How Quickly They Learn!

Jordan wakes up consistently around 7 AM and plays in the crib by himself for an hour, yelling, screaming, giggling, and completely entertained before he starts to cry for me to grab him. At 8 AM, he is okay for an hour playing in his Baby Einstein bouncer so I maximize his independence by getting an hour of work in before he gets hungry or wants to play with me.

This morning, he sat in his bouncer playing with one of his jungle playmat toys happily as I got ready to make some carrot baby food. After peeling the giant carrot I got at the farmer's market, I decided it would be cute to let him hold it (and see how big the carrot is compared to him). As I approached him with the carrot, his eyes became asphyxiated on the bright and very large orange carrot. He froze, and let go of his jungle playmat toy the moment I let on that I was going to hand him the new toy (they lose interest so quickly... so fickle). The carrot was too big for his hands to comfortably grasp so he adjusted his arms to have his elbows assist as he explored the cold bright orange toy with his mouth (as he does with everything these days).

After snapping a photo, I took the carrot away from him (so I could make his breakfast) and he instantly cried... as if on command. And it was fake - no tears, just cries. The jungle toy wasn't good enough anymore and he wanted the huge carrot toy back. I didn't budge... cutting the carrot in the kitchen as I in my sternest voice said, "No Jordan, I have to make your breakfast Jordan, we do NOT cry about carrot toys!" to which he must have sensed the tone and stopped crying. Lately, our little Jordan has been crying on command to test the waters with us, to see what Andy and I will respond to and he's been treading water quite well. On occasion, he has a glorified look of accomplishment when we get him from the crib after he's been crying. To our dismay, he is not hungry nor does he need a diaper change, but he successfully reemerges into the living room to play with mommy and daddy a little big longer and we always commit to be better the next time he cries, but my how quickly he learns and tries to test us again.