Meet James at 6-12 Months, Part I

James was my mellow easy baby the first six months, but he became the more difficult one between six and twelve months as he got more mobile. As he learned more skills like flipping over, clapping, crawling, and pulling himself up, he would not easily go down for naps because all he wanted to do was practice his new skills. It was cute - you could sometimes hear James awake in the middle of the night, clapping - but it also made things challenging. When the twins would be put down for naps, James would pull up and stand in his crib on the side next to Julia's and jump up and down excitedly like an ape, and then neither would sleep. Between that and the first one waking up in the morning waking up the other with their crying, we ended up moving Julia to a separate room.

James pulling himself up for the first time. You can see Mommy in the mirror taking a photo of this momentous occasion. (9 1/2 months)

Rrrrrrrrrrrrip! (9 1/2 months)

James became very willful and hated being thwarted from something he was doing. Basically he entered the terrible twos at 11 months. He was just a boy with a busy schedule of changing table shelves to bang on, hardwood floors to bang on, mirrored doors to bang on, and toys to bang together, and he didn't like being interrupted from those activities.

James was harder these months but he was still my Sweet Boy and my Sweetie who loved affection and being held. He also had the softest, happiest voice when he babbled. Like Julia he liked playing with our faces but he was much more gentle. His stranger anxiety was at its peak these months and when a new person would smile at him and we'd see his lower lip start protruding, we knew we were in trouble. To strangers James was our serious shy boy, but at home he was my Giggles.


Our gentle face explorer. (8 1/2 months)

We had to hide books and bottles from James or he'd cry upon seeing them if he couldn't get to them. He also was very vocal during solid feedings and always wanted the food faster or wanted to skip the food entirely to get to the bottle. Even though he was crying he'd continue to eat so it was hard to know when he was actually done. There were few foods that James didn't like; we called him The Garbage Disposal.

I fed the babies milk in Boppy pillows until about 10 months. When James would finish his bottle, he'd just flip over and crawl off. He was a boy that loved flipping over. As soon as he mastered that, taking monthly growth photos of him lying down next to Patrick Pup became a two person activity - one to photograph, the other to wrangle. James would flip over (or try to) on the changing table and in the crib. He was the potato bug of babies. And then for a week or two in the middle of the night he'd wake up and, confused as to why he was flipped over and unable to right himself, he'd cry out and we'd have to right him like a turtle. I would put the babies in Bumbo seats for reading time and James figured out how to hurl himself backwards out of his seat. He also liked to upend the Bumbo seat like the Hulk.


This is the last time I took monthly growth photos on my own. Notice that James is already in mid-flip. (9 months)


James likes to wrestle his Bumbo seat. (9 months)


"Hmmm... Me not sure how I feel about Bumbo seat staying on ground. Hulk have to think about this." (33 years?)