This Just In: Harry Found Sitting in his Crib! And Other Harry Developments

Harry sleeping
Originally uploaded by brownorama.

So the other morning I went in there was Harry sitting up in his crib. The day to lower the crib mattress had arrived. He sits on his won but until now he hadn't figured out or was strong enough to get up from a lying down position to a sitting position by himself. Given that he is also pulling up on everything in sight these days we sadly realized another sign of babyness was fading away. So last night Dan lowered the crib mattress. Singlehandedly making the demands on my back all the more challenging. Putting Harry in to sleep last night was not as bad as I thought it was going to be but it also wasn't as easy as it could be and I see many botched attempts to put him in his crib asleep coming down the line.

In other news, Harry has cut another tooth! Not the one we were expecting. Hence its crreep out of his gums being a little less noticed - it is one of his incisors up top. Not the other front tooth we were expecting. I kept putting my finger in his mouth to delatch him during and nursing and thinking....gee, I feel his tooth way over on the side. Well turns out it was another tooth on the side! Not his front tooth moving over. :-) Anyway....it also explains all of the ear pulling he has been doing.

Harry is also now crawling on all fours for longer periods of time leaving the "commando crawling" for longer stretches when he needs more stamina. Very cute to see him going along on all fours. Keep an eye on Flickr for pictures.

Harry and his Daddy play baby Gojira waiting for the doctor

Harry and his Daddy play baby Gojira waiting for the doctor
Originally uploaded by brownorama.

So one of the things that I keep forgetting to mention that we have "trained" Harry to do is growl when we ask him. Not sure exactly how this got started but we now have an inordinate amount of fun with it. Dan turned it into a game that they play where Harry is a baby Gojira (a.k.a. Godzilla) and he sets up Harry's blocks to be "houses" and his large lego pieces to be people and then Harry knocks them down like he is Godzilla. All very cute. When we were in the doctor's office this week waiting for Dr Kulp to get to us, I captured my two boys having fun playing Gojira's in the mirror. :-)

The Latest Harry Developments - Harry Turns 9 Months

Harry and Mummy in the bath
Originally uploaded by brownorama.

Harry turned 9 months yesterday. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of fan fare because his parents have been under the weather. Dan had throat surgery on Thursday, which went well but flattened him considerably. I have been under the weather with a bad cold. As a result, his 9 month birthday passed. But we will make it up to him later. Since he passed that milestone we had to take him to the pediatrician. Dr Kulp was pleased to see him and gave him a clean bill of health much to his parents pleasure. He did wildly well at the appointment, not even crying when he got his shots.

On the food front, Harry has been trying a number of other items on the list. For the most part he doesn't mind them. There haven't been dramatic reactions to anything. But in the interests of recording what he has been up to....he has tried: potatoes, zucchini, guava, and mango. The pediatrician gave us the go ahead to provide him with as many finger foods as we want. So we tried him on steamed potatoes and carrots. He is enjoying finger foods exceedingly.

On other developments....he is still wildly clapping his hands. In the interests of teaching him things useful for swimming class - so we have spent the week encouraging him to blow bubbles, which he now does when asked. Again with much enthusiasm. He is handing things over - like cheerios, which he loves and grunts repeatedly whenever he sees them. (The dogs are also learning the sound of the cheerios box and come running to sit under the high chair and wait for cheerios to be dropped either by me or by Harry.) He is also starting to learn how to kick his feet and splash in the water. What is interesting is that he is clearly understanding us and the beginnings of communication are starting. All very exciting for his parents!

This Just In: Latest Harry Update!

Post-swim-class visit to Great Beginnings
Originally uploaded by brownorama.

So Harry has been making a number of small but important developments over the last few of days. First, the big one, he is clapping his hands! Big change - lots of coordination and dexterity required for that one. He is SO pleased with himself when he does it to. It is just too cute to watch. Plus, he does it on cue! Very important when singing the "When Your Happy and You Know It" song. But also the fact that he understands what we are saying is exciting too. The barriers to communication are slowly but surely coming down. Second, he is starting to put things in other things. This may seem like a strange thing to observe. But to the mother who spends her day reconstructing the things her baby has just deconstructed, this is a wonderful light at the end of the tunnel. :-) He has a toy where there are these balls that you can take out and put into what looks like a baby bong - and no, I am not exaggerating there. :-) Anyway....the bong part is not important. What is important is that Harry now happily not only takes the balls out but he also likes to put them back inside. He gets great pleasure from doing so. Third, he raises his hands above his head - this is partly due to the prompting of his parents to "raise his hands in the air, and wave them like you just don't care" :-) but is particularly useful when you are say, trying to take a onesie off or get him dressed for swim class. Fourth, he went under the water in swim class. Didn't seem to mind. He did swallow some water this week, which he wasn't happy about. But at the same time, it did not make him cry. So we were pleased about that. Not much does make him cry other than being tired or hungry. He is a sweet, resilient little guy, who brings his parents such pleasure. I still can't believe how much my hearts swells with love when I think about him. I worry about him being safe. I worry about him being happy. I worry about him feeling loved. But when he smiles at us and giggles, I am reassured that he feels those things and I have a wonderful moment of calm as a mother - something that seems to be ever fleeting these days. :-)