I last wrote an age-related piece about Charlie when he was five months, and when I was seriously smitten with every sweet baby curl on his head. I still am, of course, but now he’s double the age and has had double the time to learn some bad habits, I figured I would let new parents whose kids aren’t there yet what they have in store. My parental public service announcement, if you will.
He is chubbier. Bubbas at 5 months are still a bit skinny for my liking; I love a fat thigh to nibble on as much as the next mama. If your bubba’s yet to pork it on, never fear: the pudge is coming.
He plays properly. Charlie’s favourite thing right now is to crawl away really fast, turn around and grin cheekily at me so I’ll crawl after him. I have never crawled around on floors more than I have in the last month, but the loud chortling and the fact that I get to tickle his tubby tummy is worth all the knee pain later.
He talks all day. The gurgling, the chit-chat, the ‘Oh!’s and the ‘Oooh!’s and the trying-to-imitate-you noises … it all reaches peak cuteness in the tenth month. Mr Chick and I could sit there all day and just listen to him bleating on about nothing or talking to his books and toys, or watch him bashing things with his fat paws. Invariably though, one or both of us feels he is too cute and must submit to a new tickling session so we can hear his delicious laughter for the 7689th time that day.
He has teeth. If there is anything more adorable than a baby with curls and two bottom teeth I want to know about it. Actually no I don’t. Let me live in my obsessive bubba love bubble a while longer.
Mealtimes are… interesting. It’s good being able to hand him chunks of stuff and let him have a gnaw rather than having to puree night after night. But then there are the times Charlie won’t eat anything. Or he’ll eat an entire orange at the supermarket then never eat it again. Or you’ll spend half an hour making fried rice only to have him refuse even a spoonful. Or, he’ll put something in his mouth, chew it, then open his mouth and let it fall back out. And don’t get me started on his habit of bashing all the food on his tray like a butcher. Sometimes he’ll bash it for a while, then do a clean sweep with one chubby hand so it all ends up on the floor. So that’s dinner.
They get a whole lot more adventurous. I heard this from so many parents, and it’s true: once they’re on the move you are screwed. Yesterday Charlie climbed on top of a shelf that was just a little lower than his high chair. I turned around and there he was, sitting on the shelf. I nearly had a heart attack. Similarly, I lost him the other day, only to finally locate him under the coffee table. He’d just crawled under there, gotten stuck and couldn’t get out. He did the same under a dining room chair. He was like a freaked-out baby contortionist who’d thought it was a good idea at the time, then did a massive three-sixty after the audience was assembled.
They fall over a lot. A friend of mine said it’s not a normal day unless her baby has bumped his head. I totally get that now. I realise how good I had it being able to just plonk him anywhere and have him stay there.
They get fixated on things. On any given day, we will look at the photos on the fridge and talk about who’s in each one about 100 times a day. If we’re near the front door, he has to inspect each panel of the stained glass window slooowly. I can’t get the Bonjela out without him wanting to gnaw on it (and I live in fear of him somehow getting the lid off and swallowing it). We have to read Peekaboo Farm about 25 times a day and every single time I have to remind him not to yank on the pop-up animals because they just won’t survive another sticky-tape surgery session.
Arching the back tantrums. Give me explosive poo, give me PURPLE crying, I’ll even take the eye gouging stage over the arching of the back phase Charlie’s in. He does it in the pram. He does it in the highchair. He does it when I put him to bed. It is quite tricky wrangling a baby that is trying to go stiff as a board, and when accompanied by a high pitched screaming, it’s doubly awesome.
Daddy-related tantrums. He cracks it if daddy walks out of the room. He cracks it if daddy’s cuddling him and puts him down. He cracks it if daddy returns from somewhere and doesn’t acknowledge him immediately. Basically he is a total daddy’s boy sooky la-la.
No-you-can’t-have-my-phone tantrums. I was an idiot to ever introduce him to Talking Carl.
Are your kids the same age or older? What have I got to look forward to? And WHAT can I do about the back arching thing? It is seriously doing my nut.
16 Comments
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I dont have kids, but this was a great list! Sounds like everyday is a new adventure!
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That’s for sure, Alyssa… I’ll take the tantrums for the good stuff anyday 🙂 Thanks for swinging by!
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I have Miss 15months and the ‘No-you-can’t-have-my-phone-tantrums’ are super epic. Oh joy! She is adorable though.
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Yeah, lucky they’re so cute haha!
I can see the phone tantrums becoming a regular feature of our day 😀 Must make an effort NOT to use it in front of him ever!!!
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It brings back memories here – All I can say is that it does pass …. and onto another stage… and another …and another … and now that master is 23 (almost 24) there’s still another stage. But I do look back with fondness (I can say that because it’s all in the past for me, lol) and it’s all worth while. My boy loved hugs and still does now. Every stage has great things to look forward to – enjoy them all 🙂
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Oh, Elena, if my boy still loves hugs from me in his twenties I will be a happy woman. Sounds like you’ve done good there. 🙂
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Oh the knee pain! I will never forget that. Those memories took me back. The back arching? Mate, that never goes away. It just gets worse, as they get bloody stronger. So. Get used to it. The cuteness always stays with your kids. The talking is nonstop – I have never talked so much in my life since Reeve could talk ‘properly’. There is heaps more to look forward to 🙂
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I love reading your conversations with Reese. That one when you were making the bed… freaking hilarious. I cannot wait until Charlie can talk. I’m going to bore everyone with blog posts entirely of the funny shit he says.
Don’t scare me on the back arching. I’m hanging onto hope it’s just a 10-month-old stage and he will go back to normal. 🙂
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He is a character. I have heaps of conversations that are hilarious that I could write down.
They do give you heaps of material. As soon as they talk 🙂
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You SHOULD write them down!! Or tape him! I just cleared my phone so I could take more videos of Charlie. I have quite the library now 🙂
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My youngest has just turned 2 and the back arching continues, but to a whole new level!! Getting him into the carseat is a f**king nightmare!!!
#wineandboobs-
Okay, you’ve all convinced me, the back arching is here to stay. DAMMIT 🙂
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I love this and seriously could have written it myself. My son is almost 11 months and we are experiencing pretty much every single one of these! The fixation on things is our ‘thing’at the moment as he has a thing about headphones and no matter where I hide them, he will find them and then attempt to chew them and fling them around…which in turn then leads me to feeling paranoid that he is going to wrap them round his neck so I take them off of him…which THEN leads to the whole back arching, screaming melt down. I feel your pain!!
#wineandboobs-
THANK YOU AMI! Yeah, good to know I’m not alone in my ‘paranoia about all the death traps in our home’ thing 🙂
I totally get you re the headphones; mine have like pom pom ear muffs on them and he just fixates on those (I hide them too). Overall, we haven’t really baby-proofed. A friend told us just to teach him what to touch / not touch which is sort of working. He definitely gets that the heater’s hot and doesn’t go near it, but he spends ALL day trying to open the oven, climb into the dishwasher, brain himself on the pointy silver drawer handles (what possessed us to choose those with a baby on the way, I have no idea)…
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In my experience they only get better at the back arching! Fab post. Thanks for linking up to #FridayFrolics
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