I Can Feed Myself!

One meal time waaaaay back when Matthew was only 6 months old he surprised me and my grandma by suddenly trying to grab his spoon to help shove it into his mouth.  He was trying so hard to help us feed him that I was afraid he was going to take a spoon to the back of the throat.  He was concentrating so hard that his little arms were shaking and he was making what I now consider to be his concentrating grunting noises.  Needless to say he was very proud of himself, and we were very proud of him.

Fast forward to the other day.  This meal time at almost 9 months old he suddenly tried to grab the spoon out of my hand.  After he eats I usually wipe off the spoon so that he can play with and analyze it, but he usually waits patiently until he's done eating to do so.  This day I shrugged, handed over the spoon, and then watched him get really worked up.  The arms were shaking, the concentrating grunting started, and I felt like he was getting very upset for no reason that I could figure out, so I took the spoon away and let him calm down for a few moments.  Then I gave the spoon back.  You know what he did?  He took that spoon and banged it up and down on his baby food container with a giant smile and a gleam in his eye like he was saying to me, "I get it, Mom!"  So I tipped the container a little bit to get a bit of food on the spoon, and you know what he did?  He took that spoon and stuck the food in his mouth!  AND he did it over and over and over. 

I'm not going to lie.  Some of the spoonfuls hit his chin and some landed on his cheek and sometimes the food would drop off the end of the spoon before it made it to his face, but I'm seriously so excited about his ability to demonstrate that he's comprehending skills.  A friend said to me that as her daughter was growing up she felt like each stage was her favorite... until the next stage occurred.  She is so completely right!  Some women have said to me that they could never possibly stay home because they would be bored.  I think that is crazy.  I find this little guy to be the most fascinating person that I've ever met (Sorry, honey)!  Everyday brings something new to be excited about and I'm so thankful that I don't have to miss a beat!

9 Months

Is this possible?  My baby is 9 months old?!?  How is it possible that time is flying so quickly?  He is just changing nearly by the day.

The little guy is standing and cruising everywhere with no fear (gulp!).  He thinks he only needs to hold onto his supports (baby prison gate, ottoman, sofa, etc.) with just one hand, and it was so absolutely freaking adorable to watch him figure out and practice the act of lowering himself down into a sitting position.  Within two days he was a pro.

I've officially bumped him up to 12 month clothing, and he's still in size 4 diapers.  Anything smaller has been packed away.  His food schedule is still oatmeal and a bottle for breakfast at 7 am, fruit and a bottle for lunch at 11 am, a bottle (or part sippy cup) as a snack at 3 pm, and veggies and a bottle for dinner at 6:30 pm.  After dinner we take a bath, brush our teeth, read a book, say our prayers, rock in the rocking chair and hit the sack by 7:45-8 pm.  Then we start over at 6:30 am (7:30 if he's feeling generous).  Naps are negotiable.  Bottle sharing is not.  He loves to pull the bottle out of his mouth, point the nipple toward our mouth, and gleefully shove it towards us.  We get to act very appreciative!

He loves to play peek-a-boo, but only if he's the one hiding his face.  He also loves to put things on Mommy's nose.  Somehow this has become a game.  He'll touch my nose so that I'll say, "Mommy's nose!".  Then he'll take objects and touch them to my nose.  Anything goes like my necklace, my hair, his toys.  However, he will not touch his own nose.  He just giggles when I take his finger, touch his nose, and say, "Matthew's nose!" (Except at his 9 month Dr. appointment.  Maybe we've had a nose break through.)  Daddy's nose is not to be left out!  That is his favorite place to kiss Ryan.  Actually, he'll even point to noses on pictures.  He's such a funny kiddo.

It's so much fun now that he's beginning to communicate more efficiently.  He's working on waving Hi and Bye.  We know he recognizes the words Mommy, Daddy, Matthew, Dog, Nose, Ear, and No.  Hug and Kiss are also on the list.  There are others but we can't prove those with certainty.  He consistently says Mama (or Maymay when he's angry at me), Dada, and Dog (sounds like Doh). I'm so happy to say that he's finally adding the M, N, L and R consonants into his regular baby babble repertoire.  I was getting a bit worried as he was really only interested in mostly D's and B's.  He's getting really good a mimicking us.  I swear I've heard him repeat "baby" several times, and he'll copy our friend Alyssa's laugh until she's blue in the face from fake laughing.


Height: 28" (28th Percentile)

Weight: 21 lbs. 3 oz. (73rd Percentile)

Head Circumference: 44.5 cm (31st Percentile)

Red Solo Cup

Courtesy of Pinterest I discovered this website, Productive Parenting, that has a million activities that you can do with your kiddos.  Okay, maybe a million is an exaggeration, but they do have a lot and the activities are all grouped according to age.  Many of these cute ideas are things that most people probably already do on a regular basis, but some are really great ideas.  The kind that make you go, "Duh.  Why am I not doing that already?"

For example, you can help work on memory skills with the old Cup and Ball routine.  Take 3 cups, "hide" a ball under one, and see if your baby can remember which one it's hiding under.  Obviously you should skip the super fast cup shuffle part.  It took Matthew a minute to figure out what I was asking of him, but as soon as he figured it out he nailed it every time.  Then he promptly tired of my game and decided to turn our Cup and Ball game into Let's Discover Solo Cups game.

Basically we spent more time squeezing them, "drinking" from them, stacking and knocking them down, and rolling them around.  Who knew I could get that much mileage out of 25 cents?

Hmm, developmental activities for infants involving solo cups and ping pong balls... somehow it doesn't seem quite right.  Heehee!

Just Because I Never Posted It Before

This is Little Bit just showing off right after he discovered he could be mobile. 

I'm so glad I had my phone handy when he finally figured this out!

Still Busy Buzzing

I went back and found some pictures from earlier this month of someone being quite the busybody.

What is this stuff wrapped around your shoes, Daddy?

 What are you packing, Mommy?

 Someone found the front door!

 First time to discover toilet paper!

I'm allowed to play with this?

Buzz Buzz

Look at all of this STUFF on the changing table!

 Coffee and water... Learning early!

 What's this thing?  I like the cool air!

Little Charmer

Not today.  Nope.  No thank you.  I WILL NOT look at the camera today.

He did stop his play long enough to reach up to me.  I thought he wanted to get up, but instead he tried with all of his might to yank me down to him.  When I finally complied I was rewarded with the sweetest of kisses... and then I was forcefully and unceremoniously shoved out of the way.  He's a real love 'em and leave 'em sort of guy!

He Calls Me Mama!

Or maybe it comes out more like "Mamamanma" or "Maymay", but the sentiment is there and it's directed at me!  It's not to be confused with his noise of general discontentment which comes out more like "Mmmmmm.  Mmmmmmmm."  Woo Hoo!!!  FINALLY.  :) 

In other news, he's also learned how to close Mommy out of rooms...

...and get into shenanigans.

Baby TV?

To TV or to not TV?  I know the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends ZERO TV time for kiddos until the age of 2.  We thought that sounded reasonable.  We thought we could do that.  We are totally addicted to TV, and therefore we are failing miserably at this particular goal.  I'm not saying we go overboard with the boob tube, but I have discovered Baby First TV.  I personally thought the programming was completely ridiculous.  As a matter of fact I will quote a family member who shall remain anonymous (but you would be surprised) who said that, "Some of the women on that channel make me want to punch them in the face."  (Don't worry, we're not a particularly violent family. I'm sure that was just a metaphor or something.)

Anyway, despite my objections, Matthew seems to adore a few of these programmes.  He will stop what he's doing and just laugh.  We've started doing the My Gym at Home activities at 7:30 am and 5:30 pm because I've seen such progress in his development.  After doing a few of these gym shows he now allows me to help him clap his hands, he's figuring out Hi and Bye waving, and he even tried to tell the TV bye-bye the other day. 

So I guess the jury is out in this casa.  I give him at most about 30 minutes in the morning while we're getting ready and 30 minutes in the evening while we're changing gears for dinner and nite-nite time.  Lately it hasn't even been that much.  It's pretty informal and sometimes we don't watch it at all.  It doesn't seem to be doing any damage yet.  Also, I'm going on record to say that I actually like Doc McStuffins on Disney.  She's at the top of my list for when he gets a bit older!

Baby Story Time - Round 2

Oh Karma, you silly lady.  I attempted baby story time again, but never actually made it to the library until several hours after the class. Let me explain...

First, I was going to be an awesome mom and get Matthew down for a quick power nap before class, but we were interrupted by a ridiculous onslaught of ringing phones.  Needless to say nap time never actually occurred.  I swear someday I'll remember to unplug that thing at nap time.  By the time I threw in the towel on the nap we were down to T minus 35 minutes until we had to leave for class.  My plan of attack was to plop Little Bit down in his crib with some toys and then hop in the shower and make my wet mess of hair look presentable.  That's what sparked complete meltdown #1.  There is not much of anything more pathetic than a baby standing in a crib, hands gripping the rail with big crocodile tears running down his cheeks.  After swooping him up and depositing him on the changing table for a quick uniform change I noticed that we were on track for being 3-5 minutes late (Yep, I was going to be THAT parent).  Then Mr. Kicky Pants accidentally launched an open container of corn starch off of the changing table, arching it through the air to smack into the door while depositing it's contents all over the nursery.  Sigh.  I can clean it later, right?  So we raced into the living room where our bags were stashed.  I set him down for a nanosecond so that I could find my flip flops and mini meltdown #2 commenced.  Needless to say we never made it to story time.  We had snuggle time instead which by that point I think we both needed more anyway.

I consider this payback for all of the trash I talked about the crappy parents from last week.  However, we did make a quick stop at the library during the afternoon hours and he was in heaven!  I didn't have my camera on me, but I did snap a few blurry pics with the old phone.  Have I mentioned that this kid LOVES him some books?!?!

1st attempt at tearing up paper coloring

(close up since he was in my lap). 

Note that not a single Crayola was harmed or eaten.

Much more brave with the tiger! 

That's right, kid, go for the eyeball!

I can stand up and look at books?!?

Yay, BOOKS!

 Now what are those other kids doing?

I have to add that I was repeatedly thanked with hugs and kisses through out the entire visit!  Happy Mommy ;)

Best Toy Ever

You know how people say that you buy all these expensive toys for kids and they just end up playing with the boxes?  Well, it's true except Matthew's box runs us $25-$48.  I gave him this set up in the kitchen to divert his attention until the baby prison play yard was delivered.

Baby Prison Play Yard

Happy Baby

Happy 4th of July!

What did you do on the 4th of July?  We did practically NOTHING and it was great!  We were completely anti-social.  Ryan got up with Matthew and I slept in.  Then I got up and Ryan took a nap.  Then we all 3 climbed into the big bed and hung out until 1 pm.  After that Ryan made ribs and we watched the My Big Fat Redneck Vacation marathon until 9 pm.  It was pretty awesome.  We didn't even bother to poke our heads out to see fireworks.  We just listened to them from behind our shuttered windows and hoped they wouldn't wake up the sleeping baby!  Oh, and we had ants attack our chocolate cake.  That was sad.  Anyway, it is so great to have the freedom to do nothing!  And now, since I've been wearing the same pj's for over 36 hours, I think I'll go defunk myself and get ready for the real world. 

Here is our one picture from the 4th:

Baby Story Time

Matthew went to the library and was in heaven!  He had so much fun... eventually.  He took a little while to warm up to the idea of a new place with new games and songs and new kids, but once he decided that it was a fun place he was all over it!  I may have mentioned that he was exposed to a few less than desirable displays of behavior, but overall he had a great time interacting with the other babies.  He learned about puzzles and musical instruments, and of course he read lots of books.  It looks like this will become part of our weekly schedule!  I call it a successful outing.  Thank you local public library for the free weekly class!

Look at that serious face! 

He was really trying to figure out that tiger.

OPKs and Why I Hate Them

Or more appropriately titled: OKPs and Why They Suck.  OK, I'm not that mean.  Other people's kids are fine.  I even like the majority of them.  Most of our friend's children I even love and adore (because our friends are good parents).  Other kid's parents are where the real problems are found.  Here is my perfect example...

Matthew and I went to baby story time for 0-18 month olds at the library.  It was his first visit to the library and we couldn't have been more excited.  Being typical Matthew he sat in my lap for 3/4 of the class being super serious and taking everything and everyone in before hopping off to explore and play.  By taking in everything and everyone I mean he was almost dumbstruck by Mr. Little Temper Tantrum and Mr. I'm Two Years Too Old for This Class and My Mom Doesn't Care What I Do Because She's Too Busy Breastfeeding After Coming Into Class Late and Interrupting Everything.

Let's start with Mr. Little Temper Tantrum.  Matthew and I came into the classroom and sat in the open space between a nice mom with a darling little girl and a set of parents whose child was running in circles around the room.  Ignorant me didn't realize that this should have been red flags #1 and #2.  Why was there a big space and why was the kid running around like a wind up toy?  Next time I'll ask myself that before plopping my baby down.  As soon as the class started the parents attempted to retrieve the child and were rewarded with a giant screaming and crying fit.  Honestly, he was a sweet kid but I'm sure it was his nap time or something and he just didn't have it in him that day.  That happens.  However, these particular parents continued to sit in the circle allowing his hysterics to overtake the activities for a full 15 minutes.  Nobody could hear anything and we all missed the songs and such.  Matthew was so taken in with this behavior that he was completely absorbed by watching this one man show.  He just sat there staring with one hand in his mouth and eyes wide open in shock.  I tried readjusting him so that his back was to the boy, but Matthew just ended up trying to look back over his shoulder.  Even I have to admit that it was a pretty impressive fit.  Eventually I just held my hand up to block his line of sight.  I wasn't trying to be rude, but I was tired of this display and I wanted Matthew's attention to go elsewhere.  I would have exited the room much sooner if Matthew had been the one having the meltdown.  By the time they left a third of the class had passed.  I just want to go on record that I thought it was rude and annoying of the parents not to be more considerate.  I also feel very bad for them because I think they were excited for story time.  I'm sure they'll be there next week to give it another go.

Problem Child Parent #2:  All I can say is WOW.  This parent is the reason I ended up feeling jaded about my teaching career.  This parent is the parent who takes sweet babies and turns them into entitled, inconsiderate, selfish human beings.  I won't bore you with the details except to ask is it really all that hard to say, "Gee, Jr, maybe you shouldn't climb up on that stack of chairs to hang from the fire alarm (seriously) and play with the keyed switches that raise and lower the automatic shades?  Maybe you shouldn't be climbing around the podium to unplug the laptop (which is being used for class), play with the electrical outlets, and steal stickers?  Maybe you could sit down instead of standing directly in front of the librarian reading the book, running around stealing books during class, and trying to break into locked cabinets for toys?"  Maybe your mom could get to class on time instead of busting in late, interrupting everything because she feels like she owns the place, and deciding that she needs to breastfeed her four month old 15 minutes into a 30 minute class. I totally understand why she couldn't redirect her older child (not).  I'm still scratching my head on that one.  Also, I'm not one of those people who are totally against breastfeeding in public, but COME ON.  It's a 30 minute class.  There is always before, or after, or heck just pump a bottle.  IT'S A 30 MINUTE CLASS.  I could elaborate on this woman as our interactions continued outside of the class (where her son totally ignored everything she said or asked of him), but I'm sure you've all met this type of parent somewhere.  Funny thing is that he was a really nice kid.  He just has no boundaries.  He had NO clue that the things he was doing were inappropriate.  Sigh.

Basically, my point of this post is that we've spent the last 24 hours ignoring whining and tearless crying outbursts.  Honestly, his attempts at fit throwing are about on par with an angry kitten, but it's still annoying nonetheless.  We've made it 8.5 months without a single arched-back screaming tantrum, and one 30 minute class taught him 4 months worth of naughtiness.  This also makes me worry about how impressionable he is!

So to all of you parents out there who refuse to depart places in a timely fashion when your kiddo is being a brat, and to all you parents who refuse to redirect rude and out of place behavior, you all suck and should stay hidden away in your houses where your kids are obviously allowed to run the show and in turn become raging obnoxious human beings through no fault of their own.  I believe in a combination of nature and nurture.  I know some children have personalities that are more challenging than others, but all kids will be kids and it's your job to make sure they become good people.  AND to all of you parents who are doing your parent job... THANK YOU!  You are rock stars.

Disclaimer... and now that I typed this I pray that Matthew stays sweet and doesn't grow up to be a jerk!  I also pray that if baby #2 comes along that he is as easy going as Matthew and also doesn't grow up to be a turd.  Thankyouverymuch.

Weekend Round-up

Hmm, let's just say that Matthew is enjoying the newly found freedom of movement.  That can be translated as: we can't keep up.  In a matter of days he became an expert speed crawler, puller-upper on anythinger, and an exceptionally UNsteady cruiser around furniture.  Unfortunately he doesn't understand that he is exceptionally unsteady and believes he can take on walking with no fear what-so-ever.  We can't take our eyes off of him for a second for fear of him knocking himself unconscious on the hard floors.  But he is so proud of himself and it is so stinking cute.  When he accomplishes something awesome he looks at us with lit up eyes and makes yet another new growly bear noise.  We're proud of him, too... and we ordered a play yard to keep him contained.  I'm hoping it shows up soon because someone is very unhappy about the parents busting out the old pack-n-play.

Here are some rare angry/crying faces:

In other weekend news...

We ran errands and picked up a big boy car seat!

Just reading the manual to make sure
Mom and Dad did everything correctly.

We had a visit from Nana, Buzz, and Aunt Phyllis!

We were just all around cute and adorable!