Parenthood: Week 261 - 4/2/18

Ethan is getting louder. His screams of frustration feel blinding, as I bring hold him close to me and try to calm him down, but also is squeals of joy come easier and fill the house with. Just in the past two weeks Ethan has started grabbing things. At first it was only when I would bring a toy close to him, both hands would clap together and grab something. Now he is beginning to reach out and grabs things on his own.

Ethan isn’t crawling, but he’s great at rolling over. Sometimes he ends up on his tummy and tries to move about. He hasn’t figured out how to get his bottom up and his feet under his body. Instead, he just puts out his feet and arms, floats them above the grab, and planks. I’m glad he’s doing this work, that I’m sure I great for his core, but I do feel sad that he is getting frustration.

Ethan is fascinated by his feet, his hands, and at lights in the ceiling. He has grown to love his Jumperoo.

Diana refers to it as “Baby-Disneyland.” It allows him to work on his leg strength while being entertained from above with some animals hanging down and a variety of activities around, one which plays songs (and thankfully has three volume options).

Our stack of baby clothes that he has grown out of is getting bigger and bigger. It makes me sad sometimes, because it shows me how quickly time has passed, but I also feel proud and happy of how much he has grown, which is evidence of the great work that Diana is doing to help him grow.

Sometimes when Diana is holding Ethan, he will look over at someone with a big smile, and then turn his head and bury his face into Diana’s chest. Then he will turn his head back over, give that person a big smile, and then hide again. His own routine of peek-a-boo, is ridiculously cute.

Ollie is simply amazing me right now. He got these Plus-Plus blocks a couple months ago. In the past two weeks he has figured out to follow directions, and designs that came with these blocks and create all sorts of designs. Ollie’s ability to translate two-dimensional directions into designs has been really remarkable to watch develp.

Now that Ethan is getting into toys, we have a bin of toys for him to play with. Ollie loves these toys. Most of them, he had as baby himself. I’m not quite sure why he is so into these baby toys, but it is pretty cute to see him reliving his baby-hood.

 Though there is some issues with this.

The day after we got the Jumperoo, I came home after school, and heard the music from the Jumperoo playing accompanied by giggles. I turned to look in the direction of the Jumperoo, and saw Ollie bouncing up and day with a hug smile on his face. Ollie is well beyond the age and weight limit of this thing, and I had not idea how he managed to climb into it. After some struggling, I managed to pull him out of that thing. The whole time, I was doing this, Ollie was laughing. Somehow I managed to get through to him that it was not safe for him to be in the Jumperoo.  As much as I don’t want him to get into that thing ever again, I am glad I have the memory of Ollie experiencing the pure joy of being a baby once again.