Eaten Alive

This morning I sort of experienced what it would be like to be eaten alive.

S woke up early today. He was crying with his fingers in his mouth, so I immediately knew his teeth were bothering him and it would be a long day. After going through the morning routine (bottle, diaper change, play, breakfast, play some more) I could tell he was ready for his morning nap. Fingers were in the mouth. (When S gets tired, he sucks on his first two fingers on his left hand.) So, I took him to his room, turned on the music, laid him down and quitely left the room.

I turned on the video monitor to make sure he fell asleep. He was babbling quitely, so I was hopeful sleep would come soon. As I was going about my other motherly chores for the morning, I heard some weird sounds coming from the monitor. I looked and saw - he had pulled the camera off the crib and was playing with it.

Now, one of the funniest things in the world to me is to watch your child when he doesn't know you are watching. It is especially hilarious to see what he does when he spies the monitor camera but can't reach it. Seeing that little black and white image of your baby reaching up and filling the entire monitor screen with his head and big bright eyes just makes me giggle. This was the first time, however, that he had actually successfully pulled the monitor camera into his crib.

From the perspective of the camera, I was tousled around seeing random images from his room on the screen. The fan, the bumper, the basket of toys near the crib. And then it happened. I saw his drooly mouth and sweet pouty lips open wide and stick the camera into his mouth. I laughed, thinking, "This must be what his toys feel like!"

I knew I needed to go up and get the camera before too much damage was done, but I was mesmerized. How had my little baby grown so much, so fast? How was he big enough to reach the crib railing and get that monitor? Every mother knows this feeling. I also thought of how proud I was of him and his growth and development over the last year. How he's gone from just laying there as an infant, to rolling over, to sitting, to crawling and is now pulling himself up by himself. What a big boy!

Watching him on that monitor, I sort of experienced what it would be like to be eaten alive. But I didn't mind it, one bit!