Nate loves monkey

Before Nate was born, we decorated his nursery. We had been gifted a collection of jungle [stuffed] animals. Two of these were lanky monkeys with velcro hands. When you squeeze their tummies, they shriek. We decided that could get annoying, so I hung the monkeys over the changing table for Nate to look at while we change him.

One particularly cranky diaper change, Rodgers made one of the monkeys shriek. Nate has been obsessed with them ever since. (See video previously posted to our YouTube channel.)



A few months ago, Nate started leaning towards his bottle when he was hungry. Then he started reaching for it. Then, he started reaching for Rodgers or me if he just wanted us to hold him. Then he started reaching for toys. He has only reached for 3 toys, that I know of: the Razzberry teether, a plastic cup, and the monkeys.

When he's standing on the changing table (I stand him up in the process of picking him up after a change) he can reach one of the monkey's feet. Last week, he started grabbing them. I would sometimes lift him up so that he could grab the monkey and bury his face in its tummy. He loved it.

Tuesday night, I decided to throw caution to the wind and pull down one of the monkeys. Nate grabbed it with both hands and didn't let go of it until he was sleeping. He can easily get tangled in the lanky arms and legs, so we don't leave it in the crib with him overnight, but he cuddled it while falling asleep Tuesday and Wednesday nights. He is clearly in love.

I wish we'd gotten his face in this picture. It was precious.