Hunter Bear

Hunter:/ [huhn-ter] –noun 1: a person who searches for or seeks something: a fortune hunter. 2: a horse specially trained for quietness, stamina, and jumping ability in hunting.

see also: joker; content; happy; cuddly; thumb-sucker; hungry; teaser; quiet; pleaser; water-baby; fearless; mamma's boy; calm; sleeper; climber; eater; singer; slobber-monster

Our little Hunter Bear is a little angel. I tell people that he is my reward for surviving Madison! I'm joking, of course, Madison is a wonderful child and I love her to pieces. She makes me smile everyday. Hunter, though, he is just special to me. I figure it must be the mommy-son bond that I hear so much about. Here is a little about him and his cute personality.

Food We'll start with the obvious one. This kid loves to eat. No one is allowed to eat around him without something for him. It doesn't matter how full he is, there is always room for more. He almost always has a snack cup in his hand and is a complete moocher. He has no qualms about eating food off the floor, I think he throws stuff off of his highchair tray just so he can eat more while he is playing and I am cleaning the floor. He also makes the cutest chipmunk cheeks when he eats. It doesn't matter how small or large the bite, he puffs his little cheeks out and shoves the food in his mouth with expert aim. Just for fun he loves to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. It makes for a fun cleanup for mom! He has taught himself how to drink out of a straw, because heaven forbid someone gets to even drink without him having some too.

If we grab food at a drive thru and he hears the crinkle of the take-out bag he will start screeching until he gets food. I swear, he knows the sound of fast food bags! It's actually really funny, but sometimes I just don't want to share!

Daily Routine He is a really easy kid. He sleeps really, really well and hasn't gotten into tantrums much yet, I don't delude myself, I know they are coming, but I am enjoying the time I have without them. Right now he takes one nap a day, usually about 2 1/2 hours or so, and sleeps all night long. I lay him in bed and leave the room and every now and again I hear some babbling, but usually he goes straight to sleep. I am enjoying this while it lasts. He loves to sleep and I think he really enjoys the quiet and calm of having time to himself. He still sucks his thumb any time he is tired, so that helps me know when he is ready for nap time.

He is finally waving at people instead of just at himself in the mirror. He has the cutest wave too, he curls his fist twice and then he gets shy and tucks his head on my shoulder. I get such a kick out of it!

Signing is a different story, he will only do one sign. I taught him food and that is all he would do for months. The answer to every question was the the sign for food. It kind of defeated the purpose. Recently I got him to start signing "more," so now he does that sign for everything. I ask him if he wants water, I get "more" , I ask if he wants food, "more" , up?, "more" , outside?, "more" , do you see why this could be a problem? What is the point ?!? He is just so content! There is not enough incentive for him to do each one individually, he has Madison and I to figure out what he wants all day long. One day, maybe.....

Favorite Activities Hunter has many activities that he loves. His favorite is standing on the oven drawer and holding on to the oven door handle. He can usually be found there while I am cooking. Yep, it's fun for me. As soon as he crawls up there I get him down, because hello, I know it is dangerous! I walk him over to the other side of the kitchen by his toys. I get about 30 seconds to complete my next task before he has climbed right back up. I could buckle him into his highchair, right? Or I should be able to, except he likes to stand up in the seat of the chair and then walk onto his tray and on to the table if I let him. It takes him about 45 seconds to get out of the buckle and start him climb out of the chair. Fun stuff....and many of you wonder why I don't enjoy cooking, it could be because I can't just go to the kitchen and cook, I spend more time trying to keep my kids from falling and burning themselves than I spend preparing a meal.

He also loves to play with Madison. He just idolizes her. He will watch her with all his attention and follow her as she does things. Anything she does he wants to do. It is so sweet, especially since Madison loves him so much too. They have so much fun together.


He also love to tease me and joke. He loves to get a laugh from us and plays "Where's Hunter?" all the time. Usually during mealtime when his hands are covered in food, but whatever, it's still cute.

He will go to an area that has toys and put them all on him (see the accompanying photo of Madison's necklaces). He takes all sorts of toys and makes hats out of them. He just loves getting a laugh from us!