Funny Little Guy

You've been making us laugh a lot lately...most recently with your dance moves.  You bop your head sideways back and forth after watching us do it.  Of course I'll dance around like a fool to get you to imitate, it's too cute. 

Now that you're on the move & testing the waters, you're getting yourself in to some more dangerous situations, which just seem fun & appealing to you.  For example, you like to play with the vent for the air return, you strum it like guitar strings, though it is not at all flexible like guitar strings and you've cut your little fingers on it.  We try to say "NO" sternly and you laugh, hysterically, at both of us when we say NO.  So, we put a safety gate in front of it.  You LOVE opening and closing the cabinet doors in the kitchen and bathroom, but for whatever reason, you like the one that has the cleaning supplies the best.  Daddy installed locks on the dangerous cabinets on Sunday night, you were NONE too pleased Monday morning.  You cry so hard everytime you try to open it, as if the world is ending.  This is a cry that we know we can laugh at :) 

You started pulling up to a stand in the past few days, though in a very unconventional way, but you make it happen.  When you started fussing to get out of your crib this am, I looked at the monitor and you were standing and quite proud of yourself! 

You like to walk around the house with the hand me down (pink) stroller and explore, you look so cute with your little sneakers, toddling around.  My mini-man, my goodness I love you buddy!

11 Months!

Somehow you just keep inching closer and closer to your first birthday - slow down, would you?!  It has been so much fun to watch you change & grow, especially these past few weeks.  Lately we're starting to see more little boy in that face and less baby...but we still see that handsome little smile on a daily basis :)  

At 11 Months old you are:

Sleeping solidly from ~7:30-6ish (usually on the 5:45 side of 6 these days though...)  Typically taking 2 naps a day, the first around 9:30, sometimes 1.5 hours, sometimes 3.5hrs.  The 2nd nap is usually around 2pm, but depends on how the 1st nap went ;)

Crawling all over the place, pulling yourself up to your knees and getting frustrated that you can't reach higher from your knees.  (You're not getting yourself to a standing position on your own just yet) 

You now own 2 pairs of your very own shoes, thanks to Grammy & PopPop!  We went to Stride Rite this past weekend and could not get over how cute you looked in the little sneakers, oh my goodness.  You had to have a pair of brown ones to go with your fancy outfits too.   

Using Sophia's baby carriage as a walker with a 5lb weight in it.  The other walking toys seem to move backwards too easily, but this one is slowed down with the weight and you're doing a great job cruising around the house with it!  (You're confident enough in your masculinity to not care that it is a pink baby carriage ;) )

Giving lots of KISSES!  Especially to your monkey blanket, you will pull the little monkey back far enough to view his whole face, then pull him close and kiss his face, pull him back to see his face, repeat.  It is so cute because you're so gentle when you do it!  Though you do usually end up biting his face after about 7 or 8 kisses.  Warning to everyone getting kisses ;)

Clapping your hands excitedly over all sorts of things.  You will see something out of the corner of your eye that you like and just start clapping and giggling. 

LOVE reading books...you're starting to explore books other than Little Blue Truck now, though those are still your favorite.  You do like to browse books on your own, but if I hold up a book and ask you if you want to read it with me, you will get very excited and crawl right over to my lap, I love it!

Have 7 teeth and seem to be working on a few more in the back...

Taking 3 bottles a day (just dropped from 4-5oz bottles to 3-6oz bottles this past weekend)  1 when you wake up, 1 in the early afternoon and 1 before bed. 
We know you're supposed to be off of bottles and transitioning to milk around your 1st birthday so we are trying to time your bottles around the same time of day that you'd typically have milk!  We just started giving you your nighttime bottle downstairs, to get away from the routine of having your bottle in your rocking chair in your room.  Now we read you a book or two in your room before going to sleep! 

Eating everything and wanting 2nds and 3rds at all 3 meals.  Last week when you were getting another tooth and had your belly issues you didn't want to eat anything.  Now you seem to be hungry ALL of the time.  It almost seems like you're always in your chair having snacks!!  You are still a huge fan of bread products (Freihofer's in your blood??), bananas, tomatoes, blueberries, on and on.  You eat your veggies for the most part too...for now!  You usually have breakfast around 7:30-8, lunch around noon, a snack around 3, another snack around 5 and dinner at 6.  My goodness! 

Still making us smile all of the time :)  We love you so much buddy! 

Teething? Sick? Investigating Your Cues

Sometimes I feel like we're investigating an unsolved mystery when we are trying to figure out how you're feeling.  If you aren't sleeping solidly - is it teeth or are you sick?  If you are sleeping more than normal - is it a growth spurt or are you tired?  If you cry - is it teeth or are you tired or are you hungry?

Starting last week you had a few changes that had us scratching our heads.  You wouldn't eat a darn thing we put in front of youYour eating habits started to change...more recently you have been trying pretty much anything we put in front of you - especially if it came from our plate/fork during a meal together.  Your favorite foods included bananas, bread, crackers, yogurt, berries, oranges- (oddly enough these were all things I ate a LOT of during pregnancy ;))  During your food strike you wouldn't even touch bread - we were shocked.  We didn't know if it was teething, sick, you nearing the threshold of toddlerhood?  I've been inspecting your gums regularly when we brush your teeth (which you still love) and haven't seen any new teeth.  Then on Monday after your bath I saw a new tooth, the bottom right lateral incisor had cut through.  I figured that must have been the cause of the changes as of late.  Mystery solved!

A few hours later...you were in your crib for the night and I heard you fussing.  I checked the monitor and all of a sudden you sat up and projectile vomited literally from one side of the crib to the other - I saw it shoot across the screen.  I ran to your bedroom, picked you up and you vomited again, all over me.  I ran to the bathroom with you and you vomited one more time.  It was just awful for all of us.  You were covered in vomit, terrified and exhausted.  I was completely panicked because I had never seen anything like it and hated seeing my baby so scared & upset!  I of course ran to call Grammy to ask "WHAT DO I DO??", we cleaned you up, I took off the 4 layers of sheets that your vomit managed to soak through (of course you aimed directly at the edge of the crib where the sheet liner doesn't reach, I will no longer be making your bed with 4 layers of sheets...).  Then Daddy sat with you for a bit in the rocker to keep you upright, though you fell back asleep pretty much immediately.  I think the experience was much more traumatic for us than you! I called the on-call doctor to find out how we should proceed in case you woke up to vomit again or if you slept through the night, should we give you formula in the morning??  The doctor's advice was to give you a teaspoon of Pedialyte every 15mins, 3x until it was clear you could hold it down.  Then increase to 2tsp every 15mins, 3x, etc.  You were none to pleased with this strategy...you LOVE your bottles in the morning, which are typically 5oz of warm/cozy fluids.  1tsp of cold Pedialyte was not cutting it.  We proceeded with the tiny amounts for 1.5hrs until I gave in and gave you 2oz (60ml) which you CHUGGED - it made me a little proud, I'm good at chugging too!  ;)  I gave you some cheerios which you happily chowed down, so I gave you a 1/2 piece of toast which you also chowed down.  I held off on anything else until the Dr's office opened and they gave me the green light to give you some formula. 

The rest of the day consisted of a lot of snuggling with Mom, two 2hr naps, some tiny bits of food here and there and a few smaller bottles.  After your 2nd nap, you looked like yourself again, I was so happy to see you and your pantless self (you don't like to let us finish dressing you after the diaper change struggle of late) :) 

So we're still not sure whether the Loose BMs of the prior week were teeth related or stomach bug related or toddlerhood changes.  You're still a little hesitant to chow down during every meal as you were before.  I'm sure you'll let us know when you're hungry and we'll try our best to follow your lead with patience...Happy to have our happy little boy back though!

Cautiously curious...

You've been showing off your newly acquired skill to family & friends recently, though you're still very cautious with it.  I think you understand the freedom it gives you, but you just don't know if you want to use it yet.  For the first week, you would mainly crawl around in whatever room we started in, but wouldn't leave that room.  You're pretty anxious to move & really want nothing to do with the changing table or diaper changes at all for that matter...

This week, you're starting to cross the threshold from one room to another to see just what's beyond your direct view.  This morning while we were getting ready for work you nudged the bathroom door open and went in to find Daddy brushing his teeth (also one of your favorite activities these days!)  One of the cutest things that comes along with your crawling is that you get really excited when one of us comes home from work and you will crawl right up to us with a smile on your face, it's the perfect way to end the work day. :)  Your most rebellious activity (for now) is crawling to the air return/heat vents.  I think these alone may have enticed you to put your skills together to crawl...we're trying to figure out the most consistent way to say "no." You don't seem too crazy about that word, don't worry - I've never liked it either :) 

Off you go...

Baby on the move...

It wasn't too long after last Friday's post that you seemed to cautiously make the decision to crawl.  You had all of the pieces to the puzzle, but it wasn't clear whether or not you were going to choose to assemble the puzzle.  You had done a few "crawls" here and there, mostly to get yourself in to trouble (heating vents, mom's hair dryer, kitchen cabinets, etc)  Saturday morning you did some more crawling to get to your favorite Little Blue Truck books.  Then on Sunday we went for a few visits, first to Nana & Grandpas and then to Aunt Liz/Uncle Matt's to meet their new addition Oakley.  When we were at Nana & Grandpa's you just started crawling around the family room like you'd been doing it all your life...haha  Nana has been wondering for some time now when you would move, apparently you wanted to show her that you've made the decision to move.  We didn't know if it would be a fluke or not, you just showing off at their house, but then you did the same at Matt/Liz's and then continued to do the same at home.  You haven't really stopped moving since.

You're still cautious about it...you pretty much stay within one room, which is convenient for us - so thanks for that ;)  But you do get yourself backed in to a corner every now and again...

New Trick Up Your Sleeve

You've learned a new trick this week, you can now get from your belly to a sitting position and from all 4's to a sitting position.  It's one that you've been gradually working on (slower than most of your pals at school) but all of a sudden it has clicked and you're happily showing it off and practicing it over and over and over and over again.  You were especially funny with it last night.  You weren't that interested in sitting in your highchair while Daddy & I ate dinner, which isn't typical for you.  So I put you on the floor, I think you were ancy because you wanted to show off your confidence in your new trick!  You were moving from your belly to sitting, then all 4s, then belly, then sitting, then scoot and army shuffle, which would be followed by you throwing your arms in to the air so Daddy & I would both cheer "YAYYY" for you.  Repeat.  You were pretty darn proud of yourself, we were proud of you too :)