Growth Spurts

Every time we cross another month off the calendar, it seems baby D hits a new major milestone. Month 8 has been no different. In just one 48-hour period, we’ve had FOUR big milestones, although I guess only two are really “growth” related.

1. First tooth! His bottom right front tooth is just barely peeking through the gums. We can feel it more than we can see it. Baby D doesn’t seem the least bit phased, though I did notice him chewing on his paci more than sucking it last night.

2. Clapping!! I’ve been trying to get him to clap for about a week now, and on Saturday, I noticed him trying to do it by himself while playing on the floor. Usually, he’ll grab a couple of blocks or other toys and bang them together to make the clapping noise, but this was the first time I really noticed him trying to do it with just his hands. He did it all evening on Sunday when we were at a friend’s house watching the Super Bowl. It’s just the cutest thing ever. I’ll have to try to get it on video soon.

I tend to cheer for him a lot when we play on the floor, especially when passing his plush basketball back and forth, and the look on his face shows he’s super excited to have a cheering audience. He also tends to look at the TV whenever he hears clapping too.

3. First snow! I don’t usually pay much attention to the weather forecasts, so I was a bit surprised to see the snow coming down on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, we bundled the little dude up and took him out for his first snow experience. He couldn’t move much in his little cocoon so he mostly just sat there and looked around. I put his little hand in the snow and he immediately pulled it away, unimpressed. His daddy tried to entertain him by snowballs at mommy. This was not fun for mommy, ahem. Then he threw one in baby D’s direction, and it landed right on top of his tiny little head! What a mean old daddy. He cried, of course, but only for a second. Then we all went back inside to warm up.

Looking adorbs in his snow suit. I put him on his big boy coat since his little fleece suit wasn’t water-resistant.

Love that little half-smile! This is obviously BEFORE daddy pegged him in the head with a snowball.

4. First Super Bowl! I have conflicted feelings about the Super Bowl. For the Super Bowl last year, my grandparents and a friend of ours came over to watch the game. I made pepperoni and roast beef roll-ups with pizza sauce and au jus for dipping. It was the last time my grandpa was ever at my house. We live about 45 minutes away and he really wasn’t supposed to be driving. It wasn’t easy for him to lug around his oxygen tank and he’d been sick since Christmas so he really hadn’t been feeling very well and was taking a lot of naps most days. Still, he came over for the game and was teasing our friend, who’s a big Patriots fan, about how he needed to call all his buddies and apologize for saying the Patriots were going to win (our friend did no such trash talking anyway, but it was funny to hear my grandpa tease him). It’s a great memory, but I didn’t want to spend this year sitting at home missing my grandpa so I pretty much invited myself over to my friend’s house about a week before the game, even though she had no intentions of having a Super Bowl party. We ended up all going over to her brother-in-law’s to watch the game, which worked out perfectly. We’ve hung out with them several times now and they’re a super fun couple (with two adorable kiddos). We pigged out on wings, brisket, pulled pork, stuffed jalapenos, chocolate chip cookies, mac & cheese, salad, bacon cheese dip, and of course, the beer and wine was a-flowin’. (Which is why you won’t be seeing a weigh-in post this week. I just couldn’t help myself!) We had a great time. And even though I wish more than anything we were spending D’s first Super Bowl with my grandparents again, this wasn’t such a bad alternative.

The game itself was fantastic, though I really only saw about half of the game and half of the commercials due to all the baby-wrangling, but still. So fun! And speaking of D, he was a little angel the entire time. Zero crying, and even when it was past his bedtime, he just fell asleep in my arms around 8:30 while I carried him around the house. Eventually I just put him in his car seat to snooze until the game was over.