Because really: our little baby is growing up so quickly. Case in point - I went to put him in washed-but-never-worn six month jammies and they were too small. Des has doubled his birth weight exactly, and as of yesterday was 17 pounds 9 ounces. He's almost twenty six inches long. If you stand him on his feet he pushes so hard for so long we really only hold him for balance. Today he stayed in a sit-up position by himself on the changing table. He's recognizing books he likes, cooing when we show him the Lion book or the Fish book. And he is grabbing at his "friends" on his play mat, holding onto them, feeling their fur, staring at their stripes.
He has started breaking out of his swaddle to find his fingers for "self soothing" sucking. Sometimes we wake up to happy slurping noises, other times we battle to get his hands long enough to put his arms through his sleepers. And speaking of sleep, he's sleeping as many as eleven hours straight through the night some nights. He won't have anything to do with pacifiers anymore, thankyouverymuch, and though we're fine with that, we can't wait for him to find his thumb with more ease since he clearly loves the soothing peace sucking brings.
He's his own little person - with actual likes and dislikes expanding beyond eating and not eating (respectively). He smiles at Dique as soon as he walks in the door after work. He calms down as soon as he's put in nursing position, but will whimper softly, then whine if I'm taking too long to serve him his meal. If he has a bottle he tries to hold it himself and did this past weekend for about thirty seconds before needing help again from Dique.
I so want him to grow and thrive and be independent but I can't help cursing time for being so damn fleeting.
There are still songs in the songbook we made before Des was born - songs I can't sing because the words take my breath away when I look at him. Our boy, our little man. Our baby. So together Dique and I sing the classics - I've Been Working on the Railroad, She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain, When You Wish Upon a Star. And when I nurse Des before bed I sing the safe ones - If I Had A Boat, Country Roads, Sweet Baby James, Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay, Right Field. I can just about do Your Song, though sometimes I lose it somewhere around "yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen."
And here I thought I wasn't that emotional. Heaven help me try to sing For Baby, You Belong To Me and the throat-closingly sweet song To Make You Feel My Love.
When Dique and I were scanning our Rockabye Baby albums for Des' third month video*, we remembered how - for the first week after Des was born - we heard Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss A Thing everywhere. We heard it in the Rockabye Baby album, of course, since we were playing those playlists around the clock to fill wee small hours. But we also heard the Aerosmith original on the radio whenever we got in the car or were out and about. Since I'm heading into the final month of my maternity leave, this song is rather fitting. I could stay awake, just to hear Des breathing. I have before and I still do. We both do. Des rarely wakes up to nurse in the early morning anymore, but Dique still wakes up and lays awake for a while, just in case Desmond needs him. I think he likes to hear Des' sleep sighs, too.
We love watching Desmond find new things - books, toys, his own hands - we just don't want to miss it when it happens. We're going to, since we both work, but that just means we're going to savor every moment we get with this little man. And with a face like that, it's easy to do!
Happy three month birthday, Sonshine. We love you.
*If you have trouble with the video link, please try entering this link into your browser http://animoto.com/play/C0973eHgokV1U9aEDNnKaA
Beautiful post, Tunes. These are the awe inspiring days. From what I've experienced certain songs, at certain times, will always be realiable for a tear. Unfortunately (and fortunately) those feeling don't lessen as much as you might think. :)
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