The Birthday Boy

Today is Crawling Baby’s birthday. He turned one. I felt bad for him because he wasn’t having a good day. They are trying to change his schedule. Instead of having two naps, they are trying to only let him have one longer one in the afternoon. Crawling Baby doesn’t like this and gets grumpy without his morning nap. Even though he was in a bad mood, we still played. I made him laugh by crawling after him and when he’d turn to face me, I’d crawl behind him. Then he had to turn around and start the game all over again. He also kept throwing keys and other toys off the shelves. I’d take the toys and put them back on right after he’d throw them off. He apparently enjoyed this because he kept throwing the keys on the floor. It didn’t seem to bother him that I kept picking them up. We bounced on the ball which he enjoyed. He also likes to stand behind the ball and I pull him up onto the ball and role it then slowly lower him back down. I saw an improvement in his walking today. He had better balance and stood up quicker, but he’s not ready to walk by himself yet. He’s almost there! I hope he enjoys his birthday at home with cake and ice cream! Before I left, I told him to have a good birthday at home. I know he doesn’t understand the words, but he knows that I’m being kind to him and that’s all that matters. He started to cry when I left. He always follows me to the gate. I felt bad because he wanted to play some more, but I had to leave.

There was a new girl who I’ll call Baby K. She’s six months old and already wasn’t feeling well after only starting yesterday. This morning, Baby K and Baby C were on the floor. Baby K was sitting and Baby C was rolling around. Baby K thought it was so funny that Baby C was rolling back and forth. Baby C would role over almost on Baby K’s lap. Baby K would laugh or babble whenever Baby C got close to her. Baby C would laugh too which made the whole thing funnier. I like to see them interact. Baby K would try to touch her head too which Baby C didn’t mind.

Baby L was also on the floor, but he was playing with some interlocking plastic toys. He wasn’t building anything. He was more interested in chewing on the toys and babbling. I sat next to him for a while and he kept hitting my arm and laughing about it. I’d make funny faces or noises and it made him laugh too. After everyone fell asleep except Baby L, we decided to take him outside. He fell asleep in the swing. After he woke up, we brought him over to the sand box. He thought the shovel and bucket were the greatest things. He kept chewing on the dirty shovel which we thought was gross, but he was pretty happy about it. He had sand all over him which took me a while to clean off. The other babies came outside too, but they were either in the swings or in the jumper.

Later in the afternoon, I was sitting on the floor with Baby L, Baby C and Crawling Baby. They all wanted my attention at once. Baby C rolled over, Baby L started to fuss and put his hands up in the air and Crawling Baby crawled over and started pulling on my shirt. Since Baby L can’t crawl, I put him in my lap. I was showing him how to clap his hands and he kept hitting my leg. Baby C brought some toys over with her and wanted me to sit her up so she sat next to me on my right. She kept putting her head in my lap and grabbing Baby L’s face. Crawling Baby also was trying to sit in my lap, but Baby L kept pushing him away. After a few minutes, he found a dump truck and sat on my left while moving it around. Baby L was interested in the dump truck too so he kept grabbing it from him. Eventually, Crawling Baby came around to my other side and started playing with a bucket that Baby C had found. Then it was time for me to go so I gave the babies a hug and told them I’d be back to play with them next week.