Focusing on Cuteness

Patrick's still defying me at every turn and then clinging the rest of the time. I'm either coaxing him to be independent or chiding him for being too independent. Although I can see the humor in it, it's still incredibly frustrating. So instead of talking about it yet again, I'll focus on the cute stories from the past few days.

For the first time ever, Patrick sat on my shoulders. I thought he would be scared, but as long as I held onto him, he loved it. He could reach the fan chain from there quite easily, and that is his newest obsession. I was being so careful with the way I held him so that he could balance, though, that my neck started hurting quickly. I hope it will be easier when he gets a little bigger and those legs dangle farther down, giving me an easier handhold and making him balance better.

Another of his obsessions these days is bamming on the coffee table. He stands in front of it quite well, but he hasn't mastered the art of cruising around it. If he leans too far one way or the other, he won't move his foot to regain his balance; he just falls instead. Because of that, I stay close any time he stands at the coffee table. Yesterday we had fun playing with the fact that the top is glass. I put my hand up underneath the table, and he chased my hand around from the top, giggling the whole time. It looked like he was giving me a high five when he bammed the table where my hand was underneath. He did the same thing to Daddy earlier too. I wonder if he's starting to understand the concept of glass.

Patrick's bonding with his best friend, otherwise known as the Baby in the Mirror.

Yesterday at lunch, Patrick did something that struck me as cute, so I leaned forward and booped his nose. (You may remember this. We've been booping his nose since his NICU days. It's where we touch the end of his nose and say, "Boop." I don't think he finds it that humorous, but he puts up with it.) He put his hand out toward me, with his index finger out, like he does when he wants to poke at something. Even though the hand was slimy after being in his mouth, I leaned forward to see what he wanted. He reached forward and booped my nose! Of course, I had to make the noise, but it was clear that was his intent. The slime was totally worth it.

More fun with photo-editing