Being a Mom

I had promised myself that once Cormac was born I wouldn't devote my entire blog to posts about him. I would, of course, update you on the little lad, but I was going to continue to write other things. If you've been reading this blog (which I have been horrible at updating lately, sorry) you probably know that I have not kept that promise. I pretty much only write about Cormac. But then, he is my life. I am a mother. And that's about all I do and have to write about.

I have some funny stories of our little man that I wanted to share. You know Cormac has been threatening to walk for a while now. Well, a week ago (on Tuesday the 7th) Cormac discovered that he no longer needed help from people or furniture to stand fully upright. Since then he has become an exclusive walker. He won't crawl anymore. It doesn't matter how short the distance. If he falls then he stands up and walks the extra couple of steps. And he is so proud of himself as a walker. He just beams as he moves from room to room with no other purpose than to walk.

Cormac has become very possessive of his father. It's okay for Mom to hold other babies and children (as long as she isn't giving them a bottle), but it is not okay for Dad. We were visiting with family about a week ago and Ammon was helping our little cousin, Hunter (who's just a few months younger than Cormac), stand. Hunter was holding on to Ammon's hand. Cormac went over to see what was going on. He started to touch Hunter's face, which he normally does when he meets a new kid. I was telling him to be soft when he suddenly grabbed Hunter's face in his hand and pushed him on the ground and then demanded that Ammon pick him up (it was a rather nice tackle, maybe he'll be a football player if we channel it right). Fortunately Hunter's mom has a sense of humor about it. It was kind of funny that he acted that way. But not so funny that he acted that way. You know. I felt (and still feel) horrible that my kid was such a bully.

Well, yesterday when Ammon came home from work Cormac lit up like he normally does. Ammon was holding him when I went over to get a kiss from our returning hero. Cormac gave me a dirty look and as soon as I moved back a little he grabbed my face and pushed me away. We laughed and then I decided to show him who was boss and gave Ammon another kiss. After which he pushed my face away. Cormac gets dibs on his daddy apparently. And maybe I'm not the boss after all. Either way, Cormac adores his father.

Cormac has learned to say uh-oh. In fact, he purposely throws things on the ground or knocks things over just so he can say uh-oh. He has also learned to say hi. Which he intonates like a valley girl for some strange reason. It's hilarious. He has been using our old cell phone to practice. Actually, he won't talk into the phone, but he says "hi, hi, hi" as he puts the phone up to my ear. He'll keep repeating "hi" with the "i" drawn out nice and long until I finally say hi into the phone. Little nut.

We sometimes struggle with getting Cormac to eat. He likes to feed himself and he likes to throw food. So it's a hard balance of trying not to get too much on the ground and at least a little bit into his mouth. Lately we have been giving him the spoon and having him put it in his own mouth. Then he hands back the spoon and we reload it. But that hasn't been good enough lately. So today I held his bowl so he couldn't dump it out but so that he could reach it, and he loaded up his own spoon. I was surprised at how skilled he is at it. But it's so funny to watch as he sticks the spoon into the bowl, moves it back and forth really fast a few times, and then sticks it back in his mouth.

I was thinking about how much fun it has been lately to watch my little man grow and learn. He has changed and learned so much in the last two months. As I was watching him load up his spoon this morning I realized how lucky I am to be able to be home to witness his progress. I'm so lucky that I get to be the one watching him learn and grow and not have to be told about it by someone who could never love him like I do. I am so thankful for my husband today and for what a wonderful man he is. I'm so thankful that he goes to work every day and puts in the long hours that he does so that I can stay home with Cormac and see him grow. I'm a very blessed woman. And so while I didn't live up to my promise to keep blogging about things other than my son, you should know that I blog about my life and what is most important to me. Because most of all, I am a mother.

Snowmobile

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The food was divine, the company was good, and we made it to our destination and back in safety (though it was rather uncertain at times, the roads were horrible). One of the best parts was playing in the snow. That's always a favorite.

My family has two kayaks and one extremely large canoe. We like to use them to sled. They make excellent sleds in fact. The canoe wasn't as good this year as it has been in the past, but the kayaks were great. We took them down the hill then had snowmobiles tow us back up. That's really the only way to sled. All the fun, none of the work. I suppose it negates any workout that may come out of it. Oh well.

Ammon and I had decided to try again on the kayak (we wiped out hard the first time down the hill resulting in me getting run over by the kayak and Ammon). I shifted my weight to my left foot and the snow sort of gave out. I rolled my ankle. It was pathetic. I had wrecked several times going down the hill and even once on the snowmobile that day and I managed to get hurt while standing. I rolled it again on my birthday a few days later. It is still swollen and really sore. Maybe Santa will bring me a new ankle for Christmas. I could use it.

Anyway, Cormac also got to have his first experience in snow. He made this face pretty much the whole time. We didn't keep him out too long. But he was fascinated.

Then my dad took Cormac on his first snowmobile ride. My dad has been looking forward to this event since he found out I was pregnant. I think Cormac liked it. Being the good girl that I am I took my camera with me to the party, but then the only pictures I took were of Cormac in the snow. So enjoy.