As He Grows

Soren has shown over the past few weeks a remarkable affinity for humor. Specifically, sarcasm. Yes, I am fully aware that he comes by it naturally. I recognize the gleam in his eye as something I myself have when I make some sort of humorous comment. I recognize the chuckle when he knows he did something funny, on purpose. I am aware that his antics are not accidental, but filled  with purpose. The purpose to make one laugh: with him, at him, in general, it matters not. So long as he can elicit laughter from his kin, he continues his efforts.

And boy does he make his kin laugh!

The one thing that while funny, is also annoying to me especially, is the refusal to say Mama. I dont know what it is with my boys but Ashe did the same damn thing. Ashe though, never said Mama. Soren can say it, and says it often enough when he is upset, or tired. When he is, he crawls to me whining "Mama, Mama!" Yet when he is happy or just playing around, anytime I work with him on language and say to him "Say Mama, Soren" he  looks at me with a gleaming eye, a tiny smirk just barely hidden and looking at me straight in the eye he shouts 'DADA!". Then he chuckles. He pulled a funny and he knows it.

Bugger.

Today as I was feeding him lunch he and Ashe exchanged snickers and gurgled laughter over nothing. Or maybe it was planned between them in some way I have no clue, myself being a "grown up" and unable to communicate the same way these two do. All I know is after the next spoonful of yogurt was placed to his lips he looked at me, smiled a very innocent looking smile, stuck out his tongue, and made a raspberry sound. Under normal circumstances I would have chuckled. This time though, I shrieked as I was splattered from hair to toes in baby spit and yogurt. Ashe burst out laughing, Soren chuckled, and that began 5 minutes of the two of them blowing raspberries at each other while laughing. I just walked away, cleaned myself up as best as I could, and waited it out.

What's hard for me is transitioning my thought process of him as an infant to that of an older baby (WHERE DID THE TIME GO???!?!?!!?!!!!) with his very own fast growing personality. My previous sweet super cuddly baby boy is changing before my eyes into a cruising, curious, independent, and FUNNY kid! I'm not sure I'm ready to make that thought transition to be honest. I recognize I'm not ready when one of the older boys is bugging him and where before he would whine or cry out then and there, now he crawls over to me  glaring in indignation and makes a squawking noise to let me know he is pissed and would I please do something about those meddlesome brothers of his before he must resort to hair pulling thankyouverymuch? And then he crawls away with a harrumph. I want to know where my cuddle boy went as I watch him racing with Xavier around the couch, or playing hide and seek (kind of) with Ashe. Or when I find him pulling himself up on the pantry shelves, trying to reach the Goldfish bag. How did this all happen so fast?

But his sense of humor. That, for me, is the biggest defining factor. Watching him as he purposely goes out of his way to make you laugh. It reminds me time and again that this infant is more than a baby, but an intelligent being stuck in a tiny rolypoly baby body, thinking out beyond the time of "now" to "What happens next if I..." and testing the waters. Knowing this child is using his mind, his memory, to elicit a response from others that he wants.

It's amazing to watch as he continues his progress and changes and grows. It's also a little sad. My baby is definitely growing up. And there is a part of me that wants to do what my mom used to threaten us with: freeze us just as we were at a certain age so she could keep enjoying that. When my mom used to say that, my brother and I thought she was serious and that she would put us in the freezer.And we were old enough to know if you went into the freezer you would, umm, die! Obviously I know better now (and know better than to actually say that to my kids so they dont freak out thinking mom has gone homicidal). And I can now sympathize with her. I want to do the same thing: freeze this time in Sorens life so I can enjoy more how he is before he grows too fast that this time is gone. Because in a turn of a moon, this time will be gone forever, and I cant get that back. But I promise to enjoy him now and as he grows. I'll enjoy his humor, his search for independence.


But I also promise to stand back 20 feet when he decides to blow raspberries with his mouth full of food again!