His Favorite (and Least Favorite) Things

Babies generally start off all squishy and jelly-like. They have basic needs, but other than crying a lot or sleeping a lot, don’t necessarily have much of a personality. And then, somewhere around 3 or 4 months, they start to become little people, who suddenly have favorite and least favorite things just like anyone else.

So here are the current likes and dislikes of our little man:

LIKE: His vocal chords. Lately, Eamon has been trying out any and every sound he can make, which usually involves a complicated series of gurgles and screeches. And his screeches are very…screechy. One of his favorite times is the morning when I go to change his diaper. He makes a screech/gurgle, and I attempt to imitate it, which he finds hilarious. He then makes a new and different sound, and we play this game for about 10 minutes. Sometimes I try to make sounds for him to imitate, but that is not nearly as much fun, Mommy.


DISLIKE: Sleeping. Eamon actually sleeps really well at night (like, 12 hours nowadays)—probably because he hates sleeping during the day. He constantly fights sleep. He rubs his eyes, gets fussier and fussier, and yet every time his eyelids start to droop, they suddenly pop back open as if he’s afraid he’s going to miss something. We’ve finally developed something of a ritual that finally gets him to sleep involving his pacifier and his rainforest music/sound machine. Even then, you’re lucky if he sleeps for half an hour at a time during the day.


LIKE: Grabbing. Everything—anything. His hands work now and he knows it. He’s a whiz at getting my glasses off before I can stop him, and I have gotten into the habit of automatically putting my hair into a ponytail before I hold him and bobby-pinning back any loose ends. He especially likes grabbing faces and anything on the table in front of him.

DISLIKE: Strangers. Easter, unfortunately, was not an isolated incident. I took him to a baby-shower over the weekend, and someone had the audacity to touch his leg, and it took me about 5 minutes in an empty room to calm him back down. Eamon is okay with people if they come to his house one or two at a time in non-threatening manner and hold him as long as Mommy or Daddy is right there. Our friend, Ayinde, is over here right now, and Eamon is just fine letting Yin hold him and talk to him. But it's a safe environment and there's only one extra person.

LIKE: Chewing. Anything—everything. He has a bunch of bumps in his mouth that feel like they might be trying to sprout into teeth, and he certainly puts everything into his mouth these days.

DISLIKE: Loud noises. Aaron blew his nose the other day and Eamon’s little face scrunched up into the "very upset face" and he started crying. Then again, Aaron does blow his nose really loudly.

LIKE: Seasame Street! We watch Sesame Street vignettes on YouTube sometimes. Eamon is especially fond of anything Elmo, and really likes Elmo’s Potty Song and Ray Charles singing the alphabet.


Every day we find out new things about Eamon, new aspects of his personality and new quirks. It’s really fun, seeing him become a person, one day at a time.

NOTE: The jury is still out on doggie kisses.