It was Halloween and River's 10 month birthday on the 31st. We were returning home from a vacation to Northern California on Saturday and missed all the fun Halloween celebrations. It's okay, because being in the car for 13 hours with a baby who refuses to sleep in his car seat is totally more fun.
Gardner Village-Thanks Lynnell and Angela for sharing your pictures.
Monkey Business
I pick the Camo Pumpkin!
Pumpkin Patch and Halloween Night
The only piece of candy he got was from dad and we just let him chew on the wrapper.I didn't want River's first Halloween to pass by unmarked, so we dressed up and went for a walk to see kids costumes. I thought there would be some trick or treaters out. Not everyone in Salt Lake is LDS and goes to a trunk or treat the day before right... wrong... there must have been a state wide memo sent out. The streets were utterly abandoned. Good thing we went to a pumpkin patch and Garner Village earlier in the month, or I would have felt shafted.
River asked me to let you know that he CAN crawl... he just doesn't feel like demonstrating yet. Apparently the more he hears about everyone's six month old that can walk, the less he feels like showing off his skills. What a booger.
He continues to talk our ears off. We love it. He totally has a sense of humor too. He knows every time I'm doing something funny and belly laughs. I truly wonder how he knows that wearing a hat that is too small is supposed to be funny. He just seems so smart to me.
I am no longer Bob. As of September 15th, River is saying Mama. For the first few days, he couldn't stop saying it. It never got old though and not to be cliche, but my heart melts every time... Well maybe not during a 3:00 am wake-up, but every other time.
On Sunday the 17th River took the Sacrament for the first time. It was unintentional. I was passing the bread to the person next to me and he grabbed a piece and popped it in his mouth. I figured he deserved the water too, for his speedy little effort. Seriously though, it has been so cute to watch him get better and better at feeding himself. I run out of ideas of things to give him, so feel free to post some.
He slept all the way through the night multiple times in a row and then I messed up everything by going on vacation again. We are getting back on track and as of last night, he went to bed at 7:00pm, woke up an hour later when he accidentally rolled on his stomach, couldn't be soothed by anything other than nursing, so after half an hour I caved. Then he went right to sleep and slept till 5:30 am, nursed again and woke up for the day at 7:30 am. Sorry for the boring details, but I really want to remember things accurately, so on round two, I keep from getting discouraged, or discouraging others.
He can snap his fingers and loves to watch himself do it. Speaking of watching himself, he loves seeing the videos I take of him and I can always get him to stop crying by showing him a picture of himself... an actor in the making???
He tries to climb everything, especially me and especially when I'm trying to feed him. It's made for some big messes, but I love to see him working so hard to accomplish things.
After about an hour of being inside, he gets fussy and we end up going on multiple walks a day. We're a little worried about Winter coming, but will most likely have to just bundle him up real tight.
He's super ticklish, especially his armpits and because he's a squeaky clean and fresh little babe, I can't get enough of them. Plus his laughter cures all things and I am completely, madly addicted. I will try to ease off, because one day he will be bigger than me and you know what they say about pay backs.
He claps block together, but has only clapped his hands together once and for the life of me, I can't get him to repeat it. He does give a cute high five though. I say cute, because what it lacks in accuracy of aim, it makes up for in enthusiasm of delivery.
His favorite activity is having his dad hold him and run around chasing things. He loved chasing all the kids in Northern California, but settles for me or Noodle here in Salt Lake. I think he feels like such a big boy and it's adorable to watch his legs kick back and forth like he's running.
The best thing about this last month was the cuddles. River is totally starting to hug me tight and lay his head down on my shoulder. These moments are precious to me. They fill up my inner cup, which was more than a little drained during the first couple colicky months of his tiny fists pounding on me as he nursed. I know it wasn't personal, but going in expecting tender, serene moments of bonding and getting screams and beatings, left me feeling very unqualified, drained and totally replaceable. Now I feel like this boy knows I am his Mom. He reaches out and strokes my hair while he nurses and if I am not paying attention, he grunts until I look at him and then smiles.
I feel the moments rolling by too quickly and the details already slipping away from my memory. Thanks for letting me share some of these moments with you. Being accountable to others on this blog is the only thing that has kept me on task. My actual mother's journal is completely empty. Good thing River likes to update as well. Happy Halloween and full speed ahead into the holiday season!
