MommyMaddie!

I’ve been working on this page for the last little while…almost the last year in fact and I’ve always been back and forth about the idea of putting Baby Ethan’s pics up because I didn’t know if i wanted to remain anonymous…I still haven’t decided but I do know that I want to put more pix up!  So we’ll start with more prods i guess?!

Baby Ethan just learned how to drink through a straw yesterday!  We were out w/gpa at a local HK style cafe (my fave) and when he started fussy, I gave him my cold milk tea to play with!  He knows that the straw goes in your mouth but before yesterday he hasn’t really known what to do with it…so giving it to him is harmless right? WRONG!  In front of other diners he almost sucked up some of the milktea! Bahh!! LOL  Sooooo cute!  I cleared out the straw (as much as i can) and I put it in his glass of water and sure enough he was drinking!

Now I keep a small stash of straws in the diaper bag

I recommend this over a sippy cup.  Its cheaper, convenient and you can cut them to size!

This is the sippy cup w/straw we have and when let him have a go at it this morning he didn’t like it well he did…as a teether lol

In a mere blink of an eye, Ethan’s 10 months!

My sister-in-law said it perfectly when she said these last months would just whiz by!

In this past month he’s accomplished:

• crawling is now a breeze; so much that he’s lost a bit of interest in standing or walking since this gets him around much more efficiently with less bumps to the head
• he stands quite well on his own
• he can finger feed – but who really wants to when someone else will feed you faster?
• I’ve taught him to feed me and high five w/his hands and feet lol
• he can follow my voice to find me across the condo
• he’s mastered climbing the stairs (as long as no one distracts him from behind too much – it may push him off balance)

We were entertaining for most of the July month which is why, I assume,  it passed so quickly.  Family were in town from Calgary so it was exploring, dining at different restaurants and many family gatherings with close friends night after night.  So much so that its wreaked havoc on Ethan’s somewhat schedule/routine.

His naps went from 1 1/2 – 2hrs to 30 mins!  My guess is he got used to napping in the car only to wake up after 20-30mins when we reached our given destination…poor baby.  Since they’ve been gone, I’ve been trying to put him back on a schedule (I lie, this was probably the first attempt for me to really put him on any type of a strict schedule) but I found that each time he didn’t abide by the routine set out for him…I’d get frustrated and he wouldn’t sleep.

SO I’m on a new tactic – I let him cry it out during the day (mind you, I can only handle him crying it out when he’s not too upset…so I’m monitor that quite closely.  Thankfully, he’s only crying in such a way that I know its for attention and he’s doing no harm to himself).  Today is officially day 2.  Yesterday we were quite successful: the whole ordeal took about an hour: 1/2 of that he spent playing happily in his crib and the other half – usually when he sees me – he spent crying and eventually falling asleep!  The best outcome was the fact that he slept for almost 2 hours!   A feat I haven’t seen in weeks!  After his nap he ate fabulously as well, he barely needed me to entertain him with books or toys!  Also, when I changed his diaper, he wasn’t rolling over like he always does!  What an amazing ordeal  Unfortunately since he woke up from this nap around 3:30 so it was too late for his 2nd nap.  He wasn’t tired til about 6ish which was when we were on our way to my sister-in-laws.  He slept in the car on the way up awoke once we arrived.  When it came time for bedtime, he didn’t sleep til around 10:30-11ish but he shockingly slept all the way thru til about 4 and then again around 6:30ish.  This is a great accomplishment compared the nights earlier when he’d wake up almost every 2-3 hrs and I’d have to nurse him back to sleep.  Thank goodness we’re on the right track back to good sleep!  I can’t tell you how many time’s I’ve googled “10 month old not sleeping through the night”

Sooo Ethan’s approaching his 9 month bday and what is at the forefront of his behaviour? Inability to STOP standing!  As I’m writing this, I’ve put him down for a nap (my selfish no fail way of breastfeeding him to sleep) pretty much sound asleep.  Once he realizes he’s in his crib, he rolls over onto his belly and scooches himself up with leverage from the crib bars!  Its so frustrating!  Not only is it adorable as hell, but when he’s standing up, he’s smiling at me with a sense of accomplishment…so much that he can hardly go back to sleep (I make numerous failed attempts to feed him again)

As it turns out, I’m not alone…tons of moms go thru this:

http://www.mamapedia.com/article/1-yo-boy-standing-in-crib-wont-sleep

Boy oh boy has our baby been bipolar lately

He’s so eager to walk/crawl and talk that not being able to drives him nuts!  He’s so happy when I lift him up w/2 fingers that he jumps into my arms and giggles!  He’s starting to test his limits bit by bit and I’m trying to condition him to stop crying/fussing for attention when seated in his highchair or restaurants’ high chairs (I think he got spoiled on the cruise when we so desperately wanted to please people with a quiet/well behaved baby that we’d pick him up immediately after one peep).  Just today I very politely said “no” when he started to fuss after eating his lunchtime congee.  I used a lower leveled tone and also smiled – when he stopped fussing and just looked at me, I’d ask if he wanted to be picked up and then picked him up  We’ll see how well this works!

Other benchmarks:

• he’s sitting up pretty well on his own (tho the odd times he falls, he seems to find the one place that’s not covered by the foam mats
• he’s constantly trying to use things to lift himself up into a standing position (ex. toys, crib rails – we have to lower the mattress…, peoples fingers)
• he babbles more and more – when he wakes up, while he’s jumping in his jumperoo, riding in the car
• interacts better with his gfs
• learned how to use the steering wheel on his vtech driving toy = One happy daddy
• LOVES homemade congee!  Its become the best avenue to introduce different foods.