10 Months Old

My baby has hit double digits, in terms of months. Although his head smell isn't as strong as Ian's, when Oliver is snuggled on my chest I sometimes close my eyes and take a whiff and think back to his first weeks. I remember when his head was small enough that it completely fit under my chin. That's no longer true! When I did kangaroo care with him, there were times that a doctor or nurse would do a double take as they tried to find him before they realized he was under my shirt. At less than four pounds he was small enough that unless you looked carefully to spot the wires and tubes coming out of the bottom of my shirt, you couldn't tell I was cuddling my son. Although he's small for a 10 month old, he would make a big enough bump under my shirt to be quickly spotted.

1. You do not like to wear a bib, have your nose wiped, or sit in a carseat (unless you're asleep or Nadia is feeding you a bottle). I don't remember either sibling having an aversion to a bib when they were infants.

2. Your hair has turned blonde. Since yours didn't turn as quickly as your siblings, I thought your hair was going to stay brown. Nope. I have three blonde children although Ian's is by far the lightest.

3. You still love to grab, especially hair and earrings. You removed one of Mandy's earrings (the NP) at your 9 month appointment.

4. You've gotten better with feeding yourself pieces of dry cereal. Picking them up and getting them to your mouth is now easy for you. The part you haven't totally mastered is letting go. It doesn't always make it into your mouth because you are still holding on to it.

5. I've seen you get in a crawling position once thus far (last weekend). You continue to scoot around on your belly, but you always go backwards or in a circle. You haven't moved forward yet. You cry when you back yourself into a wall, door, or piece of furniture. Hopefully you'll start crawling within the next two months.

6. Everything goes in your mouth - toys, clothing, and food. We have to be careful not to leave any paper, flashcards, or books within your reach because otherwise I'm fishing bits of paper out of your mouth. You have two teeth on the bottom. Thankfully you don't bite me when I nurse you first thing in the morning. Although you completely doused one shirt this morning, the amount of times you upchuck has definitely decreased.

7. You are pretty good about riding in the stroller to the playground. You enjoy being in a  baby swing at home or at the playground. Sometimes you cry in the stroller on the way home. You are happy in the shopping cart or stroller for part of a trip to the grocery store, but thus far you haven't stayed happy for an entire shopping trip. I usually end up holding you when we're in the check-out lane.

8. You are still wearing some size 3-6 month clothing, but mostly you are wearing 9 month and even a little 12 month size clothing. You weigh a little less than 17 pounds and are wearing size 3 diapers.

9. Your laughter and smiles bring so much joy to your siblings and parents. Ian can get you laughing very easily. I pray that you two will be close friends in the years to come.

10. We're getting you back to sleeping close to 10 hours at night (last night it was 7:45pm to 5:25am). Our trip to Florida a few weeks ago completely messed you up as far as the length of your naps. I got my hopes up yesterday because both of your naps were 90 minutes long, but this morning your morning nap was a whopping 15 minutes long. Sigh. Hopefully soon you'll get back to taking nice naps like you did for 6+ months before our trip.