Sunday, April 5, 2009

Growing Boy

The past few weeks have seriously been trying. My baby is teetering on the infant/toddler line. As I have mentioned (way too many times) the past few weeks have presented challenges I was not at all prepared for. Mobility, Language, Comprehension, Independence and more surprising changes.


Mobility - Whoa can this boy move when he wants to. He is crawling and pulling up on everything like he has been but he has added using furniture/stationary objects or people to move around the room. He stood w/o holding onto something a few times. But just a split second. Today, He tried to take steps while letting go of my hands to run/lunge at his granddaddy. He was leaning too far over and toppled. If it wasn't for his leaning too far over while attempting to walk, he would master this quicker. I am not rushing this, though.


Language - MT is not really saying words. He is still very vocal through sounds, raspberries, and laughter. Every now and again, we hear Da da da. Mu mmum uumm is in his cries now. We think he is trying to say Kitty. He makes a certain word sound that sort of sounds like Kitty when he sees one of ours. We also told him the Easter Bunny was a Big Kitty. I am pretty sure that is what made him not afraid! He was petting the Easter Bunny's arm like he tries to do to our cats. His favorite noise is still Boooh boooob, booop, booouuugh. Anything Bah related. He makes this very deep noises too. We think he said "Hi" again to my Mother tonight.


Comprehension - The boy has finally learned NO. This.Is. a very big deal. He actually stops whatever he is doing at the time I say no. Mostly. Not 100%. I don't think it's ever 100% so I will take what I can get for now. Atleast, I know he understands. He also understands the words Go, Bye bye, hungry, and bottle. He has been waving for weeks now, just never at the appropriate time. This weekend's development, When someone says bye bye to him or we ask him to wave bye bye, He waves. Makes my heart swoon. Yesterday - He just got the sippy cup. It's like a light bulb went off and it just clicked. He downed a whole sippy of water with lunch today. Que the Hallelujah praise chorus. I will admit, I was stressing over this. I know it's petty, but It's liquid intake. I am beaming! Needless to say - this weekend has been THE weekend for huge developments.


Independence - MT has decided that he is all grown up and no longer requires assistance while eating. He has decided it's time for him to hold his own bottle. YAH! Sometimes, he does like if I lift on the bottom. Other times, He wants my hand no where near the bottle. Another thing that we are going through, He is wanting to feed himself. With.His.Fingers. This makes mealtimes somewhat stressful and extremely messy. Stressful because if you do not have enough finger foods for him to do it by himself, he will not eat. He locks his jaws tighter than Fort Knox if he doesn't get to do it. If you put the food in his mouth, he will spit it out, pick it up and do it himself! So we have added new foods. I made black beans from dried beans the other day, peeled Chick peas, butter beans, blueberries, cheese, banana, apples, grapes, crackers. Anything he can pick up and cram in. Needless to say, his aim isn't perfected. He also likes to use his hair/head has a napkin . Fantastic ...... What other finger foods are you feeding lil ones?


Surprising Changes - He is rearranging his nap/sleep schedule again. Which means we are changing bottle times also. This started a week ago. He did this around 6 months too. While this happens, It takes a few weeks to get things flowing smoothly again. Because not every day resembles a pattern until we figure out what works best. Some days he now wants to continue with his current sleeping routine of taking 2-3 20-30 min naps, mid morning, mid afternoon, and mid evening nap. (on a good day) But Now, He seems to be trying to move towards wanting to stay awake longer in the morning and having his first nap after lunch. Somewhere in the ball park of 12:30- 1:30ish. This nap has been running about 40 mins -1 hr (more so 45 mins). Then an afternoon nap around 5 ish. Bedtime has moved up to 7:30-8:00pm. Waking up anywhere after 7:30-8:30 am. The only thing that seems to be consistent lately is being ready for bed around 7:30-8pm. We are working through this new nap development to determine what works best for everyone.

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23 comments:

Jennifer said...

I haven't commented in a while, but I"ve been reading. Boy, is he getting so big! The little guy in the last picture almost looks like a handsome little BOY instead of baby... it goes too quickly, doesn't it? :( Still, what exciting new developments! It's so much fun, at the same time :)

As for finger foods, my girls (just a few weeks behind, if I remember correctly) eat pretty much what we're eating at lunch and dinner. Aside from things like PB/nuts, strawberries, etc (things they aren't supposed to have yet), they just do the finger feeding of small bites of pretty much our meals. They LOVE it! We'll often add baby food on top if they don't seem to take in enough (or if we need to boost fruits, veggies, etc). It's been messy, but so much fun! Good luck!

Mommy Shoes said...

He is just too darn cute!

T-Mommy said...

OMG!... It doesn't get any cutter than this.

Honestly.

Barb said...

It amazes me your ability to take every day things about your sweet baby and make them so interesting to us observers. (and not even ordinary observers.. IF hardened baby jealous observers) How do you DO it? I want some to rub off on me! :)

HereWeGoAJen said...

He's gorgeous!

I saw a recipe for homemade teething biscuits the other day, if you want it.

Mazzy said...

Holy crap, what a BIG BOY. OMG when did he get so big, seriously?! I cannot believe all the stuff he is doing now, he seems way advanced for his age, doesn't he?! I know babies all develop at different ages, but wow. Awesome. The thought of my baby walking and talking is already making me tear up... you are strong, mama.
*hugs*

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful, handsome, awesomely sippy-cup-drinking little fella!!!!!

RBandRC said...

He is SO HANDSOME!!! My goodness! YAY for learning "No." Lemy just looks at me and smiles when I say it. I've been baking sweet potatoes, apples, pears, and peaches for Lemy and she likes everything except the peaches. I've also given her squished peas and will be moving on to squished blueberries tomorrow. I'd like to try cheese and beans, but I don't know if I can make dried beans...seems complicated. We'll see though! :P

Thank you for sharing--I love MT updates!!!

Anonymous said...

He is growing and changing so quickly!

Confessions of a momaholic said...

wow!!! i just caught up on all the lastest developments. amazing how much they change and are able to do in such a short amount of time. it goes too quickly!!! he is so freakin adorable.

Courtney said...

He looks so big in these pictures! And those blue eyes...they are spectacular.

Adriane said...

Love the new pics. He is such a cutie!!! The mobility SCARES me!! I can't believe how big he is.

We haven't started finger foods yet. Thanks for posting a list of what you've tried.

Anonymous said...

D just laughs at us when we say no, he thinks its a joke! How did you get him to understand no?

Geohde said...

Mobility is what's got me at t the moment. That and two tempers :)

g

Photogrl said...

Yay for getting the sippy cup! :)

Oh, and he's starting to look like a little boy...so big!

Kathy said...

He sure is a growing boy, looking less and less like a baby and more and more like a little boy!

I know how challenging those transitional times can be, especially when they effect eating and sleeping patterns. (((HUGS)))

That last picture of MT is beyond adorable!!! What a cutie pie!!! I could just eat him up! :)

Kate said...

He is getting SO big! I wish Luke would be more of an independent eater...

Unknown said...

Wow he sure is a growing boy!!! Ausi pretty much demands to hold his own bottle unless he is extremely tired.

I love this pictures of him...way too cute.

Heidi said...

What a cutie! What a smile!

ms. c said...

Ok! The most delscious kid in the world. Seriously!

Oy! It's so hard when they start rearrangin the naps! It just sets everything topsy-turvey. I wish you luck.

As for the eating: the using the hair as a npking thing??!! I just had to laugh. Sacha is a BIG FAN of that.

I pretty much give Sacha ANYTHING he wants to eat, cut up into little pieces. Somethings are harder to crew up than others, so I try try try to be patient and give us enough time to have a meal! You can try: chicken, salmon (from a can or baked however you would eat it), toast cut into small squares (Sacha loves toast with melted cheese on it), avacado, carrot cut up into little piecs, potato and sweet potato cut into cubes... pretty much anything that you would make as baby food but cut into pieces, not pureed. I cook veggies, cut them into meal-size chunks) and put them on a cookie sheet in the freezer. When they are frozen, I trasfer them to a ziplock, and I defrost and cut into smaller pieces as needed.

Ooo... another favorite is that I have started making chicken balls that have veggies chopped up in them. I freeze them and then defrost 1-2 for a meal. If you want the recipe, let me know. Meat balls would also be good! Basicall anything that you can make in a big batch and then freeze individully...

ms. c said...

Just thought of a few more:
Egg yolk of a hard boiled egg, or scrambled eggs (or scrambled eggs with cheese), pasta, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries (though they are not supposed to have them before 1 or something, I didn't know that when I first gave them to Sacha!)

(Sorry for the typos in the previous comment!)

C said...

I'm WAY behind on reading, but I just thought I'd add my 2 cents:-) You could do peaches, pears, and kiwi? Granted, a little slippery, but hey, it'll keep him entertained:-)

Love the pics, and I can't wait to meet him hopefully in October!

Amanda said...

When did you get that cute little blonde toddler? Didn't you used to have a cute little red-headed baby? He's changed so much!!!

So many developments! I'm so glad that he finally got the sippy cup. I know that was stressing you. I hope to see a video of him waving soon (hint hint)! :-)