VICTORY!!!

He's done it! he has single handedly (haha) conquered the thumb suck. this feat, Porter's mount everest, is a goal that has been widdled away on ever since his long sebatical of isolation in utero-land.
seriously though, it was pretty exciting. after months of sticking his whole fist into his mouth, or just the thumb part of his fist, it all finally came together. and i'm pretty sure i was watching when the "aha" actually happened. One day, after repeatedly shoving his hand (or at least whatever would fit) into his mouth, Porter was just staring at his fist with some seriously fierce tunnelvision. At some point during this focus, he saw his thumb seperate from the rest of his hand. this moment of understanding came into his eyes, "whoa!!!" without hesitating, he took advandtage of the situation, and stuck that sucker (man, i'm hitting them all...) in. yes, i know i shouldn't end a sentence with the word 'in'...but that's where he stuck it. :)
ok- enough bad grammer. and i'm not fixing the mispelled words either...too tired. the point is, porter's been a pro with thumbsucking ever since, and i'm pretty sure that puts my baby into the 'freakin awesome' level on the scale of baby smarts/coolness.

Porter, or in times of severe stress; Bobcat. Yes, our normally sweet and cheerful child has an alias, or rather, an alter-ego that finds his way to the surface when Porter can't seem to create his desired results. But now a third character has introduced himself, and has tapped into our hearts with his pathetic cry, and is to be known henceforth as 'little lamb.' Yes, he "baa"s, in a last ditch effort to get the sympathy he knows we are all too willing to give.
we're sorry to let the family know in this impersonal way that our child officially has multiple personalities, but we feel that the most healthy thing at this time, is to indulge Porter until he no longer needs these aliases.
Thank you for your support.

i took porter to get his first shots yesterday. it was so sad. he was so happy and trusting when we went in, and then he took my hands, and the shots just seemed to keep coming. He started crying of course, but stopped as soon as I picked him up, and just whimpered and shuddered afterwards. I got somewhat steamrolled when asking for less shots at one time, and I'm never making that mistake again, because that boy was tired and cranky and, yes even at his young age, sad for the rest of that day.
So I wrote that a while ago, and since have taken Porter in for his second shots. I went in and complained like a good future soccer mom, and got Porter on an alternate shot program that seperates and spreads out Porter's shots so that there's less of them, and that they alternate between lead and aluminum (I'm pretty sure) vaccinations with every visit. The Baby Book by Dr. and Dr. Sears (which i highly recommend) didn't write this alternate shot list, but their son did, and my Doctor said it was a great way to go when worried about getting too many shots at once. Anyway- the second visit was such a better experience. Porter didn't even cry, and was smiley before and after the visit. He didn't even seem lethargic afterward. what a brave boy.

a couple of moments;
mom and dad got to talk to porter using skype for the first time, and it was pretty entertaining for all involved. you know mom and her classic noises and faces...well it was pretty much all in vain, because porter was far more entranced by the labtop keyboard than my grandma's song and dance. what can i say, he's a big reader. there was one highlight of the moment though, and that was when grandma started sticking out her tongue, and before you know it, porter and grandma were on a roll sticking out their tongues to each other and laughing. it was pretty great, until porter started drooling on the keyboard and got banned from his front row seat.
i love how much porter loves his tongue right now. i've never been more impressed with how successfully a child can smile and simultaniously try to touch his chin with his tongue. of course i do it back, but trying it one time in front of the mirror let me know that my tongue smile is for porter's eyes only.
okay- here's one last anecdote, but it's more a mark moment than a baby moment. so two nights ago, i went to sleep and mark stayed up to put the baby to bed. all of a sudden i get woken up with mark saying very loudly in his sleep, "It's OK Porter"... which is usually what he says when porter's fussing, but porter was sleeping deeply, and mark was just sleepshouting. since i was just out of a deep sleep myself i look at mark and assume that the outline of his body in the dark showed porter in his arms, and that he was squeezing his too tight, so i start shaking him to let go of porter. like i said, porter was sleeping fine, but in the basinet, and not in mark's arms; i was just seeing things. mark wakes up, says he doesn't have porter, goes back to sleep, and doesn't remember any of it in the morning. it was a funny bit of confusion all around.

well i have to say that everything is extremely repetitive with being home with Porter all day, and yet- everything also seems to be new and exciting. For example, Porter has just started to transition from smiling coos to a hiccup that is noticably a laugh. it's such a renewing feeling in my day to sit with Porter and laugh with him. i love that time. also, today Porter held a toy for the first time. yes- he completely ignored the plastic ring he was holding, and he didn't grab it on purpose, but who cares?? my boy is a toy holding genius- i can feel it. the other miracle of the day was the fact that i actually made dinner by the time Mark came home. I'm not going to tell you how long it's been..

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