On the go

Life is suddenly fun and terrifying; the boy has perfected his crawling and is now working on his speed.

He is all action now, still frustrated that his ambition to move far exceeds his ability. He's sitting, he wants to stand; he's crawling, he wants to walk; he's cruising, he wants to run. Mama pick me up, mama put me down. Mama I need you, mama let me go!

One minute I am blearily pouring coffee (ahh, addiction, how swiftly you return!) and FLASH the boy is under the table, attempting to pull up to standing. I scoot him back toward the relative safety of the living room floor, and FLASH, he's standing, holding on to the bewildered (but very patient dog). I redirect him toward the blocks and pots and pans we have scattered for his amusement on the floor, and return to the kitchen for my toast and BANG, he's knocked over a pile of books and papers.

He gets fussy and crabby from hunger, but doesn't want to miss anything and refuses to nurse anywhere but our darkened bedroom.

Yesterday we spent the day at Ex's house on the beach and he refused to eat all day (save for gumming some grilled chicken and veggies), and we actually had to leave so that I could get him home to nurse. My b00bs were on the verge of exploding.

But the mobile boy is so much fun. I put him in the kiddie pool, and he sat in his baby float happily scooting around in the water trying to scoop up all the floating toys. He would have stayed in for hours if I had not scooped him out when he started shivering. Even so, as soon as he warmed up, he insisted on being put right back in.

On the way home he started screaming in his car seat. We assumed it was hunger and pulled over (well, what was meant to be a quick pull-over ended up with us on a bridge to another borough, but that's another story) and he did nurse but continued to be inconsolable for the rest of the drive. Only when we got him back did we discover the fantastic amount of poop in his pants and his angry red butt. How is it, six months in, we can still forget the basic three (hungry, tired, dirty diaper) when trying to figure out what is bothering him?! Are we baby-challenged?

Next week he starts swim lessons-- something for us to do together on the long weekend days that Speedy is now working. (Her new schedule has us working opposite days-- me during the week, she on weekends.) Judging from his enjoyment of the kiddie pool, it should be a blast!