Walk With Me, Talk With Me

I took this video yesterday, after picking 'Rad up from daycare where Amy had him happily ensconced in a baby carrier - the first time he's been in one while facing out.  When I walked up the stairs in her house to pick him up, I saw his little legs chugging away like he was treading water or trying to get up enough speed for take off.  Ever since then, his legs haven't stopped moving.  

Now that he's happy in his bebePOD or walker, there are almost too many options for what to do with him when we get home from work.  I find myself moving him from his walker to the pack-and-play to holding him to rocking him in our glider (did I tell you we got a glider chair to put in his room?) to holding him to squeezing in some tummy time to putting him down for a nap.  I hope I don't make the kid schizophrenic with all of back and forth and up and down and stopping this and starting that and stopping that and starting this.  

I think he'll be telling me to stop jostling him around soon enough.  'Rado has become quite the chatty Cathy, hopefully not to rival my little 4-year old nephew who has been affectionately dubbed Mr. Chatterbox (this same nephew has, in one instance, mourned the fact that if everyone in the car was sleeping, who was he going to talk to?).  'Rad raises his chin, forming his lips into a perfect little "O" from which any number of sounds may tumble.  He's not much of a talker in the car, but on his changing table, in his bouncy seat, when being held - he can draw letter sounds out with the best of 'em.  

I'm in love with his little voice and the sounds his kicking legs make when rubbing against his play mat or bassinet.  I think that's one reason I get a little edgy when he's napping (even though I cherish this time, too) - I can't hear him.  I'll still sneak into his room once in a while when he's napping just to listen to him breathing because it reassures me.  I'm being a little over-dramatic about it all, but he's my first baby so I'm pretty sure I'm going to be over-dramatic about lots of things about him.  

I'm trying to squeeze everything I can out of the moments I'm with him.  Being a working mother really does make me appreciate more the time I have with him.  But it does, of course, drastically cut down the amount of time we spend together.  So, I'm trying to make the most of it without smothering him or stretching myself too thin.  Some people tell me that you find a natural balance once you get your routine set.  Someone else told me that it never gets easier and that you never figure out it.  I'm going to assume that both are true.  That way, I can find comfort in the former, and use the latter to keep my mind open and flexible.