All About Abel

 I realized after my last post that I may have misunderstood the audience for this blog.  Not that you, the reader, are not that interested in Taiwan’s geopolitical standing, but the reason people are checking has more to do with keeping tabs on our little bundle of joy.  In that vein, here is a much more light-hearted post all about the most important little guy in our lives.

Abel has already had some developmental milestones since we’ve arrived here.  The most exciting of which was his first laugh.  He has been giving us big full-faced grins for a while now – and plenty of squeaks, squeals, and coos – but two days ago he emitted a full-blown chuckling laugh.  Jess and I didn’t know what we were missing – it is the cutest and most heart-working sound we have ever heard!

Physically, he is growing bigger and stronger every day.  He can now hold his head up with great regularity and stability, which allows us to put him in his carrier with his face looking ahead rather than cradled against our chest.  Now he gets to gawk at all the people on the street who are breaking their necks to look at him! With his big eyes and flailing hands and feet, he sometimes literally stops pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks of Taipei.  He sure doesn’t mind, in fact, more than anything he loves to look at faces and interact with the people who come up to tell us how cute he is and ask his age.  He is quick to shoot smiles and give a coo or two. He was such a hit yesterday while we were hiking up Elephant Mountain that a tour group insisted on taking pictures with him! 

Abel is also getting closer to crawling every day.  Until recently, he hated “tummy time”.  Jess and I had some guilt that we didn’t force him to stay on his stomach for 30 minutes a day as some experts suggest because he would do nothing but scream and cry.  It just didn’t seem natural to let a baby lay face-first on the floor in a screaming fit, so we didn’t push it.  Our guilt is now erased because since he is able to keep his head up, he loves to spend time on his stomach.  In fact, if we put him down on his back, it only takes him half a minute to roll onto his stomach and assign himself some tummy time.

Abel’s other hobbies include; looking at and grabbing his feet (newly discovered appendages), checking out the adorable and hilarious baby in the bathroom and elevator mirror, and shoving anything he can reach into his mouth until it is sufficiently covered in drool.  We think this last hobby is an indication that he is now getting closer to having some teeth.  He has also been a little fussier the past two days – but no sharp white objects poking out of his gums yet.  He is also staring to become more interested in the food we are eating, but we are going to hold off on that whole new realm for another month or two. 

Thankfully, the weather here in Taipei has cooled off considerably in the past three weeks.  We can now leave the house without melting into a puddle after a few blocks.  It is still hot and humid, but much more manageable.  Tomorrow (Jess is off on Tuesdays) we are heading down to Southern Taipei to take a gondola into the tea growing hills where hopefully it will be even cooler so we can enjoy some of Taiwan’s famous Oolong Tea.  Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday afternoon!