10 AND 11 month update

Tyler Glenn - You are 11 months old!

11 month pics were a little harder to get...

I am determined to catch up, so I am combining your 10 and 11 month post. I feel like a slacker for not documenting better, but we are so crazy busy (what else is new), so I'm giving myself a pass this time. Spring is really always like this for us (having a big yard and pool to work on), but this year we have added you to the fun!

You are really growing! I am so anxious for you 12 month check up next week to see your height and weight and what percentile you are in now. I am betting for 50th percentile in both categories...a long way from 3rd for weight!!

At 10 months you were wearing a few 9 month things, but you have since moved on to 12 month clothes. You don't wear too many onesies any more...it's mostly pull-over-the-head shirts (which you hate!) and shorts. I really love dressing you in the little one-piece knit rompers. We have tons of those and I like sending you to daycare in them because they are easy and no matching required! We have had the hardest time finding shoes for your chubby, little feet! They are short but fat, so the smaller sizes aren't working, but the bigger ones are too big. I finally broke down and ordered some size 1 navy Sun San leather sandals (since the size 2's were too big and apparently they run big) and they fit great! You wear them every day.

We had a lot more size 3 diapers to get through than I thought, so you wore 3's almost all of your 10th month. We are now stocked up on size 4 because I think you'll be in them for a good while. Gosh, I remember looking at the size 4 diapers compared to the newborns thinking how big they were! Not anymore!

You are still a rockstar sleeper at night, going to bed between 7:30-8:00p. I get you up around 7-7:15a during the week to get you ready for daycare. Sometimes I even have to wake you  up! On the weekends you will sleep in until 7:30-8a, or sometimes even later! Yay! Nighttime routine is still the same (sippy cup, bath, pjs, books, rocking and singing with Mommy and bed) but every now and then you fuss a little bit when we put you down. I think you are just fighting sleep because you want to stay up and play! Luckily it doesn't last long before you go to sleep. We learned early on with you that once you are in your crib, the door stays shut until morning! You are quite attached to your blue satin and minky blanket when you sleep...so much so that I found an extra one for backup just in case.

I had to have a conference with the daycare director because of your lack of naps. They were only getting you down for 1 nap a day for about 30-45 minutes and that just did not cut it!!! They are trying to be more consistently, but sometimes you still only get 1, which makes you the ultimate crankapotmus when I pick you up. Ugh. Of course you take 2 naps like a champ at home on the weekends, totaling 3-4 hours.

You sleep on your belly with your knees tucked
 into your chest and your booty up in the air!

At that conference we discussed transitioning you to the 1 year old room!! You will have 2 teachers, but only one at a time (in the morning and in the afternoon). There will be 6 kids in your new class, including John Michael who will move with you. In the 1 year old room, all the babies are on the same eat, sleep, play schedule. Hooray!! Maybe that means you will nap! You will just take 1 nap a day though (and on a cot no less - no more cribs!!), but we are told that every baby sleeps 2-2 1/2 hours because it's quiet and dark. We will take it! This room also eats "family style" at table and chairs. They are working on that and the new eating schedule with you in the infant room so you'll be ready. Big changes...no cribs, highchairs, or bottles allowed!!

Lots of NEW things happened during your 10th and 11th months. Some good and some not. You are just getting older and more independent, I guess.

• The Brasfield household is now bottle free!! We transitioned you completely to sippy cups last month and haven't looked back! Just this past weekend, I have started the switch to cow's milk. We are almost out of formula and I refuse to buy anymore! Right now I give you half formula, half milk when you are at home. You still get formula at school. I am looking forward to making the full switch in a couple weeks...definitely easier and cheaper!

• You are a cruising machine!! You crawl to your destination, effortlessly pull up and speed-race around the coffee table, the kitchen island, the ottoman in your room and more. You will even go back and forth between things (like the couch and the coffee table), as long as they are close and you can hold on. You will stand on your own for a few seconds, too, though you are really quick to get back down to the floor and crawl off. You LOVE walking with help...Russ especially loves it when you hold one of his hands and walk beside him like a big boy. Maybe next month we'll have a walker??!! All this new-found freedom and independence has brought you to the stage where you try to launch yourself out of my arms without any notice so you can get down and play. That part is no fun.

• You have learned several new "tricks", including "Touchdown!", "give me 5" and waving hi/bye, none of which will you do on command. We are also practicing "up", "please" and "thank you". Every time you hand me things, I say "thank you" and you get so excited. But then you immediately want it back, so we are working on "please".

• You are making lots of new letter sounds including  n, b, s and t that I can recognize and remember. You're favorite sounds to makes is "sssss"...you love it and will laugh and smile every time. It must be fun to say! The words you are saying are still pretty basic - mama, dada, daw (dog), uh-oh, shhh.  You love to babble nonsense though all the time.

• You are a little drool machine monster lately. I keep looking for teeth to pop through, but you still have the same 6! The drool combined with the snotty-nose cold you had for many weeks earlier in the month keeps your sweet little checks all broken out, too.

• You love reading books!! We read several every night before bed. You like to help me turn the pages and hold the book. You will usually sit very still and point to all the pictures. Sometimes, you get impatient if there are too many words and want to turn to the next page. I love the board books because you can't destroy them as easily. We keep a basket in your room and in the den. All your books with paper pages are on the bookshelf for when you get bigger.

•  Last month you started pulling up to stand in your crib. That led to you playing with your mobile, so we had to take the animals off. You try to pull the canopy down, but have not been successful yet. I'm sure it's only a matter of time. You were also super proud when you found the video monitor on the side of your crib. We happened to be watching through the video monitor and saw you put your face right up to it and then yank it off! You were playing with the cord from the bed, so we had to move it across the room. You have noticed the "tyler" letters hanging on the wall above your crib and you try so hard to reach them. I know I will come in one morning soon and they will be chunked across the room, like your pacis always are! 

• You love to eat, but are becoming a picky little thing. And this is our biggest challenge and what pushes my buttons the most right now. It is especially hard at night when I have worked all day and you decide to get picky and not eat. It really tests my patience after I have worked all day long. You will chew something, get all the flavor out of it, then spit it out or even launch it across the room. Very frustrating! Sometimes it takes you 30-45 minutes to eat and I swear, you don't really "eat" anything. You will always eat string cheese, mac and cheese, waffles and usually crackers and yogurt. So if I get desperate, those are my go-to foods. You like most anything in  a squeeze pouch, so I always have those as backup and for when we are on the go. You generally like fruit, but it's hit-or-miss when you'll actually eat it. And getting you to eat a veggie is like pulling teeth! Sometimes I think it is a texture thing. Other times I think you are just being an ornery almost 1 year old. Really hoping this will get better with time.

• You are wanting Daddy more and more...lately even over me and especially in the morning after I get you up and dressed! This week you actually pitched a mini fit when he left you at daycare. I knew it was only a matter of time before you realize he is way more fun than me! Russ really is good with you after work and before bed. At this time of day, my nerves are shot and my patience is thin...I am pretty much done, just like you! But Russ will play with you, make you laugh and keep you happy until bedtime. Now, if we could just get him home earlier during the week so he could help... 

• The past couple months, we have been using "NO!" a lot more frequently to try and teach you right from wrong. And lately when you don't get your way or want down, you will pitch a fit, throw your head back and arch your back. If I am not prepared for it, then you can really hurt yourself my slamming your head into something.

Things you LOVE:

• Oh my goodness. You are officially obsessed with Bonnie! I am not sure that the feeling is mutual...Bonnie tolerates you, but only because of the extra attention and loving it gets her, I think. You follow her all over the house and you wake up in the morning when you hear her collar jingle. You are really rough with her, though - attacking her by climbing all over her, pulling her tail and grabbing fist-fulls of fur, wanting to touch her eyes, etc. You just laugh and giggle!  When we tell you "no", poor Bonnie thinks we are talking to her. :( She is so good though...she just lays there and takes it all. We got a couple dog books for your birthday that talk about how to treat animals nicely, so maybe that with constant correcting will help.
• You still absolutely love destroying the newspaper. It is a Sunday morning activity that we can count on to keep you busy. Magazines are also not safe...I had 2 on the coffee table the other day and you maybe a beeline straight to them. I order a lot of things online and you love to play with the boxes before I break them down.  Last weekend, I went on a shoe shopping spree and you loved playing with the shoe boxes. You were crawling around pushing 2 under each hand!

• Light switches, oh they are the best! You have been obsessed with pushing buttons for several months now, so maybe this was a natural progression? Our bedtime routine is not complete unless you turn off the light after bath on our way out of the room. Sometimes you are able to flip in back on, too.  You also are a magnet for outlets and extention cords...for some reason you think they are super fun.
• You still love pushing and pulling anything big with wheels - your walkers (now you will even walk with them!) and the highchair are your favs. I suspect you will eventually like to push cars around...you like it when we push them towards you, but you haven't really figure out how to push them back. You are also big into hitting things that hang, like our wind chimes, the tennis ball hanging in our garage and the butterflies that hang from the ceiling at daycare. 

• We are in the kitchen a lot during the week before bed and you love to play in fridge, dishwasher and cabinets. At first it was just opening and shutting them that fascinated you, but now you actually pull things out and throw them all over the place. I caught you recently trying to pull a bottle of wine of of the fridge. Not good. Hurry up and finish childproofing, Dad!

• Your favorite toys right now are your hammer that makes noise and lights up when you shake it, your magnet board and magnets in the kitchen, ANY ball and you star shape stacker that lights up and makes noise when you take the stars off (you are not interested in putting them back on!) Basically, you love anything you can throw. Ha!

• You love to play chase still. They said that is all you do at daycare...just chase the mobile kids and your teachers around.
• Being outside is probably still your favorite thing! You've gone from get excited when you think we're going outside to pitching a FIT if you don't get to! Just this past weekend you kept crawling away from the guest bedroom (where I was wrapping presents) to the kitchen door so you could stare outside. Daddy was working in the yard, so that could've been part of it, too. 

• Your favorite song at the moment is "If You're Happy and You Know It..." You smile and have started clapping your hands when you hear it! You also love the "Gonk-Gonk Goes the Little Green Froggie Song" - Ha! I learned this one at girl scout camp back in the day and you love it! 

WOW! I cannot believe how much you have changed since my last monthly update. Our baby is growing into a little boy. I cannot beleive your birthday is next week. We are in party planning mode! Time is flying little man! And we are loving every minute!