All about Day-Day
Yep, we'll be calling him that into his teenage years....
Daylen is such a joy and delight these days. He isn't the little "angry guy" he used to be (at least not often) now that he can both get himself around, and communicate.
Actually, it is pretty funny when we tell him he can't do something, because he makes this pouty face and little fake cry you usually only get from older kids. Obnoxious when Emma does it, but adorable on a baby because it seems so out of place.
He continues to be hyper-tactile, loving to grab faces, put his hand into people's mouths (disconcerting for non-family members!) and is nearly obsessed with drinking water. Even when I know he's not thirsty, he will almost musingly take long sucks from his sippy-cup. I think he just enjoys the sensation. It is so funny to have a baby who reacts so strongly whenever he sees a cup or glass anywhere. He will immediately hold it up, or point to it, and demand (loudly!) that he get some water in it RIGHT NOW. And don't even get me started on actually drinking something in front of him- he goes crazy if you don't share!
These days he is still a voracious eater- he literally eats the same amount of food everyday that I do. If only I had his energy, think how skinny I would be. Nowdays however, he is much pickier, which is something we're going to have to break him of. It took a lot of hard work to get Emma to be the fish, goat cheese, sushi, orange marmalade girl she is today, but well worth the effort. On the upside, Day tends to enjoy strongly flavored foods, but lately, his main staples are cheese of anykind, and all bread products. Forget anything green.
He's still nursing, but a lot less frequently due to my weaning efforts a couple of months ago when he started biting hard every single time he nursed. For weeks. Luckily, before I cut out the last 3 or 4 feedings, he quit chomping on me entirely. I think he finally caught on that his favorite food source was getting cut off!
The sleeping is a lot better these days. He is going 8 or 9 hours through the night which is a huge deal to us. Plus he is sleeping in his own crib exclusively so our sleeping arrangements are a bit more traditional lately.
He started taking steps about 5 weeks ago, though he still isn't completely steady and only walks about 50% of the time. Usually only in a comfort zone and for a cheering audience. After all, crawling is so much more efficient and quick for him, why bother with the effort of balancing if there isn't a fanclub present?
Actually, we were pretty suprised he wasn't walking long before now, since he has been cruising on furniture for over 4 months.
*Usually* (averages are pretty meaningless with babies after all!) that is only a brief stage right before walking. But Day's ok with slow transitions, and so are we.
He's really much less of a physical daredevil than Emma was at his age, which actually is nice. While he is pretty "busy" he is only just now beginning to explore unfamilar terrain like the stairs and unoccupied rooms. Emma was all over the stairs by 8 months. Also, her transition period from crawl to walk was days, not months.
(The above is Emma by the way.)
It is inevitable I suppose to compare your second child to the first. You know they are different people, but you can only refer to your previous experience. Especially when your kids are like clones.
 
On that tangent, I had the oddest moment the other day while bathing the kids. Both of them had their backs to me, and they have the exact same color and texture of hair. The same color of skin, and veins tracing through. And Daylen looks so much like Emma as a baby. For a moment, I so strongly felt that it was not really two people, but an older and younger version of the same person- as though they had merged. Bizarre and sort of existentially comforting, like I was re-living the best parts of my life in a continual loop. Which in a way, I suppose I am.
Speaking of identity confusion, Emma is so tired of seeing pictures of herself and mistaking them for Daylen. She recently saw one at Lodi, and told me "Please do not tell me that is me. I will not believe you. When are we going to look different? This is just too confusing!"
Actually, back to the point of sibling comparison, I had begun to be worried about the fact that Daylen still has limited interest in reading books (other than touch and feel, or lift the flap- they must be tactile), whereas Emma was turning the pages by 6 months, and by a year, would sit in a lap and read for a good half-hour. I had been telling Matt it did not matter if he wasn't as smart as Emma, that we would love him for all his other wonderful qualities. Silly me to have such a limited scope of intelligence! While he may not want to sit long in a lap, he is already incredibly verbal- one indication at least that he can keep up just fine. (Surpassing Emma at the same age believe it or not- who says boys are always later to talk?!) So far his repertoire includes: Mama, Dada, Sissy (Emma), duck, bird, ball, balloon, nurse, Nana, more, bread, bottle, yeah, up and more I'm not thinking of at the moment. (Emma was mildly dissapointed he called her by a nickname first rather than her actual name. Matt and I on the other hand, find it adorable!) True, he doesn't say most of them well, but he points to the item and recognizably vocalizes the first consonant and vowel, and that is enough to get his point across. Thank god- I'm looking forward to the days when he doesn't scream in frustration that we don't speak baby! He gets so delighted when we understand what he is attempting to say! Funnily, he is much less interested in signing than Emma (which may be why he says so many more words than Emma did at 12 months). We have been trying for a good 8 months on signing, and other than "nurse" (which he started signing at the tender age of 7 months!) nothing else has cought on consistently. The boy just wants to speak!
He is in such an adorable stage, so quick to belly-laugh, sweetly affectionate (loves gives open-mouth wet kisses!) and cuddly. He also loves to share, and will even offer us food straight out of his mouth. Yum! He loves cracking us up with baby-tricks like animal noises on demand (snake is the cutest one) and just generally interacting and communicating with us.
Maybe we could do one more baby. I have to give myself that out, or I would be mourning the passing of his babyhood too greatly.
*Addendum* Proving once again that once you think you'be got your baby figured out, they will always surprise you, the day after writing the blog, Daylen sat in my lap for a good 20-30 minutes reading "bu, bu, bu" (books), and one of them ("Guess what Cookie Monster's Making") we read 5 times- a record! Then the next day at school he used two new signs, for "more" and "all done".
He likes to keep us guessing.
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