Ten Months

To quote my husband, "It's like having a puppy!"

C is standing up to all kinds of things now on a regular basis. He especially likes to stand up to a desk or table and reach as far as he can to grab whatever he can get his hands on-- boy! that kid can reach!

And still, everything goes straight to the mouth. I know I've said it pretty much every update, but it's so so different from our experience with our first two babies who rarely put anything besides food or a pacifier into their mouths. Our first two babies really spoiled us that way, and now we're still getting used to having to keep stuff like paper and books out of reach. All our top shelves are cluttered with stuff as we've had to move it up higher from where it originally sat.

We have two baby gates-- one to keep C out of the kitchen (because the floor is-- more often than not-- dirty), and another that can be moved among doorways to keep him out of the bathroom, our room, or the boys' room (when they are playing with their Legos). It's funny, though, because whenever C perceives that the gate is not there and the door is open, he makes an immediate beeline to get into the room (especially the bathroom) before we can block it. I think he thinks it's a game now :)

He especially loves the bathroom because he loves to take baths. He'll have Nick pick him up, point to the bathroom, then once he's in the bathroom point to the bathtub. Sometimes we will just put him in the bathtub fully clothed without any water and he has fun with that for a while.

I am so so so ready to get him out of our bed, and am working on finding a good mattress to put in the pack-n-play that will be comfortable enough for a baby used to sleeping on a pillow top. Hopefully we'll have it all figured out in the next couple months. The biggest question is where to put up the pack-n-play at night: putting him in the boys' room is out while school is in session because G would have too much trouble falling asleep with a still-awake and potentially fussy baby in there; he'd be all alone out in the living room; but in our room there's just so little space, though that's probably what we'll end up doing anyway.

He's eating solids now 2-3 times a day. He loves it. But he's at the point now where he's not content to just let us feed him purees, but will fight us to hold the spoon and feed himself even though he's not really coordinated enough yet. So I need to find some more good, healthy finger-foods for him to try. We've tried bananas, but he's more interested in squishing them between his fingers :) He likes bread. Last night I gave him a few bites of my bean burrito; at first he reacted by sticking out his tongue, but then he kept taking more bites so Iguess he liked it.

He has his two bottom front teeth now. And he likes to bite. Yesterday, he kept trying to bite me-- not while nursing so much, but on my leg as I was resting on the couch, on my back as I was helping the boys clean up their toys, on my belly while we were playing on the floor. I've never had a biter like this before, either...

He still gets so excited when Nick comes home from work, and wants to be held by him all the time whenever he's home, except when he wants to nurse. When he's ready to be handed to me, he will make the "milk" sign to Nick and Nick will hand him to me. We're not sure, though, if he uses the sign to say "milk" specifically, though, or if it's just his way of asking for me, because sometimes I will start to nurse him after he does this and he doesn't seem that interested. I really need to start doing more signs with him, I just keep forgetting.