I could see this working out

I am truly, madly, deeply in love with Jett right now. He is just great. I was thinking on the way home from work today that maybe we had to go through that first miserable period to fully appreciate just how perfect things are at 1+. He's just so easy right now! And not to be a pessimist but...well, it just doesn't feel like we should have it this good. The kid sleeps without coaxing, eats extremely well, and now, somehow, we're even off bottles. I don't get it. I feel like this may be a calm before a storm...or, Jett just hated being an infant and everything else will be a cakewalk :)

But yeah. I just adore him. I tiptoe into his room every night right before Kenny and I turn in for the evening, just to peek on him and make sure he's still breathing (Kenny thinks I'm insane for doing this, but I can't fall asleep without this last, albeit paranoid, check). And I want to cry almost every night. I just look at his sweet, round face and his pouty little lips and his comically-contorted body position and I want to crawl in with him and cuddle all night. I've said it before: I feel like I might have come late to this "mother-loves-baby" party. But I'm here and it absolutely floors me at moments. I realize my life is so much greater for having Jett in it, and I completely understand this unconditional love thing. Granted, I have yet to worry myself sick after he's broken curfew and stayed out too late or gotten himself arrested for underage drinking with hooligan friends...but for now, he's just a sweet, sweet baby and the apple of my eye.

In general, I'm feeling better, mentally and emotionally. I'd actually started seeing a therapist, which I should have started doing 13 months ago. As I look back, I totally had post-partum. Which was not awesome. And for me, I'm STILL trying to reconcile the guilt of all that. But anyway - doing so much better now and feeling rather normal! I still can't handle stress like I used to - I get overwhelmed extremely easily and frustration levels are through the roof almost instantly, but it's better than it was, with continued progress. Now that Jett's a model baby, the stress of motherhood has eased 10-fold. But then I just find something else I can immerse myself in and stress about, like work...sigh!

Routine helps. Routine is great. Kenny and I are going to try to take advantage of the upcoming fall weather and get outside for some physical activity. I am back to running and Kenny's back on his bike, and Jett can come with both of us by way of jogging stroller and bike caddy (when we get one...) Jett loves to be outdoors (what kid doesn't?!) and we do our cool-down period by walking Cash the dog around the cul-de-sac. Jett's so close to being able to actually participate in a walk without intervention. Right now, he's far too distracted and would be content playing in the driveway for an hour and not actually going anywhere. We do this too - collecting acorns and leaves and sticks from the driveway in our bucket, and then dumping them out. Over and over. I'm still fascinated that he gets the concept of collection. And that he really does understand what we're saying, pretty fully.

He's been clapping more. Where other kids have been clapping for several months now, he's just found this skill and enjoys clapping for his achievements. Kenny and I will get a random round of applause when he deems our efforts significant...which is adorable. Most recently, he claps for himself when he turns on or off a light switch. Or when he's asked to throw something away and successfully and giddily completes. He's just too friggin cute.

He talks a lot, but no legit words. That's fine by me because he's rather good at conveying his desires through other means. I felt bad that we got lazy and neglected to follow through on the baby sign language efforts, but it might not be detrimental after all. Between his mini temper tantrums ("I don't like this") and pointing ("I want that") and clapping ("I like that"), it's a pretty effective communication setup we've got.

Jett's also started feeding himself. He gets steel cut oats with strawberries and cinnamon most mornings, and I have to spoon-feed it to him. This is pretty much his only meal that requires a spoon anymore. And he's become extremely interested in scooping out his own spoonful of oatmeal, and directing it back to his mouth. It's a terribly messy ordeal, and molasses slow at times, but we're working on it. And he likes to drink from a cup, but I foresee sippy cups for a long while into the future until he can get a good deal of control on the cup tilting action.

Still the same: Jett is still not a big fan of bathtime, as it restricts his ability to wander. He seems excited enough watching the bath fill up from the faucet, and enjoys bathing for about 3-5 minutes playing with his toys. Then he remembers that there are hallways to run and stuff to pull off nightstands and instantly has no further patience for getting clean. He's still highly inconvenienced by diaper changes and loathes the changing table and laying still on his back for longer than 6 seconds. He's still in a rear-facing position in the carseat, for now. He braces his feet on the back of the seat and rocks his chair back, trying to push off. I'm already looking forward to riding with him front-facing with a portable DVD player keeping him entertained and quiet so we can be in the car for longer than 20 minutes without him screaming at us to let him free. Really, he just doesn't like any activity that requires him to stay put in one spot. But we knew this was coming, with a Kenny Jr on our hands...

So Jett's great. Kenny and I are well-rested and even get to indulge in things like reading, and housekeeping...We're quite a functioning and contented 3-man team.