Tuesday, December 14, 2010

More to note at 11 months

I had a lady at the grocery store ask me today if you were 8 months. That's a first, usually people guess older. I also got the bazillionth comment on how nicely shaped your head is. Whenever people see pictures of you as a baby they assume I had a C section since your noggin was and is so round. Just lucky I guess!

Yesterday your right bottom lateral incisor finally made it's appearance. I suppose that might explain why you were so fussy there for a few days. That's a total of 6 teeth you have now. Not that you need them, you can "chew" just about anything with your gums these days.

You LOVE to run around naked. You've got kind of a nasty little case of diaper rash right now so I've been trying to let you run around in your birthday suit as much as possible, and you could not be happier. You prance from room to room laughing and giggling like there was nothing more fun in the world.

You love to move items from place to place. You started by always emptying everything - drawers, cupboards, bins, etc. Now you will occasionally put things back. Not always in the correct places but sometimes. I do get a good laugh when I open up a drawer in the kitchen and find one of your toys there.

You are far more attached to your pacifier than I ever thought you would be. You still get it at night when we put you to bed, and during naps. You've gotten really good at finding it by yourself during the night when you wake up. But when you can't find it, or you can't reach it because you've tossed it out of the crib - watch out! Get the earplugs 'cuz you'll be screaming bloody murder.

You love riding in the shopping cart at the grocery store, mainly in the parking lot. I guess it's the vibration of the cart running across the pavement but you get the biggest smile on your face like it's the most fun you've ever had. I have to be careful where I park the cart during checkout because whatever you can reach goes on the floor. Oh, and the other day you exploded a jar of hoisin sauce right on the floor of Safeway. Cleanup on aisle 15! I never thought I'd get to say that and really mean it. I was mortified of course and you were oblivious.

You seem to be sleeping a little better at night with your blankets. But it also could be because that tooth came through. We'll see I guess.

Only 10 more days until your first Christmas! I think you might be getting a new car seat, since it's officially time to retire your infant one. Today I weighed you and you were 22.8lbs. Only about 1 lb to go and you'll be triple your birth weight. You are one sturdy little boy.

That's all. Hopefully tomorrow we can finish up your calendar shoot and I can post some more pictures!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Seth 11 Months

Dear Seth,

Today you are 11 months old. One more month and you'll be A YEAR OLD! What the heck? Seriously it just seems like the year has flown by faster than any other year in my life. Almost exactly one year ago (Dec 13th '09) I packed my bags for the hospital because the next morning we were going in for your ECV, since you were all cattywampus in my ute. Well, that's not exactly accurate... cattywampus technically means "askew" which would really seem to indicate that you were just slightly out of position, when in fact you were completely upside down, but I digress - just a little trivia for you. This is important because you have been born into a family of word nerds and will be mocked mercilessly if you use a word incorrectly. But I'm sure you never will because you are going to be brilliant, like me.

Now, this picture isn't going to win you any Gerber baby awards I'm sure, but I wanted to post it so the world can see your two top teeth coming in. Your teeth make me very nervous, my little angel. When I look at them I see dollar $ign$ and the Lexus that I'll be buying for your future orthodontist.



Now, I know that having crooked baby teeth does not always lead to crooked adult teeth... but... your mama worries.

You are getting so big and strong. Over the last month or so you had discovered how much fun it is to go shake the baker's rack and listen to the cocktail glasses clink against each other. So you started to hear what will surely be your first word - "NO!" Eventually I took the glasses down to reduce the temptation. Well then you just started shaking it harder and this past week you almost got your first spanking because you were hauling on that thing SO hard we thought you might pull it down on top of yourself. It only weighs about a bazillion pounds and has two dozen liquor bottles on it. Ultimately it was decided that you are too young for spankings and the thing needed to be bolted to the wall anyway. Problem solved. Now you go over there, grab it, and turn around to see who's looking. There's no doubt that you know you're not supposed to.



You love the cats. Sometimes I think you'll give yourself whiplash trying to turn around in your high chair to see what they're up to. I'm trying to teach you how to pet Max gently but so far your motor skills are only refined enough to grip tightly on his ears or fur. He is EXCEEDINGLY patient with you though and I have never worried about you getting scratched. Buttercup just stays far, far away from you but has recently claimed the changing station from your pack and play as her own personal air mattress.



You are still extremely independent and have not shown any signs of separation anxiety. Last week when we picked you up from the church nursery one of the girls said "oh, yours is the one that doesn't care whether you are here or not." I'm pretty sure if I set you down in a department store you would be that kid who just wanders off to explore without a care in the world. You may never turn around to make sure Mom or Dad is still there. You walk vs. crawl now at least 95% of the time and you can walk FAST, almost run. We finally got you some shoes last week and they are so cute! At first when Daddy tried some shoes on you in the store you refused to walk in them but now it's like you've been wearing them all your life.



You wave bye-bye pretty well on command now. When you first figured it out you were waving at everyone, including strangers, so enthusiastically. Now it's almost seemed to become a bed or nap time cue. If you're tired and I pick you up, you start waving, even if no one is there to wave at. But yesterday when we dropped you off with Grandpa and Nana you did wave to daddy and I as we were leaving, it was so cute!



Last night daddy gave you a bath for the first time since you were so small you couldn't even hold your head up. You thanked him by pooping in the water. Hee hee.

You have had a rough week in terms of sleep. Your room for some reason stays several degrees colder than the rest of the house. I can't figure it out. So I think you are probably just waking up because you are cold, even in fleece pajamas and a fleece sleep sack over that. Last night was the worst and you were up crying off and on for what seemed like hours, and clearly exhausted all day today. A couple of times I have been so tempted to bring you in to sleep with us at night but that is a dangerous game. I think tonight I'm going to put a blanket on you before I go to bed. Don't tell the AAP, but it's either that or a space heater, so I think a blanket is the lesser of two evils. So we'll see how that goes. On good nights you sleep from 6pm until 7 or 8am, hopefully we can get back to that soon. I've grown to love my 7 hour stretches.



I am trying to put together a Seth themed photo calendar for all the family members this year for Christmas, so we had a little photo shoot today. You were pretty grumpy from the aforementioned lack of sleep, so there were a few interesting outtakes. In hindsight I am actually pretty impressed with how patient you were with all the wardrobe changes. I took 86 pictures and we still have 6 months to go!

ONE MORE MONTH until your birthday. I'm happy to report that you have not had any formula since you were 5 days old and one of the nurses in the NICU slipped you some against our wishes. Whew! I am not going to lie, I am more than ready to be done breastfeeding but you sure can't beat the price tag. You have been a real trooper and I'm grateful that we have had minimal issues over the last 10 months or so. You've even kept those teeth in check for the most part, although I've definitely felt a nibble once or twice.

That's all I can think of for now. No monkey pictures today, I thought you needed a break from the camera after our calendar work. But maybe I'll try for one later in the week. Love you buddy, you're my favorite!

Love,
Mama