Good Stuff

Today I got D. to laugh....finally. For the last month, he has almost laughed. He opens his mouth up as wide as it can go and then almost laughs but no sound comes out. Then he gets the hiccups, as though he's laughed.

Tonight though I discovered a ticklish area between his upper chest and armpit. I wiggled around there and his mouth popped wide open. I wiggled around there some more and not only did his mouth pop wide open, this sound came out "Huh huh huh" It was a gut laugh. It got me laughing because there truly is nothing quite like a baby's gut laugh (see YouTube). I'm on a high from seeing his smile and hearing his laugh.

The other thing D. does that endears him to me is when he's in my arms and I'm talking to him and kissing him, he smiles at me, opens his mouth wide and then ducks his head to snuggle against my chest. It's like he's overcome with feelings towards me that he just has to turn against me and snuggle. Aaaahhhh...endorphins.

The other great thing is that tomorrow I. doesn't have school but the college girl is still coming in the morning. Two mornings a week, I've started having a trustworthy college girl come over to man the house while D. is taking his morning nap. It allows me to get errands done or go to the gym or take care of appointments while he is asleep. I agonized awhile over this because I do not want to miss ANY of D.'s awake time. It's so limited right now and these early days will never come again so I don't want to miss any of it. But if he's asleep for 2.5-3 hours, he'll never miss me and I can get a heck of alot of things done plus it's good to get out of the house for something other than dropping off and picking I. up from school.

Anyways, tomorrow I. and I are getting out by ourselves like the good ole days. I told her a week ago to start thinking about what she would want us to do and she immediately said, "Chuck E. Cheese and you can go on that ride with me that you couldn't when we took D. and then we could go get some frozen yogurt afterwards." So that's what we are going to do. And I am really looking forward to getting a few hours for just the two of us. The neat thing is that she is excited too. Funny how the stuff that we took for granted not that long ago is such a treat for us now.