3 Months Old!

It is still amazing how quickly babies develop. From an outsider's perspective, it probably looks like little has changed. When I look at Isaiah, I see a completely different baby than the one we brought home 3 months ago. He used to sleep, poop, pee, and chirp, that's about it. He then started to cry, smile, stay awake longer, and play. Everyday he develops a more distinct identity.

I now know that he's very independent. Unlike many other babies, Isaiah will cry and cry and cry while you bounce him, tickle him, make funny faces, etc. In the end, he just wants to be left alone. He demonstrated this Sunday night when we went to the Hopper's for Thanksgiving dinner (we call them Mark's yankee family). Shortly after we all sat down to eat, Isaiah started getting fussy. I expected this despite the fact that we loaded him up with a big bottle beforehand. Thankfully, with 20 other people in the room there were plenty of willing arms to try to appease him. I happily finished my plate while everyone else tried to calm his cries... nothing worked. Even daddy couldn't get him to stop. As a last resort we started to undress him and change his diaper thinking maybe he was uncomfortable, but once we picked him up he got pissed all over again. I laid him on the couch next to me hoping he would cry himself to sleep, and then it happened...silence and smiles. He simply wanted everyone to leave him the hell alone! Ah-ha! He looks like daddy, but acts like mommy. I was wondering if this kid had any of my DNA.

Another new development in Isaiah's life is his increasing desire to be mobile...yet again, a move toward independence. It started about 2 weeks ago. He was no longer content to be held like a newborn baby (unless he's feeling icky, then its ok to be treated like a baby...haha). I can no longer sit with Isaiah cradled in my arms unless he is eating. He no longer likes to sleep on my chest. Instead he prefers to sit up in my lap facing the world, like a big boy. Yesterday I observed 2 new behaviors. First, if lying on the bed or the floor he can kick and wiggle himself to a new location. I call it the reverse crawl. He is also strong enough to lift his bum with his legs, combined the with kick and the wiggle, he can get some pretty serious distance. Second, daddy introduced him to standing. Uh-ooh. Isaiah spent a good part of the night bouncing or "standing" on Mark's lap. As soon as Mark tried to sit him down...tears...oh the tears. This helped us decide on Isaiah's Christmas present...a jumper of some sort. We had already decided on books, but were still up in the air about whether another massive toy would be worthwhile for him...the answer is certainly YES!

*************

Now that Jen is back in Africa (and has easier access to the internet...hooray!) I will try to post more videos of the little one.

This was Isaiah 1 Month ago. He was smiling a little and just starting to find the mobile interesting. Most of the time he sat quietly pondering the world, and I wondered if this meant that he would be one of those introverted, thinky, shy types.



As the days passed it became obvious this was only a temporary condition. This was Isaiah about 2 weeks later.