With the folks at home...

I'm at Mom and Dad's this week. They've been a tremendous help with Seth, especially at fussy time between 5ish and 8:00. They're spoiling my little man, and he's eating it up with a spoon. I've also used their house as an outpost to take a short weekend trip to see my friend, Amy, who is about to pop out her baby any day now. But I made it back to the familial bosom last night in time to get a good rest and go to my home church this morning. I shall write in detail about all of it eventually when I can again post pictures...

But for now, I'm noticing... why is it that babies decide to suddenly try new things when their daddies aren't around to see it? I keep having to tell David about something new that he's missing whenever he calls. I'm starting to feel guilty. Maybe I should tell him that I know now that he's been sternly warning Seth every night before bed that he cannot grow up too quickly for Mommy. The jig is up. Now that he's not around, Seth is doing all kinds of stuff he didn't do last week.

When we got to Mom and Dad's, Seth started saying something that sounded suspiciously like Nana when we walked in the door. I wouldn't be so sure about it except that I was bathing him, and Mom walked in, and he saw her and said, "Hi, Nana." He loves Albert, and when Mom was telling him that Albert was a dog, he leaned down, looked, and he said "Kitty cat." I swear it's true. I have witnesses! Not only that, he's been leaning forward to give us lots of kisses, and he's started hugging! The hugging is kind of like leaning forward, grabbing us, and pressing his head into our necks while giggling. It's great! He's also started doing this thing where he opens his mouth, breathes in, and then purses his lips and breathes out. It looks kind of like he's practicing to blow out his birthday candles in a couple of weeks. On top of all that, he's FINALLY figured out how to pull his knees forward and push himself up on them. He's only done it a couple of times for a few seconds, but this is major. At this point, he gets around by rolling and squirming, but it looks like we may see some crawling soon.

Oh, and my favorite of all... Seth has said some things that sounded like "mama" before, but I was never willing to call it. I couldn't be sure he was addressing me. But when we were at Amy's house, he was in his high chair, and I walked out of the room to get his wipes. I was heading down the hall, and I heard him call out "Mama!" in a loud voice. Amy was sitting with him, and she said, "She'll be right back." It was so natural. He's never called me before by name. I was shocked. He knows my name! And he wants me when I leave him! This is all so new, and it's amazing to see him put his thoughts and associations into words. If it weren't for the fact that he's getting heavy and squirmy, I wouldn't ever wish him back to a tinier baby. He is so much fun these days...