Thursday, January 26, 2012

Ballons, Trucks, and a Baby Doll

Here are some iPhone pictures to catch up on what we've been doing.

We had family game night on Saturday night and Gramsy brought Pax his very own balloon and attached it to his ankle. It followed him around all night.


I think he has the most pitiful crying face...and sometimes the most hilarious (and yes, Christmas pajamas are still in the rotation).


He is starting to crawl through tight spaces and sometimes gets a little stuck.


This kid loves electronics. Hundreds of baby toys? No thanks, just the remote and the iPhone.





(love those eyelashes)


Half the time this is how I find him after nap time:


The other half I find him like this:


Grocery shopping:


Apparently he has gotten a little sense of humor. On Monday, I was feeding him peas and he tipped his head back but kept his mouth open for more bites. I kept piling it in to see what he would do. He stored it all up in his mouth and then spit it out (very violently) all over himself and me. Apparently he has a like/hate relationship with peas.


I've read a lot of stories lately about parents that are very careful not to raise their children with gender stereotypes. I haven't really given the issue much thought since boys have been growing up like boys and girls have been growing up like girls for thousands of years. Paxton has lots of cars and balls and trains, but he also has stuffed animals and a singing Elmo and even a baby doll.

Some days he just looks so much like a little boy (Batman shirt, cars all around):


And then sometimes I come in after his nap and find him like this:





(of course this quickly turned into eating the baby's face and wrestling him...but still). It melted my heart.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Sleep Regression

Our days of having a perfect sleeper are gone...they bit the dust. For about two weeks now Paxton has been getting up earlier and earlier. Usually when Jared's alarm goes off around 7:30, he's already awake in his bed talking. This kid used to sleep until 9:30!

He also used to take two two hour naps...from 11-1 and 3-5. They were amazing. I could eat lunch and talk to Jared, I could do the dishes and pick up the house, I could do laundry, and after all that I usually had a little time for some trashy daytime tv. That's all over. Today, Paxton has taken three 20 minute naps. That's it. And saying the most recent one was 20 minutes is probably a stretch. He goes down fine...but then he pops right up and is ready to play. I have absolutely no idea what to do. I have done research...but all I can find is that this is completely normal. His brain is developing super fast right now and he wants to practice all his new skills, like pulling up. The websites say that as he gets less sleep, he gets overtired which leads to even less sleep. The websites do not offer a solution. They say it's a stage.

The only sleep training methods I'm aware of are the cry-it-out method, and its less harsh cousins which allow the parent to go in sporadically and reassure the crying baby. Well, that won't work. Paxton isn't crying. He's playing and talking and laughing. So far, he has been in his bed awake for 20 minutes and is still just laughing away.

I have tried feeding him more in the hopes that he was waking up hungry...nothing. I have tried going in and laying him back down and telling him it isn't time to wake up yet...he just laughs at me and gets even more hyper from the attention. I have tried the blinds closed and opened. I have tried reading to him before he goes down so that he's calm. Nothing made a difference. His sleep just keeps regressing.

The lack of naps is not good for my sanity. I need my breaks! He needs his sleep! It also isn't good for him...he gets fussy quickly. He screams at restaurants. He gets mad really easily.

I guess we'll just desperately hope that this is a phase and that in a week or so he will go back to sleeping until 9:30 and taking his much-needed real naps. Until then, I'll just do my best to enjoy the extra long days with him and fill them with as many activities as possible. And when our next kid turns 10 months, I'll remember this and take a long trip out of town that month.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, January 22, 2012

TEN MONTHS!!

Paxton is ten months old today. Somehow, no matter how much I try to enjoy every moment his babyhood is flying by. He's growing up so fast right now; he's learning something new all the time.



At ten months Paxton is:

-Pulling up on everything all the time. He loves to be standing up and loves knocking things off of whatever he pulls up to. He has gotten confident pulling up on tougher things like his walker and his rocking chair. In the last few days, he has started to be able to sit back down from standing up. He either just collapses and ends up on his bottom, or he bends way over and puts his hand on the floor and gets in a crawling position.


-Saying "dada" and "baba" all the time. He has possibly said "mama" a few times...or maybe it's just baba with a softer b. Sometimes he says "ba" when he wants a bite, other times he says "mmm". The other day he crawled into the bathroom and said "ba" like he wanted a bath, but we'll just call that a coincidence.


-Shaking his head no every time somebody says no, even if they're not talking to him. Last night we had family game night with my mom and sisters and the game involved lots of guessing so there were a lot of no's. Paxton shook his head every time.


-Has started to cruise short distances. He can go from the couch to the coffee table or from his toy from Grandpa to the table that is right next to it. When I hold his hands, he will take a few steps. He's so proud of himself when he does it.


-Is still eating four times a day, but we have added more solids. He has a 7 ounce bottle when he wakes up, a fruit, a vegetable and a 5 ounce sippy cup for lunch, a meat and a 5 ounce sippy cup for dinner, plus a little bit of what we're eating, and a 7 ounce bottle before bed. He usually has two snacks in there somewhere, either a banana, Puffs, or some other Gerber baby snack. He also usually has a sippy cup of water and white grape juice that he sips throughout the day.

-Is sleeping less. He usually wakes up around 8:45 instead of 9:30. His morning nap is from 11-12 now instead of 11-1. His afternoon nap is usually still from 3-5. I think he wakes up at these times and instead of going back to sleep like he used to, he immediately sits up and then pulls up so he doesn't go back to sleep. It is also taking us longer to get him to sleep. When we put him down, he immediately sits up and pulls up. Each time we put him down, we have to go back and lay him down at least once. He thinks it's hilarious.


-Wearing 9 month and 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers. It doesn't seem like he has grown out of any clothes this month. He actually lost a little weight when he started crawling. He is constantly on the move.


-Getting a little attitude. He has thrown a few fits when we stop him from doing something he wants to do (like crawl off the side of the bed to get the remote) and after he finishes a bottle if he's still hungry. He is usually easily distracted from these fits.


-Still working on his top teeth. The left tooth is poking through and has been for a few weeks now, but he still just has the bottom two.


-Still loving chasing balls and his car. He has also been loving his pull up piano from Grandpa. He pulls up to it every time he sees it. He got his first balloon this month and loved it. He has also found the door stopper in the entry way and loves playing with that. He loves playing catch and switches back and forth between rolling and throwing the ball. He also will go get the ball if he misses it.





-Really close to getting clapping down. He tries really hard, but usually ends up just hitting his thighs. In the past few days, he has started getting his hands together sometimes. And he says "yay" the whole time...which is how we first knew he was trying to clap when he was just hitting his thighs.






-Still loving bath time and is still a handful while he's in there. We keep it really shallow so he can twist around and get his toys, but now he tries to pull up on the side the whole time.



-Obsessed with crawling into the bathroom. He was crawling in through the hall door, so we started keeping that closed. Now he has figured out that there's a second door, so he goes in through that.


It really is crazy how much he has grown up this month. I can't believe we only have two more months with a baby. I'm not ready to be a toddler mom! Paxton has definitely gotten a little higher maintenance this month with the pulling up in bed and needing more attention, but he has more than made up for it with how fun he is. He loves playing with us and talking to us. He loves when we sing to him and read to him. I hope he grows up loving books. He is still such a happy and active baby. I really had no idea how much I would love him and how much joy he would bring. I love going in his room in the mornings or after his nap and he gets a huge smile and starts laughing because he's so happy to see me. I love when I'm sitting on the couch and he pulls up right next to me and tries to climb on the couch with me and just cracks up the whole time. I love how hard he tries (sometimes) to say "mama". I can see his little mouth trying to get it right. I love how much he loves his daddy and the special relationship they have. He climbs all over Jared and just cracks up when he gets tickled. I'm definitely going to miss this stage.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday, January 20, 2012

Friday!

After Christmas, Paxton didn't spend a huge amount of time with his new toys. He was mostly just interested in his old toys. In the last few days, that has changed. He has been spending lots of time exploring new toys.

Like his Little Smart Driver:


And his car from Santa:


Just a reminder of how tall he is at nine months and 3 weeks:


He's also really into snacks right now...and as always he wants to eat when Mommy is eating. So this is how I spend my lunchtime:



Clapping:


Cheesy smile:


He's going to be 10 months in 2 days...and then he'll be one. I can't believe we're only 2 months away. How did this happen?

How has it been 10 months since this?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Cruising

Paxton has started the beginning stages of cruising. He can move a few feet along the couch and go from the couch to the coffee table.



He can also walk his feet closer to the couch or table if they're too far away when he pulls up.

At the library yesterday, he pulled up on a little push car and walked behind it for about five steps. He has one like it at home, so I probably need to get it out and let him practice.

He isn't content to sit and play anymore, he wants to be standing up all the time. He has mastered pulling up and does it quickly and efficiently. He has also figured out how to pull up on things that are a little less stable...like his jumperoo.






He won't sit down by himself, so when he gets tired of standing he will fuss until I come over and grab his hands, then he sits down. Usually right after I help him sit, he pulls right back up.

He needs to slow down, I'm not ready for a walker!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Playing

Yesterday was such a pretty day, so Paxton and I headed outside. Sticker is an outside kitty due to his history of peeing on furniture and in clean laundry so he and Pax have only observed each other through the window. I was really surprised when he approached Paxton.


Paxton wasn't hesitant at all. He reached right out and petted Sticker. After that, Sticker wouldn't leave his side.


Then Paxton wanted to go see Scarlett. He's a little unsure of grass so it took a little while for him to venture off the blanket.





Staying hydrated:


Then we played catch:








This morning we went back to lapsit at the library. We were going pretty regularly a few months ago but Pax would get overwhelmed with all the people and get fussy. We took a break and tried again today since he woke up early.


He did a little better. He loves the playtime at the beginning. He eats toys and looks around at the other kids, and today he even crawled over and stole a plastic bacon strip that a little boy was frying in a pan, but then he gets fussy during circle time. He was fussy again today but never went to all-out crying. He was the youngest one there, everyone else could walk so we'll probably try a different group next time.


When we came home, he had lots of pulling up to catch up on.


And lots to tell me.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad