Nobody puts baby in a trash can...
That being said, I don't really have baby fever because I want to relish in the time I have left with my baby before he can officially no longer be called a baby, but instead a toddler. Which is practically around the corner because homeboy is 2 months shy of being a 1 year old. A ONE YEAR OLD! Holy Sh!t -- where's the Tylenol?!
Moving on...
Life is amazing through the eyes of a child...
How Old is Nick: As of today, Nick is 10 months and 5 days.
Stats: I'm guessing he's still about the same size as he was at his 9 month check up. He seems to be getting longer though, because all of his 9 month pants are officially high waters. He's mostly wearing all 12 month clothes, including jammies. 12-18 month stuff fits fairly well, so long as we roll up the sleeves or roll down the waist of his pants. Though the babysitter just prefers to hike them up around his chest. He's wearing size 4 diapers still, and we recently purchased a pack of Pampers overnight diapers which was the best purchase to date. I was double diapering him, which helped control his nightly leaks, but these overnight diapers (combined with some great advice we recently received to "point the penis down when diapering" -- how did I not know that before??) have essentially eliminated all night time leaks. This is HUGE. No more daily sheet changes! Woo hoo!
"Mama's not paying attention, is she?"
Sleep: I am so afraid to post anything for fear of messing up a good thing. But I *think* we have finally...after nearly 10 months of unpredictable sleep...mastered Nick's routine, and solved the sleep problem. Nick is now sleeping from approximately 7:30pm - 7:00am, occasionally waking for a quick cry, but not every night. When he does wake up for a quick cry, sometimes I'll let him try to cry it out, but for no more than 20 minutes. At the end of that 20 minutes, I'll go in, lay him back down (because now he stands up and faces the door to cry -- knowing what a sucker I am), rub his back, tell him he's a good boy and he needs to go back ni-night, and then leave while he's still awake. And so far, 99% of the time, he has gone right back to sleep. A couple of times I have watched him on the monitor as he sits up, looks around for a few minutes, and then lays back down. This is amazing to me because I know that he now knows how to put himself back to sleep. This is HUGE progress in our house. Don't get me wrong -- we've gone weeks with Nick sleeping through the night before...but most of those weeks were just sheer luck. Now I feel confident in saying Nick is sleep trained. Plus the 2 tablespoons of rice cereal added to his night time bottle, and the prevention of bed-wetting are good contributing factors to keeping him asleep at night. But regardless of how it happened, I am thrilled by my now good sleeper and greatly appreciate the sleep I'm getting as well!
First Johnny Rockets experience -- a huge success!
Milestones: Aside from crawling all over the place, Nick has now mastered pulling up on anything. And boy does he hate to be on the ground. If there's something nearby to grab hold of and pull himself to standing, he will. Which is uber scary for me, because often he will mistake something not-so-stable for a solid standing point and end up losing his footing and inevitably bonking his head on the floor. You know -- the kid friendly hard wood floors we have throughout our first floor. Awesome. I'm considering making him wear a helmet until his balance is better. He's also become a chatting machine. I still don't think he associates any words with anything -- and pretty much the only word he says is da-da...but he says it ALL the time. Not just around Todd. I've been constantly saying ma-ma to him, but he just doesn't seem interested in saying it. Boo. He loves to giggle and laugh and scream...particularly in public places. And he's mastered clapping, though he doesn't seem to understand appropriate times to clap. He's also just about mastered giving high-fives, which is fun...although it's not so fun when he high fives your face. Which he loves to do.
"mmm...pancakes"
Food/Appetite: He's now eating just about anything, though he still prefers homemade food over pre-made stuff (like any of the Gerber toddler/finger foods -- he'll eat them, but gets tired of them pretty quickly). He loves spaghetti, toast/bread of any kind, chicken, cheese, yogurt, and anything you give him off of your own plate. He prefers eating his meals at a crowded table. If I try to feed him dinner by himself, he gets bored quickly and fusses, cries, and refuses to eat. But plop him down in a high chair around a table full of adults also eating a meal, and little man is happy as a clam. He'll eat whatever is put in front of him, and he won't stop until you literally are prying the food out of his tight little grip. He recently made his first kids menu selection (well mommy made it for him) and had a grilled cheese sandwich at Sweetwater. And he loved it! Although how could you not love buttered toasted bread with melted cheese smushed in the middle? He's also doing pretty well with the sippy cup, and seems to prefer his formula from the sippy during meals, as opposed to the bottle. Though he does still love his nightly bottle. I'm planning to introduce him to juice this weekend by immensely watering some down in his sippy cup. I have a feeling he'll enjoy it.
"This grilled cheese is delicious...but a little tough to chew..."
Oherwise Nick continues to be a complete joy to be around. He is the happiest baby I've ever known and still has yet to meet a stranger. He'll let anyone hold him, and just loves attention. He beams from ear to ear after he sneezes, and cracks up if you sneeze back at him. His feet, armpits and right under his chin are super ticklish and he'll squeal with delight if you take a minute to tickle him. He loves any toys that light up, make noise, and do something interesting, and he could spend hours on end playing with my iPhone or the TV remote. He's taking more of an interest to Whinnie and will hold on to her if he can get close enough to grab her. He loves to give kisses, but they turn into bites which is something we're working on.
Telling Daddy how excited he is to see Santa!
Nick went to see Santa at Merrifield Garden Center (which will be a post all its own), and was in awe of the whole event. He didn't cry once, and in fact spent most of the time on Santa's lap smiling and staring at Santa's beard.
Santa! I know him!
Every day with our little guy amazes us more, and every day I can't believe how long it's been since we brought home a tiny lump of baby that we had no idea what to do with. That lump has since transformed into the most amazing little life, with so much personality and a true pension for making everyone he comes in contact with smile. We are truly blessed to be his parents. This year for Christmas, I don't need a thing, because with Todd and Nick, I truly have everything I could ever want or need.
Life is good.
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