I’ve been very busy. Saturday last week I figured out how to stand up on my own, and get down. So I’ve had to to do lots of practicing. I’m getting lots better at getting down. I like standing up under the dining room table. It’s glass, so I can look up at Mommy and Daddy. But I’m almost too tall to fit under there. I have to be careful not to hit my head. It’s been a very busy week.
My friend E. had his first birthday party today. It was the first time I went to a birthday party. It was at a pool. I didn’t go in the pool, though. Mommy and Daddy tried to get me to play with E. in his playpen, but I was fussy and would scream every time they put me down. I didn’t get my afternoon nap, you know. Mommy and Daddy said I was supposed to nap in the car on the way to the party, but I didn’t.
I ate a couple of tiny pieces of Mommy’s steak. They called it filet mignon. It was really good. Mommy and Daddy said I couldn’t have cake until my first birthday. But I wore a funny hat. E.’s parents made E. put his hand in the cake and he didn’t like it. He cried.
After the cake, we got to come home. I had a bottle and I like being home. I’m crawling around everywhere, carrying a diaper cover with me. I’m getting good at carrying things while I’m crawling around.
E. knows how to stand up. I have to learn how to do that.
Agent Murphy had a doctor’s appointment today. Once again, he freaked out immediately upon being put on the crinkly paper on the table. Shrieked afterwards while I was getting him dressed. They must wonder what I’m doing to him. He doesn’t cry that hard during the exam. Really, it’s just the crinkly paper. So I tried getting him dressed on my lap, but he was already worked up and just a wiggling mess, so I gave up and went back to the dreaded table and went as fast as I could.
Anyway, our big guy is indeed big. 21 pounds 12 ounces (75th percentile), and 30.75″ (”off the charts” - above 97th). Everything seems a-okay with him.
The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy. We ran through Mr. Tldz’s new route to work, and as long as the bus driver on that end up there gets a few functioning brain cells, that should be okay. We put ourselves on our new morning schedule this week (up at 5:00) and Mr. Tldz has been making sure he can in fact be ready to leave at 6:00. We’ve done various other things to get him ready, including purchasing some upgrades to his wardrobe. And I’ve been running around packing in the errands I can that are much easier to do without Agent Murphy in tow while I still had the option of putting him down for a nap and then leaving the house. (Boy, I’ll sure miss that!)
After he dropped off his work stuff at the Midtown office today, we went out to lunch at Pub 71. Agent Murphy decided on his own that he would play peek-a-boo with us. I’m so proud of him for figuring this out. Using one of the cloth napkins he had managed to nab, he’d cover his face and when we’d say, “Where’s Agent Murphy?” He’d lower the cloth and laugh as we said, “Peek-a-boo, I see you!” He’s such a clever, cute boy!
We bought a new (much needed!) mattress set yesterday. It’ll be delivered tomorrow, and we’re very much looking forward to that. Hopefully, it’ll make for better sleep so that 5:00 wake up won’t seem quite so early. Of course, if it’s really comfortable, it’ll be that much harder to leave it behind…
So I guess we’re as ready as we can be for this new job. But I’m not looking forward to being apart from Mr. Tldz so much. It’ s funny. I’ve mentioned to casual acquaintances in passing that Mr. Tldz is changing jobs and losing the ability to work from home that he’s had. And the responses have pretty much been, “Oh good for you - you get the house back.” Huh? I guess I/we must be weird, because that’s not how I’m feeling about it. Yeah, there are a few things that will be easier not having to accommodate Mr. Tldz’s working here, but compared to all the good stuff we’re losing… That part of this new job is not a good deal. I’ll miss having lunch with him every day, and having him give me updates on his day when he comes out for a water break and to give Agent Murphy a hug, and being able to periodically give him a hug and a kiss during the day…
But in time we will adjust, and hopefully this new job will be as good for him/his career as it seems like it will be. And we’ll work on getting ourselves moved to give him a better commute, which will help a lot with family time.
Yes, the baby swing has been packed up and moved to the basement. It served Agent Murphy - and us - well for many months. But we really haven’t used it much the last couple of months, as he’s really gotten too heavy for it to swing well, and mostly too restless to tolerate being confined to it. It’s been a fixture in our living room since several weeks before Agent Murphy’s arrival. But lest I get too used to open spaces, the playpen immediately took its place. I’m happy to report that Agent Murphy seemed to greatly enjoy his first stay in the playpen. We introduced a few new toys there, and the little Elmo dump truck seems to be a big hit.
Mr. Tldz and I just spent some time going through movies and reorganizing things to clear out the cabinet under our TV stand so we can make it Agent Murphy’s cabinet. He recently showed that he’s able to get it open, so we’ve put some new toys and some containers in there for him to discover when he gets into it again. He is definitely in exploring mode. Oh, have I mentioned that sometime last week he started really crawling? It’s still not very organized, and sometimes he still drags his back end around rather than using his knees, but he is very definitely getting around now!
Agent Murphy continues to work hard on solving his going case. In recent days, he’s been working a lot on his sitting case. He’s doing a good job at sitting up without support. Today, he got from sitting all the way over into a fully prone position. Later, he got back up to sitting all by himself. The officials at the B.I.B. (Baby Investigative Bureau) must be very proud of him. I know we are.
Poor Agent Murphy is starting to understand that he’s at the doctor’s office and what happens there. Today he screamed when they put him on the scale to weigh him (18 pounds, 8 ounces; 28.5″). He used to love the scale, but now he knows what’s coming next. This time it was 4 needle sticks and 1 oral vaccine. They tell me next time, at 9 months, there’s only one needle stick.
He used to love the paper on the exam table, too. He’d wiggle around and make it crinkle, all smiles and happy. Then he got his first batch of needle sticks. Now he screams as soon as he’s put on the table. Poor guy screamed when I put him back on the table to get dressed and go home. I wish he could understand when I say it’s all over and we’re just getting ready to go home.
Doctor’s office should be in a new, larger location when we go in at 9 months, just 1 mile from (and closer to us!) the current location.
Besides staying with a babysitter for the first time, Agent Murphy also started “solid” foods this weekend - rice cereal.
He did amazingly well with eating from a spoon. He actually leans forward to get the spoon and really seems to get the idea. His attention span for that eating process is about 1 teaspoon of cereal (with 1 tablespoon of water - so very runny stuff.) We are pleasantly surprised at how well this went. We’ll see what happens when we introduce something with more flavor this week - sweet potatoes!
Agent Murphy is so good about new things. He takes everything in stride. Even teething doesn’t cause him to fuss too much. He must be the best agent at the Baby Investigative Bureau (B.I.B.).