Too fast...

I think mothers everywhere agree that baby-hood is not here to stay.

At 5 months of age, my baby* grew two teeth, coos, laughs out loud at my jokes, greats everyone he meets with a smile and a giggle, roll into his stomach and back again, and sits up. I am not sure which one I should be more impressed with.

The teeth kind of scares me when I am breastfeeding him. He doesn't bite that often, but does it enough for me to pay attention to those pauses he does when he's eating. Then again, he might just be sharpening his teeth on the only thing available to him. My nipples. Don't get me wrong. We're proud of his sharp teeth. So proud we show it to everyone who look slightly interested in our baby. At one time or another, we have delivered a version of the following:

"This is our last baby. Look at those teeth! He's growing so big!"

He's got the cutest laugh I have heard. Then again, my 7-yr-old son, the Pianist/stuntman, is hard to beat in that department. I regret now that I was not so deligent in recording his baby laughs. I could have posted it and we could vote which one has the cutest laugh. Of course we won't tell them who won. Childhood is hard enough without your parents going batty and comparing you!

But then again, being the last baby, we noticed everything about him. The first time I saw him sitting up, I squealed in delight. I startled him so bad, he fell right on his face. My excitement had caused him to howl his head off. I forgot to only gasp in silence and praise him only when he's got a firm grip of his stance.

All my kids seem to want to walk early. You'll see them toddling around by age 8-9 months. No hands, as they say. I don't exactly remember their age when they sat up. My memories aren't that sharp. If I could go back in time, I'd record all their accomplisments in a notebook so I can flip back and regale my kids of what they did at what age. I noticed that my older kids cannot get enough of hearing about their stories of when they were babies. They'll say "...and then what Mommy..." with that happy expectant look on their faces.

This baby is still exclusively breastfeed. I would like to be able to do this longer, but I can see the writing on the wall. He's getting so attracted to food, he'll grab plates and glasses from any unsuspecting diner. So far, he'd managed to swiped down three plates, and two glasses of water to the floor. I am starting to feel just a little guilty about not introducing him to solid food. It doesn't help that I don't have much confidence that these boobs of mine would keep producing enough milk.

How time flies. I can see how hard this baby tries to make himself move. He practices every chance he gets.

*otherwise known as "The Emperor"