Eko’s mobility is developing before our eyes. His tummy skooch has become a
confident hands-knees crawl, but he’s not exclusive. He’ll pick whatever style
gets him to the object of his curiosity the fastest, whether it’s a speed-crawl
to the kitty or an otter-style tummy slide across a smooth floor to a forbidden
outlet. He can quickly pull himself to his feet, then cruise around the
perimeter of the room using tables, gates, banisters, our legs, even a smooth
wall. We still have some time before those first independent steps, 
but for
now, he doesn’t seem very interested in walking. He wants to go vertical. Once
he’s up, he’s looking for the next handhold high above his head or digging in a
foot or knee, always trying to get higher. He’s already climbed our stairs in
less than thirty seconds! After a few tumble-filled weeks, he can now lower
himself back to the floor just as smoothly and catches his falls most of the
time. When he discovers a new move, he practices it over and over until he gets
it just right.
like orange slices (he nurses the juice out) and toast corners
(demolished into a dozen soggy bits beneath the high chair). His real love is
for blueberries.We have a routine: take a tiny bite, squish the innards into
his mouth, and eat the rest ourselves. We’ve been practicing baby sign,
so we're constantly demonstrating for Eko the gesture meaning ‘more’ as he begs for more and more
berries. Meals usually have a few eagerly accepted spoonfulls before dissolving
into manic finger-painting of greenbean goo all over his high chair tray. We
figure the tactile/sensory exploration is just as important as learning about
flavors.
We still enjoy sharing our bed with Eko, but as the summer has gotten hotter
and he’s gotten bigger and more mobile, our queen-size bed has seemed more like
a threat than the cozy nest it once was. Our fears manifested when he rolled
out of bed in the middle of the night. The carpet broke his fall and he was
more surprised than hurt, quickly falling back to asleep. (It was worse for
Jade. She had nightmares the rest of the night as she kept him firmly
in her grasp.) The next day the bedframe was dismantled and the bed put on the
floor. Eko loves it—it’s like a whole new playground. But this experience only affirmed the need to get serious about the crib transition.
The trouble
is that when he wakes up mid-nap, he’s on his feet within seconds and we have
to pick him up, soothe him back to sleep, and cross our fingers that we can lay
him in his crib again without waking him. Bedtime is even trickier. During the
day, 90 minutes is a great nap, but it means a lot of interventions to get
through a night. Once it hits 11:30, he simply refuses to be put back in that
crib and wakes each time we transfer him.
So we accept that for now he’s a part-time cribber, a part-time cosleeper. Back
to our bed he goes, where he seems to drift off next to Jade with relief. He clearly
feels the most comfortable here: he sleeps deeply, only stirring a little to
nurse or ‘ask’ for a change in position. Even in the bed we’re noticing that he
needs less physical contact and less nursing to fall back asleep. The
transition is slower than we imagined, but we’re trying to be respectful of his
temperament while challenging him gently… and still getting enough sleep to
function the next day.
Eko’s communication is also blossoming. He clearly asks for Mama-mama, and says Dada a lot, too. When we make sounds, he’ll often
respond with his own version (an elephant trumpet is his favorite, but he can also
mimic laughs, moos, and mews). He calls booby ‘boo’ and each time he and Jay
walk the stairs, he calls out BA! when they get to the stair that makes a
natural echo. (Daddy taught him that!)
We're fortunate to have seen many of our friends and family this month, some
meeting Eko in person for the first time. Rob and Joanna drove up from Virginia to spend the 4th of July in northern Vermont and made a stop in New
Hampshire. We spent a lot of time at home, catching up and playing with Eko,
but the five of us managed to squeeze in a short hike up Black Mountain before
they headed north. Eko demonstrated his amazing new standing abilities,
repeatedly surprising Jade by pulling many drinks into her lap!
Kids picked berries
and folks got (briefly) lost in the maze. It was great to see everyone,
including Sierra and Jubilee (our youngest guests, at 2 months old), Jay's
sister Maureen (who braved a dead battery and engine trouble to make it), and
Jay's nephews, Billy and Jakob, who were meeting their cousin for the first
time.
Children
of all ages were walking a fine line between contentment and meltdown, but for
every cry there was three times as much giggling and a lot of really sweet comradery.
Sophia and Kai loved the lake, and the kiddy pool helped the little guys cool
off! It was wonderful to see everyone together again and to have all of our children playing together for the first time. Eko was very inspired by his older, more mobile cousins. The day after they left, he started crawling faster than ever. We'll find out how influential they were over the coming weeks, as Eko becomes even more adventurous on his feet.
