A Bunch of Baby Centered Stuff

Today was a mom day. That was where all my attention went. Into Gabriel, feeding, nursing, napping, laundering his clothes, going to his baby group, playing, laughing, pajamaing... all sorts of baby centered stuff.

Gabriel is learning some new things. He's learning to commando crawl--scooting around on his belly, grabbing at toys and cats and other things that he shouldn't be grabbing. He's trying to stand. He climbs up on my knee, or on his stuffed black panther (who is life sized).

He also did this funny thing when I was feeding him sweetpotatoes. First off, he did the yummy dance-- where he rocks his head back and forth. It's not random, he does it when he likes the food, and it goes along with the song. Sometimes it's the "Banana Dance" song, sometimes it's the "Happy Apple" song, or "Happy Pears", today it was the "Sweet Potato" song. They all have the same tune, and I dance with him. Oh, yeah, and there's the "Yo Baby, Yo Baby, Yo Baby Yo," dance, too. There is no green beans dance, nor is there an avocado dance. I'm working on the vegetables.

Then he was opening his mouth for the spoon, and he said, "OHHHH--MMP", every time the food came. I realized this was the sound I was making so he would open his mouth, and he was copying me.

All right, I'm being goofy, but he hasn't done that stuff before. And he had a new laugh, not his regular laugh, ahee hee hee-- but rather a heheheheh. I'm silly, but it was still cute.

We went to our Babies Group today. We had fun. He commando crawled around and played with his little friends. Playing consists of chewing on eachother's toys, sometimes chewing on eachother's fingers, grabbing noses and toes. He has occassionally kissed another baby on the cheek-- when he was into the kissing. They also spend a lot of time just looking around at the other babies and moms.

I spent some time talking to the other moms (and one dad). We talked about lots of things-- like what they ate, and teeth, sleep habits, crawling. (Also adult things like renting in Williamsburg, babysitters, art studios, and returning, postpartum periods, although we only talked about that one after the dad left.)

I guess I spent a week caught up in my own head, because I was starting to feel as if Gabriel was falling behind. Then I started worrying that maybe something might be wrong with him. I know that he is small, and that he fell off his weight gain, and maybe that's what I was transferring onto other things. Like him not having any teeth, or not being able to get to sitting up on his own, or not being able to put the cheerios in his own mouth.

Turns out I was getting stupid paranoid. It's all normal. Teeth is no biggie, and neither is the other stuff. One of the moms is an occupational therapist, and she knows the milestones. Ofcourse, she might now them a little too well for her own good, since she thinks she is getting a little wound up about everything. So there's a danger in having no information, as well as in having too much info.

It really was a mom day-- in my head as well as in the activities. And that's fine. There is room still for me to take Rowena time and do what I want to do for myself. Maybe I'll take tomorrow as a writing day.

I'm really looking forward to the Spring, when we can go out to the playground and the park. When he is just a little bit older, and a little bit more mobile and independent. It's so strange that Gabriel, and all his friends are getting to be real little people. Soon they'll be old enough to express themselves, to take up activities, to have real friends. I just know that there is going to be a ball team or two. I feel like it's only just getting interesting-- the mommy job, that is.