The Way He Looks At Me

I wrote this post on august 10 but am only getting a chance to post it now:

I just had to record these moments. Last night as I was playing with Kaua, I realized (and actually reveled in) the fact that Kaua loves and adores me so much. His face just lights up everytime I see him after being away from him. Usually, he whines for me if I dont come to him after he has seen me or heard me, but when I go straight to him and tell him hello and give him some love and attention, he just glows. He gives me the hugest goofiest smiles, laughs contagiously and is genuinely super excited to see me. (Think of how a puppy gets when he sees his master). And when I continue to shower him with love, attention and affection, that boy shines. He'll keep on playing, but every now and then, he'll look up at me to make sure he has my attention and smiles everytime I look at him, no matter what. He loves when we play together, you can just tell he basks in my affection. It's truly an amazing feeling, to be this little man's whole world. It makes you feel good inside, feel protective, feel like you just want to do everything to continue being this little man's whole world. So as we played together last night, I really paid attention to him and just enjoyed being in his company without the distraction of conversations with other people or watching the television or thinking of other things like house work. I thought, I could not imagine having another child, because how could I divide my attention and love between two? Obviously, since I have never been in such a situation, I cannot conceive of the idea, just as before I had Kaua, I had no idea what being a parent to him would be like. But I'm sure I'll find space in my heart for two children. (No, I'm not pregnant, haven't even seen AF yet and I'm guessing I wont until I stop BFing). It's amazing to be "a mommy" and I am reminded again at how blessed I am and am ever so grateful to have this opportunity.

Kaua is 8.5 months old now. He has three teeth which are all on the bottom and still just growing in. He crawls fairly well, but still not quite on his knees, more of an army crawl. He loves to be pulled to a standing position but cannot pull himself to standing position yet. He can get from sitting to crawling, but hasn't mastered getting from crawling position back to sitting. I've seen him get in the position on his own a couple times, but not how he's done it (like he'll be sitting up in his crib when I get him). He prefers people food over baby food (I'm guessing its the texture of baby food he doesn't care for), so he eats a lot of cereal (cheerios), rice, long rice, noodles, crackers and bread with baby food mixed in. I need to get him that mesh bag so we can put fruits and veggies in it. He can feed himself crackers and cereal but has not developed his pincer grasp, so watching him actually get the food into his mouth, which is hit or miss, is quite hilarious. I keep reminding myself to record this so as not to forget it. He says mama and dada but you can tell he doesn't know that it refers to us, and he defintely does not say it on command. I just tried to start teaching him to wave hi and bye last night and he didn't get it, but you can tell that he's a little more interested in doing what I'm doing, so I'm sure he'll get the hang of it in a month or two. He had another cold recently so his nose is running and as most kids do, he hates when I wipe his nose. He still nurses to sleep and gets up to nurse 2 or 3 times a night. He still sleeps with us in bed, although he does start out in his crib, but then I bring him to our bed when he gets up for the first feeding, because I'm too lazy to sit up and nurse or bring him back to his crib when he's done (usually because I fall asleep when he nurses too). He's still an early riser (between 6am and 7am), but on the occasionaly day, he'll sleep till after 7am. Kaua loves girls and will tend to like certain girls over others, not sure why (but usually he'll love the girls who are good with kids). Kaua laughs and plays often and still loves to bang on things with toys, crinkle paper and generally do anything that makes noise. He still doesn't appear to have any interest in t.v. when I put on pbs kids shows for him. He has certain areas where he knows are off limits in the house (like under a side table where there are electrical cords/outlets) and he always tries to crawl there first! (Baby proofing!!) He is clearly bigger for his age, more so in height than weight. His next pediatrician appointment is at the end of this month. We start a traveling preschool next week (2x a week, two hours each time) and I'm excited to see what's in store for him there.