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to cut? or not to cut?

January 26, 2004

one of the little things that brian and i have loved about seb since he was born is his hair. he's always had some. in the beginning it was just nice that it was there to hide the bumps and bruises from his delivery. around 3-4 mos, his hair began growing in thicker, and we were happy that he was starting to look much more human. now it's been growing so fast, we wonder when seb got to be such a hippie. both brian and i of late have debated within ourselves when to get seb's hairs cut, and we both, separately, have come to the conclusion that it's too big of a step right now. gone would be the wispy, broken newborn hairs that still hang on for dear life. gone would be the "tossle-top" that we cherish as a token of his babyhood. once the mess is straightened out, seb will look much more like a little boy than a baby. that is something we can hold off on for now...

here's proof that seb got teeth! don't mind the yellow hue of his skin: it's just the result of a betacarotene overload. he's not much into the green veggies.

seb is very aware of the presence of said teeth and is constantly running his tongue over them. could be dangerous while in jumpy seat. don't try this at home, folks.

seb exercising his prowess over "the dada" (hahaha, now i have you!)

the amazing world of seb

January 15, 2004

i guess if a baby's going to get one tooth, he may as well get two. seb has the first bottom tooth pretty much in and a corner of the second. *sniff* from here on out we can say bye-bye to his little gummy grin. it's a fairly sad occasion for me, but there is also much cause for rejoicing--FINGER FOODS! and the commencement of seb feeding himself... needless to say, brian and i will be going out in the next day or two to purchase some sort of mat to go under seb's highchair.

i am endeavoring to teach seb sign language. apparently, babies around 7-8 months of age begin to have the motor skills present to manipulate their hands into simple signs. so for the past couple of days, i have begun to show seb signs for "eat", "more", and "milk." the plan of attack, according to this is making eye contact with baby, then saying the word as you sign it in his field of vision. this sounds simple, but it is surprising how little seb actually makes eye contact with me. i guess that makes sense since he usually doesn't have to look for me, and i'm always pointing his gaze away from myself to other objects anyway ("seb, lookie...look...look at the light, seba... lookie"). although it will take him a month or two until he can use the signs, it's amazing that i can actually see the beginnings of language comprehension in his eyes. i'm pretty sure he knows "light," "fan," and "cat." and he's "pointing" and grunting at things too. he doesn't use his index finger yet, but sometimes he practices. when he is sitting on my lap before a nap or bedtime, he will stick his index finger out and look at it for a few seconds, just to make sure it works.

January 05, 2004

the other day i was looking at the main page here, and chuckled about my famous last words ("we've been practicing with our cats for the past five years, how hard can it be?"). there are several reasons why raising a child is SO much easier than "raising" cats. a) seb is already, at 8 months old, WAY smarter than either one of our cats. i don't know who ever said that cats are relatively smart. they aren't. b) seb has always been WAY cuter than either of our cats. i used to think that they are cute. but they aren't. c) seb, in some infant way, appreciates that we take care of him. he smiles at us and laughs at us and reaches for us with his chubby little arms. i used to think that the cats felt some sort of affection for us (why else would they want us to wake up and pet them at 3am?). they don't. at this point in the game, the only thing the cats have going for them is that they're self-cleaning. and even that doesn't impress me very much. when seb finally learns how to bathe himself, i think it's safe to say that i won't have to worry about finding him in the living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms or walkways, spread eagle, licking his nether-regions.

[disclaimer: the thoughts portrayed in this blog are in no way, shape or form a reflection of anyone in this household but my own. (we all know that brian feels differently about the cats.)]

started to read What's Going on in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life by Lise Eliot, who is a neuroscientist somewhere (maybe columbia univ? i don't want to run get the book right now to find out). anyway, after only reading the first few chapters, i'm beginning to realize how miraculous it truly is (although the author would tout it as just good evolution) that more human beings aren't brain damaged. seriously. i'm hoping that this book doesn't make me more paranoid about how i can be ruining seb's potential as a functioning child and then adult in this world. (yeah, ok jen)