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So far, most of what I’ve shared about Levi has been ours fight with colic. And yes, those were some of the hardest months of my life, but so be it it doesn’t tell the whole story about the last 10 months with Levi.
After four months, I can’t believe how much he’s changed. No one can. He was always wonderful; he just had a hard time adjusting to being alive (worth mentioning that I can connect?). I sometimes joke that he was in my belly, comfortable, content, and blissfully unconscious, and when he came out in September 2020, he looked around the clutter of the world and said, no fuck thanks. Who could blame him?
But now. Now he has grown into the sweetest, most smiling boy. And dear God Almighty is cute. I feel like I’m melting when I look at him.
Personality
I know there is a lot when parents attribute these great qualities to their child, but I will just go on and follow the example: Levi has the most positive and wonderful energy in him. He looks at you and as if looking past your eyes and into your soul, evaluates it, understands you, gives you peace to see and accept you. You didn’t even know a baby could do it for you, but he did.
We sometimes describe it as, “just glad to be here.” Levi is our merrymaker. He loves to make eye contact and gives that huge smile with one dimple and puffy cheeks that are impossible not to come back to. He’s playful, almost like an overly enthusiastic puppy who wants to play but doesn’t know exactly how. He gets up in his crib in the morning and waits for us, and as soon as the door opens, he sinks back down and crawls into the corner while giggling, as if to start the day with a hiding place.
Although he likes to smile, it’s a hard laugh. Daniel and I are constantly doing new things, trying to get him to work, but for the most part only this wonderful, polite one smiles at us and squints at us, basically saying, oh guys, you are precious. But occasionally you really run into something and that pumpkin bug comes up. That is so satisfying. So so satisfying.
There was a time when no one but me and Daniel could hold him. A baby born in a pandemic … makes sense. It’s a lot better with that now.
Moving
James crawled the army and Levi the bear. It doesn’t look easy, but he succeeds. He rides through the house on all fours and his knees never touch the ground. He loves fighting Daniel and James. But his favorite thing in the world is when he visits DeeDee and chases her around the house on the floor, he finally has a teammate on his level. He is an adventurous climber. Last week, he climbed onto the couch with a pillow that was on the floor and fell over the armrest to the floor. Luckily he only escaped with a bruise, but we are always on standby.
Eating
When we first introduced solids in about six months, he didn’t want to have anything to do with them. He seemed repulsed by everything we put in his mouth except the bottle. But within a few weeks he started to really enjoy the food, so much so that he is now trying to completely reject his bottle. It still needs a formula to get all of its nutrients, so this has caused a problem. Now we need to mix its formula into the oatmeal or puree to make sure it gets enough.
At this point, I can’t remember the food we gave him that he doesn’t like. She adores avocados and eats half of one almost every day for lunch. He also really likes broccoli, sweet potatoes, scrambled eggs, sliced chicken and everything James leaves behind.
I like
Simply put: James. She adores James. The look in Levi’s eyes when he sees his older brother… as if a light is on in him. It was clear from an early age that she adored James, and now that she’s crawling everywhere, she can somehow “play” with her brother – something James loves too. James warmed up to Levi after being fairly neutral to him for the first six months. But he also became more aggressive, especially around toys. So he yells, “Left, it’s not safe,” and pushes him to the ground. We’re working on trying to sense when James isn’t in the mood to interact, but we also don’t want to constantly interfere with their relationship as they try to figure out how to communicate with each other.
He doesn’t like it
Vacuum. And that’s hard because we’ve never had to use a vacuum cleaner more than we do now when two wild animals are walking around the house. Maybe we should get Roombo and dress her in a pug costume.
I love you, my precious Levi! You make my whole life.