Okay, so the reality is that I love just about everything about my sweet little boy. However, I thought I'd share some of my favourite things about him (in no particular order) with those of you who don't get to enjoy him every single day.
1. He tries so hard to mimic all of the faces that I make. And he gets even more excited when I copy the faces that he is making.
2. He is a problem solver. After about a week of me constantly laying him down when he fell asleep in an attempt to encourage him to nap on his own, he began gripping my shirt with both hands when he starts to fall to sleep. This ensures that he wakes up when I try to put him down, thus allowing him to protest the action immediately. In addition, he has the habit of opening one eye the slightest bit every few minutes when he begins to go to sleep. If he sees me, he smiles and closes his eye again. If he does not see me, he cries. It's very amusing.
3. He only wakes up one time a night, a pattern that he has had since the first day that he was born.
4. When he wakes up in the middle of the night and in the morning, he doesn't cry. Instead, he grunts and makes little noises until I get up. When I finally lift my head and look at him, he gives me a big grin. I think he knows that when he smiles he's so cute that I can't resist giving in to him.
5. At night, Caleb's pacifier acts as a snooze button. When he starts stirring in the middle of the night or in the morning, he will go back to sleep for about 15-20 minutes if I stick the pacifier in his mouth (which is easy to do since he sleeps in the bed right next to me). He is happy to continue this pattern for up to an hour if I am not yet ready to open my eyes and will not protest at all about me "hitting the snooze button." He will only begin to get slightly upset after about an hour if I still haven't decided to wake up and feed him (before any of you gets yourself all worked up, however, I don't ever let it go that long...at least not knowingly!).
6. He is social and loves making new friends. When he first is held by a stranger, Caleb inevitably frowns at the new face for the first 10 minutes or so and does everything he can to keep his eyes on me, as if he's trying to pretend that the new person isn't there. After that, however, he tends to warm up and share his smiles with other people around.
7. He is not afraid to try new things. As already evidenced, Caleb has begun rolling at a very early age. Though he's still working on perfecting this trick, he has also decided that he's ready to move on and is working on scooching himself forward. This is something I have not yet even begun working with him on! However, he's got the leg action for crawling down. Because he hasn't figured out how to coordinate that with his arms, he ends up just scooching himself forward with his head and arms being pushed along the floor. He doesn't get far but has managed to scooch a few inches! It's very impressive!
8. No matter what kind of mood he's in, he always lights up immediately and begins smiling and laughing as soon as I turn the mobile on in his crib. He LOVES watching that thing.
9. He has random little sneezes every day...just like me. (Though to be honest, I think his "little" sneezes are actually larger and bigger than mine.)
10. He does not show much interest in toys, but he has begun playing games with me and teasing me. The game consists of him sucking on his pacifier for a few seconds and then looking at me, opening his mouth, and purposefully dropping the pacifier out of his mouth. He then smiles really big and laughs while I make a big "to do" about the fact that he dropped his pacifier again. Caleb then moves his head around and breaths harder (his indication that he wants the pacifier back) and begins the pattern of behaviour again. He repeats this over and over, smiling and laughing every time as soon as he opens his mouth to let it fall out.