He's on the GROW

The thing with these infants is that they always have new tricks up their sleeves. Just when you think you know them, when you have their rap down, they up and flip yo ass. And so it is with Master Noah. Here are some of his recent accomplishments. Don't get too attached - tomorrow it might be completely different.

1. GGGGGG- G unit. As of this week Noah is the G man. He's finally added a consonant sound to his repetoire of assorted dolphin noises. And the gurgling "GaGaGaGa" can be used to express any emotion from euphoria to discontent.

2. Jump Around. My mom bought us a Jumperoo for Christmas. It's a safer version of those door harnessed jumpers that we all had when we were kids. Prior to yesterday he just sort of hung in it and I'd bounce his lazy butt. But yesterday he made a revelation. He began flailing his arms and legs as if he were trying to run for his life - but his legs kept slipping out from under him and he go bouncing back. It's HYSTERICAL! I wouldn't dare call it jumping. It looks more like a seizure. But oh how I laugh.

3. Recylcing. So our new favorite toy is not expensive. It's not brightly colored. It's not made by First Years, Graco or Carters. It's made by the fine folks at Poland Springs. My boy seems to like nothing more than an empty water bottle.

4. Pokey. I'm not entirely sure, but I think Schmoah may already be studying to be a dermatologist. He just loves to take his tiny, slobbery soft fingers and run them over my face. He noodles them over my chin, my lips, my nose, and OW! That's my eye. On Easter Sunday he started fussing in the car so I leaned into the carseat and just let him poke at me until he fell asleep.

5. Pig. Have I mentioned he eats anything? Today's new food was prunes. He sucked that crap down without even tasting it. Which leads me to the following:

6. Motility. For awhile there Noah was unwilling to free the solids he's been digesting. It would go three days, and while I was once again discussing with Mark if we should call the doctor about it, he would finally set the troops on the march. But luckily he has now gone several days in a row with normal bowel exercise. Hopefully it just took his body a little while to figure out how to process this stuff - but now everything will be as right as rain.

7. Temper, temper. Last night Noah was hungry. He was tired. And Mom and Dad wanted to eat their spinach ravioli before they fed him his oatmeal and pears. This is LUNACY. This is INJUSTICE. This is CHILD ABUSE. The Master threw his toy on the ground, spit out his pacifier and yelled at us. "GGGGGAAAAHHH!" Mark just gave him back his toy, replaced his bink and went about eating. Master Noah repeated his threats through our meal, until it was his turn to eat. "GGGGGAAAAHHH! I tell you. GGGGGAAAAHHH!"

8. More sunshine too. He smiles more. He plays more. He giggles more. But what drives me insane is that he's often too shy around strangers and too wrapped up in the chaos and glory of the world outside our house to ever do it for anyone but us. Perform, damn you, perform!!

And I'm sure there is more. But that's what I got today. And you thought you couldn't go one more second without hearing about my baby's bowels.