10 Months

Here's a general update about what our boy is doing these days as he turns 10 months old.

Food:  He's still a big fan of most food. Favorites include carrots, winter squash, sweet potatoes (pretty much anything orange), peas and brown rice (yuck), and spinach and potatoes. He'll pretty much eat anything, but I suspect that he's not as big a fan of bananas. Which of course the baby food people like to mix with just about everything. I could be wrong though. We've also become a big fan of puffs lately as he can be distracted by a few of those for about as long as it takes us to eat dinner. His pincer grasp is getting really good now, so it's fun to watch him poke them around.

Sleep: We're sleep training this week. After the croup/reflux debacle (better now with medication and time) he got into the habit of waking up every 2 hours or so throughout the night. Now that he's feeling better we have to break him of that habit so I can think straight again. It's awful to have to do, but necessary. Mom is helping while Brian's out of town, and I'm so grateful.

Play: We're at a bit of a strange spot where finding good toys is a bit of challenge. A lot of the "baby" toys are boring but he's not quite ready to do puzzles, etc. He really likes things with moving parts and pretty much anything adult, like phones, remotes, and wires. Banging is very popular. The louder the better.Also buttons and things that play music. He'll start bobbing his head and "dancing" when it comes on. He loves books, and will usually sit through a few in a stretch. He will flip through them when he's playing on his own, be still my heart.

Speech: Da-da is still his favorite thing to say, but more and more we hear him repeat something similar to what we've said either in inflection or consonants. (For example, bye-bye becomes ba-ba.) I'm not sure that actually counts as "talking" but it's definitely an effort to communicate and is pretty darn cute! He's pretty chatty once he's comfortable, but tends to clam up when he's around new people, at least for awhile.

Other: He's been a little more clingy when he's tired these days, and my favorite is when he's decided he's had enough of playing by himself and raises his arms to be picked up. Often if I just have him on my hip while I go about whatever I was doing, he's happy, so I am doing more and more one-armed cooking.

He's starting to point a lot more. Cathy likes to match up index fingers and say, "ET!"

He likes to climb all over whoever he's with. Especially out of the bathtub.

Almost 10 Months!

Nathan is almost 10 months old! I can't believe it. Our boy is just as sweet as can be these days. Especially when he's not going through a clingy moment. He's also going through a phase where when things get rough I'm just about the best thing in town. Clearly, I'm fond of that part.

Here's a slightly boring (for some people) video of what play looks like these days.

I'm already thinking of his birthday party. It's a sickness.

Mohawk

I love getting photo updates from Cathy.

3 day weekends

One of the best things about contracting to the federal government is the sheer number of holidays I get off. Most of them everyone else gets off too, but there are a few little gems in there. Columbus Day, MLK day, and of course, Washington's birthday.

Mom and Dad had bought two nights a at a local hotel during a silent auction at a fundraiser for the library and the expiration date was looming. The best part of this hotel is that it has a pool! So, they decided to make the most of it and we spent Saturday afternoon splashing around. For Nathan's first time in the "big water" it was surprisingly wonderful! There were no tears at all, and I think he actually enjoyed himself. We eventually got out, not because he was starting to lose interest, but because his lower lip was starting to shiver. The pool was warm by adult standards but a little chilly by infant ones. He even took a short nap in the bedroom of the suite while Zach and Leah spent some more time in the pool and Dad and I hung out on the couch in the sitting area. It was lovely, and Mom was great enough to take pictures.

On Sunday we did errands and generally hung out, though I got out of the house to grab coffee and go shopping with Sarah. No pictures form that but definitely a recharged battery.

On these beautiful days off I usually keep Nathan with me and spend some more quality time together, but on Monday after taking him in for a quick weight check (they wanted to make sure he recovered the weight he lost due to croup - check) I dropped him off with Cathy and took the day to run all of the errands that have built up over the last two months or so. I can't say it was glamorous, but my time at the mall to do some returns did result in me picking up a sweater for myself and new pillows for the couch, so no major complaints!

Push ups

I got to this a little late. Brian had been doing this for awhile before I started shooting. He kept starting over at one. Nathan was laughing hysterically when I grabbed the camera.

We end up in all states of disarray in this house, though this is an anomaly. Usually it's the left sock to go first.

Splashing

This doesn't really capture how excited he usually is. Once again the camera was a distraction.

Buckets and Baths

One of Nathan's things right now is not being satisfied with the toys he has in front of him if he sees other alternatives. We have some bins that we like to throw everything into when picking up. If he sees one of them, he'll scoot and wriggle over to it with great determination, pull it over, pull something out, play with it for about 10 seconds, and move onto the next. Quite the pile builds up.

Reflux update: We increased the dose of Zantac which meant he started giving us a few 2 hour stretches instead of 1. I would say it was a little better, but not enough that I was singing its praises. After 5 days of that, (I was doing my best to give it time) we requested to switch to Prevacid to see if it works any better. Even if it does, we'll have to start over with weaning him off the night feedings, which is sure to be as much fun as the first time.  Stay tuned.

Also, now that he's sitting up in the bathtub and has mastered the splash, baths have become even more fun. It's definitely a little more of a challenge to get the hard to reach spots, but he's so happy that it's worth it. I have a video that I'll post later.