Saturday, March 17 ... Walking!!!

We have real steps! For real!!!!

(and a good example of how a walking baby ... toddler? ... makes not a lot of time for anything, since this happens weeks ago!)

For about a week he would only walk to Momma or Dadda, and only if they were within 5 feet. Farther than that it wasn't worth it.

Then this week he started walking for fun, like for the challenge of picking up a toy, standing up, walking over there, and putting the toy down.

In other mischief news, he's learning to open the toilet cover. It can only go down hill -- and flush counter-clockwise -- from here.

Thursday, March 15 ... Playing, All by Himself

All of sudden he can play. Like he picks up something, plays with it, and then puts it down, without involving me at all. Last night I came home and joined the boys in baby's room, where it was PJ time. He were just hanging out, and baby started picking up and putting down all the rings from his ring-stack thing (he has two now, so there are rings EVERYWHERE). He also recently received a big apple bin -- it came with all sort of chokable things, which are currently put away, but the bin is fun. He started picking the rings one at a time, and putting them all in the bin. Then taking them out. Then putting them in again. Probably 20 minutes of putting all his toys in the bin, then taking them out again. And of course I was one of those TV moms who was all weepy that he was growing up too fast (but at the same time PSYCHED that maybe he'll be one of those kids who LIKES putting his toys AWAY!).

(and you don't have to watch the whole thing. I'll understand.)

Wednesday, March 14 ... Inadvertent Sexual Harassment?

a.k.a, I'll be so glad when I'm done pumping at the office.

I just made one of my male coworkers SO uncomfortable. He was looking for me and saw me coming out of the empty office on our floor. He was all, “Hey, about blah blah blah”. He then saw the bottle of milk in my hand, and LITERALLY turned around and was all , “oh, sorry, oh, eeesh, sorry”. I was totally cool about it. "Don't worry about it," I said, and politely put the bottle out of sight (mainly so he'd stop twitching). He just kept saying, "Oh, sorry, really, eesh, sorry." "Seriously," I said, "Don't worry about it."

 

But seriously, so done with this.

Sunday March 11 ... Eleven Months!

I seriously can't believe it. I may have had a mini panic-attack earlier when I remembered I had to make his 12 month doctor visit (and not just because I hate talking to the receptionist on the phone ... that's a different issue).

We spent the day with Gramma Robin and Grampa Terry, brunching and hanging in the park, since it's unseasonably warm these days.

Here's what he can do ...

He can stand up from sitting all by himself.

He can climb up most anything, including mom and dad's bed and the sliding ottoman.

He pets the puppy gently, and makes the sound that we make when we say "Geeeentle petting, geeeeentle".

He squeals when we get to daycare because he's so happy to see Mariana, Sonja, and Grace (the teachers).

He LOVES going out to restaurants. What a nice change from the first few months, when I was afraid to take him anywhere lest Dr. Jeckyl (or Mr. Hide, I can't remember which is the evil one) would show up and ruin everything with screaming. He sits in the high chair, and as long as the Cheerios keep coming, he's incredibly pleasant. And because I'm not afraid to feed him things I'm eating, he been able to try lots of things. In the last few weeks, he has had:

• donuts
• scones
• pickles
• cole slaw
• guacamole
• salsa
• refried beans
• blueberry pie
• tomatoes
• spiral pasta
• and the old standby, french fries.

He's much better about going up on my back, often just waiting patiently while I get my wrap situated.

Sometimes not so much ...

He likes to play in the bookshelf.

His favorite is Neil Diamond (of course!).

He finally thinks we're funny.

And he's ALMOST walking! I was hoping to get a video by now, but he 1) won't do it when the camera is running, and 2) when I'm around he'd rather get to me quickly, which usually involves crawling. He does this super cute shuffle, where he steps with one foot and then drags the other one ... before falling down.

And we're still breastfeeding. I feel like I have to say it every month, because every month we're a month longer than most people breastfeed (and a month longer than most people think I should). We've had to start topping off the bottle with cow milk, since I'm not quite pumping enough at work. But on the weekends he goes crazy, nursing EVERYWHERE! So there's still no end in sight! YEA!

Thursday, March 8 ... Cow Milk

Ok, my goal had been to make it to 12 months without any formula or cow milk. Just breastmilk and complementary solids. And I almost made it.

The past few weeks have been a little rough a work. Stress + unpredictable days = missed pumping and diminished supply. We were burning through the freezer stash, and Wednesday I used the last two bags of freezer milk.

I stopped off at the store and picked up a quart of whole milk, and Thursday I sent him with an ounce of Moo juice in each bottle. They came home empty, so I guess he liked it.

The freedom to top off with a little cow milk will hopefully give us the freedom to still send breastmilk for another month or two. I'm going to start cutting down on pumping at work, since it's OBNOXIOUS, so I'm looking forward to that.

While I was hoping to make it to a year, I'll take my 11-month trophy.

Monday, March 6 . . . things I'll forget

This morning baby was up at about 5:30a. Uhg. We had some breakfast, but he was still cranky and tugging on my shirt. We sat in our chair and nursed, and because it was only about 7:15, I hadn't gotten him dressed yet. He fell asleep nursing, and I put him in his crib so I could get some stuff done. At about 8:15, I look in and he's still askeep! I get all our lunches together, get his clothes out, everything ready to go once he wakes up.

We have to leave the house at 8:35 to make to daycare, do the drop off, kiss goodbye, so I catch the bus at 9:01 and be down in the subway at 9:07, get the 9:10 train to work, and be at my desk at 9:50 (10, if I stop for coffee).

But at 8:30, he's still asleep.

So I pick him up and put him in the stroller, hoping he'll stay asleep. I cover him with his coat and try to get a hat on him. Of course he wakes up, but it's too late to put clothes on him, so we go anyway.

We get to daycare and I bring his clothes in, ready to explain that we didn't have time to get dressed, when I hear ...


"QUE LINDO!!!! HE LOOKS LIKE A BABY!!!"

Apparently the way I dress him does not bring out the fact that he is a baby. But only babies wear footy pajamas. "Everyday he comes and he looks like a big boy, but today he's still a baby!"