10 Months Old

I cannot for the life of me think where the last 10 months have gone.  Where on earth could they have gone?  Today for the 2nd time, you said "all done".  It sounds like this "ahh do".  But your hands are straight up in the air and you are kicking your feet ready to get down.

You still have no teeth... not a one.

You hate having your diapers changed.  It is a battle every.single.time.  

There are lots of first these past few weeks.  I'm not sure how much I've documented everything so let me start a few weeks ago:


Oct 11: Started saying "mama"
Oct 22: Growled at us for the first time (something you still love to do)
Oct 26: 9 month check up
Oct 27: Climbed the stairs for the first time.  This is something you are now scared to do, thank goodness.  
Nov 4: Said "dada" for the first time
Nov 8: Clapped your hands for the first time
Nov 17: Waived for the first time


You really like to give Daddy a hard time in the evenings.  For the first few months I put you to bed every night because Lee wanted Steve.  Ever since then, you have been a Mama's girl.  Daddy has the hardest time getting you to eat, sleep or to change you.  Maybe you can work on this a little bit.  He tries really super hard and does love you lots!  I feel bad for him.


You can cruise now crawling and walking along furniture.  You let go all the time now and just stand there clapping.  You love to stand by yourself.  Your pretty good at it too, but I don't think walking is in your near future, but I do think you will walk before Lee.


You have started stranger anxiety too.  You don't really scream when people come up to you, but you don't want to go to them either.  


Where ever I'm at, you follow me around.  If I'm sitting on the couch, you are right at me feet.  When I'm cooking dinner, you are right at my feet.  When I'm walking somewhere, you are usually right behind me.  It's pretty cute, but I am so scared I'm going to step on you sometime.  


You love to feed yourself.  You love finger foods that you can gnaw on and to lay down by yourself to drink your bottle.  


That's about all I can think of for right now. This month was just a blurr, I'm not really sure where it went to.  I love you and though I can wait to see what you are like as a little girl, I do wonder somedays what you are going to be like.

 

Lee is learning his days of the week.  So far we have:

Sunday

Monsday

Threesday

Friday

Saturday

DOWN!  Everyone's favorite days of the week has to be Threesday!  It's not Twosday (Tuesday)... It's Threesday!! 

Also, he know the difference between "yesterday" and "tomorrow" however, anything in the past is "jesterday" (yesterday).  Ex: Mommy, remember jesterday when we had Halloween and it was so fun?   

No more binks...

I know these pictures are old. They are from last year when we moved your room around and you got your new "blue" room before LC was born, but they show you with your bink. It has been one week since you have stopped taking it. November 9th was your last day with your bink and you gave it up.

why I don't take my kids pictures...

Lets recap my recent attempt at taking my wonderfully sweet little angel faces pictures.  Just look at all that adorableness that couldn't sit still for one... stinkin... picture.  I mean, there are just so many options to choose from, however will I decide???

Picture 1: Lee being cheesy, LC watching Lee to see what the heck he's doing.
Me: Lee, smile normal... LC... look at me!
Picture 2: Now THERE'S the smile I was hoping for (rolls eyes).
Me: Lee, um, not that smile.  LC, look at me, look a stick!
Lee: Ugh are we done yet?  
LC: looking at stick.
Picture 3: Lee sees 2 little kids running to the park that is 20 feet away.  This was his reward for taking a good picture.
Picture 4: ... (do I really need to recap what Lee is thinking in this picture??  Or LC for that matter...)
Picture 5 & 6: Lee telling me how unfair it is that he can't go to the park NOW and take pictures LATER.  He just doesn't understand.  Why we can't play first.  Blah, blah, blah... LC is really enjoying those fingers.
Picture 7 & 8: Lee giving LC a hug and squishing the daylights out of her... awesome!
Picture 9: (this is about 4 minutes in taking pictures) Lee was just watching the 2 kids at the park, and now LC wants nothing to do with Lee after the hug... she crawled away.

END.OF.SESSION!!

My Dear Sweet Baby Boy,

I'm not sure this is what God is looking for when we pray for dinner.

Lee: Dear God..
(insert giggle)
Me: (getting Lee back on track) Thank you...
Lee: for Daddies tools, that I broke 
Me: (getting him back on track again) and for our food
Lee: and for our food, and for my star wars space ship and for blasters and for all the (making sounds) pichoo, cachow, bams and boooms!
Me: (thinking that I should probably review with Lee what God really wants us to be grateful for) (cutting Lee off) AMEN!

Lee asked the other night if God was his friend.  I told him that God is everyone's friend.  Lee then said "ya, I know.  I love him."

Lee goes to Daycare!

A few months ago my friends Crystal and Steph told me about this book "Raising Your Spirited Child" and said that a lot of my frustrations with Lee are addressed in this book.  I kinda brushed it off and stayed frustrated for awhile till one day they had had enough and Steph said that I just needed to read it.  I don't have a lot of time these days, so although I haven't finished the book (I'm on chapter 4 I think), I noticed right away that this book didn't just describe Lee a LITTLE, but this book was written about my child!  All except, he's not a major temper tantrum thrower.  He doesn't really have long meltdowns.  They are 5 minutes tops and I can usually stop them pretty quickly.


This book helped me realize that although I knew Lee was a social butterfly, I didn't realize the importance of him getting out of the house multiple times a week so he could "socialize" with other people besides me.

When we're at the grocery store, he will say hello to just about everyone we pass.  He asks random people what they are making for dinner.  He asks them what they are buying.  He.is.a.people.person!

So, one evening I am out to dinner with two other friends (this is after I started reading this book) and I am explaining to them what it said and my frustrations and they suggested bringing Lee by their daycare.  They both work for daycare/preschools.  That next night I talked to Steve about it.  I had him read the chapter about a extroverted child and ways to help them.  He completely agreed with me 100%.  This was something we needed to look into.

Over the summer I put him in swimming and tumbling.  They were both horrible.  He hated doing both.  He also derailed both classes and goofed off so much that other kids were not listening too.  I was scared to start another thing that he could potentially influence other kids to misbehave.  However, after visiting the daycare and talking with Lee, Steve and I thought it was worth a shot.

The first day wasn't so good.  I had to fight him to get dressed.  Fight him to brush his teeth.  Fight him to eat.  Fight him to get in the car.  Fight him to go into the building.  I explained to his teacher that this was his 1st time ever in a daycare setting, just so she had some background.  When I went to pick him up, his teacher said "he doesn't like to follow rules does he?"  Ya, exactly why we're here.  Not a good start.

Day 2: Not as bad to get him dressed and ready.  I talked so much about how we follow rules and listen and we have to do projects and listen to stories too.  Yes, you get time to play, but you have to follow the rules as well.  He actually rolled his eyes at me.  I talked that much.  Teacher notes when I picked up, "today was better".

Day 3: Lee was excited to go to school.  Excited about his friends.  Didn't roll his eyes as much as we talked about learning and following rules.  And his teacher said "this was his best day yet!  He did really, really good!" 

So, today was Lee's 4th day at daycare.  Today I was told that Lee is the most polite boy.  Today he was able to pick a "prize" for being such a good boy and listening so well.  I could not be more proud of him.  He loves his school!  He loves his teacher!  He loves tattling on the one boy who doesn't listen and gets in trouble all the time and how he's (Lee) not naughty, the OTHER boy is naughty.   

He just goes part-time (8am-noon), 2 days a week.  That's just enough so that he can get out of the house and away from me and be a big kid by himself.  Steve and I were talking tonight because we have noticed a pretty big difference in Lee already.  He listens SO much better, it's pretty crazy how only 4 days at school can make a difference.  But it did and I am so thankful to have such amazing friends that read great books.  


Thank you Steph, Crystal, Emmy & Katie!!

A little unsure...

I am taking this picture of LC.  However, what you don't see, is for Halloween I painted my face to look like a kitty cat to match LC and she now doesn't recognize who I am.  This is her "Oh I completely trust you" face.  Ya... this is what look most people get when she first sees you.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

We had a lot of fun trick-or-treating with Grandma, Papa, Aunt Kelly & Aunt Jackie!  A few houses tried to scare Lee, but he didn't really get too scared.  It was a bit chilly, so Elsie and I came home earlier and Lee stayed out with everyone else treating.  It was a great night and lots of fun!

I'll post more pictures soon.  

How to feed your baby doll!

 Please refer to the picture above.

Box 1: Seems like a perfectly normal situation.  Elsie chewing on a toy.  That happens to be a baby bottle.

Box 2: Elsie trying to feed the baby doll.
 

Box 3: When baby starts drinking, poke her in the eye.

Box 4: Hmm, I wonder what this baby's milk tastes like.

Box 5: Let's try it.

Box 6: I'm not getting anything, poke baby in the eye again.

Box 7: Still drinking, what did you get out of this bottle?

Box 8: Still nothing...

Box 9: That's it, I'm leaving.  I'm taking the milk with me!

Elsie, I could watch you play all day long. You are usually so quiet that I forget that you're there. Then, you start "talking" and you are SO loud. You have two volume's. Loud and silent.

Today you were playing with Lee's baby doll. This is the baby doll that you got him when you were born. Do you remember it? You were fascinated with feeding her today.  See this baby doll will make drinking sounds when you put the bottle up by its lips.  It will also giggle when you touch her belly.  You liked both these features.

However, I'm not sure stealing other babies milk and poking them in the eye is the way to make friends.  You might want to reconsidering this.

Love, 

Mommy