Missing Noah

Well, it has been 5 days since Noah left with Nano to see his family in Chile. The night before last I was beside myself with grief. I felt like I did at the hospital when he was just born and they had taken him away and wouldn't let me go see him. I want to be with my baby! They aren't scheduled to be back until January 4th, which truly seems like an eternity from now. Nano is exhausted too, given that he is 100% caregiver, 100% of the time. He even looked into returning early, and it would cost $3200 -- which is way more than anyone in their right mind would pay for anything (How do these airlines get away with that???!!), except maybe a new car.

Yesterday we got to connect with Facetime. We had tried the couple of days prior, but it just seemed too awkward. But, I took the phone with me and showed him things around the house, and then set up his race track and played with the cars with him, all remotely. We had lots of fun. It made me feel just a little better. At the beginning of the conversation, I said to him, "Noah, I miss you so much, what can I do?"

He said, "maybe we can talk every day."
I said, "Okay, that's a good idea. How do you feel in Chile?"
"I feel good in Chile. But I still love you."

By the end of the conversation, he didn't want to hang up with me. We really got to feel close again, even from miles away. But, the distance is creeping up on me again! I really, really miss that guy. The house is so quiet. I miss his witty responses, his endless energy, his sweet body next to mine as he tries to fall asleep.

Simon: Tiny steps, new words!

Simon has officially taken his first step! Okay, well it was really just a tiny "shuffle," but I think it counts! On Noah's birthday, he started standing up from the floor by himself, and while standing there, shuffled his foot to keep his balance! :) He has since stood for about 20 seconds, and shuffled once more. I actually got it on video, so I'll have to come update this post soon! Noah is proud of his brother, and was laughing and encouraging as he was doing it. I thought he might be walking within a couple of weeks, but he doesn't really show much interest in practicing, knowing he's much quicker on his hands and knee/foot (crabcrawl). We'll see when he actually starts walking! My prediction is still for 15 months (he'll be 15 months in a few days).

He also has a few new words! After "uh-oh," which showed up at 12 months, he started saying, "no, no, no," when doing something he is not supposed to. His favorite forbidden activity is to pick up Monty's dry cat food, put it in his mouth, and say, "no, no, no, no, no, no, no." I hear a little ding sound of the food/hand in the bowl, and then the nos, and know exactly what he's doing! He has also started saying the word, "ball," which of course sounds like "bah." He picked it up from one of his books, where I repeated the word to him, and he repeated after me, and has applied it to other circumstances, like this morning, when I had him in the car and there was a ball next to him that he wanted.

Simon has been very receptive to language. I don't know if it is because I am more aware of how babies learn, or if he is just focusing more on that than other skills right now. We also spend a lot of time reading while he uses the toilet (that's what keeps him on there; otherwise, he would want to jump right down). He tries to say bird, which sounds like "bwah," every time we look at the page with a bird on it.

Overall, he's much more engaged with the world now. He has lots of belly laughs, makes little jokes, and loves playing. He also has some serious separation anxiety, but seems to deal with it okay. He is now starting to push Noah away when I have him on my lap, so now they both need to learn to share mommy!!