Baby B: Ten Months Old

This month has been so much fun. William has really taken an interest in walking, eating, and even talking. He loves stories, music, and the swing at the park.

William has been standing and cruising around furniture like nobody's business for a while, but now, if you take his two little hands in yours, he is happy to move one foot in front of the other. We go back and forth in our little ten foot hallway. He hasn't stood for more than a couple of seconds by himself yet but he is so interested in moving.

Our pediatrician told us last month that William should start eating what we eat. William didn't seem quite ready for that, the only finger food he would successfully eat was Rice Krispies, but now he loves shepherd's pie, the inside of my burritos, and toast topped with yogurt. He has even had a slice of a peach (which takes a while since it's slippery and hard to grab a hold of). He is also a superstar when it comes to eating purred food. Usually eating everything I serve him (unless he grabs the spoon, then it gets flung everywhere . . . which happens more and more).

Back in May, William was experimenting with sounds. He could say his mmm's and da's but lately, his favorite sound is "ba." Which is really great when he waves at you and says "ba-ba." but it also can mean "ball" or "bottle" or just what he feels like saying. We hear "ba-ba" all day long. No more Mama or Dada.

He has also started singing and bouncing to music this week. If I sing to him and pause long enough, he'll start singing too. We had a little duet going one day. Which made my heart swell.

We received a couple of hand-me-down toys this month, an activity table and a push-kart for walking. He loves both. The activity table plays music for every button you push and he will spend hours minutes on end bopping his head to the music and bouncing along. Sometimes he gets a little aggressive with the buttons and I feel like I'm looking at his future with a pinball machine or something.

This month was also pretty monumental for sleep. At our pediatrician's urging, we tried the cry-it out method for night-time sleep again. If you remember back to his 4-month update, we had tried it then but he wasn't ready. So, Chris and I moved out to the living room to give the little man his space. The first night, he woke up a couple of times and cried for a while (torture!), the second night was a little better.  The third night even a little better. By the end of the first week, we knew that William was still waking up a fair bit but not crying for very long at all. He was able to get himself back to sleep without our help or food! This was huge!! (Did I mention he was drinking half of his food intake at night for a month? No, well he was. Three 6 oz. bottles every night...)

Anyway, fast forward a couple more weeks (I think we spent almost all of July sleeping on the living room floor), William is sleeping through the night! He may wake up a little earlier than we would like (between 5-6 a.m.) but from 7:30 - 5 he does really well at getting himself back to sleep on his own. And we have moved back to the bedroom.

Also, I have to note that one of my favorite things about William's naps other than that they are awesome, is that when he wakes up happy he can stand up in his pack 'n play and smiles at me when I walk in the room. He melts my heart.

This month has been so much fun. William has really taken an interest in walking, eating, and even talking. He loves stories, music, and the swing at the park.

William has been standing and cruising around furniture like nobody's business for a while, but now, if you take his two little hands in yours, he is happy to move one foot in front of the other. We go back and forth in our little ten foot hallway. He hasn't stood for more than a couple of seconds by himself yet but he is so interested in moving.

Our pediatrician told us last month that William should start eating what we eat. William didn't seem quite ready for that, the only finger food he would successfully eat was Rice Krispies, but now he loves shepherd's pie, the inside of my burritos, and toast topped with yogurt. He has even had a slice of a peach (which takes a while since it's slippery and hard to grab a hold of). He is also a superstar when it comes to eating purred food. Usually eating everything I serve him (unless he grabs the spoon, then it gets flung everywhere . . . which happens more and more).

Back in May, William was experimenting with sounds. He could say his mmm's and da's but lately, his favorite sound is "ba." Which is really great when he waves at you and says "ba-ba." but it also can mean "ball" or "bottle" or just what he feels like saying. We hear "ba-ba" all day long. No more Mama or Dada.

He has also started singing and bouncing to music this week. If I sing to him and pause long enough, he'll start singing too. We had a little duet going one day. Which made my heart swell.

We received a couple of hand-me-down toys this month, an activity table and a push-kart for walking. He loves both. The activity table plays music for every button you push and he will spend hours minutes on end bopping his head to the music and bouncing along. Sometimes he gets a little aggressive with the buttons and I feel like I'm looking at his future with a pinball machine or something.

This month was also pretty monumental for sleep. At our pediatrician's urging, we tried the cry-it out method for night-time sleep again. If you remember back to his 4-month update, we had tried it then but he wasn't ready. So, Chris and I moved out to the living room to give the little man his space. The first night, he woke up a couple of times and cried for a while (torture!), the second night was a little better.  The third night even a little better. By the end of the first week, we knew that William was still waking up a fair bit but not crying for very long at all. He was able to get himself back to sleep without our help or food! This was huge!! (Did I mention he was drinking half of his food intake at night for a month? No, well he was. Three 6 oz. bottles every night...)

Anyway, fast forward a couple more weeks (I think we spent almost all of July sleeping on the living room floor), William is sleeping through the night! He may wake up a little earlier than we would like (between 5-6 a.m.) but from 7:30 - 5 he does really well at getting himself back to sleep on his own. And we have moved back to the bedroom.

Also, I have to note that one of my favorite things about William's naps other than that they are awesome, is that when he wakes up happy he can stand up in his pack 'n play and smiles at me when I walk in the room. He melts my heart.