rule. Our boys love food and can put it away. I can only imagine my grocery bill in 10 years. I'm going to need a bigger budget. And a bigger pantry. Milo loves pretty much anything set before him, with the exception of blueberries and squash. These I have to sneak in between bites of sweet potato. He's just started munching on bites of real food and loves to mash bananas and peas around his mouth. He's still only equipped with two bottom teeth, but those top gums are looking more and more swollen by the day. He's yet to master the art of the sippy cup, although few things excite him more than chewing/banging/drowning on a big boy cup.
Teething or not, this guy is a drooler, and I end up changing his clothes three times a day, because of how soaked he gets. And now that he's crawling, he's basically mopping my floors with his drool, snot, and tummy. It's not pretty.
Sleep continues to be a topic of much discussion around our house. It is not good. We worked on sleep training for an entire week... and after 7 days, he was continuing to cry for unspeakable lengths of time. Seriously. I won't even write it down because it makes me feel like a bad mom. And here's what we've concluded after reading the books, and brainstorming with mom-friends, and wrestling with sleep deprivation- what works for some babies, does not necessarily work for all babies. Grace mommas, let's have loads of grace for each other here. We are back to feeding Chap somewhere between 3am-5am. As well as giving him a dream feed at 10pm.
But you have to know Chap, Daddy and I will have no mercy for you when you are 15 and needing to wake up at the crack of dawn for basketball practice or drum line or whatever it is you find yourself in. We will have a zero tolerance policy for whining. Because we have never been so tired for so long IN. OUR. LIVES. Because half the time, when you wake up to eat, you decide to stay awake talking and squealing in your bed for another hour or two.
He's taking two naps per day. Typically from 9am-11am and then 2-4pm. We've realized that bedtime for this guy needs to be earlier than his brother, and we get him down promptly at 7pm. This is actually perfect because it gives Oliver some much needed one-on-two time in the evening. Part of our bedtime routine has become to gather all of us into one room and sing Milo's bedtime song to him, before I give him his last bottle and a few snuggles. This guy LOVES his moment in the spotlight and literally quivers with excitement when he's the center of attention. It's basically the most adorable thing. Ever.
His favorite toys are shoelaces. And Oliver. And Oliver's toys. At this point, Oliver is fairly patient with him and tells him when "dat's not honorwing to qual (crawl) on my toys/ eat my toys/ grab my toys." I can see things escalating quickly though. Oliver's quickly learning to keep his specials up on the couch out of Harm's way and out of Harm's slobbery reach.
The boys have been sick for the better part of a month now, and I'm looking forward to warmer months and fewer kleenexs littering our living room rug. However, all this hibernating we've been doing suits me and feels cozy. All these boys and their laundry keep my hands plenty full.
The cherry tree in our back yard is starting to bloom, the sun is starting to warm the South Bay, and we are almost back to wearing shorts most days (it's February people!). Looking forward to healthier days ahead, dragging the baby swimming pool out and live streaming Oklahoma tornado season.
