"I am I"

But you...You ARE YOU! And, now isn't that pleasant!...So we'll go to the top of the toppest blue space....Come on! Open your mouth and sound off at the sky! Shout loud at the top of your voice, "IAM I! ME! I am I! And I may not know why, But I know that I like it. Three cheers! I am I!

--- Dr. Suess, Happy Birthday to You!

K, who is almost seven months now, is entering one of our favorite stages. Our meek and mild infant is coming into his own unique personality with desires and preferences, interests and tastes, and even a sense of humor.  This is the stage where the complexity and intricacy of a little life starts to really shine, and Mark and I are eating it up with typical head-over-heels proud parent baby love.

We've never met a baby who smiles and laughs as quickly as K. does, and nothing makes him smile wider than the face of someone he loves taking notice of him and smiling back. He's also the most ticklish of our three babies. You can get a laugh out of him with the tiniest...little... tickle.

K's also a big time snuggler.  When he gets close enough to a face, he'll shoot you that magical smile, and slowly, deliberately reach up to your face with both hands and just hold it, one hand on each cheek, and if he can manage it, his mouth on your chin, mouth or nose. Slobber kisses are his specialty. Saturday morning I opened my eyes to K staring intently at my face, just waiting for me to take notice, and when I did, I was rewarded with the biggest baby boy grin.  Then he wriggled his little self over to Dad's side of the bed and patted his back until Dad rolled over to look at him.  When Mark propped himself up on his elbows to look down at K., K quickly scooted himself next to his Daddy's warm body, tucking under his arm and resting his head on top of him.  Meanwhile, Mom's heart was melting.

And nothing induces a shriek from that little boy faster than when his peeps leave his line of vision.  He fussed for the first time yesterday when E and I went out for a couple of errands.  Sweet, but also a bad sign of things to come...

I think one of the things I admire most about my boy is his sheer determination to get things done.  He never stops moving, even if the effort doesn't get him far distance-wise.  I watched him wiggle all over the play room floor last night to reach a much-wanted toy. When he got close enough, out shot both his arms in synchronized perfection like the claws game you see at rest areas along the NY Thruway. For fifty cents you can maneuver a wobbly mechanical arm into a great glass vat of junk toys.  That was K.  Wobbly arms synching up to get that inflatable chicken doll he just had to have.  And he did it!  Two mornings ago he used those same arms to clutch an enormous bowl of cereal and upend it on Mark's lap and all over the kitchen floor. Quite proud of himself he was for that one.

We keep saying that he's going to have a profession where he uses his hands all the time.  He'll be Dad's sidekick in the wood shop.  He's so tactile. Blankets, skin, water, toys, anything.  You'll often find him opening and closing his hands over an object because he likes its texture.

And we're now at the stage where little brother wants to do what big sisters are up to.  He likes swinging with them, even though to get him in the kiddie swing, we have to shove six blankets around him.  Little guy's still too small for it.  He'll sit for whole books, little hands scratching the shiny pages while we read. Yesterday, he watched his first show with his sisters.  I needed to make dinner and they all needed some distraction. Daddy walked in to three little people lined up in front of the TV and started laughing. K wants to eat with us now, too.  And if you don't get it to him fast enough he'll let you know with one of his new shrieks. So far, cereal, sweet potatoes, avocados, and carrots are in. Peas, out--last time we tried, I wore more than he ate.

As I write this, K is looking much like the sweet small infant that we've known him as.  He's sound asleep on the quilt Grandma made him, taking his morning nap among his toys.  The only indication that he might be anything other is the death grip he has on the plastic tubing of the breast pump. He must have nodded off mid-gnaw. The tubing is one of his particular obsessions, lately--he loves the rubbery feel between his gums, which I am sure will sprout teeth any day now.

 Sigh. My littlest Little grows by the minute...