William seems to be in a better mood, too, now that he's getting more sleep. Sometimes, I'm amazed by him. I'm amazed by how big and alert and active he is now. William will actually clap if you ask him to clap or wave if you ask him to wave. Sometime he'll clap if you ask him to wave, but that's okay. And he loves to babble on, and on, with a 'dadada' and a 'nininini.' This morning, I was nursing him in the big bed in his room, and I guess he just decided he'd had enough and was happy. So he started clapping. He's just snuggled up next to my side, grinning and clapping. Awwwww. It's just so funny.
He gets especially chatty when it's time to sit in the high chair. Give him some of his sweet potato puffs or carrot wagon wheels, and it's just a continual happy 'ni, ni, ni, ni, ni!' That is, when he's not stuffing his face with his new finger foods or dropping them off the side of his high chair and leaning over to see where they went.
And he's so interested in books now, which of course warms the very bottom of my book-lovin' heart. David and I struck a deal with him. If Mommy or Daddy buys a book at Borders or Barnes & Noble, then William gets a book, too. Of course, even if Mommy or Daddy doesn't buy a book, usually William gets a new book anyway. I was getting a little bored by the books we had, so I went out and got some new ones to fill out the rotation. I figure, it can't hurt to have a bunch of books around. I'm betting that books have a longer shelf life than a lot of toys.
William is at the age where he loves those touchy-feely-type books; you know, like "That's Not My Train" and "Pat the Bunny." He likes to scratch at the surfaces, like the daddy's scratchy cheek in PTB or the rusty funnel of the train in TNMT. I've been trying to make sure we read some of those books every day because he's so enthusiastic about them. In fact, he loves Pat the Bunny so much that he managed to pull all the pages out of the book and chew on them the other night. Why just read a book, when you can read a book and then eat it, too? It's a book AND an appetizer!
I won't tell him this but personally I'm getting a tad weary of "Pat the Bunny," mostly because it's so silly. Have you looked at it recently? I think I wrote a few months ago about how David commented that he didn't remember it being "so short on plot." I feel like it's sort of this weird look at how families work. Paul and Judy playing together? Where's the sibling rivalry? Why is Paul calmly playing Peekaboo with Judy? Why isn't he yelling at her to get away from his stuff, and why isn't she sneaking into his room to bug him and then get him into trouble for yelling at her again? And the book that Judy reads about her bunny? It's kind of creepy. The bunny is this weird formless blob with barely drawn features that somehow manages to eat "his good supper" from a spoon, as if he's a person. I suspect that I am taking this book way, way too seriously. But William loves it. He loves patting the bunny and playing peekaboo with Paul and Judy, and who am I to deny my young son these simple pleasures in life?
I once read somewhere that it's good for children to see their parents reading books and newspapers. Luckily for us, we didn't have to make any lifestyle changes to do that. The other morning, I brought my own book into William's room, and we sat on the big bed, reading our books together. I was reading a nonfiction book about West Point called "Absolutely American," a book recommended to me by my friend Alethea. And William had "That's Not My Dinosaur," "There's a Monster at the End of This Book," and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" Of course, he immediately grabbed for my book when he saw me with it, even though I tried to tell him that there weren't any pictures. But if Mommy has it, William wants it. That's becoming a recurring theme these days. Books, cups, food, you name it. I suspect it will continue, too.
Coming soon: a blog entry on William's attempts at crawling. He's doing the backward scooting thing, and he's managing to cover some ground. Stay tuned....
1 comment:
So he loves his books so much he's literally eating them up! What a good example you and David are setting for getting him to enjoy reading! Re the crawling - David started out going backwards also.
Love, Diane
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