Niquo. Ninja.

I have it on good authority that when a baby's hair is shaved off when they're young, their hair will grow back thicker and fuller and be that way for the duration.  I also believe that if you do it 2 times, it's more effectual than if you did it just once.  So, since before I was even convinced I could *have* kids, I knew that I would shave their hair after their 1st birthday.  So, Dad and I took Niquo Joe to Cookie Cutters to have a baby cutting expert take to it.
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Niquo.  Ninja Monk.

Teefus

Poor baby Joe...

With 8 chompers already in his mouth, his molars begin their descent (how dramatic can one make a child breaking teeth in sound?).  I'd been wondering why he's been such a chump lately.  Of course, being my first kid, I'm just thinking he's ramping up for his 2's... It's got to happen some time, right?
The thing is, it's such a subtle chumpity; it's not like he's nearly as bad as what I've seen.  Just a bit moody, bording on agressive, getting forceful to get at things he knows he's not supposed to; stuff like that.  Poor thing; he'd even been trying to get at where the pain was, but I interpreted it as him about to get an ear infection.  But then it got bad enough that he's squirming around with his face stuffed in pillows (or worse - our chests), biting away. 

Let me see you 1, 2 step

Wow, how exciting is all this!?  Niquo Joe has gotten good at standing and has been brave enough to practice dancing while standing (muy importante, tu sabes).  And then, with a deep inhale and a body tense from hair to toenail, he took a step!  I was so excited!  So we practiced a bit more, and then... TWO steps!  I was so excited I screamed.  Probably a bit much, but what do you do?  My little boy is becoming a man!  K, but a toddler nonetheless.

Niquo Stands!

One small step... ok, not a step yet, but how is it that we forget the part between crawling and walking where we have to figure out how to stand? 
My mom says boys and girls are so different in terms of how they develop and how quickly, and based on what she's told me, Niquo Joe is very "boy".  It's taken probably a week of us knowing he's ready to stand on his own before he'd try, and then another 3 days before he was comfortable practicing.  Up to now, we had to get him centered and then leave him stranded.  He'd only let me do that once and then he wasn't having it anymore.  Now he's all for it.  Man it's fun!  He likes to look in the mirror while he stands, and the he experiments with moving his hands and takes pride in maintaining his balance in spite of the motion.
While I try not to be overbearing, there's so much gratification in seeing these little advances.  His personality is shining through more, he's doing more to get attention, making a variety of expressions (though sounds are still pretty limited), and totally comfortable stating his opinions. 
I've started to read to him when he can't get to sleep comfortably.  Up to now, I'd felt like I need to leave him to fall on his own.  I'd let him whine for 5 or 10 minutes, go get him and see if he'd fall asleep to his bottle on our rocking chair, make sure he doesn't need to be changed, etc etc, then lay him down and leave the room for him to fall asleep.  Some nights, we'd go through like 3 cycles of that.  And then, one sleep-time (a nap or nighttime, I can't remember... even though it was only probably 3 days ago) I decided to get on the floor next to his crib and start to read a novel set we bought before he was born.  I decided to pick up where we'd left off (we'd read to him while I was pregnant), so now we're in book 4 of the Madeleine L'Engle quintet which starts with A Wrinkle In Time.  It's so fun to watch him go through his phases of winding down, and then falling asleep mid-motion in some funky position.  And then the little bursts of attempts to fight it, lifting his head and it drops, or laughing with his eyes closed...  The little things.

Wabble Wabble

Niquo Joe is so fun to watch, as he goes through his slow (but EVER so fast) progressions. Nowadays, he's working on standing and walking with his push toy.  He walks just like a duck, with his poochy diaper looking like a duck tail and all. And, oh how his hips move!  And OH how far his feet turn out (it's taken me YEARS of work to *somewhat* fix that in my own walk)... I finall broke down and got the cheapest version of TV I could think of (can't be doin' no research or nothing), and I can get all the public stations.  Niquo Joe gets to watch cartoons in the morning, the way we used to!  It's such a trip to see how he likes the different shows.  He digs Sid the Science Kid, and The Super Readers (gotta admit; that one's borderline unbearable)... But all our favorite.... Dinosaur Train!

Of course, the next morning Kyle has an opportunity to check him out, he won't do it.  I know Loony Tunes got that singing frog idea from reflecting on time with babies, and kids as far as that goes.

He's got a crazy cool attitude. When he's at home, that is. We're working on getting him out moae, but that's *so* easier said than done. Naps here and there, need to eat, pack up everything in the house to take him out for an hour... It's a must-do, though. So, I took him to the gym with me so he could go to gym school (that's what we call the daycare), and he was alright through my workout. Well, starting after I stopped checking on him through the glass door from behind a poster where I swore I was hidden, but discovered he could see practically every part of me but my face... Pretty embarassing.

And, while I have my moments of self-pity at all the meaningless (in reality) things that feel were this great big sacrifice for my child, it's always so easy to center myself again and realize what it is that I'm wasting good appeciating time on; vapor.

Just a Random Day

Ah, the first post of a blog.  Where to start...  Niquo Joe is going to be 11 months old in a few days, then one year old on August 11th!  There's so much to cover.  Perhaps I'll enter all his journal entries here...
Anyway, a random picture.