another post in which I bemoan the growing up of my babies

I am completely thrown off by my little seven-month-and-one-day-old. 

Joey and I decided to take a week of our his holidays while his work load is not so unpredictable as it is in the summer. At the beginning of last week, Benjamin was mostly immobile. He could pull himself along using his arms, but it was slow and he was easy to keep track of. By the middle of the week, he decided that it was more efficient to stay up on all fours at all times instead of bobbing up and down like he had been doing. Now his confidence has grown in leaps and bounds, and he's decided that he now must try to climb everything - as if crawling wasn't enough of an accomplishment in one week!

It's so awesome to see the my baby learning new things and trying to mimic all that he sees his big brother doing, but it's also kind of terrifying! He doesn't realize how easy it is to lose balance. He can't really tell where the top of his head is. Oh, and he has no fear. I remember Judah taking weeks to cross the edge of the carpet and explore the linoleum. Benjamin shows no signs of caring for boundaries whatsoever. He has absolutely no balance, and yet I'll find him pulling himself up on our bookshelf, waving back and forth like a ship's mast on a stormy sea. He smiles all the while. Look at me, Mom! I'm a big boy! I can do anything my brother can do!

And I say?

KID! YOU ARE ONLY SEVEN MONTHS OLD!!

Now that Benji has more physical independence, I'm definitely seeing the way his personality varies from Judah's. He's a lot braver than Judah, but he's also a bigger cry-baby when things go awry. We've discovered that there is no middle-ground between happy and upset. Judah's much more of a drama queen in that regard, which means we get ample warning when he's about to flip his lid. Benjamin is also much more of a people-person. He loves sitting in your lap and simply soaking up your warmth. Judah appreciates that sort of thing only when he just wakes up or when he's ill. While people tire Judah out, Benjamin gets energized by a crowd. And, one of the biggest differences that I notice, Benjamin is a mama's boy while Judah thinks the world revolves around his dad (which I do not mind in the slightest). 

As I'm learning just who this little guy is, I kind of feel like I'm a new mom all over again - and that's not necessarily a bad feeling to have. I really do hope that being a mom never becomes a bore.