Baby James

Some thoughts on James...

He is a kicking machine. No matter what floor you are on in the house, you can hear James's feet kicking constantly...hard. He is also very talented with his legs. He likes to play with toys squeezed between his legs and has impressive coordination at getting even small things in his 'leg grasp'.

The last few days I have been making peach cobbler and eating peaches. I give James the pit (each pit still has a lot of peach around it) and he goes crazy. It ends up being a huge sticky mess, but it is so worth it seeing him wrestle that slippery thing into his mouth so he can suck on something sweet.

James loves Thatcher. His face lights up every time they see each other. The crawl around together. Thatcher supplies him with toys to play with. They laugh like crazy together and I can't describe how happy that makes me every time it happens (which is a lot).

My baby is a bouncing machine. He goes crazy in his bouncer and bounces whenever he gets the opportunity. (I wonder if all these things related to his legs mean something. I don't remember Thatcher kicking, bouncing, or picking up things with his legs nearly as much) Right now James is pulling himself up on a stair and bouncing. It is the first time I have seen him do it and it scares me...stairs her we come.

James is still the snuggliest baby. When you pick him up he straddles his legs across your belly wraps his arms around you and nestles his head right in your shoulder. It makes me so happy that I have someone in my life who can't get enough love from me. What doesn't make me happy is when James wakes up in the middle of the night because he wants to be snuggled. He will scream bloody murder for a long time, but the moment he is picked up he is instantly calm. It makes me sad that all he wants is love, but my feeling sad is what has gotten me an eight month old who doesn't sleep through the night.

James is such a happy baby. He loves people and attention, but he is also perfectly content to play and explore on his own. Yesterday it seemed like he entertained himself for hours. He would play with a toy, then crawl to find another. He went to the open back door and just stared outside for the longest time soaking up the fresh air. He is just happy and content and that makes his mom happy.

He has plenty of funny faces, but the two that make me laugh the hardest are his crazy face- when he sees something he wants from across the room his eyes get enormous and so determines and he goes straight for it. The other face I love is when he bites his top lip. He does this a lot and it is hilarious. He also sticks his pointy little tongue out all the time. Man I love my baby.

It is funny to see differences between my two boys. Thatcher took a long time before he was interested in sippy cups and understood how they work, but James loves them. If he ever finds one laying around he is drinking it instantly. That will make weaning him off the bottle easy and I am grateful for that.

I love my James. I can't believe he will be nine months old in two weeks. Where has the time gone? I am so grateful he came to be a part of our family. I know we would all be lost without him.