skip to main |
skip to sidebar
So I thought nine months seemed like a significant milestone, but for some reason, the fact that Alex is ten months old now is sort of blowing my mind. I mean, we're talking double digits now. I must move on before I think about it too much and trigger a panic attack...
Size: We won't have another well-child visit until a year, so we will all have to hold out until then to find out his official stats. But my aching biceps tell me that he is indeed growing. Not too much, however, since he hasn't outgrown any of his clothes this past month. He's still in size four shoes and size four diapers, although his overnights are no longer pulling their weight. On many mornings, I have pulled him out of his crib and hugged him hello, only to realize that my sweet baby has left a layer of sweet baby pee-pee all over my shirt. I really don't think size fives are the answer, although I've made that mistake before...
Eating: At this point, it might be more efficient to list the foods that he doesn't eat (both of them) than list all of the ones he does!
We rarely do baby food anymore, although I do have a few containers of peas and such rattling around in my cabinet that I will take if we are going out to eat. I'm a firm believer in the value of a well-rounded diet, namely, meals that contain each of the four food groups. Alex still drinks 5 oz. of formula at each meal, which provides most of the nutrition he needs, so food is really just "practice" at this point. Nonetheless, I am determined to introduce him to as many healthy food options that I can at each mealtime, incorporating most of the food groups when possible.
As such, he's tried tons of new things since last month. He has organic blueberry waffles or sweet potato pancakes for breakfast (no syrup, but the waffles and pancakes are sweet and delicious on their own, and I often steal bites when he is not looking) with thin-sliced deli ham and fruit. If I'm in a hurry, oatmeal makes a fine substitute. Lunch and dinner are often a variation of what we are eating - ground beef or turkey, beans, or cheese, fruit and veggies, and sometimes a starch, like pasta or potatoes. I buy frozen stir-fry veggies and boil Alex-sized portions at a time, so he eats things like cauliflower, red bell peppers, broccoli, and asparagus. He likes swiss and cheddar, kidney beans better than pintos, and any fruit is fair game.
He is still pretty indiscriminate about what he will eat, but he has demonstrated an obvious affinity for a few things.
He's never tried chicken nuggets - we are trying to delay the introduction of typical (though often unhealthy) "kiddie fare" like nuggets and fries - but he loves Boca's breaded "chicken" patties, aka breaded "chicken-flavored tofu" patties. I know, I know, how cruel to deprive a child of such pleasurable things as chicken nuggets, and further, to force him to eat such horrific things as poultry-impersonating bean curd. But he can't get enough of the stuff, grabs it up by the fistfuls, and will be gagging on the two pieces he's already crammed into his mouth while he attempts to stuff in a third.
Like his mama, he is a huge fan of strawberries and will sort through all of the food on his tray, picking out all of the strawberries first and gobbling them up before he touches anything else. Another fave is yogurt, which we recently introduced. It's about the only thing that he'll whine for more of once he's eaten all of it. Other than that, he likes everything better if it has a little parmesan cheese sprinkled on it. Pasta, veggies, ground beef and turkey - he likes 'em all, but he likes 'em a even more when they're covered in cheese.
He eats at 7:30am, noon, and 5:30pm, with a snack - usually a banana and/or some applesauce - around 3. He still drinks a bottle before bed, although I have started the weaning process by watering it down, so he gets 8ozs. of water with only 6ozs. worth of formula. I'm hoping the watering-down method works, cuz frankly, I'm dreading having to convince him to go to bed without his precious bedtime ba-ba...
Sleeping: So I may have been a little dramatic when I posted about Alex's "sleep issues" last week. In my defense, when things like that start to happen, you never really know whether it is a phase or a fluke. In this case, it seems to have been a fluke because it only happened twice. He still refuses his afternoon nap on occasion (today was one such occasion), but he hasn't woken up at night since the day I posted.
Generally, he still takes 2 naps - one at 9 and one between and 1:30. Lately, he's been going to bed closer to 7:30 than 7, and he has been waking up around 6:30am on most days. Of course, the morning that I was up at 6am to prepare for my garage sale, he decided to sleep until 7:40. The nerve!!
Physical/cognitive milestones: The biggest change this month would have to be his increased vocal development. In other words, he talks non-stop these days. He is constantly experimenting with new sounds, new volumes, new pitches, new consonants, vowels, and syllables. Ma-ma, da-da, and ba-ba are regular fixtures in his vocabulary, but lately, he has added (what we interpret as) "hi", "bye-bye", and "baby".
He loves to imitate what we do and say, which has been so much fun. His favorite game is to shake his head back and forth and then wait for one of us to imitate him. Instead, we usually respond by nodding instead of shaking, so perfecting his nod has become his newest challenge. He waves hello and goodbye, and he claps when he sees someone else clapping, when he hears applause on the TV, or sometimes, when he just feels like it.
He is an especially curious boy and takes so much pleasure in exploring new things. To find him playing with a toy these days is a rarity - he'd rather get into all the no-nos because, let's face it, they're usually much more interesting.
He is always on the move, although he still shows little interest in walking. He crawls to get where he wants to go, he pulls up on everything, cruises, and he'll climb anything that's in his way, so I have a feeling he has no use for walking just yet. I think his philosophy at this point may be, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I'm sure there will come a day soon when he's ready to move on to bigger and better things, and that's a day I don't think I'm quite ready for.
He laughs more now than in all of his previous months put together, overjoyed by even the smallest amount of attention. He is quite the performer, and if we laugh along with him, he hams it up even more. I mean, this kid defines the word "personality".
When he is not laughing and playing, he is usually cuddled up on my or Timothy's lap, with his sweet head nestled into our shoulders. He has never been much of a cuddler, so I'm wondering if that's how his separation anxiety has ended up playing out. If so, then it's a win-win situation for all of us because we could cuddle with our precious, darling boy all day long.
I know you are all anxiously awaiting a belated 10 month post, and although it is in the works as I type, I wanted to take a quick second to shout-out to all the mamas in the crowd, being that today is Mother's Day and all. It's probably no surprise that I have a whole new perspective on Mother's Day now that I'm a mom. I've heard - many, many times - about what a...challenge I was as a baby. I never slept, I was (in)famous for my ability to project vomit across a room, I crawled and climbed and clawed my way to any no-no I could find, and I was fond of eating poisonous houseplants. But it was always hard to relate to the woes of early motherhood, as my own mom described them, before I had actually experienced them myself.
On many more occasions, however, I have heard (and read, thanks to my mom the Queen of All Journal-keepers) about what an incredible joy I brought to my parents, about how smart and energetic and spirited I was, about how thankful they were for me - despite my many "challenges" - and how much I was loved, adored, and appreciated. That, too, was hard to really comprehend until Alex came along. I finally understand what a mother feels, how a mother thinks, and how a mother loves. How much a mother loves.
And Mother's Day is a wonderful concept. I'm a big fan of the idea that there is a day dedicated to the moms of the world, that honor them for the hard work that they do, at a job that requires them to be on duty, every minute of every day of every year, 'til death they do part. But the greatest gift is having a happy baby, one that loves his mom abundantly and unconditionally, the way she loves him. And I have that! What a lucky mom I am.
Happy Mother's Day!
Last Saturday was a beautiful day here in Northwest Arkansas - in the seventies, clear skies, slight breeze. Ideal weather for a date in the park, eh? Well, Alex was the one with the date. Timothy and I just went to chaperone because A isn't allowed to date on his own 'til he's married. And maybe not even then. His date, Lucy, just turned a year old and is the daughter of our friends, Robert and Aimee. Aimee (pronounced M.A., which is French for "loved") and I have been meaning to get the kids together for...about eight months now, and finally we made plans for a playdate in the park. Right in the nick of time, eh?We started things off at the swings, which, for some reason, I don't have any pictures of...Oh yeah, Tim had the camera. That 'splains it. The kids started looking a little green after about fifteen minutes of swinging, so we took them out and sat 'em on the grass to get better acquainted. Apparently, the "getting to know you" process for babies goes a something like this:Staring...
...finger counting...yup, all there...
...forehead rubbing...
...and if all goes well, it ends with hugs...
...and they crawl off into the sunset together.
Well, really, they crawled off to the sand together. It was Alex's first up and close encounter with sand, and he was pretty fascinated.
Unfortunately, his fascination led to him throwing sand at Lucy's face (which, to be fair, she was also doing to him), so we quickly nixed that idea and moved the party back to the grass, where more unusual friendly-gesturing ensued.
Like nose-picking...
...more forehead rubbing...
...and head patting.
What I neglected to capture on film, mostly because I'm not psychic, was that Alex stood up on his own for at least five seconds. FIVE SECONDS!! I know that doesn't sound like very long, but when you're talking about a baby standing, it really is! Seriously, close your eyes, picture Alex standing by himself, on the grass in the middle of the park, and count to five. ONE one thousand, TWO one thousand, THREE one thousand, FOUR one thousand, FIVE one thousand. See!? That's a long time! And I have a feeling that he could've stood longer, but we were so excited about his accomplishment that Timothy exclaimed, "Holy cow!!" and caused Alex to whip his head around, which threw off his balance and down he went. He has "let loose" on several previous occasions, but none for such an impressive length of time. I don't think walking is imminent just yet, but this certainly is a "step in the right direction"!
Finally, it was nearing dinner time and A had chosen to skip his afternoon nap that day, so he was tired and hungry and it was time to head home. For Alex, that meant making his way to the car on his hands and knees. It seems that his aversion to grass is now enjoying the Floridian sun, living in a nice retirement home, next door to his gag reflex.
In case you hadn't noticed, A's got a whole mouth full of chompers these days. His affinity for dark roast coffee makes me worry about how we're gonna keep 'em pearly white (and come to think of it, probably has something to do with his recent sleep issues), so we broke out the baby toothbrush and paste for the first time. Never having brushed someone else's teeth, let alone a baby who has no idea why I'm jabbing a brush at his mouth, I wasn't sure what the best method of attack should be.
The most sensible approach probably would've been to have Timothy hold him while I attempted the brushing, but then who would take the pictures? So I sat him up on the bathroom counter, where flying spittle would require little clean up. Problem was, I only had one free hand to hold him still and make sure he didn't fall over, and I really needed both hands to pry his mouth open and stick the brush in.
So the second dumbest idea I had was to lay him down on the counter. Even if he squirmed, he probably wouldn't fall off the counter with me in the way, and I had two free hands to work with. Dumb as it may sound, it worked! He didn't mind the brushing really, although he made a funny face when he tasted the fruity bubblemint toothpaste (better than it sounds).
I think I managed to clean each of his six teeth, so Operation Bright Smile seemed to be a success. But I'll let you be the judge. Hey Alex, show 'em what you're working with!
We've hit a bit of a rough patch with Alex's sleeping lately. On a couple of occasions, he has refused his afternoon nap and then has woken up during the night, unable to go back to sleep despite our efforts to soothe him back down. I suspect that separation anxiety may have something to do with it because he has been a little more clingy than usual and often gets upset when his dad or I leave the room. I'm hoping it's a short-lived phase because I'm freaking out a little, and with everything going on right now, I could live without one more thing to freak out about. The most stressful thing is not knowing for sure why he's doing it, and therefore, not knowing the best way to deal with it...Dangit, I thought I was done having to troubleshoot for a while. I guess that's how things with kids go though, eh? The fact that you think you finally have them figured out, and then they're all, "Guess again, Mom. How 'bout some random midnight hissy fits to keep you on your toes?" Sigh.
The good news is, he always falls asleep eventually, and when he wakes up, he is so sweet and cute and wonderful that I can ignore the ulcer he's given me and look forward to a new day.
Oh, and our next challenge to tackle - getting A to stop sharing his food with Murph. Yeeeah, I'm thinking there's a good chance that'll be harder than trying to solve his sleep issues...
Am I the only mother out there who is constantly on the verge of a Lennie Small moment? I love Alex so much, sometimes I just want to grab him, stroke his hair, and squeeze him 'til his head pops off. Is this normal? Just thought I'd ask...
So I thought nine months seemed like a significant milestone, but for some reason, the fact that Alex is ten months old now is sort of blowing my mind. I mean, we're talking double digits now. I must move on before I think about it too much and trigger a panic attack...
Size: We won't have another well-child visit until a year, so we will all have to hold out until then to find out his official stats. But my aching biceps tell me that he is indeed growing. Not too much, however, since he hasn't outgrown any of his clothes this past month. He's still in size four shoes and size four diapers, although his overnights are no longer pulling their weight. On many mornings, I have pulled him out of his crib and hugged him hello, only to realize that my sweet baby has left a layer of sweet baby pee-pee all over my shirt. I really don't think size fives are the answer, although I've made that mistake before...
He is still pretty indiscriminate about what he will eat, but he has demonstrated an obvious affinity for a few things.
He's never tried chicken nuggets - we are trying to delay the introduction of typical (though often unhealthy) "kiddie fare" like nuggets and fries - but he loves Boca's breaded "chicken" patties, aka breaded "chicken-flavored tofu" patties. I know, I know, how cruel to deprive a child of such pleasurable things as chicken nuggets, and further, to force him to eat such horrific things as poultry-impersonating bean curd. But he can't get enough of the stuff, grabs it up by the fistfuls, and will be gagging on the two pieces he's already crammed into his mouth while he attempts to stuff in a third.
Generally, he still takes 2 naps - one at 9 and one between and 1:30. Lately, he's been going to bed closer to 7:30 than 7, and he has been waking up around 6:30am on most days. Of course, the morning that I was up at 6am to prepare for my garage sale, he decided to sleep until 7:40. The nerve!!
Physical/cognitive milestones: The biggest change this month would have to be his increased vocal development. In other words, he talks non-stop these days. He is constantly experimenting with new sounds, new volumes, new pitches, new consonants, vowels, and syllables. Ma-ma, da-da, and ba-ba are regular fixtures in his vocabulary, but lately, he has added (what we interpret as) "hi", "bye-bye", and "baby".
He loves to imitate what we do and say, which has been so much fun. His favorite game is to shake his head back and forth and then wait for one of us to imitate him. Instead, we usually respond by nodding instead of shaking, so perfecting his nod has become his newest challenge. He waves hello and goodbye, and he claps when he sees someone else clapping, when he hears applause on the TV, or sometimes, when he just feels like it.
He is an especially curious boy and takes so much pleasure in exploring new things. To find him playing with a toy these days is a rarity - he'd rather get into all the no-nos because, let's face it, they're usually much more interesting.
He is always on the move, although he still shows little interest in walking. He crawls to get where he wants to go, he pulls up on everything, cruises, and he'll climb anything that's in his way, so I have a feeling he has no use for walking just yet. I think his philosophy at this point may be, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I'm sure there will come a day soon when he's ready to move on to bigger and better things, and that's a day I don't think I'm quite ready for.
He laughs more now than in all of his previous months put together, overjoyed by even the smallest amount of attention. He is quite the performer, and if we laugh along with him, he hams it up even more. I mean, this kid defines the word "personality".
When he is not laughing and playing, he is usually cuddled up on my or Timothy's lap, with his sweet head nestled into our shoulders. He has never been much of a cuddler, so I'm wondering if that's how his separation anxiety has ended up playing out. If so, then it's a win-win situation for all of us because we could cuddle with our precious, darling boy all day long.
