"I'm a Big Boy Now"

I've been amazed at how much Holden is suddenly showing an interest in doing things. Someone must have told him that it was okay to coast (okay, he really wasn't coasting. He was spending lots of time in the hospital and trying to get strong) until he turned one years old. So suddenly, he wants to crawl, roll, sit up, etc. It was not that he was not doing any of these things before, it was just not daily. He would do them when he had the energy. But even then, he did not seem to want to. Now, all of the sudden, he "wants" to do everything and has more energy. Holden is amazed by Grandpa. In this photo, he is trying to get Grandpa's glasses!

Holden is now rolling all around to get where he wants to go. And although he is not full out crawling, he is pulling himself up and kind of doing the commando crawl. I've noticed that he does more when I leave the room. So now I peek around the corner. That's how I got this photo.

Holden has also been taking more bottles ever since his Cath last month. Starting this week, we'll be focusing more on bottles and solids and trying to cut down the amount of hours each day that he is fed by the feeding pump.

Several of you have asked why Holden seems to always have a pacifier and stuffed animal in his face. It is called a Wubba Nub (or as we call it, the Wubby) and is actually a stuffed animal attached to the pacifier. What a great invention!! It was a great tool for keeping Holden interested in having something in his mouth, all these months that he was being fed exclusively by the feeding pump. It also taught him to hold things and kept Mommy from having to get up every hour when the pacifier would fall out of his mouth. With the Wubby, he can easily find it on his own. I suspect there will come a day when we won't think the Wubby was such a good idea, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Just to show you that the Wubby is not really permanently attached to his face, I've attached a photo below with Holden flashing Mommy one of his charming "melt my heart" smiles.