Serious Business

This past week, Isaiah has absolutely exploded developmentally in so many ways. After we had both recovered from our road trip, Isaiah began playing with everything around him, which was so adorable. He is getting so good at reaching out and grabbing objects, and he's becoming acutely aware of all his surroundings. He really began discovering and paying attention new things in South Dakota where he discovered his feet and his right ear. (It wasn't until we were back that he realized he also had a left ear.) Now that he is paying more attention and has more coordination, Michael and I really have to watch out for dangers within his grasp.

This past Sunday, we were eating burritos after church at Chipotle when Isaiah began to get a little bored. I really don't blame him because he didn't have a burrito to munch on or even just play with. I got an extra piece of aluminum foil from the server which distracted him for quite a while. However, he knew that what he really wanted was Daddy's food. So, out shot a little arm with a little grabby hand attached and in a millisecond, he had a grasp on Michael's food basket and was about to toss the burrito onto the floor in a swift, jerky movement. Luckily, Michael had his guard up because he really loves Chipotle burritos, so he was able to catch it before it had even gone off the table. I have a feeling that it was just a warning of the hazards to come, though. It was a good reminder to me that I need to baby-proof our home some more. I have more outlet covers to stick in and corners to soften, and I should really get to it before he starts crawling.

I don't think crawling is really that far off because Isaiah is becoming stronger everyday. He pushes up higher when he's on his tummy, and he can roll to his back whenever he wants to. He even rolled from his back to his front once. Of course, both Michael and I were looking away at the time. He's actually trying to crawl with all his might, but he just hasn't mastered the concept of picking his head up off the ground when he pushes with his legs. As a consequence, he drags his poor little face on the carpet, and I worry that he'll get a rug burn on his cute little nose. He continues to work on it, though, and he has already mastered pivoting. He pushes with his legs and pivots around his stationary head, and sometimes he moves six inches in the direction he ends up pointing. It's alright with me that he's not too mobile yet - I have a lot of baby-proofing to do.

He also began showing mighty interest in food a few weeks ago, making chewing movements and watching forks go from the plate to people's mouths. It's pretty hilarious to watch. At one point, I was eating yogurt for breakfast and he was so fascinated that I let him suck on my spoon after each bite of yogurt. Even though there was no actual food left, he took his job very seriously. The look on his face told me that he knew he was becoming an adult because he ate with a spoon, and that I better start taking him seriously too.

In fact, he has become so interested in solid food that Michael and I decided to let him try some baby cereal. He has shown so many signs of readiness and interest that even though I wanted to wait until six months, we knew it would give him a lot of joy to try. So, we broke out the high chair and mixed up the cereal. (I Tbsp cereal to 5 Tbsp breast milk) We figured out that we pretty much could have just fed him milk with a spoon because it was so liquidy anyway, but Isaiah loved it. He ate, once again, very seriously, and he got possibly one third of it into his mouth. Of course, we had to give him a bath after that, and then we decided he was so cute that he kept him naked and put a white sheet down on the bed for an impromptu photo session. The conclusion? He's the cutest baby in the world.