Strange encounters of the baby kind

Jace is pretty funny.... We have caught him mimicking us a few times already. I sometimes growl at him, mimicking the way he opens his mouth all the time, and he will mimic my  mouth movements and occasionally make a growling sounds. The other day, I had the hiccups after lunch. They were really loud, so of course Jace could hear them as I was walking around the house. He started making hiccuping sounds, loud gasps, even though he didn't have the hiccups. It was pretty funny!
   Last night, I did something I KNEW I shouldn't have. Every time you talk to a parent, they talk about that one time where either they or their spouse got spit up on their face, or better, in their mouth because they were holding the baby above their head. I have heard these stories SO many times lately, I am convinced that parents should have learned by now that you just don't hold your baby above your head. Of course, lately, I've begun holding Jace above my head. He likes it, it makes him smile and I'm sure he'll start giggling over it too.... Well, last night I got my spit up story. Jace is a big time drooler. One of his new nicknames is the drool monster. Every time I hold him over my head, he will have a drool droplet hanging out of his mouth. If I act fast enough, I can wipe it off or put him down before it lands on me. Last night, I didn't.... I saw the drool coming for me, one long string headed straight for my face and I moved him out of the way just as it hit my face. I had a drool mustache extending from one ear to the other; MMMmmmMM! And no, of course I haven't learned my lesson.

He even obliged us with a drool photo for the family photo shoot!

   Jace has also begun giggling. It's hard to tell when he'll giggle, or what triggers it so that we can get him to giggle. I tried tickling him this morning and he started crying really hard.... Oops!   But there is one thing that we can pretty consistantly count on getting a giggle for. He laughs every time I take his clothes off in the morning. I have no idea why this is hilarious, especially since I stop whatever I'm doing in excitement about his giggling and then he stops giggling but it's super cute! Apparently nakedness is hilarious.
  It's gotten cold here lately, so I've had to start bundling him up. This is a little sooner than I expected, so he hasn't quite grown into his winter suit yet. It's really cute to see him in this oversize suit, and watch the confusion on his face when he can't properly suck on his fists...

New Developments!

I think one of the best things about having a baby is watching how quickly they learn and grow. It's so exciting to see each development come. Yesterday, he discovered my keys. The jingling noise they made was fascinating, and he couldn't take his eyes off of them. (By which I discovered he can now track things in a circle.) So I got out the baby toys. He likes the rattles, he enjoys watching them as they make noise. His bouncer has a bar over it that toys hang off of, and when we put this on now, he stares at the yellow elephant rattle. He loves it!
He's also discovered his fists. He stares at his fingers and fists. Kinda funny, because it makes him go cross-eyed.

Jace is the biggest drooler I've ever seen. Supposedly he's not supposed to start that for another month, but he drools so much, sometimes I call him the rabid baby...

Rabid baby is not impressed

We've also heard his first laugh! It was so cute and exciting to hear. It's so fun to see his joy because it's so pure, his whole body wriggles with joy when he grins at us. I love to see it!

See the blurriness in his hands? He is wriggling with excitement

Who knew you had to brush a baby's hair? I brush his hair to clean the scalp, but he got his first rat's nest today! I think I'm gonna have to cut it off, because I can't brush it out and I don't want to pull his hair...

A couple of things I've learned from Jace:
1 a meal is not fully enjoyed unless it's all over your face when you're done.
2 Some things are  best enjoyed through your mouth. (he's still figuring out which ones)
3 It doesn't do good to sit in one spot for too long...

The sideways plugger-sucker

Jace has been making so many developments lately! Topping the list of accomplishments are his new sleeping abilities. He can now fall asleep on his own at night when we put  him in the crib. He's done it for 5 days in a row now. He sleeps for one six hour stretch at night followed by at least another two hours. He is falling into a napping routine where we take a nap every morning around 10:30, then again around 1:30, then another one in the late afternoon. Such an improvement! He is so much happier now, especially first thing in the morning, he is all smiles.
 







Which brings us to another accomplishment of his-SMILING! He is so cute and he is just full of them for mommy and daddy in the morning. Sometimes he gets distracted from eating because he's trying to smile while sucking... doesn't work so well!

He's also getting pretty good at soothing himself with sucking. He can find his fist and suck on it when he wants it, which is really cute. He sucks on his thumb sometimes too. He's also better at keeping the plugger in his mouth on his own, except he always sucks on it sideways!

One of his latest favorite hobbies is sticking out his tongue. It's hardly ever in his mouth anymore! Between smiling and sticking out his tongue, his mouth is hardly ever closed... but the cooing sounds he makes are so cute! It's less cooing and more like he's talking! I have heard him say the words hi, yeah and daddy... but he's so young, we can't count it as talking yet.

 He's pretty good at standing too...with a little help!