Heh.

Oh, what fun lies ahead!!

I have a series of pictures of Mr W (15 mos now ) at 4.5 months, sitting up, propped on his arms, cackling at TV, alternating through the various emotions, with the last picture of him looking at DW with a very serious expression. In one picture, you can see DW's shoes and you realize unly then that he is a SMALL baby. At 8 mos he watched the entired Wizard of Oz. He love to dance when DWTS is on.

Its a very hard thing to keep him occupied. He only started sleeping through the night at 12 mos, but still, on occasion, will stay up until 10 and then awake at 5. We had to work very hard to let him cry it out. DW and I made it by alternating nights with him.

At 3 mos we got him a "command center" that he could sit in, move back and forth in, and do stuff with. It has about 10 gizmos. At 5 mos he got a kiddie piano. At 4 mos he had shape sorters and the peg puzzles and the Dr Suess board books. We also got him some stuff that had arms and he could spin the wheels on. We took him for walks every morning and evening ( still do the evening ones ) in a baby bjorn. The sitter took him to the mall and on walks. I would also put him in a boppy seat on the counter while I cooked.

He loves music and could recognize artists and works from as early as we can recall. When he was 3 mos old he sang to the pianist in Nordstrom's one day for 30 minutes. At 6 mos he was enraptured by a player piano. Nowadays in the car he is in control of the radio and demands we change channels or que up his songs on the ipod.

We could never leave him alone for a second if he was not in his command center or watching tv. The level of interaction he requires to this day is simply draining for everyone. You just don't get used to it - you just rise to the occasion!!!

Things are easier now - he will unload the dishwasher, take out the trash, throw his diapers away, and follow instructions or get stuff when we are at the store or at the drs office - but also harder as he opens doors, can use the phone, the channel changer, and not always correctly. He knows how to turn things on and off!! ( He will turn off my laptop if he wants my attention and I am working and he evades DW!!)

Mr W prefers to play with 3 year olds or older and their toys and with adults. He does some astonishing things sometimes. He also understands far more than he lets on.

So, yes, its going to be very, very hard sometimes.