10 Months with Levi – Andie Mitchell

Till now, most of what I’ve shared about Levi has been our battle with colic. And sure, these have been among the hardest months of my life, but it surely doesn’t inform the entire story in regards to the previous 10 months with Levi.

For the reason that four-month mark, I can’t imagine how a lot he has modified. Nobody can. He was all the time fantastic; he simply had a tough time adjusting to being alive (value noting that I can relate?). Typically I joke that he was in my stomach, comfortable 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 may 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 once I take a look at him.

Persona

I do know it’s quite a bit when mother and father assign these large traits to their child, however I’ll simply go forward and observe go well with: Levi has probably the most constructive, lovely vitality about him. He seems to be 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 may try this for you, however he does.

Typically we describe him as, “simply completely satisfied to be right here.” Levi is our jolly little man. He loves making eye contact and giving this enormous one-dimple, cheeks-puffed-out smile that’s inconceivable to not return. He’s playful, virtually like an over-excited pet who desires 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 disguise and search.

Despite the fact that he likes to smile, he’s a tricky snort. Daniel and I are continually doing new bits, attempting to get him going, however largely he simply offers us this cute, well mannered smile and coos at us, primarily saying, oh you guys are treasured. However now and again, 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 smart. Now he’s rather more OK with it. 

Motion

James did the military crawl and Levi does the bear crawl. It doesn’t look simple, but it surely 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 the earth is when DeeDee visits and he chases her round the home on the ground, lastly having a playmate on his stage. 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

Once we first launched solids round six months, he needed nothing to do with them. He acted repulsed by something we put in his mouth apart from a bottle. However inside a number of weeks, he began to essentially get pleasure from meals, a lot in order that he now tries to refuse his bottle altogether. He nonetheless wants the method to get all his vitamins so this created an issue. We now have to combine his method into oatmeal or purees now to ensure 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 virtually every single day for lunch. He additionally actually likes broccoli, candy potatoes, scrambled eggs, shredded hen, and something James leaves behind.

Likes

Merely put: James. He adores James. The look in Levi’s eyes when he sees his large brother…it’s like a light-weight activates inside him. It was clear early on that he adored James and now that he’s crawling all over the place, he can kind of “play” along 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 secure” and shoves him to the bottom. We’re engaged on attempting 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 struggle to determine how one can 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. Perhaps we should always get a Roomba and put it in a pug costume.

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