#4. Why does our son think he’s a puppy?
We seriously think that Noah thinks he’s a puppy. Seriously. Why, you ask?
(a) Whenever he gets excited, he starts kicking his legs furiously. When he’s in the Manduca carrier, his two legs can often be seen going up and down quickly, just like a puppy wagging its tail in excitement.
(b) We put mittens on him at night because he tends to scratch his scalp or face when he sleeps. Putting them on is one thing. Keeping them on is a whole other issue. You see, the little boy would start attempting to remove his mittens once I put them on. He would stick one hand into his mouth and start tugging hard on it until it’s off, before working on the other one. This process also includes some violent shaking of his own head, and even the occasional grunting, if the mittens are particularly tight. After he has freed both his hands, he would then proceed to stuff the mittens into his mouth and gnaw happily on them till they are both disgustingly soggy.
(c) Apart from gnawing on his mittens, Noah enjoys stuffing fabrics of all sorts (and everything else) into his mouth. We prefer to think of it as him “exploring textures”, and anyway, all babies enjoy putting assorted things into their mouths, right? Noah pounces on whatever is in his line of sight, and shoves it into his mouth. Sophie the giraffe has also been given the kiss of life many times by him. Somehow, he resembles a puppy gnawing on its toy when he chomps on Sophie and it doesn’t help that Sophie squeaks like a puppy’s toy too.
Giving Sophie the kiss of life
(d) Noah has a guilty look each time I catch him sucking on his mittens or diaper cloth in his cot, and the look on his face always reminds me of a puppy caught in the act of some mischief.
Caught in the act
I usually end up laughing at him as he stops suddenly in the middle of biting and shaking the item, sometimes even with his arms and legs in mid-air (he enjoys flailing his arms around and kicking his legs). Of course, he laughs too when I burst into laughter, and I know that I shouldn’t be encouraging this behaviour, but have you seen this face?
How not to laugh or smile when he looks like that? I think we are in for a tough time when we have to start disciplining him…