my world's aaaa changin'

boy, has my world been changing! you wouldn't think a little thing like walking could bring such change, soooo soon!! this little one has become a new little boy w/ the onset of walking. i'm sure it's his newfound independence, having mommy twisted around his little pinky and realizing there's a whole new world that's opened up to him. phew.... it's exhausting!

he can't run yet... thank gawd, but i can see it coming, and i'm hoping/praying that it's not for a good few months.

now, any time we go someplace, he no longer wants to sit in the stroller for very long, doesn't want to ride in the cart and hates to be held. he'll twist his body around, bend backwards and forwards, and from side to side until you let him down. once he's down, he's gone. when we go to Geant, somehow, someway, this little boy knows exactly how to get to the toy area. it's like there's a little radar beacon that pulls him to where the toy house is and once he gets there, it's like pulling his little baby teeth to get him out of it. he throws little fits when daddy gets him out, tightens his back and screams until we're practically out of the store!!

what happened to my sweet little angel???? he's disappeared and this little independent monster has taken his place.

everything is changing. he now refuses to let me feed him (which i know is a good thing), but the thing is... most days he doesn't get the food to his mouth and winds up not getting much to eat, unless i help, but he's soo stubborn and independent that he wont let me... (but that has been changing somewhat!!). he has started to refuse to sit in his highchair, insisting on either sitting on my lap to eat or to eat in one of the other chairs or i put his plate on the chair and he'll eat while he's on the go.... from room to room, that is.

he calls me at least a 100 times a day, and if i'm doing something and don't go to him immediately, he'll scream it over and over until i'm right in front of him - sometimes not even stopping when that happens. it wore me out for the first couple of weeks. i found myself losing patience, not knowing what to do and he could sense it. the more i got frustrated, the more he'd do it. it was rough at first.... very rough.

we've both calmed down now... well, at least for the last couple of days. today and yesterday were the best days by far. i've realized that losing patience and getting upset does nothing for me.... nor him for that matter. i have finally let go of this internal need of mine to get it all done by the end of the day. i've realized it's impossible, especially when you're caring for a small child. yeah, yeah... why did it take me so long to figure this one out?? because i'm a perfectionist... wanting to clean the house, do the laundry and watch naief... thinking/believing that other mothers do it, so i should be able to as well. but i can't. so, i've let go of having the house perfect. spending more time w/ naief is the most important thing, and it pays off. he isn't as moody, is much calmer - which, in turn, creates more calmness in the house, and it makes me happy too. now... i'm hoping that i can maintain this imperfect house w/out beating myself up about it....

he's changing in some really sweet ways as well.... he has started noticing bugs now. hates them! just like his daddy. he will call me to where ever he is and point to the ant on the floor - so i kill it - and the other evening we were outside while daddy was watering and he actually did his little body in a shiver motion when he saw this big black bug... it was sooo cute. he yelled for me and screamed a little when he thought he'd actually have to walk by it. he saw some kind of bug today when we were doing laundry and refused to move. i'm so hoping that it's a phase and he doesn't have a lifelong fear of bugs! but hey... i hate some of them and we all know his daddy is terrified of bugs!! ;) so, he probably will. we also bought him this little, red convertible roadster car (plastic) that can be controlled by hashim. he loves it. we went out walking yesterday evening and he rode around in that thing for about an hour 1/2 - not wanting to come out when it was time.

but anyhoo... can NOT believe this hot weather. we were out yesterday and the temp dodad inside the car said it was 49 outside... what is that.... like 120 F??? it was terrible. i hate this hot weather.

which way is up?

These are some pics of Naief in his first jellabeya, if that's how it's spelled. We also bought him a thobe and he wore it on the first day of Eid, and I must say, he looks adorable in it! :) If you want to catch his pic, go to Hashim's blog and it's there.

Can't hardly believe that Ramadan is over. It sure flew by... usually, in years past, it seemed to drag. I guess because I wasn't fasting.. or maybe because we have a baby now.

Naief is good, but has been changing a lot. He now puts his arm in the air as if he's going to wave, but hasn't figured out the waving bit yet. He'll look up at his arm, move his fingers and stare in amazement. He's also screaming now.... all places, all times. He screams from joy and screams a lot in anger. His favorite time to scream is at bed time. He enjoys those blood curdling screams that make him cough.... I'm hoping it's a phase and something all babies go thru, if not... I think we're in trouble. He's not much on routines... altho I'm sticking to my guns and keeping him on one, but most nights I have to make him go to sleep. Would you mothers say this is the way to go?

There are a few things that are worrisome to me and am hoping that you mommas out there can give me a few pointers. First, he absolutely hates to sit in his highchair and when I put him in it, he screams for a bit and then refuses to eat. Breakfast seems to be the easiest time, but forget lunch and dinner. Once he starts screaming at lunch, I can hardly get him to eat anything substantial and it worries me quite a bit. He'll settle down for a bit but once he's finished, he's finished and will scream 'maaaaaa' and insist on my taking him out of it.

He was acting like this in his car seat, but has settled down quite a bit, altho today we had the same problems. I'm letting him cry it out, both in his highchair and in the car seat, but is this normal?

He does the same thing in his stroller. It seems to be happening in any place where he's tied in. He seems to hate riding in his stroller and cries and cries until we take him out. I'm wondering if herein lies the issue. We're taking him out. If we don't, he won't stop screaming and crying, so I give in and take him out. So... he knows this and works it for all he can get.

The part about the highchair is that I don't think he's getting enough to eat. I read on the net that they'll eventually start eating, but when will this happen? When I stop putting him in the chair? I've tried feeding him in his walker, but I can't keep him still long enough to get anything in him and then he's going from place to place and is usually not interested in eating.

He's also still sleeping w/ us, which I love, but he keeps me awake almost all of the night. I'm dead tired most days, and I'm starting to think we should start trying to get him into his own bed. His crib won't fit out of the door of his room, so I'm thinking of a part-time solution for now, and then when he gets a little older, I'll move him into his crib.

The problem is that he moves a lot in the night. He's either rolling around, twitching, or kicking the covers off, and w/ all of this, it keeps me up. I'm a terribly light sleeper w/ the slightest thing waking me... so imagine how it is w/ a baby that doesn't sleep in one place!

So... when you mothers were feeding your baby solids, did you stick to just one item or feed a variety of food at each feeding time? I usually try to feed at least 3 different foods in the mornings, 2 or 3 things at lunch and then 2 at night. I have also started w/ snacks like pudding and such, but he's not too keen on it. He'll eat some and then snub the rest. He likes fruit, but I don't want to feed him only fruit. He's a bit stubborn when eating and insists on my feeding him quickly. He's been like this since he was newborn... it's almost as if he thinks he'll die if he doesn't get another mouthful of food as quickly as possible. And what happens is that he gets mad and then refuses to eat the rest because I didn't get it to him fast enough. This is when he starts his screaming stuff.... it first started during the first week of Ramadan at my in-laws.... as it was his first go at eating solids and he loved them... but now, because of all the fuss and such each night, he's now throwing fits and I'm at a total loss. Maybe now that Ramadan is finished and he's eating at our house again, he'll settle down... or at least I hope.

Eid Mubarak to all my Middle Eastern friends and happy day to all my other blogger friends out there. :)


I will add that he seems more like a little boy now than a baby. He likes to crawl away from us now while squealing, especially when we're acting like we're gonna get him... and it's too adorable. He's pulling up to a lot of things and baby talks like crazy. His hair is really thin and some are pressuring me to shave it - thinking that it'll grow back thicker, but I don't believe it'll do anything. My sister, Jahooni, had thin hair as a baby and now has the thickest hair I've ever seen, and we didn't shave her head. I've seen babies that are 10 mths old and they have no hair at all... I wonder what ppl think that means?!