Till now, most of what I’ve shared about Levi has been our wrestle with colic. And sure, these have been among the hardest months of my life, however it doesn’t inform the entire story concerning the previous 10 months with Levi.
For the reason that four-month mark, I can’t consider how a lot he has modified. Nobody can. He was all the time great; he simply had a tough time adjusting to being alive (value noting that I can relate?). Typically I joke that he was in my stomach, cozy and content material and blissfully unaware, and when he got here out in September 2020, he took a go searching on the mess of the world and mentioned, no f*ing thanks. Who might blame him?
However now. Now he has grown into the sweetest, smiliest child boy. And expensive god almighty he’s cute. I really feel like I’m melting after I have a look at him.
Persona
I do know it’s so much when mother and father assign these large traits to their child, however I’ll simply go forward and comply with go well with: Levi has essentially the most optimistic, lovely vitality about him. He appears to be like at you and it’s like he’s trying previous your eyes and into your soul, assessing it, understanding you, providing you with the peace of being each seen and accepted. You didn’t even know a child might do this for you, however he does.
Typically we describe him as, “simply blissful to be right here.” Levi is our jolly little man. He loves making eye contact and giving this enormous one-dimple, cheeks-puffed-out smile that’s unattainable to not return. He’s playful, virtually like an over-excited pet who needs to play however doesn’t precisely understand how. He stands up in his crib ready for us within the morning and as quickly because the door opens he dives again down and crawls to the nook whereas guffawing, like he’s beginning the day with some disguise and search.
Despite the fact that he likes to smile, he’s a tricky snort. Daniel and I are continuously doing new bits, attempting to get him going, however principally he simply offers us this lovable, well mannered smile and coos at us, primarily saying, oh you guys are valuable. However every now and then, you actually hit on one thing and this boisterous cackling comes roaring out. It’s so satisfying. So so satisfying.
There was a time period when he couldn’t be held by anybody aside from Daniel and me. A child born in a pandemic…it is sensible. Now he’s way more OK with it.
Motion
James did the military crawl and Levi does the bear crawl. It doesn’t look simple, however it works for him. He motors by the home on all fours and his knees by no means contact the bottom. He loves wrestling with Daniel and James. However his favourite factor on the planet is when DeeDee visits and he chases her round the home on the ground, lastly having a playmate on his stage. He’s an adventurous climber. Final week he climbed up onto the sofa utilizing a pillow that was on the ground and he tumbled over the armrest onto the ground. Fortunately, he escaped with only a bruise, however we’re all the time on excessive alert.
Consuming
Once we first launched solids round six months, he needed nothing to do with them. He acted repulsed by something we put in his mouth aside from a bottle. However inside a number of weeks, he began to essentially get pleasure from meals, a lot in order that he now tries to refuse his bottle altogether. He nonetheless wants the components to get all his vitamins so this created an issue. We’ve to combine his components into oatmeal or purees now to verify he’s getting sufficient.
At this level, I can’t consider a meals we’ve given him that he doesn’t like. He adores avocado and eats half of 1 virtually every single day for lunch. He additionally actually likes broccoli, candy potatoes, scrambled eggs, shredded hen, and something James leaves behind.
Likes
Merely put: James. He adores James. The look in Levi’s eyes when he sees his large brother…it’s like a lightweight activates inside him. It was clear early on that he adored James and now that he’s crawling in all places, he can form of “play” together with his brother—one thing James loves, too. James has warmed as much as Levi after being fairly impartial towards him for the primary six-ish months. However he has additionally turn out to be extra aggressive, particularly round toys. So he yells, “Levi, it’s not secure” and shoves him to the bottom. We’re engaged on attempting to sense when James isn’t within the temper for interplay however we additionally don’t need to be continuously interfering of their relationship as they struggle to determine work together with each other.
Dislikes
The vacuum. And that’s a toughie as a result of we’ve by no means wanted to make use of a vacuum greater than we do now, with two wild animals roaming the home. Perhaps we should always get a Roomba and put it in a pug costume.
I really like you, my valuable Levi! You make my entire life.