Elliott: Ten months

This year is closing in on me much faster than I expected! I'm starting to have that feeling that you get on Sunday afternoon when you know you only have a few hours of weekend left. I'm not going back to work in the traditional sense, but I am opening a Dayhome in our home and I know I will be very busy! For now I'm treasuring all the quiet cuddles and times he falls asleep on me, knowing these sweet little moments may come a little fewer and far between once I have four other littles to run after!

This has been a big month for us! Elliott start crawling and pulling himself up on everything. I find I rarely get to sit down these days as I spend all my time chasing him and stopping him from touching/pushing buttons/pulling things down on himself. I think we have our work cut out for ourselves with this one. He knows exactly what he isn't supposed to touch and finds it hilarious. That's right, the word "No" now brings giggles, and when you remove him he thinks you're "getting him" and will crawl right back to where he was so you'll do it again. I know things could be worse and I could be dealing with a stubborn screamer, but I'm not sure that this is all that much better! I do wonder how this will play itself out in his personality as he grows..

Eating: Finally, I feel happier with this category. I was feeling so frustrated and defeated for so long with how inconsistent Elliott's eating was. It seemed like one day he was happy to eat solids and the next he would refuse them. We went a solid week where all he would eat was apple sauce and I kept giving it to him for fear that if I limited that he would turn away the spoon altogether again (like he did last month!) Well, anyways I decided to buy a few jarred foods and an organic oatmeal cereal on a whim one day. Up until that point he was getting only homemade purées. Turns out he loves the oatmeal cereal, and has enjoyed a few of the jarred foods as well! At first I felt a little like I was giving in because I was so determined to make all his foods, but seeing him happily eat has completely changed my mind!


Sleeping (Night Time): I don't want to talk about it. Kidding. but seriously, his sleep has been pretty horrible this past month. He gets up more frequently and I have a really hard time getting him to settle once I put him down. It's exhausting and hard, but it can't last forever!

Sleeping (Nap Time):  Naps are going well still. He naps twice a day and usually goes down quite easily no matter what we're doing or where we are. On Wednesday mornings (when I go to my Mom's group) and Sunday mornings when we go to church he will fall asleep easily for the nursery workers and sleep in a crib they have there. It doesn't seem to throw him off either day- he'll often have a longer afternoon nap, but otherwise it's business as usual! I'm very thankful for how easily he naps. I think it will make life a lot easier when I open my day home and have five kids to get to sleep, not just one!

Play: Oh man, play time is so different now that he crawls! Sometimes it seems like his toys completely bore him now that he has the whole house to explore!! He will often have some time in the afternoon when he will crawl over to his toys and play quietly by himself for close to an hour. It's so adorable to watch him. His favorites these days are his new stand up activity center, his keyboard, his wooden stacking rings and his wooden peg and hammer set. Still loves his O-Balls and Sophie once in a while. He's taken a new interest in his board books as he has figured out how to flip the "pages"

Movin' Around: He started crawling on January 2nd, and only one week later he started pulling himself up on the furniture and a few days later started walking around it. Look out world, there's no stopping him now!! I love this new stage. He can follow me into different rooms rather than complain when he sees I'm not there. He's quick, too!!

Highlights/Lowlights: Obviously a huge highlight was Christmas! So fun to watch him play with the boxes and tissue paper, and such a joy to spend so much time with our families and see him interact with them all.

Crawling has definitely been the big highlight of this month!!

Still no more teeth! (highlight in my books!)

He waves bye-bye now. SO adorable. He waves with his entire arm and his whole body moves. He also says "buh buh" when he does it.

He also dances on cue either when he hears music or when you say the word "Dance" He's such a smart baby!! He also tries so hard to say dance, but it comes out more like "den den" I just love watching him wiggle and shake his head to music, it's so stinkin cute!!

He will now say "mama" and "dada" on cue when you ask him to.

Likes:

• Being kissed loudly all around his neck (so funny!)
• Crawling
• Pulling himself up on anything and everything
• Bathtime (as always!)
• Giving loud kisses
• Touching things he's not supposed to (he finds it so funny when you say no!)
• Oatmeal cereal, pears/banana/kiwi
• Making his "Donald Duck" sound
• Saying mama

Dislikes:

• Not being allowed to play with our phones/TV remote
• When we close a cupboard he wants in
• Drinking water from a straw cup, sippy cup, bottle or cup. So, just water in general I guess.

And now, pictures!

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Thanks for stopping by :)

~M