Our Little Man

     
     Vessel is growing up too fast. It seems like he is losing many of his baby qualities.  Sometimes when I look at him I see a little man instead of a delicate baby. He is learning about things that are funny. For instance, when I was doing the dishes, I flicked water on him and he looked at me in utter confusion. I did it a few more times, and then I started laughing, and only then did he start laughing too. Now when I do it, he laughs because he thinks it's something funny. He imitates us when we laugh at other things as well (things he normally wouldn't laugh at by himself) but only because we laugh at them. Now I am starting to realize how powerful parents' influence can be. Obviously, he will be his own person with his own ideas, but I wonder how many of those future ideas will stem from the ideas that Mike and I have unconsciously embedded in him. I hope that I can be a good role model for him and raise him up to be a good person...a caring, strong, happy, sensitive, funny, smart, compassionate person. And if nurture wins the argument over nature, I might have a chance.     
     
     Some new things for Vessel: 

•      He's cutting his first teeth.  Thankfully these first ones haven't given him a problem. 

•      It's getting harder to distract him with other objects when I take away something that he wants that he shouldn't be playing with. It's almost like he throws a tantrum, if that's possible at his age. 

•      He recently pulled himself up to a standing position all by himself. The kid can't crawl yet, but he has such an interest in standing up that he now straightens and locks his legs when we try to sit him down. Sometimes I have to physically force his legs to bend so he'll sit down instead of stand up. So there he was next to his bouncer, and the next thing I know, he grabbed onto the bar and (with a few grunting sounds) pulled himself up until he was standing and leaning against the bar. Luckily I was there to catch him when he finally lost his balance. I'm sure there will be plenty of tumbles and spills down the road that I won't be able to prevent. *sigh* He's just growing up too fast.....