Half a Year with a Honey Badger Baby

I can't believe that Honey Badger Baby has been earthside for six months now.  That I've been a Mom for half a year is bizarre.  It has gone by so fast and yet, at times, it feels as though it's been so much longer.

Shortly after Honey Badger turned three months old, he had to have surgery to repair bilateral inguinal hernias.  The surgery went well, though once inside it became apparent that it was worse than first thought and needed a bit more work than expected.  My little trooper did amazingly!  That first night after surgery was tough, but after just a few days he acted as though hadn't had surgery at all.  We couldn't babywear for a few weeks afterward and that was a major adjustment.  I have become very dependent on my ability to wear my son and he is very much a want-to-be-held type of child.  I have a new respect for those parents that do not know about or use a carrier of some sort.

Our breastfeeding relationship has been evolving.  Few and far between are the long, focused nursing sessions.  Mostly he is just very distracted with this great big world he was ejected into.  So he nurses a bit, looks around a bit, nurses a bit more whilst playing with my shirt, unlatches to smile at my face, and then goes back to nursing.  Other times he just grabs a quick snack and goes back to investigating everything.  I cherish those moments in the middle of the night or right before a nap in which he nurses like a newborn again.  I did not have a chance to appreciate those moments nearly enough in the beginning.

I have now experienced mothering a teething child.  It is not something that I would wish on anyone else in this world.  Witnessing your child's pain, the lack of sleep for both of you, the frustration of not being able to make it better for him.  Awful.  Teething is hell.

Now that he has two teeth he enjoys attempting to tear the flesh from my fingers occasionally.

Our family took a trip to the East coast when he was four months old to attend a dear friend's wedding.  Honey Badger did wonderfully on our flights there and back.  I had so much anxiety over flying with him.  It was not easy, that is for sure.   He wore a tuxedo to the wedding and made friends with just about everyone.    Breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and babywearing made the entire trip much more bearable.

Oh, the noises this little beast makes!  He is developing quite the "vocabulary" of sounds.  Most of these are akin to the sounds made by the Velociraptors in the movie, Jurassic Park.  It can be a bit overwhelming to the ears when he sounds off while being carried.  While playing he will repeatedly screech at the loudest volume he can muster.  I have never loved such obnoxious noises this much, nor expected that a human being could actually make them.  He especially loves to sound off during Papa Bear's sleeping time...

Sitting!  On his own!  Sure, I have to sit him up, but he holds that position like a champ.  Manipulating everything he can reach with his hands and mouth.  I love watching him learn to use his body.  I especially love that this new position allows him to be the little scientist he was born to be and investigate his surroundings more thoroughly than before.  He wants to see what is going on.  He wants to check out everything that is in my hands.  "What is that?"  "Is it food?"  "Is it a friend?"  "Oh this is fun!"

Crawling!  Okay, so we are only scooting around (mostly backward and in circles), but he is no longer confined to the place that I set him.  With quite a bit of effort, he can get elsewhere.  Perhaps not the elsewhere that he was intending to reach, but elsewhere none the less.

Babywearing is still a big part of our lives, though he enjoys floor time and jumper time now.  My skill with my favorite carriers is growing.  I normally use Podeagis at home and a ring sling while out and about for quicker ups and downs.  I have purchased my first "real" wrap, an Ellaroo Kristen and hope that I will eventually be proficient with that as well.  I *heart* babywearing!!

Our first pool adventure was a smashing success and I'm sure that I will be spending far more time in the pool this year than I did last year.

Excited to see how we develop in these next 6 months!