10 Months with Levi | Andie Mitchell

Till now, most of what I’ve shared about Levi has been our wrestle with colic. And sure, these had been a number of the hardest months of my life, nevertheless it doesn’t inform the entire story concerning the previous 10 months with Levi.

Because the four-month mark, I can’t imagine how a lot he has modified. Nobody can. He was all the time great; he simply had a tough time adjusting to being alive (value noting that I can relate?). Generally I joke that he was in my stomach, cozy and content material and blissfully unaware, and when he got here out in September 2020, he took a go searching on the mess of the world and mentioned, no f*ing thanks. Who might blame him?

However now. Now he has grown into the sweetest, smiliest child boy. And pricey god almighty he’s cute. I really feel like I’m melting after I have a look at him.

Character

I do know it’s loads when mother and father assign these massive traits to their child, however I’ll simply go forward and observe go well with: Levi has probably the most optimistic, stunning power about him. He appears to be like at you and it’s like he’s wanting previous your eyes and into your soul, assessing it, understanding you, providing you with the peace of being each seen and accepted. You didn’t even know a child might try this for you, however he does.

Generally we describe him as, “simply joyful to be right here.” Levi is our jolly little man. He loves making eye contact and giving this large one-dimple, cheeks-puffed-out smile that’s not possible to not return. He’s playful, nearly like an over-excited pet who needs to play however doesn’t precisely know the way. He stands up in his crib ready for us within the morning and as quickly because the door opens he dives again down and crawls to the nook whereas laughing, like he’s beginning the day with some cover and search.

Though he likes to smile, he’s a troublesome snort. Daniel and I are continually doing new bits, making an attempt to get him going, however largely he simply provides us this lovable, well mannered smile and coos at us, basically saying, oh you guys are treasured. However every so often, you actually hit on one thing and this boisterous cackling comes roaring out. It’s so satisfying. So so satisfying.

There was a time period when he couldn’t be held by anybody aside from Daniel and me. A child born in a pandemic…it is sensible. Now he’s way more OK with it. 

Motion

James did the military crawl and Levi does the bear crawl. It doesn’t look simple, nevertheless it works for him. He motors by way of the home on all fours and his knees by no means contact the bottom. He loves wrestling with Daniel and James. However his favourite factor on this planet is when DeeDee visits and he chases her round the home on the ground, lastly having a playmate on his degree. He’s an adventurous climber. Final week he climbed up onto the sofa utilizing a pillow that was on the ground and he tumbled over the armrest onto the ground. Fortunately, he escaped with only a bruise, however we’re all the time on excessive alert.

Consuming

After we first launched solids round six months, he wished nothing to do with them. He acted repulsed by something we put in his mouth aside from a bottle. However inside a couple of weeks, he began to actually take pleasure in meals, a lot in order that he now tries to refuse his bottle altogether. He nonetheless wants the formulation to get all his vitamins so this created an issue. We’ve got to combine his formulation into oatmeal or purees now to verify he’s getting sufficient.

At this level, I can’t consider a meals we’ve given him that he doesn’t like. He adores avocado and eats half of 1 nearly day by day for lunch. He additionally actually likes broccoli, candy potatoes, scrambled eggs, shredded rooster, and something James leaves behind.

Likes

Merely put: James. He adores James. The look in Levi’s eyes when he sees his massive brother…it’s like a lightweight activates inside him. It was clear early on that he adored James and now that he’s crawling in all places, he can kind of “play” together with his brother—one thing James loves, too. James has warmed as much as Levi after being fairly impartial towards him for the primary six-ish months. However he has additionally change into extra aggressive, particularly round toys. So he yells, “Levi, it’s not protected” and shoves him to the bottom. We’re engaged on making an attempt to sense when James isn’t within the temper for interplay however we additionally don’t wish to be continually interfering of their relationship as they fight to determine methods to work together with each other.

Dislikes

The vacuum. And that’s a toughie as a result of we’ve by no means wanted to make use of a vacuum greater than we do now, with two wild animals roaming the home. Possibly we should always get a Roomba and put it in a pug costume.

I like you, my treasured Levi! You make my complete life.