Barrett, 8 months

Barrett, I don't have a lot of time to write this post, and I blame that on you and your brother!

But I just want you to know, that at eight months you are always, always smiling. The other night your grandma (my mom) said to me, "I know how to make Barrett smile! ......Do just about anything!" You smile when you play, you smile when I hold you. You beam at your daddy and your brother. We have wonderful snuggly times in the morning, when William is still sleeping and after I've nursed you, and we lay on the bed and roll around and I tickle your neck and we just smile and laugh at each other. You are roly poly and soft and squishy and hilarious.

You've been officially crawling for at least a week now, probably closer to two. One night your dad called to me in the kitchen and said, "It's kind of sad that Barrett has been crawling and we don't even make a fuss!" I replied, "Barrett isn't crawling yet!" He said, "Yes he is, he's going to town!" And so you were! You think you are pretty big stuff when you crawl around, I can hear you yelling out at the top of your lungs as you go. You are learning that certain things are off limits, like the dog dish or the potted tree. I see you laying on your stomach pondering these things, just gazing at them.

You love to cry out with a loud voice, "Da da da!" It's your favorite and only phrase. Your father is appropriately tickled at this.

You seem to be getting a little pudgier but you are still wearing a couple sets of 6 month pjs, though the sleeves are getting short. You are also in 9 to 12 months sizes, depending on the brand, so it's hard to know how you're growing based on clothing. I'm looking forward to your doctor's visit next month to see how well I've done in stuffing you with food. You are completely over your cold and every single night and morning I thank the Lord that you are healthy. I suppose I am thankful for small colds because they make me appreciate our health that much more.

You are a thumb sucker and it is adorable. I know you're tired when you start sucking your thumb. William never did that, and I'm grateful not to have to break him of the habit, but I have to admit, it's pretty darn cute.

You are also the droolingest baby ever. I had all these extra little baby bibs that were unused with William. I used to wonder what they could possibly be for since they weren't big enough to provide any protection from food. Well, now I know. And we go through several a day.

You are still eating pureed baby food, but over the past couple of days I've started you on small bites of solids like meatloaf or steamed vegetables. Vegetables are a thumbs up, meatloaf, not so much.

You are still spitting up pretty frequently. As I type this you are playing in your command center, having just been removed from the Ergo on my back when I felt an unpleasant sensation of a volume of spit up cascade down the back of my shirt. Yu-uck. It seems like your spitup increases when my diet is less clean.

I'm also struggling a little bit with my milk supply, still. You're showing a couple signs of not getting enough liquid, but by the end of the day I seem to be totally out of milk. Do I supplement with formula? Do I just give you a little bit of water here and there, which you seem to consider a treat whenever you get your hands on William's sippy cup? Almond milk? Cow's milk? I don't know.

These little quirks and issues aside, you are simply the happiest, most joyful, easy-goingest little guy. Sure, you're usually getting up in the night now to eat, but you gave me such uninterrupted rest for so many months that I figure I don't mind. It's hard to remember what life was like without you. I love you so much, my little, big, 8-month-old guy!

Will, almost two and a half

Hey Will.

You have a lot going on these days.

You've grown so much over just the past month. I look back at last year, when you were only sixteen months old, just beginning to walk, and slowly growing your limited vocabulary, and I can hardly fathom how much you've changed.

Let's see what you've been up to.

You've got a bit of a stubborn streak that's starting to emerge. The other day I said, "Will, come see me," and you looked at me and very casually, almost plaintively, said, "No." You are also growing a bit bossy, not just to Bo and Barrett, but to your dad, too! Last night I heard the two of you playing with toys, and you were saying, "No, daddy. Daddy, not for you!" Finally I stepped in. "William, don't talk to your dad that way!" What do you think your Daddy was doing? Laughing, of course. In the process of the day, you'll say, "Mommy, let ME do it." I think it's so wonderful that you're wanting to do things on your own, but I'm trying to teach you how to ask nicely.

You are learning how to ask very nicely for things! It's been about two weeks that I've been correcting you after you yell, "Mommy, have my tractor!" (Or whatever you want at the moment!) I remind you, "Will, say, 'Mommy, may I please have my tractor?'" I still usually need to have you ask me again, the right way, but over the past day or two you've been asking nicely the first time, all on your own. (Then you usually respond FOR me, too, saying, "Sure!")

You are engaged more than ever in reading. You'll have me read the same book to you over and over. I recently bought these Bible stories (I highly recommend buying them used at Thriftbooks.com) and we've been reading one story each night. You love them! It's so wonderful to have you excited to read a Bible story. After each one, you ask, "Read again?"

You make me laugh every day. Yesterday you were walking around the house, asking me to help you find your chainsaw and earplugs. (What?!) And I posted this on Facebook yesterday morning:

Me: "Will, what fruit do you want with your eggs: apple or banana?"
"I want SAUSAGE."
"Right, but what fruit do you want with it?"
"I want SAUSAGE."
"YES, you're getting sausage with your eggs, but do you want an apple or a banana as your fruit?"
"Oh. I want... want.... want... want... want... want... CAKE." 

Again... what?! We're certainly not clean eaters around here all the time, but you haven't had cake in months and to my recollection you didn't even like it!

You are obsessed with Bob the Builder. When Daddy was gone, I borrowed "Bob's White Christmas" from the library, and because Bob's wearing a brown winter coat, you quickly began calling him "Brown Bob". We must have watched it at least seven to ten times. You were very sad to send "Brown Bob" back to the library. I tried to explain that another little boy or girl was going to be able to watch "Brown Bob" now, and you got so excited to go watch it at someone else's house! I gave up that route and told you that when we set up the Christmas tree, in another month or so, we can borrow Brown Bob again. Now, every day, you remind me that when we set up the Christmas tree, we'll get to watch Brown Bob.

Bob the Builder was a natural choice at the library because you love big equipment! Construction equipment, farm equipment, whatever. You thrill to excavators and bulldozers and cherry pickers and of course, all things tractors. I never realized how many of these big machines I used to pass on the highway without noticing them. 

You love when I nurse Barrett "in the chair" at bedtime or naptime. After our Bible story, you get excited to go lay down while I nurse Barrett in the chair. Every time I shift in the chair and it creaks, you sit up in bed to make sure I'm not getting up. When I finally do lay Barrett down, I hear you calling in a loud whisper, "Mommy, nurse Barrett in the chair!" I walk over to you and tell you that Barrett's all done, and then you usually ask, holding up one finger, to sit in the the chair with me for "one song" - "Sit chair one song?" If the answer's no, you then ask, "Try to go potty?" When I say no to that, too, you take it well and settle in.

Last night I came up to tuck you both in one more time before I went to bed, and you were still awake, an hour after putting you down! You were just holding your 'yellow blanket' and staring around the room listening to your 'silver CD'. I picked you up and rocked you in the rocking chair for a while, soaking in the rare opportunity to cuddle with you. Those moments are growing less frequent - chalk it up to having two and to you always being on the go.

I'm enjoying you so much these days. You are my big helper, my little buddy. You want to hold my hand wherever we go. You want me to play toys with you and read you books. You prefer me over anyone in the world, and when you wanted me to put you to bed instead of even Grandma the other night, I felt a thrill of joy. I love you too, Will. You may never know how much!