Yet another Shane update

About a week or so ago, we started trying to feed Shane solid food.  I must say, he looks rather amused by all of our efforts.

Feeding Shane by spoon is messy to say the least. Half the time, he won't open his mouth. The other half the time, he tries to grab the spoon and shove far back into "gag me with a forklift" land. This is followed by him trying to stick his fingers in the mouth to see if they help flavor the food (or just add a little crunch), or by Shane opening his mouth in a huge smile that pours food all over him. Yes, he enjoys laughing at his minions struggles. We minions are in turn enthralled by his laughter. I love my son.

Other Shanetricities


Likes:
  1. He likes when I make this annoying alarm clock noise. He'll actually start to laugh and get hyper.
  2. Shane loves to read. Hop, Peter Rabbit! is the one he likes to read and then chew on the most lately. Carrie was surprised by how much he started giggling when I broke out the book.
  3. He still likes me singing. Go figure.   (Favorites: 'Ba, ba, Black Sheep,' 'Hush Little Baby,' and 'If You're Happy and You Know It, Poop Your Pants')
  4. Chewing on fingers and toes. He'll also try and give forearms hickies.
  5. Bouncing, bouncing, bouncing
  6. When not bouncing: kicking, kicking, kicking
  7. Grabbing anything he lays eyes on.
  8. Sticking anything he successfully grabs straight into his mouth.
  9. Going for walks in the stroller.
10. Indiana.  He cackles at the sight of her. I think he likes dogs in general from how he reacted to Oreo.
11. High energy levels. The faster/more hyper it is, the more he laughs. See Indiana above.
12. Shane loves meeting new people. He's quite the charmer at it. After they're lured in he grabs at their faces.
13. Rolling over. Shane rolls from front to back all the time now.

Challenges:
   1. Shane's definitely been more demanding. It's probably related to teething. He pulls at his ears, gnaws on everything, and sometimes seems super fussy for no real reason. This is usually solved by rubbing his gums or giving him a preferred chew toy (like his raspberry).
   2. Less napping. Shane has more energy during the day. He still naps, but they're normally not the really long naps anymore. The stinker is sleeping a little less in general. He woke us up at 5:40 this morning.
   3. Shane's rolling over. While this is a milestone, he seems to have forgotten how to roll back onto his back. This makes him fussy and he's woken me up at 3 AM crying that he was on his belly. Sometimes, he'll just continue to sleep on his belly and that's okay. It's the crying and wake-ups that sadden me.
   4. Keeping my energy level up. Work and the boy wear me out. He takes more energy to get hyper and laughing nowadays. It's a good sign and he's showing a lot more personality. The flip side is, I get tired. I just hope that I'm being the dad he needs and not pooping out too early on him.

Things I wonder:
   1. When is that first damn tooth going to show?  I've been rubbing Shane's gums checking for 'tooth-sign' and peeking daily in there for over two months now. I want to see a pearly white.
   2. When is Shane going to crawl?  He flails his limbs around on his belly and sometimes manages to scootch himself forward. He hasn't figured out to pull with his arms and push with his legs in unison yet. He just throws all of his energy into it and hopes for the best.


Those are my surface thoughts for now. I'm pretty tired from the early wake-up call and I'll leave things at this.