Babies are hard. This week we had a major growth spurt. Definitely body, probably brain. His usual eating patterns are 3-4 oz every 3-4 hours. Last Sunday he started eating 4 oz every 2 hours, and kept that up for a couple days. The couple days afterward he was the hardest he's been. Very fussy, hardly happy, screaming when he was being fed. He refused to eat while we were in the chair. He'd just scream at the top of his lungs. We figured out he'd eat on the bouncy ball (which is so painful to the back and shoulder) and he'd sort of eat in his bouncy chair (also hard on the back). He didn't want to go to sleep. He'd just scream. It basically took all the strength and patience Pip and I had together to get through those couple of days. Then he sprouted a couple inches, his clothes stopped fitting, and he's a great baby again. He mostly jumped from a size 3 month to 9 month in things with legs.
Since that recent harrowing experience, he's gotten more giggly. He's getting ticklish. He's playing giggly games. I was happy if I got 15 minutes of happy baby time a week or two ago. Now I get LOTS of happy baby time. He's more playful. He's also getting better at putting himself to sleep. A larger fraction of the time I put him down sleepy but awake and he puts himself to sleep. This is GREAT for us! We tried to start a daily schedule to help him get used to a routine, but we're not very good at routines and it's hard to get it to stick.
He's started noticing how people eat and mimicking it. Our nanny was eating apple slices and Moriarty would copy her by bringing his hands to his mouth then moving his jaw around! He intently watches me eat bites of oatmeal and moves his mouth around.
And the obvious topic for the week, it's Mother's Day. Mother's Day is complicated. Thinking about the fact that my own mom isn't here is obviously sad. But even the idea that I am a mother now is taking some time to sink in. When I got my PhD and people started calling me "Doctor Lafleur" in professional settings I laughed out loud for the first several times. I'm me. I'm not this new label you see. I am very mom-like toward Moriarty but I am still settling into the idea that I'm part of the larger contingent of "Mom".