Yes, my son's first tooth has almost broken through his gums and his second is following close behind. All in all, he has dealt with any discomfort fairly well. Don't get me wrong, there are times when he is a little fussier than usual, but he still sleeps through the night 95% of the time and is happy and active the rest. There might have been 2 times when he woke up screaming, presumably from the pain and discomfort, only one of which he needed to be held and comforted in order to fall back asleep. I will take it any day after hearing an acquaintance describe his experience with teething as tortuous and sleepless. My wife and I are truly blessed to have such a well tempered almost 5 month old son. The teething, though, is just a biological process that he has to figure out how to deal with (drool, drool, and more drool). This past week has seemed like a marathon in discoveries and achievements made by our son. This week to start with, he has figured out how to roll from his back to his stomach on both sides, left and right, and then figured out how to roll from stomach to back. The whole stomach to back ordeal is still not as prevalent as the back to front, but its there and in the works. He has also learned how to pass objects from one hand to the other and back again and wait for it, loves to explore the workings of gravity. From his high chair, he takes any toy, usually big connected rings, drops them, and stares at them on the floor. His awareness and curiosity about the world around him is intoxicating. To see such a young child figuring things out for the first time is wonderful. When you look at him, you can see the inquisitive look in his eyes as he tries to figure out different aspects of the world around him and how they all fit together.
Our son's crib activities have increased as well. With our house being over a 150 years old, the floors in every room tend to slope towards the center. (You might be able to figure out where I am going with this) As our son is a mover and a shaker, he sometimes squirms around so much in his crib that we find it 1 foot away from the wall. In between his squirming, when he actually falls fast asleep, he has taken to sleeping on his stomach a good portion of the time. It is quite hilarious to sneak into his room before we go to bed and see him on his stomach, rear end thrust high in the air, and his thumb stuck firmly in his mouth. So much for making sure our son sleeps on his back; those days are over. And during the day when we put him down for a nap in his crib, we need to make sure that he is perpendicular to the crib rails. Why you might ask? Well, it is because he has taken to grabbing the crib bumpers, pulling them down as far as possible and thrusting his arm through. Where does this leave him? Screaming his head off because he can't figure out how to get his arm out. I am fairly certain at this point that as soon as he figures out how to crawl and walk, he will be climbing out of that crib himself and exploring the house on his own. Even when he screams his head off, normally due to something he has done to himself, we can't help but giggle a little at the humor of the situation. He never really hurts himself and he calms down quickly.
Moving out of the crib, there are still little gains he has achieved over the past week which are, at least in my mind, amazing. Perhaps one of the cutest instances was earlier this week when I look over at my wife feeding him and see him reach up and back and scratch his head. I couldn't help but to burst out laughing. In addition, he has moved away temporarily from the razzing sounds he figured out a week or so ago and has launched himself into a melee of grunting and moaning sounds. Previously, we would have thought that it was the start of him getting fussy, but now he does it just because he can. It is the funniest to hear them when he is in the middle of eating. And while eating, he now needs silence in order to concentrate. If my wife and I start talking, he stops eating and stares at us, eager to join in the conversation and see what is going on. He truly is trying his best to become one with the world around him. He has also taken a liking to sitting (with assistance) and standing (with assistance). Most of the time while sitting, he has no sense of balance unless he is grabbing his toes and figuring out what exactly they are. If he is working his toes, he can sit unassisted for maybe a minute. Standing is a different story. Watching him, you can see that he wants to stand and walk except that as mentioned before, there is no sense of balance. Seeing him do his little wobble dance reminds me of some of my college years trying to make it home after drinking at the bars all night. (Yes, I know, not the best analogy, but it works visually). Perhaps my favorite look of my son's, above any other, is his deep inquisition and pondering of how exactly I whistle. He will study my lips, hear the sound coming out, stare in amazement, and try to replicate the form of the lips. It will take him quite some time I feel before he is whistling (if ever), but his studying right now is priceless.
So quite a week in achievements for my son, and I am sure I will be saying the same thing next week and the week after. To be honest, I can't help it though. He is such an amazing little boy and makes me smile whenever I see him. So till next time, probably next Friday as it seems I like to write about my son on Friday's, we shall see what happens and I will report back in full detail. Have a fantastic weekend!
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