Independent Man

Hayden is growing so independent, and it is super exciting to watch. There are so many times I look at him or hold him or see him smiling his goofy new smile at me or get a kiss or hug from him (yes, he really does have his own way to kiss us), and I just wish I could freeze the moment so I can remember it. I don't want to freeze him in the moment, because it is my job as a parent to allow him to grow up and gain his independence. But, I do wish there was some way to freeze the moment so I'll be able to remember it.

During the first several months of parenthood, you are exhausted nearly the entire time. During those first several weeks, it just seems like a neverending cycle of sleep, eat, change diaper, then repeat. And when I say sleep, I don't mean that you as a parent are getting to sleep. You are just getting to watch your little one sleep all the time. They are so dependent on you, and I think it's so neat how God designed this whole stage in life and the slow progression towards independence. I know many parents get weepy about it (independence, that is), but for me, it is so exciting and fulfilling. Not to mention the fact that more independence on his part means more time for me to do some things around the house that need to be done. Hehehe....

These are just a few of the independent things he is doing now - drinking out of a sippy cup, feeding himself a bottle, rolling anywhere and everywhere he wants to go, doing a sort of army crawl across the floor (I'll have to video it so you can see what I mean), finding all of the door stoppers in the house and making them go boing over and over, taking the caps off the door stoppers (I have since removed them all after I found out he could remove them), unscrewing the door stoppers from the wall (he's a smart cookie and very strong), opening drawers in the kitchen, shimmying himself out of his carseat when he's not buckled in (that's when I realized it's time to get a new one), and finally sitting up! And, that's only to name a few! You can tell I have my hands full...and he's not even fully crawling yet.

Hayden kind of decided to be a late bloomer with the whole sitting up thing. He was getting around the house everywhere and had even moved up to the "crawler" room in Sunday School because of how fast he can roll and scoot around, but he would just not sit up. We had been trying to sit him up for a while, but he would always fall over within about 30 seconds of sitting him up. But, all of a sudden in the past week or two, he has decided to sit up finally.


You better not make fun of his sweet, chubby self...there are times when you can't even see the diaper! :o)


I had to include one that he wouldn't be embarrassed of later.

In the video, you'll be able to see his other favorite thing to do....put his feet in his mouth. In this video, he discovered he can do it sitting up. Such a neat trick! Sorry about how dark it is...I didn't turn on the lights in the living room before taking it.



And, on Saturday, I discovered his very first tooth! :o) I knew he had at least one coming in, but it finally began making its grand appearance on Saturday. I'll try to take a picture of it when it's up a little further.

I feel so lucky that God has gifted me with a child and has allowed me to experience seeing him slowly begin to gain his independence. I think that this week I might just leave him here at home by himself and go shopping. I'll be sure and leave a TV dinner in the freezer that he can heat up real quick. Or, since he finally has this tooth, I guess he could always call for pizza delivery with his play phone Mamaw got him. Hahaha....