End of Conapping, Adventures in Food, and Reaching

Up to my eyeballs in work, and Terry starts in with lots of administrative work for school this week. But I wanted to write a quick update.

As I sit here, Liam is doing tummy time on our bed. He is very good at pushing himself quite high up on his hands. (He sometimes also raises his butt up while his head is resting on the bed). One trick I really noticed for the first time just now is that he is starting to reach for things. He is aware of things just outside his reach, and that his hands can get those things for him if only he can get a little closer. He is presently trying to squirm a bit closer to the fringed edge of a bright green hand towel on the bed, stretching his fat little baby fingers out in its direction.

Food is going very well. So far he has definitely had some things he likes more than others (sweet potatoes) and some things he likes less (zucchini), but he has eaten everything offered without any coercion or cajoling. So far we have tried: peas, zucchini, sweet potato, pear, apple, and turkey. Everything is organic and home made (in the case of the turkey excessively organic, hormone free, antibiotic free, vegetarian feed, free range, Club Med kind of turkey). On deck for upcoming exploration: quinoa, amaranth, butternut squash, broccoli, prunes. I'm also thinking we might explore blueberries and cherries while the time is ripe. He always winds up with a sort of hysterical little goatee of food all around his mouth (occasionally in his nose), but he seems to like it.

Finally, our regular morning conaps on the futon in his room are no more. They were really the highlight of the first five months, a nice quiet morning time for just him and I to be together. To feel cuddly and close, with a warm little baby body and light little baby breath. Sometime in the second week of July, when he was approaching 5.5 months old, suddenly one morning he wanted no more of it. Literally one day he cuddled up and wend right to sleep, and the next morning he fussed and squirmed until set down in his crib where he promptly went to sleep. And that pattern continued. Now it is a rare morning that we get a co-nap in, and these have generally moved to our bed where he can lay however he likes and spread out, rather than being cuddled up on his side with his head laying on my shoulder, or laying tummy to tummy (kangaroo style) with me.

It is still quite a sweet nice thing for me to be able to nap next to him, and as he falls asleep he inevitably turns his sweet peaceful little face to me, or curls his body towards me. Sometimes he reaches out a hand and touches my arm or face, and then falls asleep that way. I like to think of it as a little sign that he also enjoys a few stolen moments of cuddly closeness, even if he is a "big boy" who no longer naps every morning in mom's arms. Even still, it is the end of an era and I am sad to see it go.