10 months

Nathan will be a year old in 2 months! Can you believe it?



So what's the little turkey up to? Lots! Here's what he's accomplished in the last month.

New Foods: Quinoa, mandarin oranges, grilled cheese sandwiches, lime Popsicles, grape jell-o, hot sauce, dog food (yep, sad, but true), macaroni and cheese, goldfish, animal crackers, kidney beans, pinto beans, biscuit, chicken tenders, lemonade, brussel sprouts, baby guacamole (yogurt, avocado, crushed cheerios, and garlic), rotisserie chicken, and cheesecake pudding. He also likes apple juice now (diluted with 2/3 water).

Growth: Nathan has only gained 2.5 ounces this month and he's grown a half inch! He's currently 22 pounds 15 ounces and 28.5 inches tall! His pants are a little big in the waist, and his belly isn't so round anymore. All this crawling and cruising and climbing is wearing off that baby fat!

New Signs: ball, dog, book, light, help. Sometimes they all look like "more" but he knows the difference and expects that we do too!

New Sounds and Words: still stuck on the "b" sound, clicking his tongue, makes a "g" sound.

Language and Communication: In the last month, particularly the last 2 weeks, Nathan's understanding of language is taking off. He can identify many objects now and points to them or finds them when asked... fan, light, dog, Bailey, ball, book, baby, and zebra. He loves to point to pictures and listen to you name them. He gets his Baby's First 100 words book off the shelf and will open it and sit down and point to pictures. So precious. He's also learning that his hands can communicate and that's really helping him not be so frustrated.

Games/Play: loves peek a boo, being chased, chasing, tickling, being upside down, and looking at books. He's giving great high fives these days as well. Nathan loves wheels, steering wheels, balls, books with texture, zippers, buckles, and blankets. He plays independently for long periods of time... in the big playroom, where he also loves to pull up on the banister, making it an unsafe (unsupervised) area... so we're working on him playing independently in a play yard (baby jail). He's not so fond of it, but we're up to about 10 minute intervals which is just enough time for me to take a shower, fold clothes and put them up, vacuum, or just take a breather. I love that he entertains himself so well in the big playroom though. He will spend an easy hour playing with his trucks, balls, pulling the books off the shelves to find his favorites and then looking at them, climbing on his busy box, pushing toys. It's so fun to sit back and watch him discover his world, or jump right into his world and discover it again through the eyes of a 10 month old!

Movement: Nathan is crawling every where and can now crawl under and over things pretty well. Although he's all over the place, he spends more time on his feet than his knees. He can get to a standing position using almost anything, including a flat surface. He cruises around our kitchen, the living room, and the playroom with ease. He's learned to open cabinets as well! That's brought new "fun" into our kitchen time! He also loves to do the "wheelbarrow". Remember when someone would pick up your feet and you'd walk on your arms? Well Nathan can go about 30 feet that way and thinks it's so funny. I'm amazed that he has the arm strength, but he does!

Temperament: The 9th month has made us familiar with the "mini fit" and we usually see it when the little man is tired. Although the last week has been much better, getting dressed for bed, changing his diaper, and sitting still have brought about a few mini fits. We're working through them and have seen that Nathan responds really well to a calm yet firm voice. He understands so much more than we realize and it's wonderful that he's listening and following directions! He's still as social as they come. He has no trouble lighting up a room, smiling at anyone, and usually he'll let anyone hold him. He transitions perfectly into and out of the nursery at church, as well as with a sitter. Occasionally, he has a little separation anxiety when I "disappear" behind the island in the kitchen. Usually, he's as easy going as they come! He wants to play with the big boys though. He watches them on their bikes and playing in the yard and he wants to get down and go with them. He kicks his legs and goes "ooo" "oooo" trying to get to them. If we put him down, he goes straight for their bikes. One day he'll ride one, but for now I'm enjoying my sweet snuggly baby boy!

Teeth: Nathan got his first tooth on Sept 11. The second one came in Sunday night and they are both on the bottom. I think he's working on a few more because the chewing hasn't stopped. We've added teeth brushing into our night time routine too.

Sleep: Same sleep schedule... 730p to 730a, nap 10-12 and 3-5. He has recently begun to play in his crib when he wakes up and that's a beautiful thing! If he wakes up at 645, he'll play until I go and get him at 730. It's so wonderful to feel like I'm the one in control of the timing of the nap! He still goes down great as well and is so easy when it comes to sleep. Thank you Jesus!

Injury: We have had our first few injuries this month. The mobility is increasing faster than the stability and it's resulted in a few head on collisions with things like book cases, chairs, and the floor. He also cut his finger badly a few weekends ago - he grabbed a soda can and his finger happened to go right into the hole. Yuck. After a few days it healed up though. Then a few days after that, Nathan discovered one of his friends had teeth like mom and dad and he wanted to touch them. Well, his friend thought his finger was food and bit the fool out of his little thumb. For about a day and a half, he wouldn't use the thumb (next to the cut finger), so he learned to eat with his left hand! All is better now though!

Weaning from paci and bottle... this will be a long process, but we're down to just one bottle a day, sometimes 2 bottles. He's drinking his formula out of a sippy cup very well, much to our surprise. Hopefully by Oct, he'll be down to one bottle all the time, and maybe none at all. Then comes our next challenge, taking the paci during nap and sleep. I think we'll take it during naps first. Then again, we've really enjoyed it while he's been teething. It helps to cut down on the drool and gives him something to chew on! Hmmmmm... we'll have to think about that!

Enough text, how about some pictures and video!

We've resurrected an old friend... the jumperoo. Although he never learned to jump in it, it does safely contain, occupy, and entertain him for 5-10 minutes! He still loves the sunshine, just like when he was really little!

In the jumperoo for the first time at 16 weeks


He is thrilled to see Bailey, follows her around, takes her toys, chews on her collar, plays with her dog tags, crawls in her bed, squeals when he sees her... oh my goodness. This relationship between a boy and his dog is growing stronger by the day. Bailey enjoys him too. She likes to lay in the playroom while he's playing and she often follows him around, stealing a kiss every now and then. She is quick to come to him if he cries and she is so gentle and patient. AMAZING!

Here are some cute pics of their daily encounters





And a little video


Now, I'm not a big fan of kids watching tv or videos for extended periods of time, or even every day. In fact, we try to limit Nathan's tv viewing to as little as possible. I admit, most mornings, we watch a few minutes of the weather channel together. And, in moments where I just need to unload the dishwasher without "help" and water the tree in the back yard that was just planted, Baby Einstein is a great for a few moments! Nathan loves those DVD's and we let him watch either that or praise baby about once or twice a week... from the pack and play. He stands the whole time and talks back to the animals and laughs at the babies and plays peek a boo with them too. As a parent, those few moments are priceless...


Monday, Nathan learned how to "help" me unload the dryer!


First pair of real shoes... what a milestone.

Over the weekend, we decided it was time to get Nathan some shoes. He wants to play with the kids outside and the tops of his feet aren't tough enough to withstand the concrete... not to mention there's all kinds of construction debris, even in the yards. So, we went on a mission to find him some good shoes. So, when you're a first time parent and you don't know any better, where do you go for shoes? Well, Stride Rite of course! So we went, and waited for a while and then were informed we had to sign in! Thankfully that store is packed with toys and kids and Nathan had a blast. He's been wearing Target's version of Robeez every now and then, and we thought he was currently in a size 2...or maybe a 3. Can't remember. Anyway, the professionals at Stride Rite measured my baby boy and then brought out the right size in the shoe we'd picked. IT LOOKED LIKE A BOAT! Not a size 2, or 3, or even 4. Folks, the boy wears a 5 DOUBLE WIDE! Can you believe it? He certainly doesn't have my narrow and petite feet! My eyes welled up with tears when she put those shoes on him. My baby looked all grown up. Don't you agree?


Now, although I loved the look he had on Sunday ("Calvin Klein himself" is what our neighbor called him)... wearing jeans (instead of knit pants) and having rubber boats on your feet makes crawling and cruising a little more difficult... so for the rest of the weekend and on Monday, we put him in leggings... yes leggings. Carter's sells them and says they are for boys. Hmmm, with the shoes, they just look silly. At least they stay up above the shoe!



Standing on a sturdy (and lengthy) foundation

So there you have it... my baby's first pair of shoes, officially documented!

These pictures don't need words





Nathan learned to point to things this past weekend. He also discovered there is a baby on his yogurt container... see?


Smiling, signing and saying more (although he signs it below the camera lens- but waits patiently with his arms folded for another crack puff), pooping, growling, and doing his famous finger feeding (only famous to us... instead of using his pincer grasp, he grabs it with his whole hand and then does this funny thing with his hand to push the food up to the space in between his thumb and forefinger... doesn't work well with things like tofu and fish!

Nathan showing off a bit... finding the light and signing light, finding the ball... and then when I asked him to sign ball, he played dumb, but that's one of his favorites!


The smiling face I wake up to each and every morning


Demo of his stair climbing abilities... I filmed this with the camera propped on top of my shoe and have to climb back down the stairs to turn it off... so I didn't let him go all the way, but he sure will!


Pulling up , standing, and playing with the lights and music (he now knows where the on/off button is)

That's all for now.