Noah Nonsense

Noah will be 18 months old in a couple of weeks.

What in the world.

I'm convinced that kids make time go faster. Or at least, you become more aware of how fast it slips by. I think of how amazed I am that I can remember every single part of my delivery with him. I remember late night feedings, screaming till 6am (bad colic), reading his first book to him, having the whole skin-to-skin thing work and calm him down, coaxing him to roll over, feeding him his first food, watching him do his funky crawl (looked like he was riding a skateboard)... all like it just happened.

But look.

This was only six months ago...

He still had rolls. We were just starting to see signs of a neck.

Now??

I know. Before you say it, I know there's still some baby chub left. But he's looking more like a kid and less like my baby. I suppose some of this "my baby's growing up!!" panic is stemming from the fact that, as of yesterday, he's off his bottle.

Yeah, we're late. But here's the deal (aka. justification).

A couple of months ago, he was almost off of it. Then he got sick. At this point, I had to decide what was more important. Giving him a bottle (which was only ever filled with water) and helping him get better faster? Or stick to the current deadline recommended by pediatricians and possibly prolong the cold?

You know what won.

He would drink gallons of water out of that thing. I was a diaper changing machine.  It soothed him (he won't take a pacifier). And I still honestly think he got over his sickness faster because of it. His pediatrician may not have approved (if he knew), but oh well.

I really don't think that my son's teeth will be worse off because he was 6 months late. I don't think he'll be emotionally unstable, more dependent, or developmentally delayed because I let him have some water in a bottle instead of a sippy cup. I don't really get freaked by stuff like that. But I do get disappointed when people take these suggestions so seriously that they stress themselves out over it. Every kid is different, and my kid wasn't quite ready to transition completely yet. He couldn't figure out that he was supposed to suck the water out until 13 months, so the non-spill kind was out for awhile. We've just now found a suitable replacement, the non-spill Nuby kind that doesn't aggravate his teething gums.

He hasn't asked or begged for his bottle. So yeah. I didn't follow the exact schedule recommended by most pediatricians. And you know what? Noah is just fine. :)

(fyi, I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I actually shed a couple of tears as I was putting his bottles away)

... Ok. Off my soapbox now...

Kids are so funny.

One day they act as if blueberries are the grossest thing you could possibly put on their plate. Then the next? They can't get enough. In fact, they love them SO much that they completely ignore the grilled cheese and cheddar bunnies and only eat the blueberries.

I'm actually really excited about it.

Most kids love mac 'n cheese, grilled cheese, sweets, etc.

Noah passes those up for lima beans and peas.

In fact, he'll go so far as to throw the other stuff on the floor.

And as much as I'd like to, I can't really take the credit. I do try to feed him healthy foods consistently and avoid introducing junk for as long as I can (they don't know what they're missing if they never have it, right?). But he still has his own taste buds. I can't force him to like lima beans. He just does.

I could actually learn a few things from him. If I try to give him a bite of ice cream, and he's not hungry? He pushes it away. Yeah. He's totally showing his mama up in the self-control department.

Quick tip: if you want to get your kid to try a new veggie or fruit, sit down next to them with a plate full of it for you. Start eating it. It never fails. Today Noah downed sliced, roasted sweet potatoes for the first time in months. He liked that he could hold them like a cracker and eat it. Plus? I didn't offer it to him. He wanted what mommy had, just because I was eating it. lol.

People have asked us about his hair.

I didn't realize hair was such a hot topic in babyland. People want to know when we're going to cut it or if we're going to cut it or why haven't we cut it. It cracks me up.

So here we go.

No, we're not going to cut it. Not yet.

Brad and I both think he's absolutely adorable with shaggy hair. And that strawberry blond color he's rockin'? Too pretty to chop off. If it starts to get in his eyes and bug him, then of course we'll trim it. But outside of that? We're going to see what it does.

Because of his cranial band, he didn't have much hair on the sides of his head for awhile.

Poor kid. I guess we're trying to make up for it now.

Have you ever seen Dumb and Dumber? Y'know Harry? Well, Noah is obviously much cuter than Harry, but after he wakes up, his hair sometimes resembles that glorious messy mop...

And now we break for a word from the little man himself...

gg d fc v bggffb fccbcvbbvvvvvvvx

That's what happens when they wake up before you're done blogging and want your attention.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Love,

Hailey and Noah :)