Well, it’s official. The word of 2008 will be “Toothiness” because as of 1/11/08, Mr. Gummers has a tooth. It’s just a hint of a thing but we can feel it and we can catch a glimpse of it if Walker holds a super wide smile for a few seconds. He’s not looking like a jack-o-lantern yet but soon enough that little pearly white will rise above the gumline and Walker will leave his gummy smile behind (at least for many, many years to come).

While many of you have seen this picture, I have to post it prominently for Gigi. We’ve decided that images like this one will be called “Gigi food” because when she sees them she calls us up and squeals about how she can just “eat him up!”

It’s been awhile since I posted and I had big plans for posting my list of 2008 Resolutions. I thought a lot about them and perhaps they’re like my quarterly/annual goals — they sound like a good idea for prioritizing my activities but I can never seem to nail them down. I did come up with two important ones: 1) Focus on and enjoy my family 2) Be a good role model for Walker. Perhaps it’s not about the quantity of the resolutions but on the quality.

I have some notable updates. Walker is babbling like a champ and his newest favorite sound is “dada dada dada dada dada dada dada.” It’s so cool to hear him utter it to Larry even though we know he doesn’t quite know what he’s saying. After being so obsessive about Walker’s rolling (or lack of it), we started practicing rolling every few days. Within a day or two, when I put him on his belly, he’d whip around to his back. He would always roll to the left starting with his little head and letting his body follow. This week we practiced rolling from his back to his belly and rolling to both the left and the right. He’s got the tummy to back in both directions now and he seems to be having a lot of fun. This weekend we’ll be practicing some more!

The sleeping has gotten much better. I’m starting to write down all the times he wakes up and how much he eats. I’ve started to wean him off his 2-3 am feeding and that seems to be not an issue at all. The challenge now will be to see if he decides to sleep through that time. I know he can do it. Last night, for the first time in three months, he slept for a 5 hour stretch. He went to sleep at 7:45 and didn’t wake up until 12:5oam. Perhaps he was so relieved for his little tooth that he thought he’d take a longer sleep! He still woke up three more times before arising at 6 but it’s the potential for repeating the longer sleep behavior that is so promising!

Another small revelation may improve his sleeping patterns. I realized that he stopped sleeping in long stretches when we moved into his room. I chalked it up to all the changes — a new bed, going to day care, me going to work. When we set up his room, I thought a small turtle light would make a great soft light to keep him safe from the monsters that go bump in the night. The other day it occurred to me that the light was actually fairly bright and the transition to his room may not have been the problem. When he was in the bassinet next to me in my room, it was nice and dark. Perhaps he liked it that way and it was me who needed the light! Not sure why I didn’t think of this sooner but we’re now sleeping in a much darker environment. Duh!

Eating is going well. He’s a big fan of cereal and not so much of the other food. At the behest of Daddy and Granddaddy, I abandoned the peas and migrated to sweeter fare. He’s still not enjoying the non-cereal portion of his meal but he’s getting used to the more intense tastes and his grimaces aren’t as pronounced when he eats a spoon of fruit.

We used to have a tortoise named Redfoot. He had one big tooth on his bottom jaw, just like Walker. He would eat his favorite fruit, mango (which for years I considered turtle food and not fit for my consumption) and get it all over his face, just like Walker. Footie was the BEST. He used to follow us up and down the hallway. He used to love to sit on our feet. He loved his bath, just like Walker. (Walker loves to kick and kick and splash me until I’m soaked. He’s getting really big for his little tub but he has so much fun in there I think we’ll just stay in it until his limbs hang over the edges.) The funny part about Footie’s bath was when he would poop and he’d be splashing around. Yes, sometimes Walker reminds me of when Redfoot would take his bath…