10 Month Update

[mrs_dragon]

This has been a huge month for the boys with lots of developmental leaps--bottle holding, sitting up totally stably, crawling, finger foods, teeth, oh my! My mom and dad visited this month, which was more good than bad, and we bought the minivan! The boys keep growing, so we took their car seat harnasses to the largest setting.

Both boys have figured out they can sit up and forward while in their bouncy seat and "jump" (while strapped in) to make the whole chair bounce. They love being swung around (using their armpits as pivots points to their heads stay fairly stationary while their legs and body make a nearly 180 degree arc) or "dropped" backwards (sitting them in your lap facing you and then pivoting them back and down so they are upside down) and giggle wildly while you do so. They are both sitting up unsupported for indefinite amounts of time.

They've mostly kept to their self-set bedtime of between 8 and 9pm, though teething, esp. for Lucas often means they are back up or only sleep while held for the first few hours. We started them on puffs as practice food for table food. They've also had some Cherrios (harder to manipulate because they are smaller than puffs) and arrowroot cookies (they taste like regular shortbread). The cookies disolve quickly so they can't choke on them, but also give them something to gum/teeth against.

As Jacob gets more mobile, he'll scoot next to Lucas while they are in the playpen. One day I left them several feet apart and went upstairs to grab something. Came back down and found them side by side. ❤ They don't really seem to have "bonded" by they will interact...mostly stealing pacifiers, which are much coveted. They will steal them back and forth without fussing. They don't really seem to recognize that their pacifier is being stolen, more of it just disappears and oh look, there's one! I suspect we will have a lot of crying in the future once they realize that someone is taking it from them. Pool noodles continue to be amazing toys. Now that they can sit up on their own, and scoot around, the play area has become a pile of toys and they can entertain themselves for long periods. (1+ hours)

I really missed my Uncle Tom this month. He died before Rob and I were married but I know he would have loved these beans, especially at this age. He would have held them and "tossed" them around and generally been delighted with them.

Jacob:

• Started the month allllllllmost crawling, getting a foot under him and then falling back. It took him the entire month, but he went from that, to leaning all the way onto his belly and reaching for a toy, to being able to "pivot" by leaning and then sitting back up, to getting on all fours, to trying to crawl and going backward, to crawling. He's now at the point where he can crawl halfway across the room, but will really only do it if he sees something he really wants (monkeybeans) across the room and doesn't get distracted. Otherwise, he's content to move from toy to toy in a small area.
• Has giant hands. His outstreched hand fill my palm.
• Dropped his crib mattress down a setting when he was sitting up in his crib and started trying to pull up on the top edge.
• Started to get his first tooth, on his bottom right. Seems to have an easier time teething than Lucas with the pain starting just a week or two before the tooth popped through.
• Moved up to the next "class" in daycare.
• We've mostly stopped using the rock and play. Not only are they less congested (so not needing the angle) but one morning I heard Jacob crying and went into the nursery to find him dangling half way out of it. 0.o So now, if we do put him in there, we make sure to strap him in. But for the most part, he's in his crib.
• Loves to shove everything in his mouth, as far as he can. Rob about had a heart attack when he found that Jacob had taken a hemispherical block and shoved the entire thing in his mouth. Rob discovered this when Jacob smiled, revealing a bright wedge of color. Think the trick you probably did with orange slices as a kid. Very similar.
• Also loves to talk. Almost constantly. Sometimes syllables (muhmuhmuhmuh, buhbuhbuhbuh) sometimes just noise. He likes to make those noises while having a toy in his mouth and moving it or moving it in and out so that it modules the sound (aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh). When we wakes in the morning, he'll sit in his crib just "talking".
• When he gets tired his talking deteriorates back into veliciraptor cries. (The infant version of "BUT I'M NOT TIRED!)
• He's got to be around 23 pounds, which is close to the 25 pound weight limit on their bouncy chairs. If you set him in it, he's almost horizontal. He's starting to feel heavy for me to carry for extended periods of time.
• Seems to be gravitating to a 6:30am wake up time.
• LOVES puffs. It didn't take him long to catch onto the fact that these were food and delicious. And he quickly (within 2 weeks) mastered eating the puffs so that more end up in him than on the floor. He gets excited when he sees the canister. :) At first he would just collect them in his fist and he still grabs them by the fistful before pushing his hand up against his mouth and opening his palm.
• Thinks it's super funny when Rob and I kissed. We kept him giggling for a good 10 minutes by giving each other pecks while Rob was holding Jacob.
• Had a massive poopspolsion while in the playpen. There was poop *everywhere*--on him, the mat, the toys...but only a small spot on his outfit.
• Waking up at night, crying for his paci and when you walk in, find him sitting bolt upright, wailing...with his eyes still closed. If you give him his paci, he calms down and will eventually lay back down and go to sleep. I wonder if we will have a sleepwalker.
• Is a side/stomach sleeper.

Lucas:

• His first tooth started breaking thorugh on his front bottom right. It was immediately (like 2 days later) joined by the front bottom left.
• We started them on puffs, Lucas would pick up a puff very carefully with a perfect pincher grip, manuver it into his mouth, let go, and then left the puff disolve because this chewing stuff is for suckers. ^_^
• He has excellent fine motor control and will carefully pick up small things and examine them.
• Loves playing with tags, especially ones that open like books. He will carefully open and close them for extended periods of time.
• Started using "phhhhhhhbbbbtttt" to reinforce nos to bottles. Offer once, he turns away, offer again and "phhhhhhbbbttttt".
• Fascinated with textures and will sit and run his hands/nails across surfaces just to feel them. Couch fabric, pillows, their textured rubber play mat, wood chairs, etc.
• Doesn't like teething toys, instead still prefers thin blades of plastic--spoons, the lips of cups/blocks, etc.
• Now that he has mastered holding his bottle, he prefers to feed himself and will grab the bottle as you offer it to him. I'm not sure how much of that is "I can do it!" and how much of that is that his teeth/mouth hurt and he likes having more control.
• Is starting to show interest in crawling, reeeeeaaaaacccchhhhing for toys when he is sitting.
• Prefers to sleep on his tummy. Has started to wake himself up by pushing up while he is sleeping and then waking up in that pose, upset that his sleep was interupted.
• Wakes more often at night, but a quick cuddle usually does the trick and he passes back out and you can lay him back down again.
• Emotes through his hands and feet. When he's excited or tired, he kicks his feet. Swing him up and his legs kickkickkick. I told Rob, if one of us was a stay at home parent that baby would be in swim classes because I think he would love it. When thinking, he holds both hands up in the air (elbows at waist level) and twists them at the wrist. If he's seated and gets excited, the hands go faster.
• Lucas has earned the "Cookie Monster" moniker Rob gave him months ago by quickly grasping the idea behind the teething cookies and gobbling them up.
• Had relief for a couple of days and then back in pain. We suspect he is getting his top teeth, but given that he teethes sooooooooo sloooooooowly, we don't see anything yet. He had about 6 weeks of pain before the bottom two popped through. All we can really hope is that he continues to get multiple teeth at once so it doesn't drag out too much. :/

Videos to come!